RTS Parents' Newsletter 27 May 2022
Head Teacher's Message
What an incredible end to this half-term! Our Year 11 students will now have a very much deserved week's break between exams. Year 9 have successfully completed their AP6 and Years 7, 8 and 10 will have a break before their AP6 after half-term.
Our catering team absolutely surpassed themselves and created a simply wonderful Jubilee lunchtime celebration picnic box at lunchtime and also a fantastic array of cakes at morning break. We were so delighted to share these with students and staff alike. On a day like today, it was just what was needed.
The Art Department had worked with students to adapt the RTS leaf to encompass the colours of the Union Jack and many departments used these around school to decorate their offices and classrooms.
Finally - my absolute favourite part of today was creating 2 special photo moments. We successfully had the school line up in the playground and look skywards towards the roof where members of staff were on hand to take whole school photographs. We then choreographed the students into the shape of the royal emblem to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee. The event has also been captured on time-lapse video. The whole school worked incredibly well together to achieve these two moments and I am so proud of the positive attitudes, teamwork and camaraderie between our students - across tutor groups, year groups and whole school. It was such a pleasure to see and what I believe makes RTS so special. We will be working on the photographs and time-lapse videos as soon as we can and will share them with via our social media channels, and also via this newsletter next term. In the meantime, below is a sneak peak!
I wish you all a peaceful and restful half-term; and enjoy the extended bank holiday however you decide to celebrate it.
Ms K Dooley
Dates for the diary
Monday 16 May-Tuesday 28 June
GCSE examinations
Monday 06-Friday 17 June
Year 9 AP6
Monday 13-Friday 24 June
Year 7 and 8 AP6
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.
Assembly Topics
Assemblies for the first week of term:
Queen's Platinum Jubilee - the History Department
RTS Art Gallery
the Y8's have been looking at the artist called Keemo and creating their own abstract portraits based on stories and poems they have written.
Sixth Form Future?
Esher Sixth Form College are looking ahead for entry in 2023 (so if you are in Year 10 currently this applies to you).
How to Apply
Applications, for entry in September 2023, open on Monday 04 July and close at midday on Friday 30 September 2022. All applications take place online through their website www.esher.ac.uk and there is a video on how to apply on our website, which you can view here How to Apply to Esher Sixth Form College video.
Summer Open Events
They are now taking bookings for their Open Evening event, which will take place on Tuesday 12 July between 4:30 – 8:00pm. Those interested in attending the event can book a place at one of five sessions on the night, starting at 4:30pm, 5pm, 5:30pm, 6pm or 6:30pm.
For those who are unable to make 12 July, they are running smaller, guided campus tours on Wednesday 13 July at 2pm, 2:30pm, 3pm and 3:30pm and Thursday 14 July at 9am, 9:30am, 10am and 10:30am. Both the Open Evening and the College Tour events can be booked by visiting their website Esher Sixth Form College Open Events.
2023 Mini Prospectus.pdfSustainability
A reminder that SwopItUp will be happening after half-term. This is a fantastic opportunity for students in Years 7, 8 and 9 to clear out and donate unwanted clothes to the ‘SwopItUp’ shop in return for tokens which they can then ‘spend’ in the shop on other exchanged items. The idea is that students will be able to refresh their wardrobe without having to spend any money, and in doing so reduce the impact we as a school community are having in terms of consumption of clothing and resources.
Bag drop: Monday 06 June - Friday 10 June, between 08:20-08:30 in Room 204
Shop (event): Wednesday 29 June
The shop event will be invitation only to those students who have donated items.
If you wish to donate parents/carers must ensure that they have read and completed the Google Form sent in the email on 13 May.
English Update
This half-term Year 8 students have been studying the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. In order to aid our students’ understanding and enjoyment of the play, we have arranged a trip to the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond on Friday 08 July.
The production promises a dynamic modern adaptation especially designed for young audiences:
'In a galaxy far far away, a duke has won a queen in a war, a father disowns his daughter because she's in love with the wrong man and a fairy king has his ego bruised and wants revenge on his wife. In a fairy filled wood havoc runs wild, it's up to you, the audience to put it right!'
Look out for the email containing all the details and make sure to sign up by the deadline on Monday 06 June.
FORTS NEWS
Big PTA Summer Raffle
Tickets are now on sale for the Big PTA Raffle. Buy a £3 ticket for 12 chances to win up to £5,000, all whilst supporting FoRTS! Every ticket makes a difference and entering is easy. Three draws will take place each day between 18th July and 21st July 2022, good luck! 50% of all ticket sales go directly to FoRTS. Please share widely – anyone can buy tickets.
FoRTS General Meeting – Thank you for attending
Thank you to everyone who attended the FoRTS meeting on Wednesday evening, it was great to see some new faces and finally meet up again in person. We hope you found it useful and appreciate your contributions. With a view to meetings in the future, we’re keen to hear from you about what suits – we want the meetings to be accessible to all, so what venue would you like, what time works for you, and would you prefer meetings to be in person or online? Please email FoRTS with your feedback. We will distribute the latest minutes as soon as they are finalised.
Classlist
We introduced Classlist a couple of years ago as a way for parents to communicate with one another and for us to keep you up to date with FoRTS activities. However it is rarely used, and all the information we publish on there is a duplicate of news that has gone out on other channels. We discussed it at Wednesday’s meeting and the consensus was to close it down. Please let us know your views by emailing FoRTS. If there are no strong reasons/wishes for keeping it, we will close it at the end of the academic year.
AmazonSmile and easy fundraising
A reminder that you can support us while you shop online by becoming a supporter of ‘Friends of RTS’. Just use the following links:
Your FoRTS Team,
Vanessa (Chair), Mark (Treasurer) and Carey (Secretary)
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
Train to Teach
Waldegrave Training Alliance are still recruiting for School Direct trainees (tuition fee) to train to teach in the following subjects for September 2022:
Biology
Chemistry
Computing
Design & Technology
Drama
English
Geography
Mathematics
Music
Physics
If you, or someone you know, have a degree related to these subjects, are considering training to teach and would like further information please email wta@waldegravesch.org. Applications will close at the end of June.
Richmond RFC Half-Term Camp
Richmond RFC Multi-Sport Half Term Camp
Open to all! (Not just Richmond members)
Tuesday 31st May and Wednesday 1st June from 10am - 3pm.
Open to boys and girls 5 -15 years old
All coaches are at least RFU level 2 qualified and DBS checked
Rugby, Football, Cricket, Ping pong & much more!
£35 for one day. £60 for both days.
NEW OFFER!
Early drop off at 8am for an extra £10 per day.
Later pick up at 5pm for an extra £10 per day.
Find out more by clicking on the link:
Richmond Community Rugby Richmond Rugby - Multi Sport Half Term Camp
May Half-Term Camp RFC.pdfGirls Football Coaching
We Make Footballers is a Girls Football Coaching programme based in Teddington.
They are hosting a girls only football camp for players of all abilities ages 5-13 this half term. It is a 3 day camp delivered by a female coaching team ending with a tournament day.
Please go to this link to find out more information:
Out 'N' About - Pride
The Achieving for Children Youth Service is excited to announce that they will be running Richmond's first-ever cross-school LGBTQI+ Pride Celebration event for young people in KS3,4 & 5 aged 11-19.
Event Aims
This free event is geared up to be a celebration of all things LGBTQI+ and therefore this year it will take the form of a carnival/fair with rides, arts, music, and food. Our hope is that many schools and youth community groups from across the borough will join and they will be able to establish many new and long-lasting relationships for both young people and professionals alike. The day will be supported by Metro Charity, Spectra, Wild Minds, Free2Be, and The Metropolitan Police who will run stalls providing education, guidance, and links to community support structures available to young people. These include important pathways such as links to established youth support groups, LGBTQI+ specific sexual health services, mental health, trans support, and gender counseling. This is, in addition, to support from the No Straight Answer team. All of this should amount to a wealth of support and socialisation opportunities for young people to access that will allow a traditionally much-maligned community to utilise going forward to great reward.
Heatham House will play host to this event as it is an already well-established safe space for young people identifying as LGBTQI+.
Details
Heatham House Youth Centre, Whitton Road, Twickenham, TW1 1BH
Date: Friday 8th July, Time: 2:30 - 6:30pm
Important Information
The event is starting at 2:30pm which is towards the end of the school day. This has been done deliberately. We are running Out N About at a time when students can attend but in an independent after-school capacity. This should enable those young people to take part as general members of the community.
How to Take Part
Any further questions please contact justin.johnson@achievingforchildren.org.uk or alex.quenell@achievingforchildren.org.uk
Term Dates 2021-2022
Full term dates and Inset day information is available on the website:
Half-Term: Monday 30 May-Friday 03 June