Learning 8-13

At St Peter’s 8-13 our Learning Habits and Growth Mindset are still at the forefront of what we do, with a focus on learning from mistakes in order to overcome challenges. Our wonderful pupils showed great resilience during the pandemic and are now building on these valuable skills of independent working, teamwork and collaboration. The result is robust, rounded young people, ready to make a difference both at school and in society.

IT Skills for the Future

In February, J2 developed their IT skills using breadboards to prototype, and J3 made their own games controllers and created fantastic IT presentations as part of their climate change and sustainable energy resources studies.

In November, ten of our J5s took part in the National Cyber Security Centre’s CyberFirst Girls Competition. Congratulations to all who took part and put their coding skills to the test!

J5s win Faraday Challenge

Six J5 pupils participated in the Faraday Challenge at Ampleforth College. The Institution of Engineering and

Technology’s Faraday Challenge Days give pupils the opportunity to research, design and make prototype solutions to genuinely tough engineering problems. They enable young pupils to experience working as an engineer for a day and show the benefits of careers within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Our pupils thoroughly enjoyed applying their Physics and DT knowledge to their problem-solving tasks, and enthusiastically pitched their prototype while adhering to the success criteria. They impressed the judge and shocked themselves by winning the task! Well done to Clara, Will, Ben, Amber, Lizzy and Chris; you made Ms Green-Harding very proud!

Alex gets Gold in the Primary Mathematics Challenge

Alex, in J3, won a prestigious Gold Award in the national Primary Mathematics Challenge Bonus Round. The Primary Mathematics Challenge is aimed at pupils aged 9-11 and aims to boost confidence in Maths, while helping children to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills. The Primary Mathematics Challenge paper includes 25 challenging Maths puzzles to complete in just 45 minutes. The highest-scoring pupils, including Alex, then took part in the Primary Mathematics Challenge bonus round, which sees pupils competing on a worldwide level. Alex completed the bonus round paper in school last month and received a Gold Award after achieving a phenomenal result. Alex received his award in assembly from Mr Falconer at the end of March. Sally-Jane Fell, KS2 Maths Coordinator at St Peter’s 8-13, said: “Alex was thrilled to take part in this challenging and engaging national problem-solving challenge. His passion is most definitely numbers.” Alex said: “I really enjoyed it but couldn’t help being cross about mistakes I made. However, I’ve now learnt more from looking at why I got them wrong.”

St Peter’s 8-13 Make It Count

Congratulations to all pupils who took part in the UKMT Junior Maths Competition in early May. This national competition encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.

All of J1 sat the national First Maths Challenge (FMC) Competition, a 20-question multiple-choice problems paper. It was wonderful that all pupils achieved a certificate with Bertie gaining a perfect score, and eight others achieving a high Gold Award. Well done to our pupils who so enjoyed their first taste of competitive Maths at St Peter’s!

Junior Maths Kangaroo is another hourlong paper similar to the JMC but even more challenging. Entry to the challenge is by invitation only and is based on a qualifying score, which varies from year to year. Congratulations to Edward, William G, Sophie, William X, Ansh, Naomi and Hannah who all qualified, and Alex who qualified for the Junior Maths Olympiad…

…Alex Knows his Numbers

Alex in J3 qualified for the Junior Maths Olympiad after achieving a fantastic qualifying score in the Junior Maths Challenge. The Olympiad is designed to stretch high-attaining young people and takes the form of a two-hour challenge consisting of 16 problems. Alex performed exceptionally well, scoring full marks for three of his written solutions in section B. Alex’s excellent result means he secured a Certificate of Distinction, only presented to the top-scoring 25% of participants. He was also placed in the top 60 scorers for the competition and was awarded a silver medal, narrowly missed out on gold, an outstanding result.

Head Teacher St Peter’s 8-13, Andy Falconer, said: “Alex’s passion for Maths is infectious and it is wonderful that his ability has been recognised through this very demanding competition.”

Scintillating Science Week

Science Week at 8-13 started calmly with a special assembly then gathered momentum with quizzes and a poster competition. Things soon became noisy and whizzy when J5 enjoyed chemistry demonstrations and explosions including elephant’s toothpaste, the whoosh bottle, ethanol rocket, dry ice and methane bubbles! J4 had fun through learning when they investigated rainbow fizz and chemical rockets. Curious J3 found out if they can produce electricity from fruit. It’s exhausting fun acquiring Science knowledge at St Peter’s!

A Slice of Pi, Anyone?

In mid-March thirteen pupils from St Peter’s 8-13 took part in a competition to see who could recall the most digits of the mathematical constant pi. All pupils showed impressive memory skills and excellent effort in preparing for the event. The overall Junior Award went to Magnus who recalled an astonishing 124 digits correctly, with the Senior Award going to Arina who recalled an impressive 134 digits. Amazing achievements when most adults struggle with a four-digit password!

Enterprising 8-13 Pupils

The Enterprise Project in St Peter’s 8-13 has evolved over the years into a popular, collaborative project between DT, English, Music and ICT. It sees pupils creating designs for a range of products or pitching for cottage-industry products to make and sell themselves. Pupils produce a brand and design which can be applied using sublimation (printing that transfers a design on to a material using ink and heat) and make items such as rings, cacti pots and AirPod holders. The teams promote and sell their products through TV and radio advertising, websites, posters and point-of-sale stalls. The adverts are shown in assembly the week before the fair, and then doors open for one hour, for parents and pupils to buy. During Covid, sales were made via websites but this year face-toface selling meant some products sold out in seven minutes flat! Four winning teams showed great skills in the design process, collaboration, media advertising, managing their portfolio and profits made. The teams also created a one-off design which was raffled for charity, this year raising an impressive £400 for Ukraine.