Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to our February Newsletter.

I do hope you our students had a refreshing half-term break. It has been great to welcome them back for a new term. It was a busy end to the term with the Ofsted inspection. We will share the report with stakeholders once it has been finalised by Ofsted.

Ikoba Visit

During the half-term I had the privilege of visiting Ikoba Secondary School for Girls, which is our partner school in Uganda. We have had a partnership since 2006 and look forward to celebrating the 20-year anniversary next year.

I found the visit inspiring, life-changing, humbling, and energising. Ikoba is a Christian boarding school which provides a truly exceptional quality of education in very challenging circumstances. Mrs Duzniak (Assistant Headteacher), Mr Miller (Premises Team) and I were privileged to immerse ourselves in the life of the school, community and town. An aim of the visit was to establish what the partnership will look like moving forward and we are in no doubt that there is immense mutual benefit in further developing the partnership. We look forward to sharing more information.

We are looking forward to utilising the technology available to ensure the partnership becomes more tangible and impactful for all stakeholders. There is much that we can incorporate at SMRT. We will be updating the Ikoba page of our website to ensure it captures the vibrancy of our partnership and there is more information and some pictures from our trip later in this newsletter.

I would like to thank our Year 7 students who wrote to the students in Ikoba and made them bracelets.

There is so much more to share but for now, we keep Ikoba School for Girls in our prayers and look forward to hosting a reciprocal visit in Term 6 if we can acquire the necessary approvals.

Lent

This year Lent begins on Wednesday 5 March 2025 through to Thursday 17 April 2025. Please do look out for our Lent reflections that will be shared.

Attendance

Thank you to all parents and carers for all you do to ensure our students attend school regularly. Thank you to our students for getting to school on time and attending all of your lessons.

Our attendance continues to exceed national and local rates.  We are mindful of the numerous factors that can affect attendance, and we are pleased with the numerous case studies we have of working together to support attendance. Please follow the link here for guidance on our attendance processes. We do have school counsellors, a broad pastoral team, and strong links with external agencies, so please do reach out if additional support is required.

Mobile Phones

A year ago, the Department for Education published guidance on mobile phones in school. The guidance can be accessed here. Our approach as detailed in our Behaviour and Good Relationships Policy is in line with one of the four approaches detailed in the guidance.

Our approach is ‘Never used, seen, or heard’. Students keep possession of their mobile phones only on the strict condition that they are never used, seen, or heard – with consequences for breaching this.  I would like to thank parents and carers for their support and thank the majority of students who adhere to these expectations. However, we do have students who cross the line on this issue. As mentioned last year, we keep our policies under review, and we are now actively exploring the two approaches below:

• Mobile phone handed in on arrival 
• Mobile phones kept in a secure location, which the students do not access throughout the school day

There are a number of logistical factors that need to be considered, and Mr Morgan (Deputy Headteacher) will be in contact with parents, carers, and students once we have completed the exploratory stage.

In the meantime, the current approach of ‘Never used, seen, or heard’ must be adhered to.

Sixth Form Applications

Students who are applying from our own Year 11 for places in our Sixth Form need to stay focused on achieving their target grades and make full use of the support from teachers and other staff.  As the number of applicants is so high, we will not be able to be flexible with students who just miss out on the grades they need.

Community News

Ms Hale (DT) has returned from her maternity leave.  She is also our lead for Careers (including Year 10 Work Experience) for KS3 and KS4.  It is lovely to have her back.

We have two new LSAs joining us this term; Mrs Kusztor and Mr Baker.  Mr Allen leaves us this week for a new job in London.  We wish them all well.

Contents

Thirty-six teams from around Bristol were selected (or volunteered) to compete against each other in three rounds of maths at Bristol Grammar School. Seven of the teams were from SMRT, so well done to each of the keen competitors. Up against SMRT were BGS, Clifton High, Badminton, Collegiate, Clifton College, QEH, Redland Green and Bristol Cathedral. The teams had to find efficient mathematical methods to solve problems like this: find the sum of the digits of the numbers from 1 to 100.

For the fourth time in a row, our SMRT further mathematicians topped the table, with this the best result yet: three of our four further maths teams held the top three spots.

Particular congratulations go to Vijay B, Lukah D, Jasper M, Alfred G, Will S, Nam H, Olive J, Daisy H, Chloe C and Gaspar G who, in their final competition, were joint winners!

Mr Cross

The form for parents and carers of Year 9 students to submit options choices for GCSE is now open and can be found on the Year 9 Options 2025 page. If you have any questions relating to the options process please email coopere@smrt.bristol.sch.uk

Mr Taylor

Ramadan begins today.  We wish all of our Muslim students, staff and parents/carers a time of blessing.  We are keen to ensure that all students are able to practice their Muslim faith through this season.  We will be allocating a prayer space at lunchtime for students to use and 'Innovate' our catering contractors are providing Ramadan 'Grab-Bags' for students to buy at lunchtime and then eat when they get home and break their fast later in the evening.  Any students entitled to a Free School Meal should collect a 'Grab-Bag' at lunchtime for later in the day.

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.

Lent begins on Wednesday 28 March.  Chaplain Josh and I will be writing Lent reflections for students, staff and the wider school community.  We hope you find them helpful as we journey through a season of waiting for the Easter story to unfold.  

Mrs Duzniak

During half-term we visited our partner school (Ikoba Girls Secondary School) in Uganda.  The SMRT travelling party included Mr Planter, Mr Miller (Caretaker) and Mrs Duzniak (Assistant Headteacher and partnership Co-Ordinator).  We arrived in Uganda on Saturday 15 February and, after a long journey, reached our hotel in Masindi.  On Sunday morning, we attended church with the Headteacher (Madame Ruth Ahurra) in Masindi.  From Monday through to Friday, we were in the school where we observed lessons, taught lessons, interacted with staff and students and generally participated in all school activities.

The trip was both humbling and inspiring in so many ways.  We are keen to maintain the partnership and are thankful to all parents and carers for your support over the years.  The partnership started in 2006 and there is still so much that we can do together to further enhance both of our schools. 

Mrs Duzniak

The following students all took part in the poetry competition on Thursday 30 January. They all wrote and performed excellent poems on the theme of 'Joy'. The use of language and range of ideas was excellent and enjoyable to listen to. Well done to:

Dexter M
Jack FH
Kyle FH
Finlay C
Oliver K
Annie V
Mia S
Pearl T
Sophie B
James P
Sarah M
Enid M

Mr Boswell

The house point totals as we reach the end of this month are as follows:

Here is a link to a monthly round-up of news from Bristol Autism Support.

Click to read

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 is the WuW update we would like to highlight this month.

Click to WuW!

The next Friends of SMRT meeting will take place on Thursday 6 March at 7pm.  We will be meeting in the library.