St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School Parent Portal

Welcome to the last newsletter of the academic year. I would like to thank all staff, students, parents/carers, and our wider community for your ongoing support.

Please read this newsletter carefully, as it contains important information.

End of Term Arrangements

There will be an early end to the day for all students on Tuesday 22 July with students being dismissed at 12:15pm.

Student Awards Evenings

We had our Alive Awards evenings for Years 7, 8, 9, and 10 in the first week in July. My thanks go to all the staff who nominated students for these awards and who supported the event, and to Mrs Duzniak (Assistant Headteacher) for her organisation. Thank you to the Trustees for financially supporting this event.

Sports Day

We held our sports days for Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 last week. The level of competition, engagement and support was exceptional. We look forward to the big reveal during our final church service of the year on 22 July. My thanks to Mr Trott (Head of PE), the PE department and all the staff who participated to make this such a fantastic experience.

Culture Day

We had our Culture Day on Wednesday 16 July, with students and staff wearing clothes that represented their culture, or the colours of a flag that they felt represented them. This was a wonderful opportunity for students and staff to celebrate the cultural diversity of the School. Thank you to all those taking part and to the organisers, in what was a wonderful event.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The final expeditions of the year took place during the weekend of the second week of July. You will recall that we experienced a heatwave which makes the achievement of the students and staff even more commendable. They had a great time and displayed real grit. Sincere thanks to Mr Trott (Duke of Edinburgh Aware Lead) for his organisation and leadership of the expeditions which preceded a week of sports days!

Activities Week

We hope that all students enjoyed their Activities Week adventures or their Work Experience, and that they all have a wonderful, restful summer break. Our thanks go to Ms Hale (our Main School Careers Lead), Mrs Duzniak (Assistant Headteacher) and administrator, Ms Cooper, and the finance team, for all their excellent work, and to all the staff who supported them by leading the various activities. It takes a lot of hard work to provide these experiences for our students, which I’m sure they value very much. We will be sharing our approach to ‘Activities Week’ for the 2025-2026 early in the new school year.

House Logos

The sports days have been a lovely opportunity to see the power of the House ethos. Mr Morgan (Deputy Headteacher) has been working with a group of students and a professional graphic designer to produce logos that represent each of our five Houses. We look forward to launching the logos at the beginning of the new academic year and holding more events that enable our students to celebrate their House identity.

Uniform, Mobile Phones, Anti-Bullying, and Behaviour and Good Relationships Policies

Our new and updated policies are available on the School website. We will continue to work with students and their families to ensure that our expectations are clear.

Attendance

Thank you for another year of supporting school attendance. We have experienced another year of positive attendance figures both within the Main School and the Sixth Form. This is only achieved through a team effort. Information on our attendance procedures are on our website and can be accessed here. We will provide a further attendance update at the start of the new academic year.

Site Work

Thank you to Mr Toogood (Premises Manager) and his team for all their hard work throughout the year, keeping our buildings looking good and functioning well! Their hard work continues over the holiday period. We are hoping that the works affecting Somerset Square, which are linked to the heating system for the blocks of flats, will be completed by the start of the new academic year. There are, however, new bridge works on the Bath Bridge Roundabout, with no left turn from the bridge on to Clarence Road. These works are scheduled to take at least 7 months.

Friends of SMRT School

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, and the meeting dates are in our School calendar, which is also available on the website. The group’s primary function is to support the School socially, financially, and educationally. 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 members.

Safeguarding Information

Please be aware that, over the summer holidays, the SMRT safeguarding@smrt.bristol.sch.uk email will be monitored regularly by our Safeguarding Officer, Mr Penrose.

If there are any immediate safeguarding concerns or if you are concerned about the welfare of a child, please contact the Social Care Team for your area using the numbers below:

Bristol - First Response Team: 01179 036444

BANES - Childrens’ Social Work Services: 01225 396111 or 01225 477929

North Somerset – Safeguarding Children Partnership: 01275 888690

South Gloucestershire - Access and Response Team: 01454 866000

If there is an immediate risk to a child, please contact the police using the 999 number, or use 101 if it does not require an emergency response.

Start of Academic Year and Student Induction Day 2025

On Tuesday 2 September, the School will be closed to students for our staff INSET day. Year 7 and Year 12 students will be in School on Wednesday 3 September for an induction day, and the remaining year groups return on Thursday 4 September.

Term Dates and INSET Days

Term dates for students for the whole of the academic year, as well as Inset days when the School will be closed to students, are set out on this website page.

Exam Results and Sixth Form Enrolment

We look forward to receiving the A Level and GCSE results for our students, and these will be released to students via the Student Portal of Bromcom or in person as follows:

A Level: Thursday 14 August from 8.30am to 11am

GCSE: Thursday 21 August from 8.30am to 11am

Staff will be available on site for both dates, from the times shown, for students needing further support and guidance in their next steps.

If you are unable to attend in person and wish to nominate someone else to collect the results, please complete this form with your details.

For post results services please refer to the communication that has already been sent out or the Exams area of our website.

All Year 11 students intending to return to our Sixth Form for Year 12 must enrol online via the Sixth Form page of the website by 5pm on Sunday 24 August, to secure their place. Full details can be found on the School website.

Members of the Sixth Form Pastoral Team will be available on site on Thursday 28 August between 10am and 1pm, to meet with applicants if a fuller discussion regarding subjects is needed and/or to sit a Maths/Science aptitude test.

Community News

Mr Fewell (Deputy Head of Year) shared a positive report he received about one of our Year 7 students, Dareen, who went to the aid of a member of the public who had fallen near the School. This is a real living out of our Alive values. Well done, Dareen.

Staff News

We will be welcoming Miss Ainsworth (Head of Year) back from her sabbatical at the start of Term 1. We are looking forward to hearing about her travels. She will be rejoining her year group who will be Year 10 in September.

Miss Lyons (Maths and Politics) will be starting her sabbatical in September. We wish her all the best for the year ahead.

Mr Netto (Maths) joined the School in 1981 is retiring. Having stepped down from the Head of Maths role some time ago he has continued to work part-time and is a highly valued member of the team. He will be sorely missed by both colleagues and students. We wish him a long and happy retirement. Mr Mulligan (DT) who joined us in 2023 is also retiring, and we wish him well.

Ms Ford (MFL) has been at our School since 1997 and is leaving us. Her dedication to the department, her students, and all those with a love of German has been highly valued. Ms Samways (DT) joined the School in 2004 and is also leaving us. I know that she will be missed by her students and colleagues. We wish them both all the very best for the future.

We are saying goodbye to teaching staff who are leaving us for posts elsewhere. We wish Ms Bayley (Science), Miss Adair (Science), Ms Joyce (Second in DT), and Miss Ketley (Joint Head of MFL) all the very best in the future. Ms Davies (Maths) is leaving us for a new post out of Bristol, as she has relocated with her family and has been commuting since rejoining us in Term 6 following her maternity leave!

Mr Swanson has been here for a short time covering maternity leave, and we wish him well in the new post he is taking up in September. We are also saying goodbye to Ms Niven (DT) whose temporary contract ends at the end of the summer. Mr Woodfield, one of our LSAs is also leaving for a new opportunity, and we wish him well.

We are saying a very sad farewell to Mrs Whittaker (SENDCo) who I know has made a massive impact on the lives of very vulnerable students and has ably supported their families during her time at the School. I know from the messages that we’ve had that she will be missed but wish her well in her new post. We are also saying a sad goodbye to Mr Hare (Assistant Head) who is taking up a new position. His passion for PE and for working with our students both in and out of the classroom has been highly valued and we wish him all the very best as he develops his career elsewhere.

Mr Thomas-White (Director of Attendance) will also be leaving us. Mr Thomas-White joined us in 2009 as Assistant Head (Inclusion) with responsibility for safeguarding, attendance, and inclusion. In this role Mr Thomas-White has supported countless students and their families. In 2023 Mr Thomas-White reduced his role and became part-time in preparation for retirement. We wish him the very best for the future.

We thank all our leavers for their contribution to the life of the School and to the lives of our young people.

Although not a leaver, I also want to recognise the contribution of Miss Miles (Head of MFL) who has led the department since 2018. During the last year, this role has been shared with Miss Ketley. Miss Miles is stepping down from the role to spend more time with her growing family. She has led the department with skill and distinction. In addition to strong academic outcomes, the educational visits led by the department have made a lasting impact on countless students. I am delighted that she will continue to be part of MFL department.

Dr Wilson has been a Head of House and Head of Year at SMRT since 2017 having joined the School in 2005. In this role Dr Wilson has been a source of support, encouragement and a trusted adult for numerous children and their families. Having seen his current year group through to the end of Year 11 Dr Wilson has decided to step down from the Head of Year role. We are very grateful for all he has contributed and are pleased that he continues at SMRT as a science teacher. Dr Wilson will also be using his experience to contribute to whole School projects.

Our new staff joining us in September are as follows:

Ms Williams - SENDCO

Miss O’Brien - Main School Interventions Teacher (maternity cover)

Mrs Martin - Second in DT

Miss Burgess - DT

Mr Parsons - DT

Ms Payne - DT

Mrs Faircloth - DT (maternity cover)

Ms Hogg - Head of MFL

Ms Jathol - Science

Miss De La Mare - Science

Dr Mannan - Science and Law (Maternity Cover)

Mr D’Amelio - Health and Social Care (Maternity Cover)

Ms Kovacs - Sociology (Maternity Cover)

Mr Parslow - PE

Dr Vickers - Maths

Mr Short - Cradle to Career Hub Co-Ordinator and Project Manager

Ms Coda - Cover Supervisor

Mr Porter - Cover Supervisor

Miss Baker - LSA

Miss Inglis - LSA

Ms Porter - LSA

Mr Lyons - LSA

Mr Forder - LSA

A number of current staff are taking up new posts within the School from September.

Mr Mansell - Assistant Headteacher (Behaviour, Attitudes and Culture)

Mr Pike - Assistant Headteacher (Safeguarding, Attendance and Belonging)

Mrs Apps - Acting Head of Year 12 (Maternity Cover)

Mr Montgomery - Acting Deputy Head of Year 12 (Maternity Cover)

Mr Jones - Acting Progression Co-Ordinator for Post-16 (linked to Maternity Cover)

We wish everyone the very happiest, healthiest, and restful summer break possible, and look forward to seeing all our students, new and old, back in School in September, ready to learn and make their unique contribution to the world. We wish all our staff a restful summer and look forward to seeing staff, both new and old, in September!

The end of Term 6 provides a chance for us to reflect upon and celebrate all that students and staff have achieved together this year. From a curriculum perspective, we are very pleased with the positive feedback we have had from OFSTED, Challenge Partners and SIAMS about what we offer at SMRT, while providing helpful pointers as to how we can make things even better in the future.

I think the thing which had most impact on staff came on our recent INSET day, when I shared some of the feedback from parents and carers gathered as part of the OFSTED process. This showed that the overwhelming majority of our parents and carers felt very positively about their child’s experience of the School and about our curriculum offer.

Alive Values in Practice in our Sixth Form:

We are particularly proud of the way that the Alive themes underpin all that we do as a School, both inside and outside the classroom. This is just as true in the Sixth Form as in the Main School, as these examples from Years 12 and 13 demonstrate:

We value justice and respect - The Geography department has close ties with the local Geographical Association and our A Level students have taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to them this year. This has included students attending a range of lectures at Bristol University. Topics discussed included: deconstructing African Stereotypes; Inequalities in Britain; urban regeneration in Bristol and the impact of climate change on the Arctic.

We can review – We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can improve what we offer in terms of our curriculum. This summer, our first A Level cohort for OCR A Chemistry sat their exams in this course, which we had chosen, having reviewed the old syllabus and deciding that this was a better fit for our students. Feedback from students has been positive, and we are confident of some fantastic results in the summer.

We can question - Year 12 and 13 Politics students visited Parliament a few months ago. They left at five o’clock in the morning to get to their tour of Westminster. Once in the House of Commons, they got to go in the actual debating chamber, but unfortunately weren't allowed to sit on the benches – that will have to wait until they are MPs!

We can communicate – Year 12 and 13 Languages students had a wonderful day attending workshops at Bath University on a range of topics such as the importance of studying languages at university and careers with languages. Spanish students attended a lecture on ‘Latin America’s place in the world: autonomy or dependency?’ while French students attended a lecture entitled ‘Le féminisme en France: acquis du passé et défis du futur?’ There were also taster sessions in a range of languages including Mandarin and Italian.

We are interdependent and we can contribute -The EAL team organised a peer tutoring programme. Lots of our Year 12s and 13s came to the Ikoba building every Tuesday lunchtime to work with Main School students for whom English is an additional language. Tutors created games that supported their tutees with vocabulary learning, reading and writing skills. Nearer to the exam season, tutors used their expertise and experience to support Year 11 students with Maths, English and Science revision activities. It is fantastic to see our young people working together to support one another – a great example of our values in practice.

We can research – In the last few weeks, the Mr Alexander and the Chemistry team have taken all Year 12 Chemistry students to the University of Bristol. Here, students used state of the art labs to synthesise aspirin and test its purity using infrared spectroscopy. A great opportunity for our students to gain experience of the very latest equipment and techniques.

Representing our School in our city:

As well as some notable success on the sports field, SMRT students have also “done us proud” in a variety of curriculum related competitions.

Just before the Easter break, four of Year 10's top mathematicians travelled across Bristol to compete in the ‘Maths Feast’ against 15 secondary schools including Bristol Grammar School. SMRT finished first place collecting pockets full of Easter eggs as prizes!

In February, thirty-six teams from around Bristol were selected to compete against each other in three rounds of maths in the Sixth Form Maths Competition at Bristol Grammar School. Seven of the teams were from SMRT. Up against SMRT were BGS, Clifton High, Badminton, Collegiate, Clifton College, QEH, Redland Green and Bristol Cathedral. For the fourth time in a row, our SMRT further mathematicians beat off the competition and came in first place, topping the table with our best result yet.

Meanwhile, a team of three Year 11 Geography students won the local Geographical Association World Wise Quiz hosted in the Wills Building at Bristol University competing against fourteen other state and private schools from across the city. Three of our students showed magnificent resilience to win the cup. We are all very proud of them here.

As well as these triumphs, our recent awards evenings for Years 7 to 10 provided an opportunity for students, teachers, parents and carers to come together and celebrate both students’ academic achievement and the way in which they embody the skills, attributes and values of our Alive themes. It was a pleasure to see so many of you there and celebrate what has been a great year!

Mr Taylor

Deputy Head Teacher

Meet the Tutor Evening

You may be aware that Thursday 11 September is our ‘Meet the Tutor’ event when we invite you into School to meet your child’s tutor. This is a really important opportunity to talk to one another and make sure we are able to connect well with both students and their families. This is one of the few times of the year we ask parents to visit our school in person as it’s important to have face-to-face contact. We hope you can keep the date free and prioritise the time. Booking times and more information will come out at the start of Term.

Rewards, Sanctions and Houses

We have been reviewing our rewards and celebrations recently and look forward to updating you more in the new year. We have also developed new House badges which will be shared in the new term and appointed House Leaders to strengthen our House culture. Alongside this, we have also reviewed our sanctions to help communicate more clearly with parents and carers. In addition, parents and carers should be able to read individualised comments from teachers to help improve understanding of individual situations and close some of any communication gaps between home and School.

Events!

Term 6 is always busy! Sports Days have been a fantastic success. It’s been great to see students representing their Houses and enjoying the competition together. Year 6 transition days were full of enthusiasm and excited faces, ready to start a new chapter in their lives. Activities week was exceptionally hot, but the students had great opportunities to visit and see different places, whilst Year 10 got out into the ‘real world’ for their work experience. The Alive! Awards ceremonies were a fantastic chance for families and students to celebrate success and contribution over the year and the ‘Gathered’ worship event saw over 100 students say after School to take part in activities, testimonies and worship.

This week’s Culture Day was a great success, as always, celebrating the diversity of heritage and culture that makes our School so special. Thanks to all the staff involved with planning and organising, students for great participation and families for all your support.

Getting Ready for September....

Finding out what is at the bottom of a student’s bag may feel a little like a challenge from “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!”, but please do check that the essential equipment is well stocked ready for September. New planners and timetables will be handed out in September. Please support us by checking that they are used and well looked after at home in the new term to build good habits for planning ahead and keeping organised.

I am reposting two paragraphs from our last newsletter as they will need reminding and repeating ready for September.

Uniform

As you will have read in the recent letter home, there are some amendments to the uniform code from September 2025. We have been working through these adaptations with the aim of making uniform more cost effective with fewer compulsory items from Monkhouse, alongside maintaining our distinctive identity and pride in our School. The full letter explains this in much greater detail, please read it if you have not already (translations are available). Our 2025-6 uniform page can be found here. We have been talking to students about these changes in assembly and will reemphasise this before the end of term.

Phones, Smartwatches and Headphones

We have written to all parents and carers about changes to our policy for September 2025. This is 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) 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.