Chronicle 2020
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chronicle 2020 Executive Principal 2 Chaplain 8 Trust Board 9 Foundation 10 Alumni 11 Learning in the lockdown bubble 12 Head Boy - Jamal Roberton 14 Head Girl - Sophie Waddell 15 Parents’ Association 16 Student Leadership 17 Staff 2020 19 The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award 25 Student Futures 26 Faculties 27 International Students 58 Cultural 60 Sport 83 Houses 160 Boarding Houses 165 Annual Events 183 Almanac 196 Amendments to 2019 Chronicle 223 Editors: Ruth Crampton and Chrystall Kerr, St Peter’s, Cambridge Graphic Designer: Kath Carmody, St Peter’s, Cambridge EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Executive Principal Like most people, when asked to reflect on 2020, my first Our actions before, during and after, meant that we retained thoughts are what an extraordinary year it has been. We had virtually all of our students whilst also gaining a number. a magnificent start to the year after an outstanding summer. Although we learned a lot from several schools in Hong Kong The roll started at a record 1176 students, the fourth year in a that had been in lockdown for some time, we still under- row with strong roll growth, and the academic results from estimated the extent of the impact online learning would 2019 were excellent, as usual. have on teacher workload. Teaching students online was Based on the progress we are making in our strategic plan hugely demanding for staff, with days often lasting up to we established the following goals for the year; 15 hours. The support that staff gave to students went well beyond teaching the curriculum. It was great that sport and 1. Through a focussed approach on pedagogy, each teacher performing arts maintained contact, and even undertook will progress and enhance the learning outcomes for online lessons. Their creativity, resilience and determination each student. to “go the extra mile” was genuinely appreciated by the 2. Each staff member will actively participate in utilising the entire community. The Deans and Wellbeing team were in GROWTH coaching approach, to enhance conversations touch and worked hard to support our students remotely. and outcomes for both their colleagues and their students. Students were outstanding in the way they responded and 3. Effective wellbeing practices across the school, will coped. Like teaching staff, online learning, even as good as contribute to the wellbeing of every student, and in turn it was, did not suit everyone. I admired their courage and support staff wellbeing. resilience. They continued to work hard in what were, for some students, very trying circumstances. 4. Continue to embed the school’s Christian special character. The response from our community was superb. I really 5. Continue to improve student participation levels and appreciated the positive feedback from parents and those performance in curricular activities, using evidence- that made donations to our Foundation’s hardship grant. The based practice. genuine concern for others and kindness shown will be long lasting memories for me. As we began the year, we were aware of Covid in several countries around the world causing them to go into Overall, it will be an experience that no one ever forgets. I lockdown. We learned from the experience of some schools hope that the very good things that we learned to appreciate in Hong Kong about what to expect from delivering more during lockdown, such as family, a new skill learned, an online learning environment, and developed a more exercise, kindness given and received, and so on, are comprehensive plan, ready to be rolled out when we went the things that we remember the most and maintain well into lockdown. after other memories fade. It was no surprise when we did - we were very well prepared. The performing arts and the sports staff maintained most For me, what was memorable and remarkable was not Covid of their programmes this year. It would have been easy and lockdown, but how we responded. to just cancel everything and walk away - some things unfortunately were cancelled, robbing some students of Our leadership team and Trust Board were outstanding in the planning and leadership of the actions that made the plan come to life. Their constant leadership, support and encouragement of staff during the entire period was appreciated and valued. Our student retention strategy was very important. We really wanted to protect our roll by keeping as many existing families as possible. We planned a number of ways to do this. Delivering an outstanding online learning environment was very important so that students and families could see and feel that. The students were not actually in a classroom with their teachers and others, they were at least getting the best that a virtual experience could offer. The Trust Board played an important role by offering fee reductions for boarding and a tuition rebate. The Foundation established a hardship fund that enabled families to apply for funds to assist with fee payments. The school also offered a number of other ways to pay fees in a more flexible manner. When we returned from lockdown, we implemented assessment reductions, maintained as many routines as possible and tried very hard to run as many events as possible, (albeit in a different format), focussing on safety and wellbeing. Dale Burden taking part in the Cross Country run 2 EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL’SNAMEATTOP REPORT St Peter’s premier netball team taking part in the school tournment during the Term 3 holidays an opportunity and a memory. Most of the cancellations Our Cheerleading team competed at the Olympia were by third parties. In particular, too many sporting CheerBrandz Competition. The Diamonds finished in 1st organisations rushed to cancel events months in advance. place at their level and 3rd overall. They were unlucky to miss Netball being a case in point. However, thanks to the Director out on placing at Nationals by .1 of a point. of Sport, Te Aroha Keenan and Assistant Director of Sport, 2020 was a successful year overall for cricket, both on and Ange Russek, we ran two tournaments during the Term 3 off the field, with over 70 students playing cricket from Year holidays. Not only did this give students an opportunity to 7 through to Year 13, and a mixture of boys and girls. The play at a high level, some for the last time at school, it also Colts XI had Northern District’s success by being first equal provided great revenue for the school and local economy. alongside Tauranga Boys’ College and Hamilton Boys’ High We could have been doom and gloom about what was. It has School, narrowly missing out on the Nationals. The Junior been fantastic to see our students, staff and community be XI won their Saturday competition in Term 1. A number of positive and enthusiastic about what it could be, and work junior and senior players were selected for Waikato Valley to support it happening. The results speak for themselves. representative teams. In Cross Country, history was created Post Covid we had our most successful winter sporting with seven athletes selected for the New Zealand Secondary season ever, in terms of both participation and performance. Schools Cross Country team to compete at the World Their reaction to Covid, and that of their coaches was to take Schools Cross Country (Slovakia). This year St Peter’s athletes the disappointment on the chin and look for ways to make won National titles in two age groups, U14 and U20. There positive gains this year. The results speak for themselves, as were also several Waikato Bay of Plenty Secondary School does the increase in numbers playing sport, and the progress podium finishes. all sports codes are making towards meeting the needs of all Cycling has seen a big increase in numbers this year. The students of varying abilities and interests. velodrome track is proving popular. It is great to see us Athletics is one of the high performce and participation utilising such a fantastic resource right on our door step. sports, with 80 students attending Waikato Zones sports. Sadly, for our road cycling students, we didn’t have any North These athletes finished the day with the highest haul of Islands or Nationals due to Covid. Track cycling managed medals. In Badminton we attracted big numbers again to have a National competition where St Peter’s placed 2nd and Waikato Badminton were appointed as coaches for overall – our highest placing at this event to date. We also the season. Basketball enjoyed another successful season. hosted Cambridge High School for a track event. This was a The senior premier girls retained their Waikato Secondary great success, and something we intend to continue in the Schools’ Basketball League title and won the Basketball New future. Zealand sanctioned Zone 3 Invitational Tournament. Our Equestrian had a very successful year overall, managing to junior girls also retained their Waikato Secondary Schools hold five out of six of our inter-school events despite Covid; Basketball League title, and the boys competed in Senior winning four of them. We won the inaugural inter-school’s Open A grades. Three junior boys teams also competed in competition at Horse of the Year and were the only team various grades. 3 EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL’S REPORT to complete their courses with no faults. They introduced Rock climbing defended their Waikato Secondary School’s show jumping championship series winner ribbons, which Climbing Championship title, winning Waikato District Team four out of six were won by St Peter’s students. Equestrian and mixed team and placing second overall. Impressive finished the year on a high with the Masquerade Ball, raising podium results included Sophie Waddell, 1st senior girl in money for the Equestrian Academy and our Equine Assisted both speed and top rope, Esme MacGillivray 1st junior girl Learning Programme for at-risk kids.