RTS Parents' Newsletter 11 June 2021
Head Teacher's Message
I hope that you all enjoyed a restful break - the warm weather was certainly a welcome relief.
It fills me with pride to see how busy and enriched the students lives have been in school, even in the short few days that we have been back. I am happy to share with you so many positive stories from around the school and hope that you enjoy seeing our school community come to life.
Sadly though this week we had our first positive confirmed case for some time. With the increase in contact between family and friends and the opening up of many more locations and events; please can I gently remind you that it is vital for the safety of the whole school community that if anyone in your household or support bubble is showing any of the symptoms of Coronavirus (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste ) that you remain at home and seek a PCR test. For those taking LFD tests at home - I appreciate how tiresome it has become - but please do continue to take the tests and report the results to school.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Ms K Dooley
Basketball Success
Mr Singh took a group of Year 9 boys to their first away match of the year on Thursday 10 June. The match was against Twickenham School and RTS won 17-22.
Congratulations to the team: Charlie 9BL, Harry 9BL, Adam 9BL, Aryan 9MA, Mackenzie 9BL, Luca 9AN, Liam 9BL, Louis 9BL, Utku 9MA, and Jimmy 9BL.
Dates for the Diary
AP6 - Year 7 and Year 8
Monday 14-Friday 25 June
Internal assessments will be taking place in school for all Year 7 & 8 students during this 2 week period.
LFD Testing
LFD at Home Tests - Students
Please continue to take the tests on Sunday and Wednesday evenings and report the results as normal. Thank you for your ongoing support.
LFD at Home Tests - Parents/carers
You can now order/collect LFD tests free of charge from the following:
RTS Art Gallery
Year 8 have been working on a scheme of work based on Frederick Hundertwasser's magical landscapes. This included researching his architectural buildings and paintings and copying his style. Here is a wonderful selection from the classes chosen by Ms Williams.
The RTS Way
A number of staff have been sharing positive feedback over the last couple of weeks in respect of students preparing for their various assessments and also taking them. In particular:
Ms Ferial would like to praise 8BL for their great behaviour
Ms Edwards and Ms Wright have both commented on how Year 10 students have stepped up and performed really well during their GCSE English speaking exams this week
Well done to all these students for demonstrating the RTS Way in action.
Food Inspiration
Any families with students in 8SP can now look to their children to cook them a meal! The class are experts at cooking fajitas thanks to Ms Mears and Mr Neal for teaching them.
The picture is the finished product of Ellis, Charlie and Kieran. Well done everyone - it's certainly making me feel hungry!
Enrichment
Ms Fossey has been keeping the Year 8 students busy during Enrichment this week. Students were using the sewing machines to make bookmarks and keyrings.
School Uniform
We emailed all parents/carers earlier this week with an update on our school uniform expectations and a reminder that during the summer months students may choose not to wear their jumper. However, all other items of the school uniform must be worn.
School Days in Whitton will be operating an appointment system for all your RTS uniform requirements during the summer months. They have advised to book early to avoid disappointment.
Stevensons in Twickenham are also running a mix of online bookings and walk-ins from now until September. Check the website to book and to view the dates of walk-ins. Their recommended appointment window for RTS is Monday 12 July to Sunday 18 July.
Looking to the future
Mr Kemp, Head of Year 9 and Careers Lead, has arranged a series of remote talks for Year 10 students to attend during school.
So far two events have taken place with more planned, full details of the programme are:
20 May - Esher College Sixth Form
10 June - Richmond upon Thames College Sixth Form
17 June - Sir Richard Reynolds Sixth Form
23 June - Teddington School Sixth Form
01 July - St Mary's University: 'University - Is it right for me?'
Transition - Year 7 September 2021
We are regularly updating our dedicated RTS Transition website for our new Year 6-7 parents. If you have a query about enrolment, Summer School, school uniform, Induction Day, or anything else; please check on the Transition website in the first instance. There is also a wealth of information on the main RTS website.
An email was sent out on 07 June inviting you to the New Parents Transition Evening detailed below. If you have not received this, please contact the school via email: info@rts.richmond.sch.uk, with Transition in the heading. Please don't forget to register your interest via the Google Form in the email.
Dates for your diary
Wednesday 16 June, 18:00-19:30 - New Y6-7 Parents Transition Evening (remote)
Monday 05 July, 09:00-13:45 - Induction Day for Y6-7 students
Summer Reading Challenge
Ms Nockolds would love it if you could talk to your children about the RTS Summer Reading Challenge. Students have been informed, but it is always useful to share this information with parents/carers! Thanks for your support.
Summer Reading Challenge 2021 Newsletter.pdfFoRTS News
Firstly, a big welcome back from FoRTS after the short half-term break for the final stage this academic year! Best of luck to all the RTS students doing assessments over the coming weeks.
The Big PTA Summer Raffle
We’ve had a fantastic response since launching the raffle just before half term, a huge thank you to everyone who has already bought tickets. Tickets remain on sale and are easy to buy here. For £3 you will get one entry into each of the 12 draws. That’s 12 chances to win up to £5,000. More tickets equal more chances to win! Two draws will run daily from 12 to 17 July, but tickets are limited, so buy yours now! 50% of the value of tickets bought go to FoRTS and so this is directly supporting RTS students too! Please share with family and friends as the more tickets we sell, the more funds we have to enhance the learning of RTS pupils.
Just Giving
There is now a “Just Giving” button on the RTS website to link to our Virgin Money Giving page, making voluntary donations to FoRTS even easier. As a registered charity, FoRTS can claim gift aid on any donations made from UK taxpayers, and we appreciate donations of any size. Donations can be made at any time and can be set up as a one-off or regular payments. Also look out for future fundraising campaigns we plan to run for specific additional extras to support RTS student enrichment activities.
AmazonSmile and easyfundraising
Remember that you can still raise funds as you shop online at no cost to yourself as a supporter of ‘Friends of RTS’ on easyfundraising and AmazonSmile. We have raised £124.88 from 40 supporters shopping online with easyfundraising to date.
Volunteer Needed
FoRTS would like to celebrate the fact that in September 2021 RTS will be a full school with students in years 7-11. We really need the help of a volunteer to mark this. If you are interested in helping out, please email us to find out more. It should not take up too much of your time and we would certainly appreciate your help.
To contact FoRTS at any time, please email forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk
Second Hand Uniform Donations email fortsuniform@rts.richmond.sch.uk
Second Hand Uniform Sales oldschooluniform.co.uk
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
Telephone number: 020 8583 6600
Out of hours: 020 8583 2222
Email: earlyhelp@hounslow.gov.uk
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
Invitation to parents to complete survey for the Educational Psychology Service
Achieving for Children wants to hear the views of parents and carers across Kingston and Richmond about the type of information they would like to see online about their Educational Psychology Service so that they can ensure our website meets the needs of parents and carers in the boroughs. This survey has four parts and will take no longer than five minutes to complete.
This survey is optional, but completing it will help AfC to improve provision to meet the needs of children, young people and families.
You can access the survey here: https://forms.gle/62zre2enYXTAKe967
Deadline for response: Friday 18 June 2021
Young People Speak podcast
Young People in Kingston and Richmond have been planning and recording podcast episodes, based on topics and issues that interest them. The latest episode features three young people interviewing Ian Dodds (the Director of Children's Services for Kingston and Richmond).
The podcast can be accessed on Spotify here.
Children's Book Festival
Post-lockdown, it is even more vital to help children develop their reading skills - and that all-important love of reading. Independent Thinking felt that bringing a variety of children's authors together and giving each one 20 minutes to share their book, read a short extract and explain what drove them to write would be a really useful and enjoyable thing to do.
Check out all the great titles on their website and follow the links to reserve your free front-row seats. You can attend as many events as you like.
One author is Lynn McAllister from Capella House (adjoining RTS). Her title is Pixie Van Dimple and the Wrong Kind of Artificial Intelligence.
All the books featured will be available on http://rovingbooks.com/ once the book fair has taken place - the books are perfect for schools and parents/carers!
Term Dates 2020-2021
Full term dates and Inset day information is available on the website:
Last day of Summer term for students: Friday 16 July 2021