For a small Sydney Anglican school just to be part of a national performance showcase is a great achievement but to win it with a distinctly Christian entry is something that still has not sunk in at St Peter’s Primary School in Campbelltown.

St Peter’s is Sydney’s only parish Anglican School. It and Broughton Anglican College are activities of St Peter’s Anglican Church, Campbelltown.

The school beat competition from across Australia to be crowned as champions of the 2011 J Rock (previously known as the Rock Eisteddfod).

The winning entry was ‘The Hiding Place: The Story of Corrie Ten Boom’ and told in music and dance the story of the Dutch Christian family who helped hide Jews from the Nazi army during World War II. Most of the Ten Boom family were arrested and died in a concentration camp but Corrie, through a clerical error, was released.

St Peter’s J Rock co-ordinator Mrs Laura Ralston said, “We chose this deep and moving story because it offers a message of God’s hope that even in the most horrific of circumstances and conditions, God still loves us and cares deeply for us”.

‘The Hiding Place’ was declared the national winner after a two-hour program of highlights screened across Australia on Channel Nine.

It’s not the first time St Peter’s has entered the competition with a strongly Christian entry. Previously the school dramatised the story of slave trader turned Christian minister, John Newton.

St Peter’s headmaster Stephen Bomford paid tribute to the 110 student performers and teachers, as well as parents and ex-students who supported them.

“For me, the most enduring benefit of J Rock is that our senior students learn to work in unison to powerfully share a compelling true story about God’s unconditional love,” Mr Bomford said.

“I hope the memory of this story and this achievement will never fade for those who
took part.”

Picture: Allira Betts (Year 6) played Corrie Ten Boom