RTS Parents' Newsletter 31 March 2021

Head Teacher's Message

It is now just over a year since we had to start dealing with COVID-19 and the first period of national lockdown. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant for both families and school. It has been wonderful to have all our students back in school over the last few weeks! Everyone has been working hard and it has been lovely getting back to some normality and routines within school.

As ever, the school has been very busy with plenty going on. Students have coped well in lessons and I would like to thank them for their mature approach to the Lateral Flow Device (LFD) testing programme and face mask protocols.

I am also pleased that we will now be able to offer a modified enrichment programme in the Summer Term, which will offer plenty of opportunities for students to choose from. More information about the programme is explained later in this newsletter.

We also welcome two new staff to RTS from Monday 19 April.

Ms Fossey joins as second in charge of Modern Foreign Languages and Ms Oakley joins RTS as SENDCo. Ms Oakley will work closely with Ms Carrick-Steele throughout the Summer Term to ensure a smooth transition for students and families, and to ensure a comprehensive handover of RTS processes and procedures.

Ms Carrick-Steele will, in turn, move to focus her attention as a full-time member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in her new role as Assistant Head Teacher, which she will take on fully in September 2021. It is hard to believe the school will reach its full capacity with students in all year groups (Years 7 through 11) in September.

As further restrictions are lifted over the Easter break and we move one step further to returning to what we remember as a normal life - please do continue to stay safe and we look forward to seeing the students return on Monday 19 April.

Ms K Dooley

Reminders

Start of Summer Term

Monday 19 April: First day of Summer Term

  • Years 7 & 9 will start at 09:20

  • Years 8 & 10 at 09:35

All students should arrive at school following social distancing Government guidelines.

Please do not arrive before your set start time.

LFD at Home Tests

After listening to feedback from families, we propose that all students take their LFD test at home on Sunday and Wednesday evenings - an email has been sent to those families participating in the programme.

PCR and LFD testing during Ramadan

The British Islamic Medical Association’s view is that taking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or lateral flow device (LFD) tests during Ramadan does not invalidate the fast.

People may feel more comfortable doing the tests when they are not fasting. In this case, with the move to home-testing, tests can be carried out at any time.

RTS Art Gallery

The Year 8s have been analysing Pointillism this week. Here are some truly wonderful practical responses to painting in dots!

If you are interested in seeing more art contributions from RTS students , please do have a look at our RTS Online Art Gallery, we have some very talented students in school.

Enrichment

We are delighted to let you know that we are opening up our Enrichment Programme in the Summer Term to give students in KS3 the opportunity to participate in activities which are more in line with our traditional enrichment offer (pre-Covid-19). Due to the warmer weather, and the easing of the national restrictions, we are able to offer a wide range of activities over 5 afternoons for each year group (students will remain in their year group bubble).

Please see the Enrichment Guides for:

Please discuss the options with your child. They are able to choose different activities on each of the 5 sessions.

They will be asked to confirm their choices with their tutor after the Easter holidays.

We do hope they enjoy their enrichment activities next term!

FoRTS News

FoRTS General Meeting – Tuesday 27 April, 20:00

The next FoRTS meeting will be held on Tuesday 27th April at 20:00 via Google Meet. Invitation to follow nearer the date. Topics for discussion to include:

  • marking the end of this academic year

  • welcoming current Y6 families who will join the school in September

  • using the new virgin Money Giving page to fundraise for specific projects

  • update on exploring funding pots available to enhance the school community

If there is anything in particular you would like to discuss, please email forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk and we can add it to the agenda. Hope to see you there.

Safeguarding

If you have concerns in relation to a student at RTS or indeed with regards to your own child, you may want to contact Single Point of Access (SPA) which acts as a central information hub for all professional agencies in Kingston and Richmond.

Richmond and Kingston SPA

The SPA phone lines are now open as follows:

  • Monday-Thursday 08.00-17.15 and Friday 08.00-17.00 - the phone number during these times is 020 8547 5008

  • Out of hours: 020 8770 5000


Hounslow Early Help Assessment

NSPCC:

Speak to a counsellor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

  • Telephone number: 0808 800 5000, or text 88858

  • Email: help@nspcc.org.uk or

  • Signvideo using British Sign Language (Mon - Fri, 9am - 6pm)

Local News - Please note RTS does not endorse items included as Local News

Kooth

The NHS wants to remind young people, parents and school professionals about Kooth’s online support community of counsellors and wellbeing practitioners, plus resources to help with online sessions that promote emotional health and wellbeing during this difficult time.

Kooth is accredited by The British Association of Psychotherapy and Counselling and a trusted delivery partner of the NHS.

Kooth is for all young people aged 11-22 in Richmond to get support for anything that's on your mind. It’s a free online chat service that works on your phone or computer. There are no waiting lists and it’s totally anonymous – you just make up a name. You can find out more by watching the video below.

There are also urgent helplines you can call:

Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm

020 8547 6171 / 020 3513 3238

24 hours, 7 days a week

0800 028 8000

Free advice and support are there if you need it.

FUEL: Holiday activities and food programme for Kingston and Richmond

The Easter holiday activities timetable for children on free school meals has now been published and can be found on the Achieving for Children's FUEL website. FUEL, is Achieving for Children's name for the DfE funded holiday programme and seeks to provide a range of enriching activities with food for children and young people on free school meals over the school holidays. Please see the flyer below. Participants can book directly onto the programme via the online booking forms.

FUEL flyer for Easter Activities (1).pdf

Family Art Activity to complete at home

Follow the walkthrough to create your own textures and mini-grotto inspired by Pope’s Grotto in Twickenham. This activity is designed for families to complete together.

https://www.orleanshousegallery.org/news/2021/03/popes-grotto-textures/

Term Dates 2020-2021

Full term dates and Inset day information is available on the website:

  • Easter break: 01-16 April 2021

  • Summer Half-Term break: 31 May-04 June 2021

  • Last day of Summer term for students: Friday 16 July 2021

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