Dear Parent / Guardian


To serve as a memory of your son’s time at Richard Challoner School, staff and students are compiling a yearbook to capture highlights of the past five years and provide your son with a memento for him to reminisce over in future years.

Previously, the yearbook has been a great success and consisted of photos of the year group, staff, school trips and amusing anecdotes. Feedback from pupils who purchased this was very positive and it is anticipated that this yearbook should be even better.

In order to make the yearbook the absolute best it can be, please encourage your son to find any photos he may have of himself and his peers during his time at Richard Challoner School. These may be photos taken in school, on school trips or outside of school, so long as they are appropriate for the yearbook.
These can be uploaded here: https://www.surveyhero.com/c/jtnbrwhu
Pictures really do make a difference between a good yearbook and a great yearbook, so the more we find, the better the book.

The yearbook will be issued to your son at an Awards Ceremony that we host in January / February 2027, when they also receive their exam certificates and trophies or awards. Alternatively, this can be collected from school if he cannot attend. If your son would like to receive a copy, they will be available for purchase at a cost of £25.00 on Bromcom, only until the end of the Summer term – Friday 10th July 2026.

I apologise for the limited timescale for you to respond to this. This is due to the fact that the printers will require a definite number and payment before processing, and therefore final orders must be made by this date. Unfortunately, after that date, when the order has been processed, extra copies cannot be ordered. We do hope that you will purchase a copy.


Yours Sincerely


Fiona Glassett

Good morning Parents/Carers,

Today your son has been provided with an order form relating to the recent whole year group photograph. If you would like to order a photograph please use the QR code from the order form.

Thanks

Mr M Cox 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last week, your son had an assembly about his Exam Support Timetable and this morning, during PSHE, the timetable was shared with him to edit to his own individual GCSE subjects. As of Monday 11th May, all Year 11 students will switch to an adapted school timetable to support their GCSE exams. The timetable consists of exams, teacher-led support sessions, and independent study at home.

Please Click Here for the generic Exam Support Timetable which was discussed with the students during the assembly and shared with them via Showbie. Students have been asked to annotate their timetable to make it specific to their GCSE subjects. Please ask your son to show you his adapted version of this on his iPad.

Key points/expectations:

• Morning exams - students will be expected in school by 8.30am at the latest

• If a student is coming in for period 4, they will need to sign in by 11.15am. If not required in until period 6, they will need to sign in by 1.30pm

• If a student leaves school for home study, they will need to sign out near the office

• All support sessions are compulsory - I emphasise it is a change of timetable

• For home study, students should be using the revision timetable they have created to cover the content needed for their exams

I advise you to keep a copy of your son’s Exam Support Timetable to help monitor when he should be in school, or studying at home. After their last GCSE exam, students will not be required in school. Please note a date for your calendar – GCSE results are on Thursday 20th August 2026.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and guardians for your supportive approach to the school over the years and especially in the run up to the GCSE exams. We wish you and your sons the best of luck in the coming months.

Kind regards,

K. McKenna

Year 11 Leader

Dear Parents/Carers,

In line with exam board guidelines, your son's centre-assessed component will be published on MCAS on the date shown in the attached file (by the end of the day on the internal deadline date). Click Here 

Grades are not associated with the coursework (NEA) elements at this stage, as this will be based on national data once all centres have submitted marks and the exam boards have reviewed the data.

Prior to committing marks / grades to our internal data system ready for submission to exam boards, robust quality assurance processes will already have been followed within individual subject areas. This includes things like staff training, internal moderation, anonymised marking (i.e. without student names). As such, it is very unlikely that marks or grades for centre assessed components would change.

The potential grounds for making an appeal are:

• If there is reason to believe there has been an administrative error

• If there has been a failure to apply the marking criteria to the work

The English component showing on your son's report is a spoken language endorsement that has to be conducted in school. The result of this is shown as a pass, merit or distinction and is a separate award that has no bearing on the final grade your son will achieve in English Language or Literature.

If you would like to discuss the mark your son has been awarded for a centre assessed component please contact Mr Reid, our Exams Officer, in the first instance – CLICK HERE.

The deadline for any appeal is shown on the attached table. Marks will be submitted to the exam board later that day.

Kind regards,

Mr Henderson

Deputy Head 

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 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.

If you are eligible for free school meals and would like to request assistance with the cost, please click the link below and a member of the finance staff will confirm the support available to you.

https://forms.gle/FgxEekRfFUcLqpsc8

            

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 2025/26 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

The Friends of Challoner also have a selection of pre-loved kit which is often available at school functions.

We also run a kit exchange within the PE department in which students can swap boots for boots of another size, if you have any spare boots please do drop them into school so that they can be used by another student, this has proven particularly helpful over the years.

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 and guardians,

We would like to introduce you to a new addition to the platform our school uses to help your child prepare for academic, career, and future success.

Say hello to Xello!

Xello is an engaging online program that helps students build the skills, knowledge and plans to be future ready. The program uses an investigative, discovery-based learning process. Students better understand themselves, their future career options, and the 21st century skills they’ll need to succeed.

Here’s how it works:

The student experience with Xello

With Xello, your child will:

1. Build self-knowledge

Define their interests, skills, preferences, and aspirations so they can explore the opportunities right for them.

2. Explore options

Learn about career possibilities and educational pathways by exploring rich, engaging content and lessons.

3. Create a plan

Your child can create dynamic actionable plans that outline the steps needed to achieve school, career, and life goals.

4. Learn & reassess

Interactive lessons help your child develop age appropriate skills and knowledge for success in school and beyond.

Parent involvement

You’re encouraged to explore Xello with your child by logging in together. Your child can log in to his or her account via desktop or mobile device to share what they’ve learned about themselves, the world of work, and their future options.

Safe and secure environment

We take data protection and privacy very seriously. Xello complies with European Union and UK GDPR legislation requirements for data security and privacy. That means advertising is not displayed within Xello, nor is data used for commercial purposes.

You can learn more about Xello and the student experience by visiting https://xello.world/en-gb/

We hope you’re just as excited as we are about this new program and making every student future ready.

We would like to trial year 11 parents having access to Xello to help support your son on his journey to post 16 and beyond . This would give you the ability to see some of the tasks your son has access to and the research tools available for careers exploration.

If you would NOT like to be part of this please complete this short google form https://forms.gle/8eRLb8YGMK9DdN9C6 to confirm you would not want to be given log in details.

The deadline for this to be received back is Friday 30th January 2026. If we do not hear back from you we will assume you are happy to be given access to Xello.

Mrs L Stansbridge

CEIAG Lead

(Careers Education and Information, Advice and Guidance)

Dear Parents/Carers of Year 11 ,

Richard Challoner School is committed to ensuring students have the best resources available to plan ahead for their future and as part of that students are provided with impartial Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance. This can be in lessons, through school events, the careers library and also through the Careers Lead and CEIAG Advisor, Mrs Stansbridge.

Throughout the year Mrs Stansbridge will focus on seeing students either in small groups or individually beginning with students in year 11 to help them think about important choices for post 16 education. Students in years 7-13 will also be offered opportunities as the year progresses and at key points in their decision making.

For year 11-

• 1-1 Careers appointments will begin shortly. This is an opportunity to discuss future ideas and to ensure students have all the information needed to make an informed decision. Appointments will be posted on showbie and it will be the students responsibility to check that they do not miss their slot. Please join us in encouraging students to check their showbie and to think ahead about any questions they may have, or areas to explore.

• A pre-appointment google sheet has been circulated to students to complete in advance to help make the best use of the time.

• In January students will be seen to review mock exam results and appointments will happen during the months before exams begin. Students can use the careers email to ask questions and these will be responded to in a timely manner.

• If, as a parent, you have questions or would like to speak to me please make contact through the email address below.

• Year 11 will also have their careers unit in tutorial time starting as of the end of September which will look at all the choices available post 16.

• Apprenticeship ambassador and College/T level talk before Christmas.

• 6th form assembly

• 6th form open evening.

• Information regarding other routes available through Careers Office and information on the careers pages on the website.

Introducing the concept of careers and future planning at an early stage does allow students to explore their strengths and help to make informed choices. Each year group will also have time in their pastoral programme to explore these themes in more detail. Students are also welcome to drop into the careers office at any break or lunch time Monday- Thursday.

There will also be support for school activities and arranging for professionals from varying careers backgrounds to come in and work with students to inspire and bring the working world further into education. I am also excited to introduce a weekly newsletter in association with The Careers People, which will be published on the careers pages of the school website and circulated to students which will give information on national and local events as well as spotlights on varying careers.

This year we are continuing to use our new careers platform called Xello. More information is available on the careers pages linked above and we hope to roll out a parent side later in the academic year to allow you to see your sons progress and career ideas. Students have access to this platform via their ipads and can use independently and during guided time in careers units

Please take this opportunity to talk at home about future plans and if you have any queries, questions or would like to support these activities in anyway please contact the school or email careersiag@challoner.kingston.sch.uk

If you are able to support in these activities please complete the following short google form- https://forms.gle/5NQCtPLRzyEhPUiu5

Please also visit the careers pages on the school website https://www.richardchalloner.com/careers where there will regularly be information regarding events or opportunities as well as some useful information for parents around career planning. There will also be videos available to help parents along the way with essential information or guidance on how to support careers education. I will write to you again with an update later in the academic year.

Yours sincerely

Mrs LJ Stansbridge

CEIAG Lead (Careers Education and Information Advice and Guidance)