Newsletter 2

Registered Charity No: 1141329

I hope that you enjoy reading all about the wealth and breadth of learning that has been happening at St Peter’s 2-8 this week.

In assembly on Monday, I was able to present our new School Counsellors with their badges.

Each term we have 18 school counsellors, two from each class from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 who are elected by their classmates. They meet weekly and represent the views and ideas of their fellow pupils so that we can make our school and the wider world a better place. In the past they have introduced additional recycling bins for pens and batteries, selected playground equipment and reviewed food at school. They have also benefitted from working with the eco council at 13-18 and have had visits from VIPs, including the Lord Major of York. This term Mrs Salisbury has taken over school council from Mrs Franey. I’d like to thank Mrs Franey for all of the fantastic work she has done for school council to ensure that the voices of our pupils are heard and acted upon. Article 12 of The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child states that ‘Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously’. It is so important that we empower the children

at school to not only have a voice, but to listen with respect and an open mind to differing opinions and to act to make a valuable contribution, not just for themselves, but for others and the wider world. Continuing the theme of pupil voice, a very important meeting that took place this week between myself, Mrs Salisbury and our three house captains Henry, Esme and Louis. We discussed what they felt they could bring to the role, how we embrace responsibility, be a positive role model and we made some exciting plans which we will share with the school on Monday in assembly for future events and initiatives.

We also held three Parent Information Evenings this week to share a few insights into our purpose and how we seek to achieve this through the ways in which we teach the children. I talked about the four pillars of St Peter’s 2-18 which are, qualifications, skills, interests and values and how we aim to offer our pupils a wonderful array of opportunities so that they can become amazing adults and live fulfilling and successful lives. I know that the parents who were able to attend also enjoyed visiting classrooms and hearing staff talk about areas of provision in the Early Years and how they support oracy and reading in Years 1, 2 and 3 and how we are continuing to place reading at the heart of what we do.

The ability to read is so crucial to accessing education and also for enjoyment,

imagination and inspiring creativity. Yesterday I attended an event in London with Mr Hardy to launch a new report by RS Academics entitled ‘The Art of Headship’. This is a follow up to a report from the first one produced ten years ago and brings together research about the challenges, additional responsibilities and opportunities of headship in 2023. It was very interesting to hear about the common themes and insights from independent school heads and provided a valuable opportunity to meet head from across the country and share our perspectives.

This morning we held our first open classrooms at drop off where your child has the chance to share with you some of their learning from the past week. It’s always a special time and really valuable for the children to reflect on their achievements from the week with pride. It was lovely to see so many parents be able to attend.

Friday 15th September 2023

DIARY FOR WEEK COMMENCING