RTS Parents' Newsletter

RTS Parents' Newsletter 16 September 2022

Head Teacher's Message

Although we are still in a period of national mourning, as we all know and appreciate, life (and especially school life) carries on. Whilst the school has remained in a relective mood during this week, as I have mentioned, we have also had much to celebrate in our two weeks since returning after the summer break.

We were delighted to welcome our new Year 7 cohort into school for their first day, and then no sooner had we done that, then they went out on their first trip - to Thames Young Mariners. From all accounts it was a fun, but wet day!

The past two weeks we have also launched straight into our information evenings (for Years 11, 7 and 8) and it is always a pleasure to see so many families join us. Some of you we now know very well, and others we hope that we will get to know you soon. After the pandemic, hosting events in the school is something that we do not take for granted as they play such an integral part in the school community building relationships.

I am also delighted to welcome a new Chair of the Trust Board - Jason Hughes. and look forward to continuing to work with him. Please read more about him below.

Please note that we will be closed on Monday 19 September (in line with the Department for Education guidance) following the announcement that the day of the Queen's funeral should be a bank holiday.

However you choose to spend it - we wish you all a peaceful day.

Ms K Dooley

Dates for the diary

Monday 19 September
- Whole school closed due to Queen's Funeral (Bank Holiday)
Wednesday 21 September
- Parent Information Evening Year 9, Stepping into KS4 , 18:00-19:00
- Parent Information Evening Year 10, Getting GCSE ready, 19:00-20:00
Thursday 22 September
- School Photographs - Years 7, 9 and 11
Friday 14 October
- INSET Day - School closed to students

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.

Thames Young Mariners

Our Year 7 students had a fantastic day out and start to the new year for our class of 2027.

They took part in a range of activities, from land-based activities such as the challenge course and learning woodland skills, to water-based activities such as kayaking and raft building.

The weather held fair for most of the day but there were some gentle showers approaching from the east as the students had their lunches.

The students showed great teamwork and camaraderie and new friendships were formed during the course of the day. Here's to the next five years together!

Mabel - The RTS Dog!

For those of you new to the school, you may not know that once a week we are fortunate to have a very important visitor in school - Mabel, the RTS dog!

Ms Wright, Deputy Head, is accompanied to school every Monday and Mabel takes her role of school protector, playmate, dustbin, and student-motivator very seriously.

Here is Mabel during the first week - patrolling the corridors and ensuring that we were clean and tidy and ready to welcome students back into school!

New Chair of the Trust

As mentioned above, Jason Hughes is the new Chair of the Trust Board. Here is a little bit more about him:

Jason has lived in the borough for over 30 years and is married with two sons who have been educated in local primary schools. He joined as a trustee in 2017 and since then he has made a significant contribution to the development of the school and trust as chair of the Finance & Resources committee.

Jason says: "Having been involved in the school's journey from one corridor in Richmond-upon-Thames College to moving into our amazing building in 2018 and gaining our first GCSE results in 2022, I am excited to offer my support to Ms Dooley and her team to ensure the best possible future outcomes for all RTS students.".

Save the Date - European Languages Day

To celebrate European Languages day, the MFL department will be collaborating with FoRTS to organise an International Community Event. The aim is for families to celebrate their culture with the school community. The event will be held at school on Thursday 29 September between 18:00-20:00 and will celebrate all the varied cultures that the RTS community is made of.

Planned activities include Bingo quizzes, food and drink stalls, a bar and other themed activities that celebrate and promote the diversity of our RTS community.

We are looking for help in manning the stalls, bringing cultural food for other guests to taste or just being there to enjoy the evening and make the event a success. It will be fun, so don’t miss out!

Please save the date and a more detailed invitation and Google Form will be sent out via school email early next week.

The RTS Way

Here at RTS we enjoy sharing and celebrating achievements of students both in school and outside of school.

During the summer Eloise and Annabel (Year 8) and Holly and Chloe (Year 9) were lucky enough to be asked by Brentford Football Club (who they all train with) to take part in carrying team banners for the pre-game ceremonies for the four Women's Euro games staged at the new Gtech Community Stadium (home of Brentford FC).

As well as taking part in the pre-game ceremonies they were then lucky enough to watch the games afterwards.

Their experience was topped off by having tickets to THAT Euro final of England v Germany; and watching England crowned European champions!

How incredible to have been part of these events and to have been present at such an historic occasion - definitely memories to last a lifetime. Well done girls!

FORTS NEWS

Welcome New Y7 Families

As we welcome everyone back to school for a new academic year, we’d like to extend a special welcome to all the new members of the RTS community. As families and teachers at RTS you are all automatically members of FoRTS, the school’s PTA. You can become as involved as you like in our activities, but we are stronger together! Last year we raised around £19k for the school, funding many additional learning and enrichment opportunities for the students across all departments. This year we will be able to move back to many in person events, and we look forward to meeting you.

School Uniform Sales and Donations

We continue to collect and re-sell pre-loved uniform. Any clean, unwanted uniform in good condition can be taken into school reception. We aim to re-sell uniform at in-school events and the next sale will be held on:

Wednesday 21 September, 6-8pm – Y9 & 10 Parent Information Evenings

Please note that if you are not attending one of the Parent Information Evenings, you can still drop by to buy uniform.

If you would like to contact us about uniform, or think you can help at one of our sales, please email fortsuniform@rts.richmond.sch.uk. Unfortunately we are not able to carry out ad hoc sales or check stock for you as this is all held at school.

Shopping Online – easyfundraising and Amazon Smile

Like many charities, we raise funds as people shop online using easyfundraising and AmazonSmile. easyfundraising has partnerships with over 7,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend on their website. It won't cost you any extra, the cost is covered by the brand. It’s quick to sign up and if you set up a donation reminder, you will always be prompted when you are on a site where donations can be generated. If you have previously used these sites to support your primary school, please consider updating to become a supporter of Friends of RTS, just follow the links. Thank you.

International Community Evening/Bingo - 29 September

The RTS community is diverse with many families from different backgrounds. We would like to celebrate this diversity by holding an International Community Evening, including some fun games of bingo to help people to mix and get to know each other. All are welcome - parents and students - and we hope in particular all Year 7 and 8 families can attend or anyone else who has missed the opportunity to come into school over the last couple of years. The event will be held from 6-8pm in the school hall. We also plan to hold the FoRTS AGM during the session too. Look out for a school email early next week with a Google form to complete, so that we can get a sense of numbers and food!

AGM - 29 September

The FoRTS AGM will be held on Thursday 29September at approximately 7pm. We look forward to giving you further details on funds raised in the last academic year, and how they have been spent. All of the roles within FoRTS will be up for renewal, and with some parents leaving the school community there will be various roles that will be vacated. We really need volunteers to fill these roles as well as committed volunteers. Please consider giving your time. If you think you can join us to continue the success of FoRTS, or would just like to ask for more information, you can contact us at any time on forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk.

Staff Thank You Collection

Thank you to everyone who donated to the end of year staff gift. We raised around £125 from the year 11 families and around £150 from the general collection. We will let you know how staff consider spending this. Thank you to all who donated and left messages to the staff.

Your FoRTS team,

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

General: forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk

Uniform: fortsuniform@rts.richmond.sch.uk

Parking: fortsparking@rts.richmond.sch.uk

easyfundraising, AmazonSmile, Peoples Fundraising

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

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

Volunteering Opportunity - Independent School Admission Appeals Panels

Richmond Council is looking to recruit to its pool of volunteers who sit on panels that hear and make decisions on school admissions appeals lodged by applicants who have been unsuccessful in securing a place at their chosen school. The panels consist of trained volunteers selected from a pool, and who are independent of local schools and, as such, you will not be able to serve on any panels for schools you have a connection to e.g. where your child attends. The panels meet virtually, as and when necessary (but mainly in the summer term).

If you are discreet, good at listening to both sides of an argument, and able to digest and analyse information in order to make a reasoned decision, then this could be a good opportunity for you.

Further information and an application form are available from: education.appeals@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk or call 020 8891 7183 for a chat.

Volunteers from underrepresented groups within our community are particularly encouraged to come forward.

Work at Twickenham Stadium

The home of England Rugby, Twickenham Stadium is holding two recruitment days at the start of October, with successful applicants being able to start work in time for the upcoming Autumn Internationals.

You don't need to be a rugby fan to work at the stadium - there are a variety of roles on offer if you are looking for some weekend work.

Education Wellbeing Service

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

ASD Parent/Carer Support Group

ASD support group october 22.doc.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

Twickenham Fire Station

Twickenham Fire Station is holding an Open Day in aid of The Fire Fighters Charity. The event takes place on Sunday 18 September, 12:00-16:00. Twickenham Fire Station, 30 South Road, Twickenham, TW2 5NT.

DIY Assistance

My name is Tony Joyce and I am the new Store Manager for Crown Decorating Centre in Twickenham.

I am reaching out to local schools with a view of creating a partnership in the supply of decorating materials.

We are aware that with the ever rising prices of every day necessities that any money saved is good money, so I would like to extend an offer of 25% off a first purchase with ourselves when opening an account (excludes promotional items)

With industry leading coatings, I am sure we can accomplish great things together, some of what we offer is a follows:

25% off EVERYTHING your first purchase and then 25% on Paint and 15% on Sundries afterwards
Access to competitive pricing across all of our brands
Complimentary FREE next day delivery to your door
Access and manage your account online
Bespoke colour matching service INCLUDING access to all Farrow and Ball colours (we know people love those)
Complimentary Can recycling - we are the only decorator's merchant that will recycle any empty can from any brand!!
All of this along with World Class Service too!!

If you would like to take us up on this offer here is the link that you can use to sign up an account with us: https://form.jotform.com/221803755488363

Please feel free to contact me via email or on the number below to discuss further!!

Email: twickenham@crownpaints.co.uk / Phone No : 0208 891 5267

Term Dates 2022-2023

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

Autumn Term 1: Friday 02/Monday 05/Tuesday 06 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

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