February 2011 Newsletter

Dear Parents
It was a pity we had to close the school for the last two days of the December term. Many of our buses could not run and conditions were atrocious. As always, we were governed first and foremost by the health and safety of our students and staff. I know that a number of young people were disappointed that they were not able to finish this term in the way we normally do as Christmas approaches. One or two of them said to me that they actually missed being in school for the last two days of term. However, we really did have no alternative, and I was delighted with the way our closure arrangements operated.

LEAGUE TABLES

I am sure many of you saw the published league tables in the local press. I have no problem with league tables being published as long as they are a true reflection of what has taken place. Our A-level value added was absolutely superb last year and with a very large entry, i.e. one of the largest in the county, to have such value-added is immensely gratifying and a great tribute to the teaching expertise we have at St Peter’s. I have always been honest with you and I have said since August that our Year 11 performance last year was only satisfactory in terms of the 5 or more GCSEs, including English and Maths. I emphasise that many comprehensives would be delighted with the performance we achieved with last year’s Year 11. However, at St Peter’s we do not compare ourselves with other comprehensives we simply compare ourselves with what we want to achieve with our young people. Last year was satisfactory, whereas traditionally it has always been very good to outstanding. Hopefully, it will be the same this year. I must, however, comment on the ludicrous situation of the Baccalaureate.

This was introduced retrospectively. Our low score here reflects neither the students’ ability nor teaching expertise, but the breadth of exam courses available to our pupils.

We will be advising Year 9 on the nature of the Baccalaureate and you will shortly be receiving a letter from Mr Rush containing advice with regard to the future. The Baccalaureate will not be compulsory. We are also actively engaging the Secretary of State in discussion to overturn the nonsense that religious education cannot be included as a humanity. RE has always been in the state sector and, indeed, is part of the International GCSE Humanities Course, which the Government accepts. As a faith school we have to dedicate a proportion of our curriculum to religious education. Not allowing us to include it as a humanity actually disadvantages our school if you are using the English Baccalaureate in a league table setting. If you have any questions or worries about what was published in the league tables, do not hesitate to contact Mr Rush or me myself. We will endeavour to put your mind at rest. I simply want to assure you that St Peter’s High School will continue to perform at an incredibly high level, together with nine or ten other comprehensives in Gloucestershire. As they are in competition with the grammar schools, this puts these comprehensive schools amongst the very best in the country. We should be very proud to have schools of this calibre in Gloucestershire and delighted that St Peter’s is one such school.

BUILDING FUND

Attached to this newsletter is the building fund envelope for this term. Once again, I remind you that this is a voluntary contribution, but essential if we are to keep the fabric of St Peter’s at a reasonable level. Just to give you some idea of the problems the Governors face in trying to maintain the standards of our school, there is a fund allocated to every school called Formula Capital. This is an amount each year which enables you to keep the site looking as good as possible. Last year St Peter’s received £180,000 and a significant amount of this went to improving our sixth form facility. This year, with the government cuts, we will receive only £33,000. This is a totally unacceptable level of cut, but that is the world we are living in! What makes it even more nonsensical is that brand new schools who opened in September will also receive a similar amount of money. How this can be just I simply cannot understand. It is therefore essential we endeavour to try and keep our building fund at a reasonable level. I am, however, very conscious that many of you are struggling financially and that some of you are very concerned about your future employment. I do not want you to feel pressured in any way. If you cannot contribute to the building fund we fully understand your circumstances and I would simply ask you to return the envelope so that there is no abuse to the system. Form tutors will expect all students to return an envelope whether they contain a donation or not.

If you contribute by Direct Debit or pay an annual amount simply mark that on the envelope. I remind you that the recommendation is, if you can afford it, to donate £10 per child up to a maximum of £20 per family. I repeat, this is only advice and any contribution will be gratefully received.

Can I ask for all envelopes to be returned no later than Friday 11 February?

HALF TERM

The half term break will commence on Friday 18 February at 3.40pm. Students will be expected to return to school on Monday 28 February at 9.00am.

This half term should be the final holiday our Years 11, 12 and 13 enjoy before their examinations. Easter must be a time of serious revision, as must Whit. My comment to your sons and daughters is that this is the last holiday prior to the day after their last exam in the summer. If they adopt this view, take the advice and guidance that will be offered, including attendance at revision clinics, our young people have the capability this year to deliver for themselves an outstanding set of exam results. So the message is to enjoy the half term break with aview to coming back with a real desire to achieve. When they return most departments will be commencing the final run-in of revision. Can I also, at this juncture, emphasise that when it does come to the final revision run, the most vital aspect is attendance at lessons. Some people adopt the view that they can revise as well on their own. They cannot go over past questions, they cannot receive advice on how best to answer questions, nor can they test themselves on how their revision is going. Attendance at lessons and full attention to what is being offered is a prerequisite to success.

CONTACTING STUDENTS

The school continues to advise that young people do not bring mobile phones to school. The reason, quite simply, is that when they go missing we do not have time available to locate them. It is much simpler if young people do not put their property at risk by leaving it at home. If you need to contact your son or daughter during the school day please do not ring them on their mobile phone if you have allowed them to bring it to school. This causes difficulties. If there is an urgent reason why you need to speak to your son or daughter simply contact the school and ask to speak to the Head of Year or the Form Tutor. Your son or daughter will then get back to you as soon as possible.

I cannot stress enough how difficult it is for us to ascertain which messages are bona fide and which are not, when they go directly to your children.

UNIFORM IN THE 11-16 SCHOOL

We are keen to ensure that students look smart for their workplace and that is school. We are becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of uniformity among the student body, especially with regard to the wearing of outer garments. As outlined in the school procedures on uniform which is available on the website, the rule regarding coats is as follows:

• We wear suitable top coats; we do not wear fashion, leather or denim coats/jackets; we do not wear hoodies/tracksuit tops/sweatshirts as outer garments.

We would be grateful, as we always are, for parental support in ensuring that your child attends school wearing an appropriate coat, as well as appropriate uniform.

LOST PROPERTY

I would like to draw parents’ attention to the ever increasing amount of lost property, much of which has gone unclaimed since the start of term and earlier.

The school policy is that any named property is returned, where possible, to its rightful owner. If it is not named, it is stored in an accessible place for a period of time. Due to the huge volume of unclaimed property, we are now obliged to dispose of it - through local charity organisations.

In future, we are proposing to implement a two week window, during which property can be claimed.

Parents, please help by ensuring that clothing and other items are named.
Pupils, please help by claiming un-named items promptly. Thank you.

BARCELONA

Y9 visit to Barcelona - Oct half term - if you are interested and have not yet returned your reply slip, please see Mrs Beamish as soon as possible.

LIBRARY NEWS

This term it is the turn of Year 9 to get an author visit. We are very lucky that Alan Gibbons is returning for the fourth year on Monday February 14. Those who have heard him on previous visits will tell you that his talks are like stand-up comedy. He is very popular.

Alan is an amazing writer who seems to be able to turn his hand to anything: gripping horror stories, fantasy, football and comedy as well as serious teenage issues. Key books he will be talking about are 'The Edge', 'Scared to Death', 'Caught in the Crossfire' and 'Shadow of the Minotaur', which students can be reading. He will talk to the whole year and some lucky students will have a writing workshop with him. At break and lunchtime there will be opportunities for his fans to talk to him and buy his books.

You may have heard his name recently as he has been spearheading a campaign to save libraries in Wirral and Gloucestershire (and now many other authorities). We feel strongly that libraries and reading are vital to the education of young people so he is something of a hero to the library staff too.

In the Sixth-form Library, students have a great opportunity to follow the TV Book Club that started on Sunday 16th January at 7:50pm on Channel 4. The books are: 'Room' by Emma Donoghue, 'The Long Song' by Andrea Levy, 'The News Where You Are' by Catherine O'Flynn, 'Even the Dogs' by Jon McGregor, 'Bleed for Me' by Michael Robotham, 'Spies of the Balkans' by Alan Furst, 'The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars' by Patrick Hennessey, 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot, 'Tiger Hills' by Sarita Mandanna and 'My Last Duchess' by Daisy Goodwin.

All of these books are available in the Sixth-form Library for one-week loan so get a copy quick and get reading!

ST PETER’S CHORAL SOCIETY

St Peter's Choral Society will be performing Zimbe! by Alexander L'Estrange on Tuesday 5 April in St Peter's Church, Gloucester.

This is an uplifting celebration combining traditional African songs, infectious jazz accompaniments and vibrant percussion to take you on a whirlwind tour of life in an African village.

We would like to invite parents and friends of the school to join the school choir, some of our feeder primary schools and the County Junior Choir for this performance. If you are interested, please email me (cperfect@st-petershigh.gloucs.sch.uk) and I can send you further details and a rehearsal schedule.

SPORTS NEWS

The 1st XV Rugby squad have made tremendous progress since starting in September. We were not expecting a long Daily Mail Cup run this season, but here we are at the end of January having won a very difficult 7th round game away at Bishops Wordsworth School Salisbury (who have been unbeaten) by 17 points to 11. That now puts us into the last 8 in England, with a home draw for the quarter final on February 9th (Wednesday) against either Old Swinford Hospital School Stourbridge or Warwick School (who have yet to play because of frozen pitches).

This really is a terrific achievement, and as I have written before, there are very few comprehensives in the country that can enjoy national standing at two main sports as we do at rugby union and tennis. It is a tremendous accolade to our students and to the commitment of our coaching staff in these sports. On top of this we also have a high and developing standard in county hockey and our football team, particularly year 8, have gone a long way in the national schools football competition.

Whilst writing about sport we need to congratulate one of the youngest members of our school, Charlie Chapman, who over the Christmas holiday won a very prestigious national tennis tournament at Bristol. Well done to Charlie and I am very much looking forward to seeing our U12 team in the national schools competition this year.

Christmas Card Recycling.

The Eco Club have been collecting Christmas Cards for recycling over the past month. They have sorted them into two groups. Firstly, they have separated the ones which they can make into Christmas gift tags. These will be sold to raise money to buy bird food next winter. The ones that are not suitable for this purpose have been boxed up and sent to the Cobalt Appeal, who are very grateful for the five boxes which they have received. Thank you to all those who have brought in their cards and we will be running the collection again next year.

Conclusion

Easter is very late this year and, as a consequence, Ash Wednesday is not until the 9th March. This will, however, give us the opportunity to offer all our young people the choice of receiving ashes. There will be no compulsion, but our Ashes service will be emphasising the importance of Lent to all of us in considering where our lives are going. Yes, we will be encouraging your sons and daughters to give up their packet of crisps a week and donate the money to our CAFOD charity. This is traditional in Lent, but we will also be looking at much more fundamental issues. Lent is somewhat of a sombre time and, particularly with young people, it can be depressing if one harps on about how life is short and how little time we have on earth, regardless of how long that time is. This is not what we will be doing. What we will be doing is suggesting that in this precious life we have, when it is over it is not the two or three houses we have, the two cars we own or the three or four holidays a year we enjoy, that we will be remembered for. We will, however, be remembered for what we did for others and how much we contributed to the quality of life of other people. That is not to say we must not enjoy life ourselves, but we must also be aware of our responsibilities as part of a community and part of a family. Bringing peace and happiness to others, as well as to ourselves, is a Lenten intention that many of us could benefit from. We won’t always succeed, but what is important is we try and if we do fail we pick ourselves up and try again. This is the message we will be giving your sons and daughters, and we hope you can join us in persuading them that this is the recipe for a successful and fulfilling life, even more than all the material goods many of us enjoy.

On a personal note, many thanks for all the prayers, good wishes and cards I have received. Both myself and my family are so grateful for the support of the St Peter’s community through what has been a difficult 2010. I hope to be back at school in the not too distant future and I hope then I will be able to have an uninterrupted run of working with your sons and daughters. I trust you have also noted that the school has not suffered at all from my absence. Philip Rush, the senior team and, indeed, all the staff, have done an absolutely magnificent job in ensuring that my absence has not been missed and that it has not, in any way, affected your sons and daughters education.

Yours sincerely




Lawrence Montagu
Headteacher