Welcome to our June newsletter.

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine! It has been an incredibly busy month as we have supported over 550 students through examinations. Thank you to all parents, carers, staff, and invigilators for your support and hard work during this period, especially in this period of very hot weather.

On Wednesday evening (25 June), the parents and carers of the Year 7 students who are starting in September got their first chance to come into school.  We explained what life would be like for a new Year 7 student at SMRT.  Thank you to all the staff and students who took part, and to those staff behind the scenes who organised the evening.  It was lovely to be able to introduce our new SENDCo, Ms Williams.  We are looking forward to seeing the new Year 7 students themselves on one of the two Induction Days, when they come in for an exciting day of sample lessons. We have communicated with families directly to inform them of their specific induction day.

Our Year 11 and Year 13 students have now finished their GCSE and A Level exams.  It was lovely to see many Year 11 students and their families at their leavers’ service on Tuesday 24 June in St Mary Redcliffe Church. It was a wonderful celebration of their time at SMRT. We also held our fantastic Year 11 Prom that evening and an equally fantastic Y13 Prom on Wednesday 25 June. 

Next September

The school will be closed to students on Tuesday 2 September for a Staff INSET day. The school will welcome Year 7 and Year 12 students back after the holidays on Wednesday 3 September.  The other year groups will return on Thursday 4 September.  These days are a period of induction for students who are new to the school, and an opportunity for us to set out our expectations for the year ahead for the whole school community.

BS1 Alive Cradle to Career Hub Coordinator and Project Manager

In the last Newsletter I shared information about our partnership with the Reach Foundation and the exciting Cradle to Career Hub that we are establishing. On Monday 23 June interviews for the Hub Coordinator and Project Manager were held (one role). I am delighted to share that we have recruited for this post (initially fixed term for one year), and I will be able to share details in the July Newsletter.

Uniform and Mobile Phone Updates

You will have received important updates regarding uniform and our mobile phone policy. Please do read these updates carefully and discuss them with your child. Please do contact your child’s tutor or Head of Year if you have any queries.

GCSE and A Level Results

Our exams team will be contacting parents/carers with details for the release of GCSE and A-Level Results to students at the same time as this Newsletter is published.  The information will also be on the website.

Please encourage your young people to collect their exam certificates when the time comes.  These are extremely important and useful documents and can be very expensive to replace.  We get a number of emails every year from ex-students who need their forms for further/higher education courses or job applications and have either misplaced them or never collected them.

Friends of SMRT

Friends of SMRT is the name we give to the equivalent of the PTA you might be familiar with from your children’s Primary Schools.  Everyone has automatic, free membership!  The committee meets termly, and all are welcome to attend.  The committee are elected in Term 2, at their Annual General Meeting.  You can find full details on their website here, and the meeting dates are in our school calendar.  The group’s primary function is to support the school socially, financially, and educationally.  They run the School Support Fund, details of which can be found here.  Please consider whether you are able to donate to this worthwhile fund.  There are a number of ways you can actively contribute to the work of Friends of SMRT.  I am sure the group would be delighted to welcome new faces at their next meeting!

Community News

Congratulations to Stephene (Year 9) who had another successful swimming event in Sheffield recently and achieved multiple personal best results.  She now sits within the top 20 in England and the top 25 in GB for her age group.  We applaud her ongoing dedication to her training and competition schedule.

Congratulations to our new Sixth Form Senior Students for 2025-26.  They are Amelie, Caleb, Chul, Elliot, Harry, Jennifer, Josh, Mariam, Neps, Ra'id, Radhika, Ruby, Steven, Tacari and Yana.  There is always lots of interest from students in taking on this important role, so these students have done very well.  Thanks go to all those who put themselves forwards.

It will soon be time to say goodbye to those members of teaching staff who are retiring, leaving us for new promoted posts, or posts elsewhere, or whose temporary contracts are coming to an end.  There will be a summary of those who are leaving in the final newsletter of the year, and we will introduce our new staff early in September.

Parent Governor – a message from Stephen Brooke, Chair of Governors

A vacancy has arisen for a Parent Governor. Being a Governor is an important role in the life of the school as Governors work with the Headteacher in setting the overall direction of travel of the school.  Governors are involved in important decisions, for example: student admissions, and school budget and premises expenditure.  Within the Committees, Governors discuss student achievement and take an interest in the ways the school is continuing to maintain high standards. They also support the Headteacher and School Leadership Team as they lead the school.  Being a Governor is not getting involved with the day-to-day operation of the school, but seeing how that impacts on students and staff, and where the experience Governors bring can support the Leadership Team through the challenging world of education.

We would like members of the Governing Body to continue to represent the excellent diversity of our student intake and want anyone who has time, and a passion for our distinctive Christian School, to feel able to offer their services in this key role.  In particular it is helpful if you have some daytime availability, e.g. to help with Admissions Appeals, or Disciplinary Panels.  We would also really like to hear from people with financial and premises, HR and/or legal expertise, as well as a wide variety of other skills to support the existing Governing Body.  If appointed, you will also be required to sign the Governing Body’s Code of Conduct, and to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced disclosure.

Interested in finding out a bit more?

Feeling a little daunted by the responsibility you may be taking on?  There is a full training programme available, and you will always be working as part of a team.  No particular experience or qualifications are required to become a Governor; your role would be as a typical parent bringing a parent’s perspective to the Governing Body and the school.  It’s important to have a mix of voices, experience, and skills around the table.

Your Commitment

If you become a Governor, you will be taking on the following commitments to help make sure the school is well managed:

• Share the responsibilities of the Governing Body as summarised above.
• Attend and take part in meetings on a regular basis – Governors attend six Full Governing Body meetings (one a term) and are normally a member of one other Committee which usually meet about 3 times a year each.  Meetings normally last no longer than two hours.  The other committees are as follows:

• Admissions (SMRT is its own Admissions Authority, so sets the Policies and criteria for offering places within the remit of the Admissions Code.  Attending parent/carer Appeals)
• Resources Committee (e.g. monitoring and reviewing the annual school Budget, income and expenditure, Health & Safety, building projects and maintenance.).

• Undergo appropriate training
• Helping with interviews or other panels as appropriate/needed

What happens next?

Please use this Link to the nomination form.  The nomination period will be open for two weeks until 12pm/noon on 11 July 2025.  After that, if only one person has applied, that individual will be elected unopposed; if more nominations are received than there are posts, we will move to an election.  Should that be the case, we will send out further information at the time.

If you have any questions or would like to find out a bit more, please contact Stephen Brooke (Chair of Governors) at brookes@smrt.bristol.sch.uk.

You can also find out a bit more using the following link: Become a school governor - bristol.gov.uk.

Regards 

Del Planter

Headteacher

1. Please pray for the final weeks of the academic year — that they would be filled with joy and gratitude. May this be a time of celebration as we finish the year well and enjoy Activities Week and other end-of-term events.
2. We also lift up our staff in prayer as they approach the end of a busy academic year. We ask for renewed strength and energy to carry them through the final weeks, and for peace and encouragement for those who are moving on at the end of term.
3. We give thanks and ask for continued prayers for our Year 11 and Year 13 students. Having completed their exams and celebrated their proms, may they look ahead with hope and confidence as they embark on new and exciting adventures.

Chaplain Josh 

Contents

We are currently in the final stages of confirming the GCSE options for our Year 9 students. Thankfully, we were able to offer most students their first choices of options subjects and where that wasn't the case, I met with the students concerned and was able to offer suitable alternatives. Final confirmation emails will be sent out to Year 9 students in the first week of July - this is an opportunity to check for any errors so that we can rectify them before the end of term. Later that same week, we will be contacting those students who expressed an interest in French or Classical Civilisation as additional twilight GCSEs to confirm whether they are still keen to study these courses.  

I am really grateful to everyone for their patience through what is a complex process as we strive to give students the widest choice possible at GCSE.

Mr Taylor

We are at the time of year when we say goodbye to our Year 11s, who have worked so hard throughout their exam season and thoroughly enjoyed their Ball on Tuesday night.  We are very proud of how they have approached their exams and look forward to seeing many of them back in Sixth Form next year.   

As we say goodbye to Year 11, we say hello to our new Year 7s next week, with induction days on the 3 and 4 July. We look forward to getting to know our new students as they visit us. 

We have written to all parents and carers about changes to our policy for September 2025. This is a very important letter, as it explains in detail how our policy will be worked out day to day.  Please read the letter on the website (translations available here) and discuss the implications for your child, particularly if they travel to school and use their phone for transportation.  We hope that all students understand the rules, the reasons behind them and do not risk the consequences of breaking the rules, but please do discuss with them ready for improved habits in September.  We have been talking to students about these changes in assembly and will follow up in more detail later this term. 

Mr Morgan 

We held our Year 11 Leavers’ Service at St Mary Redcliffe Church on Tuesday 24 June.  So many parents and carers attended along with our year 11 students.  Our wonderful students led nearly all aspects of the service, choosing Bible readings and songs to reflect their thoughts as they finish their main school experience at SMRT.  It was wonderful to be able to pray for our students as they continue their adventure.

On Friday 20 June, our student chaplains were invited to participate in a ‘Growing Faith’ conference for the Church of England.  The conference had representatives who work in education from all over the UK.  The delegates were meeting to consider how to make churches more welcoming and inclusive to young people.  Our students led some sung worship and prayers at the start of the day.  They were also involved in a panel activity where the delegates asked them questions.

The students were amazing; they spoke and sang with confidence. There was a real sense of God’s presence, and it was so wonderful to see our young people flourishing in their faith.

On Thursday 26 June, we took our student chaplains offsite for an ‘away morning’ to say thank you for all the hard work they have done and also to give them some time to reflect and be enriched in their own faith.  We had a delicious breakfast and some sessions about what it means to be appointed (called) and anointed (filled).  The students made some anointing oil and we also prayed for them as they continue on their faith journey.  We are so pleased with our student chaplains they have enriched our worship and faith across the school.

Mrs Duziniak

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.

The annual Year 7 Spelling Bee competition took place on Monday 9 June. We had a record 14 contestants (see below) who competed to an incredibly high standard. This resulted in four final winners who it was impossible to separate. The occasion was fantastic, and the spelling ability was the best we have had in five years:

WINNERS 
Hepzhibah  – PSM 
Aimee – SBE  
Ethan  – ABL 
Noah  – ABL 

ENTRANTS 
Amos - SBE 
Solomon  - JST 
Theo - JST 
Malachi - LFR 
Max  -LFR 
Dexter - PSM 
Bea - RMU 
Viv  - RMU 
Justyn - ADY 
Flo  - ABL 

We will look forward to next year!

Mr Boswell

A plea to all of our students to please return all library books, textbooks and other course materials (including those purchased from bursary funds which can be reused) as soon as they are no longer required. Each year we make significant losses as a result of unreturned books and we urge all of our students and their families to support us in this respect.  Library books can be returned to either Main School or 6^th Form Library.  Thank you in advance for your support. 

Mrs Garmston

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

Each fortnight we send 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's the WuW update we are highlighting this month:

Click to WuW! 

Important reminder for all parents and carers: On-line Safety:

While our safeguarding updates cover a range of online safety concerns and government guidance, please could I draw your attention to these sites in particular: Omegle, OwnTV, Thundr and Monkey. All of these sites have an online gaming focus and use live streamers. These are specifically for over 18 users and are known to be places where older males have groomed and abused young people in the past. We would like you to check what platforms and sites your young people have been using and report any concerns to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command).

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

Mr Pike 

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Thank you all the Friends of SMRT who have supported the school this year.  Here is a link to the website if you wish to find out more.  There are no more meetings this year but look out for new meeting dates in September.

Mrs Duzniak 

Open Booklet