Learning 13-18

Cover Story Choristers York Minster

“I love singing every day and especially singing in the Minster. I like spending time with all my chorister friends.” (Bea, J2)

With a shared heritage dating back to 627AD, St Peter’s and York Minster have a long history of collaboration. When York Minster made the difficult decision to close the Minster School in June 2020, we wanted to do everything we could to ensure the continuation of the worldfamous choir and provide the best possible education for the Minster’s 40 girl and boy choristers.

The closure of York Minster during Covid-19 led to a catastrophic loss of visitor income which sadly led to the closure of the Minster School, where the Choristers were educated. To safeguard the Minster’s centuries-old choral tradition, it was essential to secure an alternative education for the choristers. All choristers and their siblings were guaranteed a place at St Peter’s from September 2020, helping to reassure Minster School parents and pupils during a tumultuous time. Choristers now have full access to our active Music School, one of the largest and most diverse music departments in the UK, and enjoy an outstanding education at St Peter’s 8-13, supplemented by our extensive Co-Curricular programme.

The choristers have quickly settled into school life, and their daily routine is carefully scheduled so they can take full advantage of the exciting opportunities offered both at St Peter’s and York Minster. They have enhanced our already excellent music provision, contributing to our thriving Music School by participating in ensembles and inspiring other pupils to pursue their own musical talents.

Lola said: “I really like the school. The Music Department is amazing and having facilities like the science labs is great. The grounds are big and I have lots of friends. I love being a chorister because I love the music and the services, and I feel calm when I sing.”

Chorister fees continue to be subsidised by York Minster, to ensure that all local children have the opportunity to join the choir. Located just five minutes’ walk from York Minster, St Peter’s is ideally situated as the new Choir School. It is now the second oldest choir school in England as well as the fourth oldest school in the world. Jeremy Walker, Head Master, said: “There is a sense of a homecoming and confirmation of the long, entwined relationship between St Peter’s and the Minster. Our music has always been excellent, and this will ensure our ability to provide an outstanding education for the choristers as well as strengthening music at St Peter’s.”

Robert Sharpe, Director of Music at York Minster, said: “The very sad decision to close the Minster School was set alongside an excellent opportunity for our choristers to continue to be educated together a short distance away, and for the Minster’s mission and choral tradition to continue to flourish for years to come.”

St Peter’s School, York, has joined 35 choir schools across the country as a member of the Choir Schools Association, in recognition of its new role as the Choir School for York Minster.

Life Skills

We encourage our pupils to develop key skills for life, through the wide variety of co-curricular opportunities available and academic extension programmes which help to prepare our pupils for life after school. Many pupils also hone their skills and interests outside of school, and we are incredibly proud of everything they have achieved this year.

Ready, Steady, Cook! Cooking lessons start early at St Peter’s 2-8 and even our Nursery children learn basic cookery skills. This year, our Nursery children celebrated Pancake Day by making their own pancakes, although eating the pancakes was definitely the best part of the day! Children at St Peter’s 2-8 also put their cooking skills to the test with a Healthy Pizza competition, judged by the Development Chef and Director of New Product design at Morrisons’ Supermarket. The judges chose six finalists, who have all received an apron and chef’s hat, and two winners were selected following an official taste test. Their pizzas were created with bespoke packaging and delivered to school on Friday 26 February. Well done to the finalists Esmie, Lexie, Lottie and James and the winners Natalie and Edmund. Life Skills Older pupils at St Peter’s learn essential life skills as part of our Wellbeing and Life Skills Programme at St Peter’s 8-13 and our St Peter’s Enrichment Programme at St Peter’s 13-18. Both programmes are designed to teach pupils important skills required for life after school.

Cooking is an essential part of both programmes, equipping pupils with favourite recipes to impress their family and friends at home. Our older pupils at St Peter’s 13-18 have learnt other valuable skills this year including First Aid Training and Self-Defence. Bushcraft Day Each year J3 enjoy a Bushcraft Day, which encourages our pupils to develop life skills outside the usual curriculum.

Bushcraft Day is an outdoor activity day designed for the pupils to work together in teams to try new challenges. The four tasks they attempted were: building and making fires in lots of different ways; shelter building and testing them for comfort and resistance to water; building and using a stretcher and purifying water.

When Monty was asked how the morning had been he said “It was brilliant. We made a really cool shelter and it was more like glamping as we put a TV in there to watch!” - the TV was in fact a piece of rope in a square, but imagination has no limits.

Heidi’s Eco Wax Melts Enterprising pupil Heidi (aged 11) created her own Eco Wax Melts business from her garage during lockdown.

After just two weeks she had received over 80 orders via Etsy and had made over £800 in sales. Heidi has paid back her original loan and has reinvested most of her profit into more stock and better equipment, so she can scale up her business more quickly. The starter pack is her best seller. The sales are coming in from far and wide and Heidi has even set up her own Facebook page to market her products.

Andy Falconer, Head of St Peter’s 8-13, said: “We’ve all heard stories of how people have developed new skills during lockdown but Heidi has taken this to a whole new level! I’m so proud of her entrepreneurial spirit and look forward to watching her on the Dragon’s Den, where she’ll probably be one of the investors.”

Katie’s Hearing Dog Over the past two years, Katie (Fourth Form) has helped to train, Alba, a golden Labrador, to be a hearing dog for deaf people. Alba has passed all her exams and is now an official Assistance Dog! Thanks to Katie’s hard work and dedication, Alba has passed her exams with flying colours and has been nominated to become a child’s dog, which has very stringent guidelines, so Katie and her family are doubly proud!

Alba will go to an 11-year-old boy who is profoundly deaf. Alba will be his constant companion, sleeping in his room, to ensure he feels safe, happy and confident. It is a bittersweet moment for Katie and her family who have trained Alba for the past two years - but also knowing Alba will be a “life changer “ for her new owner. Ava’s Films Fourth Form pupil Ava has enjoyed a series of filmmaking successes over the last year. Ava created a short 3-minute film called ‘Players’ with local neighbours after the first lockdown, and the micro-film has earned Ava a global reputation. It has been screened at 17 Festivals in around 10 countries and has won numerous awards. The film also resulted in Ava being one of just five shortlisted for the IMDb new Filmmaker Award 2020. She is the youngest ever person to be shortlisted in the history of this global and very prestigious award.

Ava also made an epic film entitled Beth during summer 2020 which was premiered in Ilkley in January 2021. Beth was written, directed and edited by Ava with a large cast and crew. The period piece, set in in 1898, is based around true events at The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, later renamed High Royd. Speaking of her film Beth, Ava said: “This is a film that dodged 2020 Covid restrictions every step of the way - it was clearly meant to be made. Coming out of lockdown, I was very lucky to find brilliant crew who were furloughed from the UK TV industry who were all delighted to be working again!”

We look forward to seeing Ava’s film-making skills develop as she progresses to Sixth Form at St Peter’s.

Sport

Sports fixtures were not possible for much of this year, so House Sports became more prominent, helping to boost the physical, social and psychological wellbeing of our pupils. Thank you to our Sports staff for keeping our pupils motivated throughout the year to maintain an active lifestyle, both in school and at home.

St Peter’s 2-8

Super Sports The children at St Peter’s 2-8 have enjoyed practising their sports skills in their PE lessons this year. They have developed their throwing and aiming skills, dribbling skills, endurance skills and much more.

The children also enjoyed a return to competitive sport. In the autumn term, Year 3 participated in a House Hockey tournament, representing their respective Houses and showcasing their impressive skills.

Physical Education is a key area in the curriculum at St Peter’s with all children from Nursery to Year 3 participating in two specialised lessons each week. As the children move up the school swimming lessons become a fantastic addition to their physical education.

The children are taught the skills of many competitive games as well as gymnastics and dance. In Year 3 all of the children experience playing as part of a team in inter-school fixtures providing an important introduction to competitive sport. Sports Day The sun was shining for our St Peter’s 2-8 Sports Day this year. Reception and Year 1 competed in the morning and Year 2 and Year 3 in the afternoon.

The children had worked extremely hard on their practical skills in their PE lessons and it was amazing to see them in action. The atmosphere was fantastic, and after a two-year delay, the children were finally able to compete! All of the children were brilliant, but a particular well done to Martha (Year 1) and Hugh (Reception) and to Micklegate for winning the Reception and Year 1 Sports Day trophy. Congratulations also to Edward (Year 2) and Noah (Year 3) and to Micklegate and Walmgate, who jointly won the Year 2 and Year 3 Sports Day. It was lovely to welcome parents to spectate both in person and via our live streaming platform. Whether virtually or in person, there was a wonderful atmosphere and the children absolutely loved it.

Particular thanks must go to Miss Flockhart, ably assisted by Miss Beaumont, who organised a fabulous day for the children.

St Peter’s 8-13

Remote Games Pupils at St Peter’s 8-13 stayed active at home during lockdown thanks to a full PE and Games programme developed by the Sports Department. The children have demonstrated curiosity and creativity by designing hockey obstacle courses in their gardens and homes, including the innovative ‘crockery hockey’. They have practised alone and with their siblings to improve their hockey drags, 3D control skills and movement patterns.

The Sports Department even hosted a House Hockey left/right drag competition, with each House averaging 40 drags in 30 seconds. Alcuin won with 41.23 drags followed closely by York with 40.28, Ainsty with 39.65, Fairfax with 39.62 and Elmet with 39.59. The girls have also created netball circuits to perfect their netball techniques and skills, including passing, pivoting, footwork and change of pace. Some pupils have been focusing on their stamina by completing the Couch to 5k whilst others have been developing their form and techniques with the Sports Departments PE fitness circuits. Mr Savage said: “We’ve been really pleased with the resilience and perseverance from children who have continued to play a full active part in physical education lessons at home. Their enthusiasm and dedication is clear to see.”

Sports Day The St Peter’s 8-13 Sports Day was totally different this year. It would have been incredibly difficult to welcome hundreds of spectators on campus along with 360 pupils, all mixing out of their bubbles, in a safe environment. So, instead, the St Peter’s 8-13 Sports Department decided to run each year group’s Sports Day separately. Normally the children only participate in about two events each, as every child in the school is competing on the same morning. However, this altered format gave the children the opportunity to compete in mini heptathlons, within their Houses. The children all took part in high jump, long jump, ball throw, sprints, middle-distance and long-distance runs. The seniors also had the experience of competing in the javelin, shot put and discus. During their PE lessons the children practised each event feverishly and then fortunately, we were able to pick five glorious afternoons when each year group could compete against the other Houses. Every child’s individual scores were added up with the rest of the House and we were able to calculate a House average.

It was a close-run affair with York winning on 65 points, Ainsty 67 points, Elmet 69 points, Fairfax 78 points and Alcuin 93 points. Ice creams, sunshine and lots of friendly competition meant that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience.