As always, this first full week of the academic year has been extraordinarily busy. We have enjoyed speaking with our Year 7 and Year 8 parents during their respective Information Evenings and appreciate the time that parents have given up to attend. It is great to see families with now their second or third child here with us at RTS - nearly a third of each year group is made up of siblings!

We hope that you found the evenings interesting and useful - there is always a wealth of information to share at this time of year and it can feel overwhelming. We do understand - so please do not hesitate to contact the relevant member of staff if you have a query. Check in your Parent Guide for details of who and how to contact - they are all on the website, under each Year group on the Curriculum page. It was fantastic to have FoRTS on site during these evenings offering pre-loved uniform to families. These volunteers do a wonderful job and we are very appreciative of their hard work and dedication.

Thank you for signing Student Planners and please do remember to check in weekly for any comments we are sending home, or for comments you wish to let us know of.

On Tuesday 19 September, Tempest, the school photographers, will be onsite taking photographs of Years 7, 9 and 11 students and we appreciate your support in ensuring students attend school in the appropriate uniform. We understand this last week has been a period of settling in with uniform expectations and standards and have taken all feedback on board and want to thank you for your patience and support.

Don't forget to put Thursday 28 September in your diaries for a joint FoRTS/Modern Foreign Languages Department evening celebrating International Food. This was a very popular event last year and we are delighted to see it return this year. We are proud to be a diverse school of many cultures and nationalities and enjoy embracing the sharing of customs and food. Read below for further details.

Wishing you a relaxing weekend.

~ Ms K Dooley | Head Teacher

We are delighted to share with you some feedback that we received following the GCSE results and our 2018 cohort leaving RTS. Staff at RTS are passionate about what they do; and messages like this really do mean the world:

"I just wanted to thank Ms Dooley and all her incredible staff for providing [my son] with such dedication, skill and care whilst he was at school. Like any teenager he didn't always relish the idea of going into the school and learning but it is fair to say that the support he received throughout his entire time at RTS was second to none and I am immensely grateful that I chose your school five years ago."

• Tuesday 19 September - Tempest Photography
• Wednesday 20 September, 18:00-19:00 - Year 9 Stepping into KS4 Information Evening
• Wednesday 20 September, 19:00-20:00 - Year 10 Getting GCSE Ready Information Evening

As reported last week, ground works on the Sports Hall have begun in earnest and the view from the RTS school building is impressive. To put the site into context, the white building in the right corner is our interim Sports Hall which sits alongside our existing MUGA. The steel frame being constructed to the right will be the future technology-focused STEM Centre (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), for Richmond upon Thames College, which is due for completion in Summer 2024. The low brown bricked building is Nuffield Gym and behind that you can see the roof and stands of The Stoop, home of Harlequins Rugby Club.

Please be aware that we are a nut-free school so please do not send your child in with either nuts or nut based snacks for break and/or lunchtime. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

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

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

Email: info@rts.richmond.sch.uk
Website: https://www.richmonduponthamesschool.org.uk/
Location: Egerton Road, Twickenham TW2 7SL, UK
Phone: 0208 891 2985

Full-term dates and Inset day information is available on the school's website:

• Autumn Term 1: 04 September 2023 - 20 October 2023

• Autumn Term 2: 06 November 2023 - 20 December 2023

AGM - 28 September, 5-6pm in the RTS Hall

The FoRTS Annual General Meeting is upcoming where we meet as a team and vote in the key official roles of Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Please come along to meet us in person, hear about all our activities for the past academic year and get active in helping us this year. The AGM will precede the school’s Modern Foreign Language team’s International Food Evening where FoRTS will be providing drinks to purchase throughout the evening so please do come along for some fun.

Your FoRTS team

Carmelle (Chair and Acting Secretary) and Mark (Treasurer - stepping down)

General: forts@rts.richmond.sch.uk

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)

INVESTin - Weekend Career Opportunities for ages 12-18: Live and interactive career masterclasses this term

We are delighted to share with you our autumn term career opportunities, which are available in 15 cutting-edge industries. Students will learn directly from some of the world's best professionals through a series of live, interactive simulations which provide tailor-made professional experience to ages 12-18.

All programmes take place on Sundays, with dates available from November to January. Students can choose to attend in-person at UCL in London or Live Online.

We expect to be fully-booked soon so we would recommend that students register as soon as possible.

Richmond CoderDojo is a free coding club open to young people aged 5 to 15 with sessions on Scratch, HTML, Python, and using micro:bits. Coder Dojo has returned to in-person sessions at Richmond Old Town Hall, on the fourth Saturday of each month from 11am to 1pm.

The next session is Saturday 23 September. Book your place now!

Please see the below flyer from Emma Browne. Her sessions are for young people aged from 10 to 24 to share and explore their feelings, difficulties and experiences.

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