Dear Parents

Please be reminded that school closes to students on Thursday 23rd October at the end of a normal school day and will reopen at 8.40am on Tuesday 4th November 2025. Details of Term Dates for the Academic Years, 2025/26 and 2026/27 are available on the school website.

Please find attached our October Newsletter, which includes Key Dates for the Autumn Term.

Click Here 

Ian O'Brien

Acting Headmaster 

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are very sorry to let you know that, due to unforeseen issues, the Ball scheduled for 18th October will not be going ahead on that date. However, the Ball is not cancelled – we are already working hard to secure a new date and will confirm details as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your understanding and continued support – it means a great deal to us, and we look forward to celebrating with you in the not too distant future.

With best wishes,

Friends of Challoner

Dear Parent/Carers,

I’d like to bring to your attention an upcoming event.

Following the recent canonisation of St Carlo Acutis there will be an exhibition at St John Fisher Church, 207 Cannon Hill Lane, SW20 9BA.

Saint Carlo Acutis' first great mission was to explain that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Catholic Church. The Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles is his great life's work.

The Free exhibition runs from Sat 18th Oct to Sun 2nd Nov 2025.The exhibition will be open for a couple of hours each weekday except Thursdays. And also whole day Saturday and Sunday from 8am-7.30pm for the three weekends. There will be an Opening Mass on Friday 17th Oct at 7pm and a Closing Mass on Sun 2nd Nov followed by light refreshments in the hall.

If you require more information please contact St John Fisher church directly.

Kind regards

Neil D’Aguiar

Lay Chaplain

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have communicated with you previously regarding our policy on being a nut-free school and this means we never intentionally serve items with nuts; we also rely on a partnership with you in keeping all packed lunches and snacks nut-free as well.

However, when dealing with commercially prepared foods, we sometimes run into required labelling. A very limited number of products we purchase carry a Precautionary Allergen Statement (PAS), meaning they are labelled "May Contain Nuts." This is a legal disclaimer indicating that while nuts aren't an ingredient, the item was made on shared machinery. It’s a tiny risk, but one we take seriously and want you to be aware of.

Specifically, we want to let you know this "May Contain Nuts" advisory applies to the cookies and croissants/pastries currently available for sale in our canteen. Because we buy in these products, this labelling is unavoidable. We strongly advise parents of children with severe allergies to keep this advisory in mind when deciding on canteen purchases.

We appreciate that the pupils in the school make the food choices themselves, so we ensure that these products are appropriately labelled, both on the Fusion app when ordering any items, on digital signage and the signage at point of sale.

If you could remind your child to look for these allergens listed when purchasing their food items as this is the most up to date information that can be provided. We are looking for alternative products but currently there aren’t items available that have different allergen labelling. They are encouraged to talk to the catering staff when collecting or purchasing food items if they have any severe allergies or any queries regarding the ingredients in any of the food sold.

With kind regards,

Mrs Harvey

Dear Parent,

As part of the Catholic ethos of the school we offer a Mass for 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 last about twenty-five minutes. It is designed to provide a good start to the day surrounded by friends and colleagues. The Mass will be celebrated by Fr Sean from St Matthias Church.

Each Form Class will be given responsibility for one weekly prayer service over the academic year. I would ask that you support us in our efforts by encouraging your son/daughter to participate in the Mass.

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 week of your son/daughter’s Prayer Service can be found on the list below:

• 7A & 7B – 26th Sept

• 7C & 7D – 3rd Oct

• 7F & 7M – 10th Oct

• 8B & 8C – 17th Oct

Half term – 24th & 31st Oct

• 11A, 11B & 11C – 7th Nov

• 11D, 11F, & 11M – 14th Nov

• 10A & 10B – 21st Nov

• 10C & 10D – 28th Nov

• 10F & 10M – 5th Dec

• 8D – 12th Dec

No Mass – 19th Nov

If there are any intentions that you would like us to pray for, at any time of the year, please ask your son/daughter to either to see me, or feel free to send me a message. I 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 me.

Yours sincerely

Neil D’Aguiar

Lay Chaplain

chaplain@richardchalloner.com

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are excited to announce the full launch of SOCs, a new system designed to help us organise fixtures and improve communication for school sports. After a successful trial last year, we are now extending access to all parents. If you do not have an account from a previous year, please activate one by following the steps below.

To activate your parent account, please follow these steps:

Visit www.socscms.com

Click on the green Parent tab

Select Activate an Account

Enter the email address you have registered with the school to complete the activation

Once your account is activated, you will be able to view fixture details, including dates, times, and locations. While you will not need to log in each time, we recommend saving your login details.

Please note: Team sheets will still be sent directly to students via email. You will also be asked to provide consent for your son to play. Completing this at your earliest convenience helps us plan effectively and ensures students are not held back from playing.

We hope that SOCs will make it easier for parents to stay informed and engaged with the Sports Department. As we continue to familiarize ourselves with the system, we kindly ask for your patience.

At Richard Challoner, we believe sport is a powerful way to build self-determination, resilience, and independence. We hope SOCs will help with this by encouraging students to take responsibility for their sporting commitments. We also ask that if your son has a question about school sport, you encourage him to speak directly with his coach. While this can feel daunting for younger students, our staff are here to guide and support them in developing this important life skill.

Thank you for your continued support of school sport and for working with us as we introduce SOCs to enhance our provision.

Kind regards,

Mr P. Manley

Director of Sport

Richard Challoner School 

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 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,

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,

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 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 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

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,

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