With the drop in night temperatures and early morning mists, the winter season has arrived at Peterhouse. With it comes a frenzy of activity in all spheres of school life. In the classroom, the impending mid-year examinations has increased the focus on our academic programme and, for the public examination classes, comes an urgency of purpose. On the sportsfields, our teams continue to produce some fine results, and we value the competition provided by the schools on our fixtures programme. Culturally, the NIAA Speech and Drama adjudications take place this term and work of this school drama production has begun in earnest.
C BLOCK NYANGA EXPEDITION
Both the Peterhouse Girls and Boys C Blocks enjoyed their “expedition” to Nyanga. Perhaps the highlight of the trip will have been summiting Nyangani which is the highest peak in Zimbabwe. Both groups were fortunate in having had some excellent weather whilst in Nyanga. This allowed for all the planned activities to take place. This trip is designed to give the C Block and insight into their next expedition which will be to the Chimanimani Mountains in 2027. For the current B Block the preparatory work for the 2026 Chims trip, next year, is all but done.
KIDZCAN
The first Sunday of the term heralded the annual KIDZCAN walk in Calderwood Park. This was incredibly well supported and will, once again, help support KIDZCAN in their endeavours to providing Children in Zimbabwe with support in their fight against cancer.
Thank you to all those of you who supported the day and for helping to recognise the work done by KIDZCAN.
AFRICA DAY
Celebrated on 25 May, Africa Day is a celebration of our African roots and heritage. As a public holiday we were able to celebrate and recognise the day with services in our Chapels and with an African themed Concert in the Fieldsend Hall. There is much to acknowledge and to celebrate and we, in Africa Day, were able to reflect on our rich and colourful traditions and history.
BUS BOOKINGS
Please can I appeal to you to ensure, through your children, that bus bookings are accurate. Last-minute changes to bookings cannot be accommodated, especially where a booking is made and then not taken up. It must be noted that the booking will still be charged to your account. Equally, arriving at a bus without a booking puts real strain on our resources and potentially creates a safety issue for the school. The duty staff on buses may deny your child access to the bus without a booking.
SUPPORT
In the coming weeks, the school will be hosting a number of significant home fixtures. We look forward to welcoming our visitors to the school and enjoying the competition of the games to be played. Please, can I remind you of the importance of gamesmanship and the importance of supporting the teams in the right manner. The coaches and players have put in a considerable amount of work into preparing the teams, and their efforts deserve appropriate support. Equally, match officials play an important role in managing games, and negative commentary sets the wrong tone and example for the players. Lastly, the inappropriate consumption of alcohol at games undermines our efforts in ensuring the success of our endeavours to encourage good sportsmanship. We look forward to some great sport in the weeks ahead, and it is important we all set the right examples for our players. I look forward to seeing you at both the Falcon and St. John’s “Pink Day” games.
