Dear Parents/Carers,

Please see here, the link for the School Magazine, Chalk & Talk 2025.

Click Here

We hope you enjoy reading a round up of all the fabulous events that have taken place at Richard Challoner during this academic year.

Have a lovely summer. 

School Office

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Mental Health Support Team (MHST) have been offering a series of monthly webinars for parents called The Helping Teens with... series of webinars. In order to continue to make the webinars accessible and tailored to your interests as a parent, we would appreciate you sharing your views and giving feedback via this questionnaire.

Click Here

Best wishes,

Ailish Southall

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Wellbeing

Richard Challoner School

0208 330 5947

Dear Parents and Carers,

I apologise for sending this just before the end of term and I truly hope you and your family enjoy a restful and safe summer. However, I have been asked by the police to share this urgent safeguarding message with you now.

We are increasingly concerned about the rising number of children and young people being cleverly groomed, coerced and exploited online, often through social media, messaging apps and gaming platforms, both across the country and closer to home. This can happen slowly and subtly, without your child even realising they are being targeted until it’s too late.

The most powerful protection we can offer our children is a trusting relationship where they feel safe talking to us about anything. As parents, carers and teachers, we can all help to create that positive space. The idea that: ‘this wouldn’t happen to my child’ is not enough anymore, as times have changed.

Given the information the police have shared with us, we urge all parents and carers to take time as soon as possible to:

• Check your child’s device for unknown contacts, hidden photo vaults, locked folders, or inappropriate images - explaining to your child why.

• Review the apps installed - some allow disappearing messages or hidden content (such as Discord).

• Talk openly about how online grooming works. It often begins with compliments, or friendly chats, before becoming manipulative and harmful. Sadly, online groomers are very skilled at building trust, and even confident, thoughtful young people can be manipulated without realising it. This is why these conversations matter so much.

• Remind them not to share personal photos or move chats to private platforms without your knowledge. There are many cases where children are asked to share photos and then blackmailed. The police told me last week that sextortion is, sadly, becoming more and more common.

• Reassure them they can talk to you or to school without fear of getting into trouble. A trusting relationship is the most effective protection we can offer, and together we can create that safe space.

If something doesn’t feel right, you can report it to the school, or directly to:

• CEOP: www.ceop.police.uk

• Childline: 0800 1111

We are continuing to educate and support students in school, but this is a shared responsibility, and your involvement at home is crucial. The actions you take this week could protect your child from real harm.

Please take this email seriously and act on it as soon as possible.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Mrs A Southall

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Wellbeing

Richard Challoner School

0208 330 5947

Dear Parents and Carers,

We’re thrilled to share the wonderful success of our recent Mini Marathon fundraising event!

Thanks to your incredible support and the enthusiasm of our pupils, we raised an amazing £4,470! This is a fantastic achievement and a true reflection of our school community coming together for a great cause.

Your generosity and encouragement helped make the events a joyful and memorable experience for all involved. We are so proud of what we’ve achieved together, the top fundraiser raised a huge £750, an amazing amount. Congratulations

The money will be equally shared by the Sports Department and our chosen charity, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a mental health charity which do fantastic work to support some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

Thank you once again for your continued support!

Warm regards,

Mr P Manley

Director of Sport

With warmer weather upon us, students have been told today that they can remove their ties.

Given the high temperatures forecast for the next few days, students will not be expected to wear a tie to school for the rest of this week. The decision about whether students will be expected to wear their ties next week will be reviewed on Friday.

If students do choose to wear a tie, they are expected to wear it properly with their top button done up.

Expectations regarding blazers remain unchanged: students do not need to wear a blazer to or from school. However, should they feel that they need an extra layer first thing in the morning, that layer should be their school blazer, not a jumper or other coat.

Dear Parent/Carer,

Following Maria Ahearn’s inspiring workshop with the Richard Challoner School Choir, we’re pleased to offer your child the opportunity to begin individual or small-group singing lessons with Maria from September 2025, right here at your school.

Many choir students enjoyed the chance to see what personalised vocal coaching can offer. Whether your child is already confident or just finding their voice, one-to-one lessons can make a real difference—building technique, expanding range, improving performance skills, and increasing overall confidence.

Maria teaches on the same day as choir rehearsals, making it especially easy for students to attend both. Lessons can be tailored to any style, and we welcome students of all levels.

If you’d like to express interest or ask questions about fees, times, or bursaries, please follow the link below or get in touch with Kingston Music Service directly at musicservice@kingston.gov.uk

Steps:

1) Follow the link: Click Here

2) Scroll until you find: Find your child's school

3) Locate and select our school on the list

4) A new box will appear 'Browse Courses' with the option 'Instrumental and Voice Lessons (for children aged 5-18)' - click on this

5) Select Voice and then your preferred option.

We hope this will be the start of a fantastic musical journey for your child.

Warmest regards,

Gregory Emfietzis

Outreach & Engagement Manager

Kingston Music Service (Culture & Heritage) 

Dear Parents/Carers,

With the weather set fair for the next 2 weeks, we have made the decision to move to summer uniform between now and the end of the summer term.

Summer uniform means that students no longer need to wear their blazer in school, nor on their way to and from school. However, students are still expected to look smart, and we would expect them in their shirts and ties, with top buttons done up and shirt tails tucked in.

We would like to remind students that if they feel the morning is too cold to go out in just their shirt and tie, they must then wear their blazer. It would not be appropriate to wear their school jumper, a hoodie, a sports jacket, a tracksuit top, a coat etc. instead of their blazer, if they felt the weather required an extra layer. Please make sure your son understands the requirements for summer uniform, and if necessary go through this email with them to clarify any misunderstandings they may have.

Thanking you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

Kind regards

Mr. I O'Brien

Deputy Head 

Dear Parent/Carer,

As part of the Catholic ethos of the school we offer a Mass to all students and their families every Friday morning at 8.10am, in the School Chapel which is above Music 1 and the Music Practice Rooms. It lasts about twenty-five minutes. It is designed to provide a good start to the day surrounded by friends and colleagues.

If you and your family would like to attend the Mass, we ask that you arrive at the School Office between 8 and 8.05am and you will be escorted to the Chapel.

The rota for this term is as follows:

• 9B – 2nd May

• 9C – 9th May

• 9D – 16th May

• 9F – 23rd May

• 9M – 6th June

• No Mass – 13th June

• 8M – 20th June

• 10F & 10M – 27th June

• 9A – 4th July

• No Mass – 11th July

If there are any intentions that you would like us to pray for, at any time of the year, please either ask your son/daughter to see us, or feel free to send us a message. We will then ensure it is added and prayed for in the intentions of our weekly Mass and included in our daily prayers.

Thank you for your continued support, if you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Anne D’Silva & Neil D’Aguiar

Lay Chaplains

chaplain@richardchalloner.com

Dear Parent,

A number of students attending the school suffer from a range of allergies; some suffer from a nut allergy. Should they come into contact with nuts, food containing nuts or any material that has been in contact with nuts, eg clothing and food wrappers, this could cause a severe reaction.

It is therefore very important that students and parents are aware and do not bring into school any item containing nuts, to avoid the risk of potentially harmful allergic reactions for some students.

As always, your support in this matter is much appreciated.

Sean Maher

Headmaster 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Each year we ask parents/carers of all students to take part in our annual careers survey.

it is a short survey that should take no longer than 5 minutes- Click Here

The purpose of this is to ensure that all parties involved in our students lives are supported and informed around careers education. Students receive careers input in each year they are at school and the aim is to give them the opportunities, skills and tools to face their working life once outside the school gates.

Your feedback is appreciated to help further develop the links between home and school conversations for each and every student.

Mrs L Stansbridge

CEIAG Lead

Dear Parents,

In today’s digital age, platforms like TikTok and social media influencers can expose young minds to narrow or even harmful perspectives. As these platforms play a significant role in our children's lives, it’s crucial for us to stay informed about their social media use. Equally important is approaching this topic with curiosity, rather than judgment to encourage dialogue and openness.

Instead of focusing solely on the potential risks of emojis, slang, or online trends, we encourage you to have open, honest conversations with your child. Asking questions like, “What does that emoji mean?” or “What’s the latest slang you and your friends are using?” can help you better understand their online world, while also showing your interest in their digital lives.

At the same time, it's important to remain mindful of the potential risks social media can bring. While emojis and slang may seem harmless, they can sometimes be misused or misunderstood. A major concern today is sextortion—a form of online manipulation where individuals pressure children and young adults into sharing explicit content. This can have serious emotional and psychological effects. If your child is ever approached inappropriately online, it’s essential they feel safe coming to you for support. Many platforms, such as CEOPS, Take it Down, or Report Remove, can help remove explicit images if necessary, but acting quickly is key.

We all play a part in helping our children engage with social media in a positive and safe way. To support you, I’ve attached a breakdown of emojis and slang terms that may be useful in understanding their online communication. By staying informed, we can work together to spot potential issues and intervene when necessary.

Here is the link to the resource: [SmartSocial - Teen Slang, Emojis &

Hashtags]. https://smartsocial.com/teen-slang-emojis-hashtags-list#popular-slang

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards,

Ailish Southall (Assistant Headteacher) and Jake Mundy (Inclusion Mentor)

Dear Parents/Carers,

Kingston Music Service (KMS) is excited to announce that a new brass tutor, Mr Cooper, is based at Challoner, weekly on Tuesdays. If your child is interested in learning the trumpet, trombone, french horn or tuba, you can sign up for lessons with KMS via this link: Click Here 

Dear Parent,

As you may know we have been using a system called SOCs to assist us in our fixtures and sports organisation this year. We have spent the first term trialling this system and the next step is to develop our parent engagement. To do this we would ask you to log onto SOCs using the URL below

Click Here

There is also a link via our school websiteClick Here

Once on the site please click on the green parent tab and then the activate an account button. You will be prompted to enter the email address you have registered with the school, please do this to activate the account. You will receive an email with a link to create a password.

Once logged in, you will be able to find details of the school fixtures. This will include the date, time and location fixtures are arranged for.

It currently will not show team sheets, students will be informed via direct emails regarding selection.

We hope that using this system will allow parents to engage with the current work that is going on within the sports department and support where possible. Please bear with us as we learn how to use this new system as efficiently as possible!

At school we are firm believers in encouraging students to engage fully with sport at school, we aim to develop self-determination through independence and we hope that SOCs will support us in this endeavour. If your son has any queries regarding school sport, please encourage them to speak to the teacher in charge of the team. We understand that this can be daunting for younger students but staff are present to support the students in this important development.

Many thanks in your anticipated support for school sport and the use of SOCs to enhance our provision.

Mr Manley

Director of Sport 

Dear Parents and carers,

As we return to another busy term ahead within the careers department I wanted to give you an overview of some of the activities that will be happening across the school

January-

-Remaining year 11 1-1 meetings to take place.

-Careers café for all students – Literary agent presentation

February-

-National Apprenticeship week activities and celebrations.

(if you have a son/daughter who is doing or planning to do an apprenticeship and you would be happy to share your thoughts for a short video I am putting together please email me)

-year 8 careers unit

-Year 10 virtual work experience

-careers café for all students- Business transformation presentation

March-

-National careers week activities and celebrations

-year 9 careers unit

-careers café- for all students TBC Marketing Consultant Innovation

After the Easter break I will write to you again to update on the term ahead, but focus will be on

- supporting year 9 students with their option choices,

- getting year 12 work experience places confirmed

- getting ready for the year 8 Sons to work day in June

- year 10 careers explorations days

- year 7 and 10 careers units

- continuing the careers cafes programme

- motivational assemblies for Yr 7,8 and 9

and much more!

Please refer to the careers webpages for further information on any of the above- www.richardchalloner.com/careers or email careersiag@challoner.kingston.sch.uk

If you would like to get involved with the careers programme please do sign yourself up Click Here

Mrs L Stansbridge

Careers Lead

Dear Parent/Guardian,


At Richard Challoner we are blessed with excellent sports facilities. We hope your son is looking forward to utilising all of them during the rest of this academic year.

During each year group pupils are offered a range of sports activities including – Rugby Union, Football, Basketball, Cricket, Volleyball, Table-Tennis, Athletics, Fitness Training, Cross-Country and Gymnastics.

We do ask for a £30.00 contribution to support the running of the comprehensive sports programme and extra-curricular activities offered throughout the academic year. Please could this payment should be made via MCAS as soon as possible.

We participate in many different sports and achieve high levels of success performing in Rugby, Football, Basketball, Cross Country and Table Tennis competitions already this year.

This success is down to the dedication and commitment of the boys, their parents and school staff who give up their time and this is highlighted by the hundreds of sports fixtures and clubs pupils have attended during this past academic year.

A previous Ofsted Report (Going the Extra Mile) highlighted the positive impact that extracurricular sport has not only on the development of young people but how it can aid academic achievement. It is my intention that Richard Challoner School continues to provide a diverse and engaging extracurricular programme in 2024/25 and beyond.

We aim to offer both recreational and competitive sport to all pupils. Fixtures generally take place after school and on Saturday Mornings and have continued through the current difficulties. As outlined in the school prospectus ‘pupils are expected to represent the school when selected’.

After Saturday morning fixtures refreshments are available after all home matches in the school pavillion. We encourage all parents to come along and support.

Pupils will require full kit for all Games/PE lessons, this includes –


Outdoor Lessons Long sleeved Hooped Games Shirt
Black Shorts
Hooped Black and Green Socks
Studded Boots
Gum Shield for Rugby
Shin Pads for Football


Indoor Lessons Black Crested Tee Shirt
Black Shorts
White Socks
Clean trainers (non- marking sole)

Please could you also ensure all equipment is clearly labelled.
Kit can be purchased through Village Sports in Raynes Park

If your son is unable to participate in any PE or Games lessons please could you provide a note, addressed to his teacher, explaining the reason. Your son will still take part in some of the lessons; maybe as an official or coach and should bring a tracksuit and suitable footwear in order to do so.

If you have any queries in relation to this letter please feel free to contact me via the school office and thank you for your continued support for school sport.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr. P Manley
Director of Sport
Richard Challoner School

Dear Parents/Carers,

At Richard Challoner we take the mental health and wellbeing of our students very seriously, and therefore have several forms of support available to help students navigate difficulties and develop coping skills. This includes a team of staff within the school, as well as colleagues from the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) at Achieving for Children - please see more information about the MHST attached. We believe in the importance of early intervention, and therefore a lot of the support we offer is about addressing difficulties, such as anxiety and low mood, at an early stage.

If you have concerns about your child and feel that they may benefit from support with their mental health and wellbeing, please complete the below form, which will be received by the school's Mental Health Lead.

Parent referral form: Click Here

Kind regards

Mrs A Southall

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Student Wellbeing

Richard Challoner School

0208 330 5947

Dear Parents/Guardians,

To try and support parents with the expense of buying football boots the PE department will be running a boot exchange scheme. Initially, we are calling for students to donate any spare boots that they do not require to the PE Department. Hopefully, we will have a large number of donations so we can stock a range of different sizes (especially, size 7 upwards).

Students will then be able to exchange a pair of their own boots that don’t fit for pair from our stock. If students don’t have suitable boots to exchange then they can purchase some for £5. This money will go towards the school fund.

If any students would be kind enough to donate their old football boots, then please bring them into the PE department.

We will then aim to start the boot exchange scheme on Tuesday 5th November.

I look forward to your anticipated support,

Kind Regards,

Mr Jerwood.

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been brought to our attention that some of the parking and drop offs in the area close to school is causing problems for some of our local residents. We always strive to maintain good relationships with the local community so we ask for your support and cooperation in this matter.

If you are parking, please make sure that you do so with consideration and that you are not overlapping someone's drive. If you are dropping off, you may think that you are only obstructing a driveway for a short period of time, but when this happens multiple times a day, and each and every day of the school term, it can become a problem.

If you are dropping off, please could you also refrain from dropping your son immediately outside the school, particularly across the driveway of the house adjacent to the pupil entrance.

We appreciate that not all of these problems are caused by members of our school community but anything we can do to help alleviate the issue will be a positive step in overall community relations.

Thanking you in anticipation of your cooperation in this matter.

Kind regards

Mr I O'Brien

Deputy Head 

Dear Parents and carers,

We like to be as informed as possible so we can support and adjust our responses to the needs and requirements of your child.

With this in mind please would you complete the following goggle form if you child is a young carer, has been bereaved by an immediate family member or there have been any changes you feel would be beneficial for us to know about.

Click Here

For those that are unsure of what qualifies as a young carer,

‘A young carer is someone 18 years old or under who helps look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem.’ They are still considered a young carer even if they are not the main carer.

Please also add anything that you feel would be of benefit for us to know about.

Kind regards,

Ailish Southall

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Student Wellbeing

Richard Challoner School

0208 330 5947

Dear Parents or carers,

Achieving for Children’s Mental Health Support Teams are delivering a series of webinars for

parents of secondary aged children and young people (CYP).

The ‘Helping teens with …’ series of webinars will cover a range of common difficulties experienced by CYP and will aim to share evidence-based strategies to help parents and carers support their CYP with these difficulties. Below is a list of webinars on offer over the coming months. In the third and fourth columns of the table below, you will find the sign up links. Please note that sign up links will be added a month before the webinar dates.

Click Here 

Kind regards,

AiIish Southall

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Student Wellbeing

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Over the last few years, we have been working hard behind the scenes on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Richard Challoner.

Although we have always believed in these values and see them as fundamental to Catholic teaching, national and international events served as catalysts for this work to become a school priority.

This academic year, aside from marking Black History Month, South Asian Heritage Month and White Ribbon Day, we were delighted to achieve the Bronze Race Charter Mark. We have just become a White Ribbon Support school to show our commitment to combatting violence against women and girls. You can read more about this here, and you can find details about our work within our Equality Information and Objectives Policy. We have completed extensive work on policy, undergone staff training, reviewed schemes of work, adapted our teaching, analysed our data and set up the Diversity Group to encourage student voice.

We recognise our students have had and continue to have experiences both inside and outside school which may lead them to feel excluded, less valued or unsafe, and we do not accept this. All our staff have shown their commitment to improving student experience for all at Richard Challoner, supporting our students to embrace difference, cultivate curiosity and show respect to all. We recognise that combatting racism, sexism and homophobia must be an absolute priority, but also that it is an ongoing process.

We cannot achieve our goals without the support of those at home. Therefore, as we continue to strive for equity and inclusivity at school, we ask parents and guardians to support us. We ask you to have conversations at home about the need to challenge discriminatory language or stereotypes. We are acutely aware that our students will be accessing content that may expose them to language and points of view that do not align with the values of our school, or those of wider society. We ask you to be alert to the content students are accessing, and to contact us if you are unsure or concerned.

As ever, we would like to thank you for your ongoing support of the school, and we hope that, like us, you will see this work as a priority. If you would like to know more about what we have achieved as a school and what we are working on now, please contact the office and you will be passed on to our Inclusion and Diversity Lead, Lucy Parkinson, or the relevant staff member.

Kind Regards,

Sean Maher and Lucy Parkinson

Dear Parents

All schools in England have received a communication from the National Crime Agency asking us to alert parents to the increasing number of cases of financially motivated sexual extortion, often referred to as ‘sextortion’.

This is particularly pertinent to a boys secondary school. Though victims can be of any age and gender, the majority of cases involve male victims aged between 14 and 18.

Unfortunately, at Challoner we know of three of our young people who have been exploited in this way in the last few years. It is important that we make clear to our sons and daughters that if they are exploited in this way then they are victims of abuse, they should not be ashamed and that we will do all that we can to help and support them.

I have attached an article from the BBC Click Here

which summarises the problem as well as a letter from the NCA with lots of useful advice for parents to help support their children.

We will also be spending some time in tutor groups educating students about this issue but I would also strongly encourage you to discuss this with your sons and daughters at home.

If you ever need any support, help or guidance in dealing with financially motivated sexual extortion please do not hesitate to contact the safeguarding team at school.

Click Here 

Yours sincerely,

Sean Maher

Headmaster 

Dear Parents,

A number of students attending the school suffer from a range of allergies; some suffer from a nut allergy, should they come into contact with nuts, food containing nuts or any material that has been in contact with nuts, eg clothing and food wrappers.

It is therefore very important that students and parents are aware and do not bring into school any item containing nuts, to avoid the risk of potentially harmful allergic reactions for some students.

As always, your support in this matter is much appreciated.

Sean Maher

Headmaster 

Dear Parent,

I have written to you previously to make you aware that the school has changed its Games and Sports uniform supplier. We have moved from Trutex, which has closed down to Village Sports in Raynes Park.

The old school sports kit is still acceptable and should be used until it cannot be used further or is lost. To replace the kit please go online or in store to Village Sports to purchase the new style kit.

Village Sports do not currently have stock of Rugby shirts, shorts and socks and these will become available in June/July. Until then should you need to replace the kit please use plain black items.

At this point I would also like to remind you of the importance of naming kit, we find lots of lost kit and having a name makes it very easy to return items to their owner. 

A list of the kit and contact details for Village sports are listed below.

Should you have any further questions please contact myself via the school office.

Many thanks

Mr Manley

Indoor Kit

Black polo shirt with emblem Black gym shorts with emblem White ankle socks Trainers (non-marking sole) Outdoor Kit School reversible shirt Black and Green socks Boots with studs Gum shield Shin pads

Optional Kit

Base layer

Challoner Contact Top

Tracksuit Trousers - black

The Governing Body of Richard Challoner School is proposing some changes to its admissions arrangements for the academic year 2025-26. The consultation period will run for a period of 6 weeks from Tuesday 12th December 2023 to Tuesday 23rd January 2024.

Please click on the links below for full details of the proposed changes and how to submit any comments or objections you may have.

Notice of Consultation 2025-26 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iIRO5ghB60S5Q3s9JA7b0yBGrmc2vSTJ/view?usp=sharing

Proposed – Admissions Policy 2025-26- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gv8wmhRPYvs7hUogkPdL7gF7zsXUqp_Q/view?usp=sharing 

Proposed – Supporting Documentation Form 2025-26 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gz7vDEpiuBI7T2prbXlqWutuuw7EjKu2/view?usp=sharing 

Proposed – Sixth Form Admissions Policy 2025-26 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYaozajCO_0j3qBfVbt2zWD6jlahHlne/view?usp=sharing 

Proposed – Sixth Form Supporting Documentation Form 2025-26 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gsVyha5mqbUmYuvb8sydHpOfTRbF7QZG/view?usp=sharing 

Proposed Certificate of Catholic Practice - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1__Ck-fkepS6edhHuqGNqa84q4-xBaIgR/view?usp=sharing 

Kind regards,

Siobhan Manning

Admissions Officer 

Dear Parents,

Our school is a very busy place at the weekends, hosting a large Polish School, Willson’s Dance School and many sports fixtures.

We employ 2 members of staff to manage the lettings and look after the car parking on site, utilising both the car park and the playground in order to accommodate all the vehicles.

We would therefore ask you to remind your child, if they are at school at any point over a Saturday or Sunday, that the playground is used as a car park and they must be mindful of moving vehicles at all times.

Thank you for your help with this.

Richard Challoner School

Dear Parents,

I would like to share a few important resources with you.

Firstly may I bring your attention to the Anna Freud website. Here is a link that will be shared with your child, giving some excellent guidance and ideas for selfcare to help build your child's resilience.Click here

Secondly here are resources full of ideas for selfcare for you as parents and carers. Click Here

Thirdly if you feel your family is in a state of conflict or separation, here is a link that may be of interest to you. It has some short-term and longer term strategies to protect children from parental conflict.Click Here

In addition to these resources we would encourage parents to keep the school informed (via the pastoral teams) where there may be ongoing and/or significant conflict in the family home. While these situations are typically very private and sensitive and we would always treat such information with discretion, keeping the school informed enables us to be watchful and supportive with regards to potential impact on your child's wellbeing and learning.

And lastly, as part of the school’s ongoing work on gender equity and our first official commemoration of White Ribbon Day on 6th December, I would like to highlight a seminar titled ‘Inspiring Young People to Change The Culture’ which will be held on the 30th November at Kingston University. This session is for teachers and parents and aims to inspire boys to actively change the culture around gender inclusivity and respect for women. We warmly encourage you to attend. Below is the sign up link.

Sign up link: Click Here

To learn more about White Ribbon Day please see this link: Click Here

Best wishes,

Ailish Southall (she/her)

Assistant Headteacher i/c Safeguarding and Wellbeing

Miss L Parkinson (she/her)

Inclusion and Diversity Lead

Richard Challoner School

0208 330 5947

Dear Parents,

Following a health and safety review, I am writing to all parents to remind them that it is their responsibility to ensure that their son or daughter attends school with an asthma inhaler or EpiPen should they need one. They must carry it with them at all times. We do also have spares on site for emergency use.

The office can also store any medication for your child that they might need during a school day e.g. antihistamine. This should be passed to the school office with clear instructions.

I would also ask students to make sure they take any medication with them when they attend sports fixtures or when playing sport on the back fields.

Finally, please do make sure that your child’s medical details are up to date on Bromcom as this is where we would draw information from for trips or in an emergency.

If you have any questions or are unsure how to update your details, please contact either the school office or our systems manager in the first instance.

Yours sincerely,

Sean Maher

Headmaster 

Dear Parents,

You may be aware that Trutex in Worcester Park has now closed as the owners have retired.

The official supplier of Challoner Uniform has therefore moved to Village Sports, who are located in Raynes Park, and stock can be viewed on their website:

https://www.village-sports.co.uk/collections/richard-challoner-school

They offer a click and collect or delivery service, or you can of course pop into the shop.

Richard Challoner School

Dear Parent/Guardian.

I hope your son is enjoying the new school year. At Richard Challoner we believe that education does not only occur within the classroom and we aim to use our wider curriculum to develop well rounded young adults who can succeed in life.

Each person is recognised as a child of God and should be encouraged to develop his/her God-given talents and to reach his/her potential. In partnership with the wider community, we aim to prepare each student to make full use of the opportunities available so that all are able to contribute positively to society.

Many of the school staff give freely of their time to provide students with additional learning or recreational activities. It is our expectation that these opportunities are seized and the most successful students seem to thrive given these experiences.

Please use this link to the school website to access information list regarding the majority of extra-curricular activities. https://www.richardchalloner.com/students/wider-curriculum-opportunities The music and sports timetables appear separately. Occasionally the activities are run at different times and pupils will be made aware of these changes. I ask that you take a few minutes to discuss the list with your son and actively encourage him to sign-up and participate in several activities.

As you are probably already aware the House system is also an integral part of school life and fulfils a number of aims, including exposing our pupils to competition in a controlled way. Please could you encourage your son to become fully involved with a range of house events.

This year we have been developing, and have just launched stage 1, of a bespoke piece of software that aims to track participation and will lead to recognition and awards for the Challoner Challenge. After half term we aim to launch the reporting phase of this software, where both you and your son will be able to see which activities he has participated in and how he is building challenge points towards a Challenge Bronze, Silver or Gold award. The Challenge Challoner software package will also allow students to inform us about, and recognise commitments that are made outside of school life. These can also contribute towards their Challoner Challenge points total. This should hopefully allow us, and particularly your son’s form tutor, to have regular informed conversations with him and to get to know him better. I am certainly looking forward to presenting the first blazer badges at an assembly in the not too distant future.

The software can be accessed on PC’s, tablets, mobiles or your son’s school iPad (please ask him to show you). There are already activities taking place in school that your son can sign up to. The process is simple and involves him signing up to an activity in advance if he plans to attend, or has been invited to attend. Staff will then register attendance at the activity to acknowledge participation in the event.

Individual departments/staff will advertise clubs/activities to pupils using the usual channels of communication in school. The onus is on students to sign up to the activity they want to participate in on the date that it has been advertised to occur on. At present all activities appear on the drop-down menus for all students when they try to sign up to an event. They need to select the event they wish to participate in, and then select the date that it has been advertised for. This has caused a little bit of confusion for some pupils, but we feel sure that this will be come less of an issue as they get used to this new way of recording their participation.

It is great to see so many students keen to 'getting involved' and enjoying school life.

Yours faithfully,

Mr M Cox

Assistant Head

I have received a few queries related to homework on Bromcom, so I created a short video for students and emailed them this afternoon. It is available here if you would like to watch it: https://watch.screencastify.com/v/vkQbnu7lg97oMZGNxxBL 

I am aware that attachments on homework tasks are not working for parents, but they do work for students, so they can access them via the portal. Many files they need will be on Showbie anyway and parents would not have access to these.

The biggest confusion was around the submission of work. Whilst some tasks were asking for a file to be submitted, this is a system default and I have provided some guidance to staff on how to change this. As a general rule, students will complete work in their exercise books and hand it in the next lesson or upload a piece of work to Showbie for the teacher to see. 

As the video shows, a homework task can be removed from the list by hiding it, and the warning about submission can be ignored. Whilst Bromcom is used by some schools to collect work electronically, we are only using it to provide students with the information they need to complete the task.

Providing they complete the homework on time and submit it to the teacher in the way they have requested (i.e. in the class or via Showbie) everything should be fine.

I hope this helps to clarify the situation.

If you have not yet signed in to Bromcom, please take the opportunity this weekend and review the homework and any behaviour comments they may have received.

Kind regards,

Mr Henderson
Deputy Head