RTS Parents' Newsletter 17 September 2021
Head Teacher's Message
It was exciting to welcome in our first set of prospective parents/carers for entry in 2022 this week. We have six Open Morning events over the coming weeks - all are fully booked and we have a strong waiting list. Not being able to hold in person Open Events for the last 18 months has led to exceptional demand this year.
Next week we look forward to more inter-school sporting fixtures, the Year 7 Technology Evening on Wednesday 22 September (invitation and link will be sent on the day); and school photographs will be taken for Years 7, 9, 11 (and siblings) on Wednesday 22 September. Please ensure that full school uniform is worn by those Year Groups on that day and not their PE/Games kit - they should bring their kit in to school with them if they have PE or Games that day.
Ms K Dooley
RTS Art Gallery
To kickstart the year in the art department this week the Year 9s have been drawing apples. Ms Williams was very impressed with these 20 minute drawings from the budding artists we have at RTS!
Lost Property
The School Office has accumulated a wide range of items already this term. As these items are unnamed we are not able to match them up to their owner. A box will be put out in the Atrium near the stairs every Friday for students to reclaim their lost items; if not claimed within a week, the items will be either be used as spare uniform in school, donated to charity, or disposed of as appropriate. Please can you ensure that all items are named - including pencil cases, glasses cases, lunch bags etc. Thank you for your cooperation.
Parenting Podcasts
Ms Carrick-Steele would like to share a BBC Radio 4 podcast on how to support your child if you have your own Maths anxiety. The podcast is just 15 minutes long. The link is here. If you are able to, your feedback would be greatly appreciated on whether you found it useful, or have suggestions for other podcasts/snippets of information that we could share with parents/carers.
Match of the Day
After another week of PE and games at school Mr Roberts is delighted to announce that we have some results from fixtures!
The Year 11 boys have played both rugby and football this week against Hampton and Turing House. Unfortunately in football the boys lost in a tight game and the score of 6-2 did not reflect the reality of the closeness. The result from the rugby however was much more positive, with a score of 35-5 - special mentions must go to two of our students who played for Turing House in the final 10 minutes due to their own player injuries.
In netball we were also able to play two fixtures, both for the U14s & U16s. The girls played exceptionally well for their first fixtures in 2 years but unfortunately came out second best to strong Teddington teams.
The sport continues this weekend for our Saturday morning rugby training; as well as fixtures for netball, football and rugby next week.
As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the PE department by emailing the School Office, with 'FAO: Mr Roberts / Ms Chidlow' in the subject heading.
School Meals
We are continuing to experience technical issues with the till software. These issues are outside of our control and extremely frustrating. We will therefore continue to operate on a pre-order basis from the kitchen until further notice. Please encourage your child to order their food in advance via the Google Form in Student Year Group Notices. Tutors will continue to assist where necessary. Please ensure that all ParentPay accounts are topped up in advance.
LFD Testing
LFD at Home Tests - Students
Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation in continuing to encourage your child/ren to take LFD tests on Wednesday and Sunday evenings and to report the results to school (via the app on their iPad). It is important to keep the school community protected and safe.
We are currently awaiting our delivery of LFD tests from the Department of Education, however, in the meantime LFD tests may be ordered free of charge online via this link; and are also available from various local outlets - find somewhere close to you via this link. Your support in obtaining LFD tests yourself for use at home is much appreciated.
FoRTS News
FoRTS AGM
You were sent an email from the school yesterday with details of the upcoming FoRTS AGM which will be held virtually on Wednesday 13 October at 7.30pm. All roles are up for re-election, and details of these can be found in the document sent out by the school. Please contact FoRTS if you would like further information. You’re welcome even if you just want to listen in to see what FoRTS are planning, we hope to see as many of you at the meeting as possible!
Rugby Parking – Marshalls Needed
Much of our funding comes from hiring out car parking spaces on rugby event days. We are really pleased to be able to start this up again, and there are 3 upcoming fixtures on 6, 13 & 20 November. More volunteers mean shorter shifts. The events will be largely contactless and all outside, so if you think you could help, or would like more information, please contact FoRTS. Thank you so much to all our volunteers!
Parent Information Evenings – FoRTS Presentation
We hope you found the FoRTS presentation useful in the recent parent information evenings – just a reminder of some handy links:
Contact FoRTS with any queries on forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk
Keep up to date with what’s happening in the school community by joining Classlist
School Uniform Donations: fortsuniform@rts.richmond.sch.uk
2nd Hand School Uniform Sales: oldschooluniform.co.uk
Further details are available on the RTS website.
AmazonSmile, easyfundraising and Virgin Money Giving
Become a supporter of Friends of RTS on easyfundraising and AmazonSmile. You can also make direct donations, including Gift Aid, via our Virgin Money Giving page, or use the “Just Giving” button on the RTS website.
Have a great weekend, your FoRTS Team,
Vanessa (Chair), Mark (Treasurer) and Carey (Secretary)
Contacting RTS
If you wish to contact the school, the School Office is open:
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.
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
Richmond Carers Centre – Young Carers Service
This service currently supports 481 young carers in Richmond upon Thames aged between 5 – 18 years old. They provide a range of tailored support services including:
Confidential information, advice and support
Emotional support
Mentoring programme in schools
1-2-1 support
After school groups
Holiday activities and events
Signposting and referrals to other specialised support services
Digital support delivered during the pandemic includes: Mentoring support, welcome sessions for newly registered young carers, family check-in calls, peer support groups and bespoke activity groups
You can access their service here.
Use active travel for Car Free Day on 22 September 2021
Richmond Council would like to encourage pupils (and parents!) to leave the car at home and actively travel to school on Wednesday 22 September (or another day that week).
They wish to encourage active travel for the school commute on a regular basis – leaving the car at home reduces air pollution, especially outside the school, and being more active has both physical and mental health benefits.
Term Dates 2021-2022
Full term dates and Inset day information is available on the website:
Half-Term: 25 October 2021 - 05 November 2021
Christmas break: 16 December 2021 - 04 January 2022