Find out about St Peter’s learnings in, around, and outside our school over these past two weeks.

Future Blue Day: A group of St Peter's School and Cambridge High School students recently experienced the first 'Future Blue' Day organised by Community Constable Hibdige from the Cambridge Police Station. The event was designed to allow students to learn more about the varied roles within the New Zealand Police Force.

The students participated in the New Zealand Police recruitment PAT fitness test and were given a tour of the new Cambridge Police Station. In addition, they took the opportunity to listen to guest speakers, including the Manager of the 111 National Call Centre, CIB Detectives, the Financial Crimes unit, Frontline Staff, the Armed Offender Squad, a Police Dog Handler, and the Manager of Police Recruitment. Part of the presentation included the opportunity to use Virtual Reality headsets, used in Police training.

After a successful event, we can expect this to become an annual learning and information experience in the coming years. 

Premier Boys Lacrosse: The boys had a fantastic first game of the season, recently playing Hamilton Boys’ High School Premier Lacrosse team, drawing 11 all.

Despite having a small following, St Peter's Boys’ Lacrosse team played exceptionally well against the more experienced Boys' High team.

St Peter's is now the only school to represent Lacrosse in all competition grades. The team are looking to strengthen their ranks and are on a recruitment drive.

If you are interested in being part of the St Peter’s Premier Boys Lacrosse team, contact Mr Pitu in the sports department for more information. 

New Zealand Defence Force: On Tuesday, May 23, Sergeant O’Neil from the New Zealand Air Force and Sergeant Hayes from the New Zealand Army spoke about careers in the New Zealand Defence Force.

The presentation detailed how a career in the Defence Force allows students to gain a tertiary qualification whilst earning an income. It also presents a fantastic opportunity for extensive overseas travel.

Students were interested in learning about the vocations on offer, including being a medic and the various Trades roles across the Military, Air Force and Navy, as well as what it takes to be part of the SAS.

The Defence Force will be at the Cambridge Community Careers Expo on Thursday, August 3. 

Year 13 Geography and Tourism Trip: The Year 13 Geography and Years 12 and 13 Tourism classes embarked on an excellent adventure to Rotorua on Friday, May 19.

Despite the terrible weather at the start of the day, the group persevered with the itinerary dodging showers along the way. The students investigated the cultural processes of Tourism by becoming tourists.

After a lecture by the Education Officer at the Rotorua Lakes Council about the history of tourism in Rotorua and the Pink and White Terraces, the group travelled to Te Puia to witness the artistry of carvers and craftsman, using native timbers, bone, bronze and pounamu (stone).

The highlight for many was the adrenaline rides at Velocity Valley including the Swoop, Jet Boating, Free Fall Extreme, gondola ride up Mt Ngongataha, and a downhill Luge ride.

The day ended with an evening show of Māori Culture and a delicious Hangi meal provided by Mitai. Thanks to everyone who helped run this fantastic trip that students will use to complete their required assessments. 

MTA Performance Café: The Musical Theatre Academy Performance Café was held recently, where friends and family were invited to watch the talent unfold on the stage.

The focus for this event was selecting, refining, and rehearsing songs and dialogue from musicals from the pre-1970s and post-2000s. This allowed the students to research new musical items and set pieces that were not necessarily familiar to them.

The students should be congratulated for the hard work they showed through their singing, dancing, and acting. A big thanks to St Peter's Head of Voice, Sam Cleaver, for accompanying the students on the piano during their performance. 

Footnote Dance Workshop: The Years 10-13 curriculum Dance Students were fortunate enough to have two dancers from the Footnote Dance Company come to St Peter's to run a dance workshop.

The students were taught contemporary repertoire from one of Footnote's upcoming works. They then further developed this choreography through a range of exercises beneficial for preparing for forthcoming class choreography assessments.

Many thanks to Footnote Dance Company, who will return to work with curriculum dance students again next year. 

Drama Showcase: In Week 6 the Level 1 and 2 Drama students performed their showcase productions of 'Form' and 'My Friend George' to an invited audience. Both shows were a great success and the students demonstrated their skills by performing with confidence and supporting one another on and off the stage. The variety of dramatic and comedic moments highlighted some of the specific strengths within our Drama students. Thanks to the AV team for their support as well as everyone who came along to watch the shows.

Year 13 Advanced Scuba Diving: This three-day Scuba Diving Advanced Course, set in the Bay of Islands, was a fantastic trip planned by students as part of three separate level three assessments including Trip Planning, Risk Management and Understanding Leadership.

The group headed to Northland beach Little Taupiri for their first night dive on day one. On day two and three, the group headed out on the Northland Dive Boat for additional tank dives, one of which took in a dive on the HMNZS Canterbury wreck. 

Ag/Hort activities: During Weeks 5 and 6 Ag/Hort students have been active for Years 9, 10 and 11 Students.

Year 9 and 10 Ag/Hort classes helped plant the Owl Farm riparian strips beside the farm drains. These native plants were given to the school through the “Trees for survival” programme and have been nurtured to size by St Peter’s students since December 2022.

Meanwhile, Year 11 students visited a Kiwifruit orchard and the Apata pack house. This trip was designed to help students understand why certain industries are in specific areas. Students were wowed by the automation in the pack house, how fast the orchard pickers picked fruit and the share volume of fruit that goes through the production process.  

STARS Concert: Performing Arts Prefects, Jade Newton and Oliver Huang hosted a fabulous themed “STP News” STARS concert on Wednesday, 24 May.

This annual event is run by students for students, which saw 31 entries showcasing contemporary and hip-hop dance, solo and duet instrumental and vocal performances, stand-up comedy, and an incredible lightsaber performance.

With a full house, the show was a great success with an amazingly supportive audience driving the performers on stage. Due to the fire alarm interrupting the final few performances the event was cut short but this did not damper the excitement of this annual event. 

International student outing: St Peter’s international students visited Sea Life Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium in Mission Bay recently, embarking on one of the regular international excursions.

Kelly Tarlton’s focuses strongly on the environmental impacts that threaten many sea species and how we can limit our damage to this precious ecosystem. Students saw seahorses, sea turtles, sharks, stingrays, as well as Gentoo and King penguins.

Afterwards, they headed to Westfield Newmarket, where students had the opportunity to try some authentic food from around the world and spent time looking at some retail shops.

St Peter's students were excellent representatives of their countries and the school.