RTS Parents' Newsletter 14 October 2022

Head Teacher's Message

We had a lovely evening on Thursday celebrating the achievements and successes of students for last academic year. We were delighted to welcome students from across Years 8-11 and also some alumni students back to join us. Proud parents/carers were also in attendance and we were lucky to have a guest speaker join us. Roy Ledgister is a barrister, entrepreneur and an inspirational example of determination and drive. We very much look forward to holding this celebration event on an annual basis.

Our Open Events have also continued and we have two final events next week. Students have continued to showcase the school and the feedback from prospective families about our students, your children, is wonderful to hear - how confident they are, how informative about the school they are, how engaging in their demeanour, and, above all, how happy they are. We are very proud of them.

We have one more week until the two-week half-term break but in the meantime we continue with many fixtures, assessments, trips and visits; and also our Year 11 subject teacher and parent consultation next week.

I hope that you all have a relaxed weekend.

Ms K Dooley

Dates for the diary

  • Wednesday 19 October

    • Early finish at 14:00 for whole school due to Year 11 parent/subject teacher consultations

  • Monday 24 October-Friday 04 November

    • Half-Term

  • Wednesday 09 November

    • Early finish at 14:00 for whole school due to Year 10 parent/subject teacher consultations

Contacting the School

If you wish to contact the school, the School Office is open (term time only):

  • Monday-Thursday - 08:15-16:30

  • Friday - 08:15-15:00

Telephone: 020 8891 2985

Email: info@rts.richmond.sch.uk

Please use the Parents Communications Summary for guidance on types of query and where advice may be found/who to direct your query to.

The RTS Way

Thursday evening was a true celebration of the RTS Way and we were delighted to host a celebration evening for those students in Years 8 to 11 who had embodied these values and to celebrate their achievements and successes in the last academic year 2021-2022. We were also pleased to welcome back some of our alumni students who left in the summer.

Proud parents and teachers alike joined the students, and we welcomed Roy Ledgister as our guest speaker. Roy is a barrister and entrepreneur who has made it his mission to empower low-income families through quality affordable homes. Lauren, one of our original cohort, gave a truly wonderful speech and the evening was such a joyous event.

Many staff have worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to put this event together, and, as always it is a full team effort - however special thanks must go to Ms Charles for leading this event.

This event was our first of this kind and we plan to host an 'Excellence through Endeavour' Celebration Evening annually.

RTS Art Gallery

The Year 10 Art students had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Tate to Tate trip as part of their curriculum. This involves visiting Tate Britain and then taking the Tate Boat down river to the Tate Modern.

Students were very excited to draw Henry Moore sculptures from life and to see the famous "No Woman No Cry" painting by Chris Ofilli 'in the flesh'.

Diwali

In celebration of Diwali, the RTS kitchen will be serving up a special menu on Friday 21 October.

Happy Diwali.pdf

Parent Forum

We had another great turn out for the latest Parent Forum on Wednesday 12 October. Three sessions were run by members of the Senior Leadership Team and parents were able to listen to all three. The topics covered were:

  • Wellbeing and Mental Health - Ms Carrick-Steele, Assistant Head Teacher

  • Safeguarding - Mr Jones, Deputy Head Teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead

  • Revision Tips - Mr Reynolds, Associate Assistant Head Teacher

We are delighted to share the links where possible to the sessions above.

The next Parent Forum will be held on Wednesday 22 February 2023.

Post-16 Information

Please see the flyer from Richmond upon Thames College regarding their upcoming open days.

open event flyer 22 finalised.pdf

Year 10 Webinars

Following on from the email sent to all Year 10 parents on 13 September, we are pleased to share their programme for the entirety of the academic year. Please do take the time to register and sign up to as many webinars as you are interested in.

FORTS NEWS


Save the Date, Christmas Fair – Thursday 15th December, 6-8pm

We are really excited to begin planning the Christmas Fair, our first in a few years due to the pandemic. It’s looking to be a great evening with the school adding a Showcase element to the night, so you’ll be able to see the students perform and view some of their artwork. We really hope you can come!


Introduction of New Chair and Secretary

As you may be aware, Vanessa stepped down as Chair at our recent AGM. We were lucky to have all other roles filled, but left without a Chair.


Thank you to all parents who were able to attend our General Meeting this week, the minutes will be available on the website soon. During the meeting we voted in a new Chair, Carey (who has stepped up from Secretary), and also a new Secretary, Carmelle (who has stepped up from Committee Member). Thank you to both for taking on these roles. We now of course have a free position as Committee Member, so if you’d like to be involved in any way, or step up to this role, please contact us on forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk.


Have a great weekend, your FoRTS team,

Carey (Chair), Mark (Treasurer) and Carmelle (Secretary)

forts@rts.richmond.sch.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

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

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

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

Living Support campaign

With more people being expected to come into hardship due to the rising cost of living in 2022, Richmond Council has developed a campaign to help de-mystify and de-stigmatise hardship support and to empower and enable residents to access the support they need.

You can help support the campaign by sharing the assets and social media copy below on your own channels.

Visit the Richmond Cost of Living Hub

Resources

The Richmond Cost of Living Hub has gathered information about lots of schemes, benefits and support services - both national and local - into one place. Residents can either browse the information on our website or use our helpful calculator, that will tell them exactly which scheme or support they may be able to access.

You can also sign up to email updates on cost of living support to receive useful information and tips straight to your inbox.

Where people cannot access the internet, we are encouraging them to ask a family member, friend or caregiver to help and look at the information for them. Alternatively, they can visit their local library and a staff member will be able to help them use a computer to find out what you could be entitled to.

Arts Richmond

Arts Richmond is delighted to announce the Young Writers' Festival for 2022! The competition is open to all young people who either live or attend school/clubs in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames.


The rules are simple - write about any subject of their choice, in any format. They could write a story, a poem, a script as long as it's under 500 words or 25 lines for a poem.


Entries close Friday 02 December. The competition rules and entry template can be downloaded from www.artsrichmond.org.uk

Young Writers Poster A3 2022_Arts Richmond.pdf

Tween Tribe

Tween Tribe had a number of children from the area on our sold out summer dates and have therefore generated a bespoke discount code for the school.


The Tween Tribe is a boutique holiday club exclusively for "tweenagers" age 10-13.


www.thetweentribe.co.uk

Harlequins Rugby Camps

Get your kids out and active this October Half-Term with our Rugby Camps!

Running from Monday 24 - Friday 28 October at eight different locations across London and the South East, our rugby camps are the perfect place for your kids to develop their skills and make new friends.

Available for for children age 6-14, our Rugby Camps are designed with fun in mind and run by our experienced and qualified coaches to make sure every child has the opportunity to learn and enjoy in each session.

Camps are available across the South East and start from just £47, click below to find out more.

Richmond Rugby Camps

Richmond RFC Half Term Camps - October Poster.pdf

Teddington Athletic Football Club

Teddington Athletic FC are looking for students from Year 7 onwards who may be interested in joining them.

The home ground is in Bushy Park and their training takes place at various grounds locally. Under 12s is a transition point for clubs as children move school and potentially play school sports on Saturday. This means that we are in need of new player to join our friendly and inclusive team TAFC Giants U12. This is a rare position as many clubs in the borough get over subscribed from a young age.

Please click on the website link above for details about the club and how to enquire about joining.

Twickenham Saints Football Club

Twickenham Saints FC Under 12s (year 7) is looking for new players. We train at 5.30pm on Fridays at Orleans Park School and matches are on Saturday mornings. If interested please contact:

Stephen James: 07884 188021 (or click on the link above).

AfC Local offer (SEND)

Achieving for Children have developed a new leaflet to raise awareness of the Local Offer in Kingston and Richmond and some examples of the types of information and services that can be found on the website. We have based the leaflets on the "New to SEND" section of the local offer and also included services and support that we know parents are often not aware of.

Printed copies will be available to pick up at SEND Futures if you are attending.

Richmond Parent Carer Forum

Richmond Parent Carer Forum will be hosting the following workshops in the next couple of weeks.

Hypermobility Information Workshop - Wednesday 19th October at 10.00am

Sarah from Ehlers-Danlos Support UK (EDS UK) will be leading a workshop explaining what the different types of hypermobility are, where to find support and how to create a Fatigue Management Plan. This workshop will be open to parents and school staff to improve understanding and support for hypermobile children and young people.

To book use this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HypermobilityWorkshop

Autism and ADHD diagnosis and support for children and young people in Richmond – Tuesday 18th October at 11.00am and Thursday 20th October at 7.30pm

Rachel Oostra from NHS England has been reviewing the neurodevelopmental pathway (the systems that identify, diagnose and support neurodiverse children and young people) in Richmond. Join us for one of these two online workshops where Rachel will explain what support is available locally and listen to your views on what still needs to be improved. This workshop is only for parent carers in Richmond.

To book use this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NDPathwayWorkshop

Fear-Less Parenting: supporting children with anxiety

The Positive Parenting Project are running an online webinar for parents of children with anxiety: practical tools to help you support your child (for parents of children aged 6-14yrs).

When children have anxiety, it impacts the whole family. It can be incredibly hard for parents to know what to say and how to help. And, without support, children’s anxiety often escalates or becomes entrenched. It’s normal for parents to feel frustrated, worried or distressed when children are struggling – but there are parenting strategies you can learn that will make a real difference to your child’s anxiety.

This specialised Triple P® Fear-Less parenting seminar has been specifically developed to help parents cope with the challenges of parenting a child with anxiety. It will help you understand what causes anxiety and take you step-by-step through concrete strategies you can use to help reduce your child’s anxiety.

  • Know what to do when your child is anxious or upset.

  • Help your child develop a toolkit of coping skills to overcome anxiety.

  • Break the cycle of anxiety and avoidance.

The webinar will be delivered by international parenting expert Anita Cleare (MA Adv.Dip) and is relevant for parents of children aged 6-14yrs.

Click on the link here to take you to the EventBrite booking page.

Education Wellbeing Service

Secondary Parent Webinars Poster 2022.23. Education Wellbeing Service (2).pdf

Heatham House

Heatham House is back open with a jam packed term time program with something for all young people to do!

Not only do we have our regular drop in sessions but we will be introducing more fun activities such as: Cooking, art, garment printing, wildlife program and more...so keep an eye out on their Eventbrite page and Instagram!

Copy of HH Term-Time.pdf

Heatham House Half Term

Heatham House are hosting the following events over October half-term:


See the Heatham House Eventbrite page for full details of these and more events!

Term Dates 2022-2023

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

  • Autumn Term 1: Friday 02 September-Friday 21 October 2022

  • Autumn Half-Term: Monday 24 October-Friday 04 November 2022

  • Autumn Term 2: Monday 07 November-Friday 16 December 2022

Parents' Calendar