Headteacher Welcome and Updates

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our final newsletter of the calendar year. Term 2 has been very busy, very long, and therefore full of achievements and I know everyone is looking forward to a rest over the school holiday.  

End of Term Service and Carol Concert

This week we have enjoyed an outstanding carol service and a celebratory end of year of service. Both events were held in St Mary Redcliffe Church. Both services were engaging acts of worship. The quality of musicianship and the singing from the choir were highly impressive. Thank you to all who came and participated and, to those of you who have taken the time to share such positive feedback either verbally or in writing.

Safeguarding

We have included information about sources of mental health support for parents/carers and students over the holiday period that you might find helpful (towards the end of this section of this newsletter).  If there is an emergency, or you think that you or your child is at immediate risk of harm, you should call 999 and speak to the police.

Start of Term

All students return to school after the holiday on Monday 6 January 2025.

Year 11 Parent/Carer Evening

This will take place on Thursday 16 January. It is a critical time for our Year 11 students, so please do make the most of this opportunity. If any Year 11 parents/carers still have any concerns or questions after these meetings, or if you were unable to make all the appointments you would have liked, please do get in touch with your child’s teacher, or a member of the relevant pastoral team (Tutor, Deputy Head of Year or Head of Year) for more general issues or if your child is experiencing anxiety around exams.

Dates for the other year groups parent/carer meetings can be found on the school calendar on our website.

Parent/Carer Contact Details

Do make sure the school has your most up-to-date phone and email details, and that your child’s emergency contact list is up-to-date, as this will assist us in reaching someone, should we need to make contact in an emergency.

Choosing GCSE Options (for Year 9 Students)

After Christmas, Year 9 students will begin the process of selecting their GCSE option choices. This is a lengthy and detailed process, which will include ViP lessons on options, assemblies, information for parents and carers, additional support for key groups of students, and a dedicated section on our school website. We are currently finalising our curriculum offer for 2025 to 2026 and will begin to share information with students, and parents and carers towards the end of January with a view to finalising option choices in Term 5.

Community News

Ms Howard (Head of PE) is leaving, and her leadership role will be taken by our own Mr Trott. Miss Cunningham (PE) is also leaving, and the PE team will therefore be joined by two new members of staff, Mrs Belinger (full-time) and Mrs Lochrie (part-time). Mrs Belinger will be taking on the Deputy Head of PE role for the remainder of the academic year while Mrs Hall is reestablishing herself following her period of absence.

Mrs Farwell, our Interim School Business Manager is leaving us, and her permanent replacement, Mrs Bunce, will be joining us at the end of January. Ms Cachandt, our Examinations Officer is leaving, and her role will be taken by our own Miss Bullock, who will act as Interim Examinations Officer and Administration Coordinator.

Ms Hobson (Deputy SENCo) has been with us covering maternity leave. Ms Mullins returns to her post in the new year, as does Mrs Apps (Post 16 Progression Coordinator). Ms Lewis has been covering her teaching, and Mr Jones her progression role. Mr Jones will continue in the role until the end of January, while he supports Mrs Apps at a particularly busy time for university applications. Dr Lynch (Geography) will be starting her maternity leave during the first week of term, and her teaching will be covered by Mrs Baggaley.

Mr Harris (Head of Business Studies and Economics) is now a permanent member of staff, and we thank him for an excellent start in this role.

Ms Gascoyne and Mrs Tait, two of our LSAs, are leaving us, as is our SEN Administrator, Mrs Evans.  We are currently recruiting for a full-time or two part-time LSAs, so please see our advert on Eteach if you, or someone in your family or circle of acquaintances, might be interested.

We also say goodbye to Mr Gregg, who joined us as a casual Administrator and has been supporting a variety of departments as well as our Safeguarding Team.

We thank all our leavers for their contribution to the life of the school and wish them all the very best for their next steps. 

Safeguarding and Sources of Support

The school safeguarding team can still be contacted for non-emergency situations at safeguarding@smrt.bristol.sch.uk.

Police

• www.avonandsomerset.police.uk
• 999 in an emergency or 101 for a non-emergency 

General support

Childline (support services for children and young people)

• www.childline.org.uk
• 0800 1111  

Kooth (online counselling and support)

• www.kooth.com

Off The Record (local counselling service for young people)

• www.otrbristol.org.uk
• hello@otrbristol.org.uk
• 0808 8089120 

First Response

First Response is part of Bristol City Council and can offer you support if you are worrying about issues at home, including concerns for the safety and welfare of children (0117 903 6444).

Emergency Duty Social Care Team

If the local office is shut, or you require support with any issues at home or in the local community, regarding concerns for the safety and welfare of children (01454 615 165).

Domestic abuse

Next link Plus

• https://nextlinkhousing.co.uk/
• 0800 4700280

The Hideout

• www.thehideout.org.uk

Drugs and alcohol

Talk to Frank

• www.talktofrank.com

Mental Health

Young Minds

• www.youngminds.org.uk

Online safety

CEOP (Reporting of online abuse to the police)

• 08001111
• https://www.ceop.police.uk/ceop-reporting/

Self-harm (self-injury support)

• www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk  

Suicide

Samaritans

• www.samaritans.org
• 08457 90 90 90

Relaxation and stress management for children

http://www.moodcafe.co.uk/for-children-and-young-people/relaxation-for-children.aspx

Mindfulness/Meditation for children (https://www.headspace.com/meditation/kids)

The Word Became Flesh – John 1:1-14

As we look ahead to Christmas this section from John’s Gospel Chapter 1 reminds us of the awe and wonder of Christmas.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that enlightens every person was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mr Planter

Headteacher

 

Contents

“So, what are they actually learning?”

As a parent of teenager, I know how hard it can be to get a coherent response to the question: “So what have you been learning about at school?” Sometimes I get a shrug, other times a grunt and if I am really lucky a one word answer like “Maths”. We think it is really helpful to give parents and carers the information they need about what young people are learning each term, and so we have provided a “Curriculum Overview” for each subject at each key stage.

You can find these overviews in the Curriculum section of our website. There is a separate section for Key Stage Three (Years 7, 8 and 9); Key Stage Four (Years 10 and 11) and Key Stage Five (Year 12 and 13).

In each section, every subject has its own page. So if, for example, you want to see what Year 8 students will be studying in Geography next term, simply go to the Alive Curriculum Key Stage Three section, Select Geography page, scroll down to where it says “View the Curriculum Overview” and click it. This will then show you a PDF of exactly what is being studied in each of Years 7 to 9. Scroll down to Year 8, look at Term 3, and you will see exactly what is planned for the coming term in terms of knowledge, skills and Alive themes.

We are always looking for suggestions of how to make information about the curriculum more accessible to parents, so if you have any thoughts please email them to chaibih@smrt.bristol.sch.uk

Mr Taylor

There’s much to celebrate as we come to the end of another year, and we look forward to all that 2025 will bring.  A few headlines to mention from this term are: 

• Redcliffe’s Got Talent was a fantastic example of SMRT students’ togetherness and celebration. It was wonderful to see such a range of acts taking part with a sell-out crowd supporting them.  Thanks to Mrs Duzniak for organising it. 
• Extracurricular activities are well underway and offer a range of activities from Improvisation club to the Hong Kong Christian fellowship.  More details on the website if you are interested. 
• There have been a range of field trips and cultural activities throughout the term, including theatre trips, art trips, and many more. 
• Year 11 mocks took place followed by a ‘mock results day’ last week and applications for post-16 places are well underway.  All students are given a one-to-one career appointment, but for further support please contact Tutors in the first instance. 
• Over the first two terms of this year, Years 7 to 11 have achieved over 100,000 Alive Points. This is amazing!  Well done to everyone who has tried so hard.  We are really proud to see students demonstrating Alive Values through their actions every day. 
• We have also seen a steady decline in negative behaviour incidents over Term 2. 

Lastly, we recognise there have been difficulties in communication from school to home this year around a variety of issues, not least behaviour incidents and detentions.  We have been working on improving this and are hopeful that you will see this working better in Term 3, with further details to come at the start of term. We appreciate the feedback and dialogue with parents and will continue to work on improving this as the year progresses. Thank you for your continued support. 

Mr Morgan 

This term, we have launched our Student Chaplain Programme. Student Chaplains will be dedicated & enthusiastic students, taking on a leadership role in our school chaplaincy. They will strive to make an inspirational difference in our school & community. 

We had over 40 applications from students, and we were really inspired by them all. Through our selection process, it was very hard to pick the team as all who applied were fantastic. We have picked a team this year who will be taking upon the responsibility from the New Year. We are looking forward to working with these students and all they contribute to our school & community.

Chaplain Josh

On Monday 16 December we had our annual carol service at St Mary Redcliffe Church.  It was such a joy to see so many parents, carers and families at the service.  I do hope that many of you stayed for a mince-pie at the end. 

It was a great service with some excellent musical arrangement from our music department.  The choir was made up of students in all year groups as well as some former students and alumni who return every year to sing with us all.  A big thank you to Mr Davies (Head of Music), Ms Bloor, Mr Dixon and Ms Alsop for all their hard work in making the event such a success. 

Chaplain Josh spoke about the Christmas story and the wonder of God becoming human and living with us.  Emmanuel – God with us.  This was a round-up to all the Advent reflections we have been following this month.  I hope you have enjoyed reading the emails.

We also had a retiring collection that will go to support our partner school (Ikoba Girls Secondary School) in Uganda.  Thank you to all who contributed at the service and all those who donated on Non-Uniform Day in early December.  We raised £1208.22.  Thank you so much.  We will let you know how the money is spent after we have spoken to the school.

Mrs Duzniak

Every week we run a worship session in our tutor groups, and make these available on our website for parents and carers to view.

Each newsletter will feature a Weekly Worship we would like to highlight from the previous month.

Please find a letter regarding the above parents'/carers' evening attached to the link.  Please also find guidance notes on how to access the online booking system and make appointments with your child's subject teachers. The system will go live on Tuesday 7 January 2025, but if you have any queries regarding this particular parents'/carers' evening,

Yr 11 Parents/Carers' letter

Guidance on booking and accessing Appointments

Please do not hesitate to contact me on 0117 377 2100 ext 216.

Mrs Williams

Way back in October, the ‘Justice and Respect’ Student Leaders decided that they wanted to hold a charity event before Christmas to raise money for ‘Bristol Refugee Rights’.  The planning began and auditions were held.  Many students from all year groups performed a variety of different acts.  12 acts were chosen by the students to perform in the semi-finals. 

Two weeks ago, we held the semi-finals and then also the final. The Student Leaders did a brilliant job of hosting the event, managing nerves, sorting the audio and lighting, making sure the event ran on time through lunchtime and just generally making the event a big success.  Special thanks and a big well done go to the Year 11 student leaders: Nyla Q, Sumaiya A, Gabie M, Daisy W and Victoria M.  Students were able to buy tickets with all proceeds going to ‘Bristol Refugee Rights’. 

It was a wonderful few days.  The hall was packed every day with such a positive and supportive student audience as well as lots of teachers who came along to see the acts too.  There was a real variety of dancers, magicians, comedians, musicians, singers and all-round entertainers.  Here are the winners:

3^rd Place             Joe M– Ballet

2^nd Place            Elijah E – Guitarist

1^st Place             George C and Josh B – All round musical entertainment

The event raised over £500.  Thank you to all the students who came along to support the event. It is such a great example of our students living out the ALIVE values in so many ways.

We plan to do this again next year – so watch this space!

Mrs Duzniak

The new menu for our SEN interventions offer has now been emailed to all SEN parents. Please let us know if you have not received the email via Bromcom.

The deadline for signups is Thursday 8 January. Block 2 teaching of these interventions starts on Monday 13 January and runs till the Easter holidays. 

Miss Pirie

We are hosting the next SEND Parents' and Carers' Group on Tuesday 4 March at 4pm-5pm.

Please email learningsupport@smrt.bristol.sch.uk to sign up for this.

Miss Pirie

Each week we send out a 'Wake Up Wednesday' ('WuW') safeguarding update to parents and carers. These cover a range of topics and themes that empower and equip parents and carers with the confidence and practical skills to engage in conversations with young people. We also make WuWs available on our website here.

Here's the WuW we would like to highlight this month:

Click for the WuW!

The Friends of SMRT organised mince pies and mulled wine at the carol service. A big thank you to all the parent volunteers for making this event feel so much more celebratory, encouraging many to stay behind and chat.

The next Friends of SMRT Meeting is on Wednesday 15 January at 7pm. The meeting will take place in the Learning Resource Centre (Library). 

Mrs Duzniak