Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our final newsletter of the calendar year. Term 2 has been very busy and productive some of the highlights included hosting a teacher (John) and student (Brigid) from our Ikoba School which is our partner school in Uganda. It was also a pleasure to have world famous author Arshay Cooper  speak to our Year 9 students and sign copies of his latest bestselling book, ’Let Me Be Real with You’. We have also had our sixth form Rag Week talent show and our main school ‘Redcliffe Got Talent show. Massive thanks to all staff who have supported these events and to our students for their excellent engagement. Our sports teams have been involved in a number of fixtures and I am grateful to their commitment and the support of all the staff who make not only the fixtures but the training possible.

Wel done to Year 11 who have engaged incredibly well with the mock exam results assembly and related activities.   

Finally, it has been incredibly rewarding to see our students and the wider community benefit from a range of opportunities and experiences through our charity BS1 Alive Cradle to Career Hub . I will write to parents/carers in the new year to share some of the highlights.

End of Term Service and Carol Concert

This week we have enjoyed a wonderful carol service and a celebratory end of year of carol service. Both events were held in St Mary Redcliffe Church, and were occasions of worship and community. The quality of musicianship and the singing from the choir is always so impressive. Thank you to all who came and participated.

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 5 January 2026.

Year 11 Parent/Carer Evening

This will take place on Wednesday 7 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.  Parents/carers can find information about how to do this online via our website, and scrolling down to the Specific Options section (How to View and Update your Personal Data and your Child’s Data).

Community News

We have said goodbye to Mrs Williams, one of our administrators, who has been supporting our pastoral leaders for many years.  She is starting her retirement, and we wish her many happy years ahead!  I know that her colleagues will miss her very much.

Mr Tallack (English) and Mrs Baggaley (Geography) are leaving us having been covering maternity leave, and we wish them both well in their next steps.  Ms Dry (KS5 Learning Support Coordinator) is leaving us for a new post, as is Mrs Faircloth (DT) and Ms Maddix (Cover Supervisor).  We are grateful to them all for their contributions to their teams and students in the time they’ve been with us and wish them well in their new posts.  We are also saying goodbye to our HR Business Partner, Mrs Ben Hajria, who is leaving us for a promoted HR post early in the new year.  Most parents/carers and students won’t know her, but she has played a critical role in supporting our staff.  We wish her well.

Dr Lynch (Geography) has returned from maternity leave and it’s lovely to have her back with us.  We have been joined by Miss Cooley (Learning Mentor) just before the holiday, and look forward to welcoming Ms Chapman, who is taking over from Ms Dry as part of the Learning Support Team, and Ms Nash, who will be covering the Deputy SENDCo (KS3) role while Ms Mullins is on maternity leave.

Mrs Roberts (Deputy Head of Year 8) will be reducing her hours at the start of next term and so arrangements will be put in place to cover her role and teaching.  We will be able to share more about this next term.

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)

•  https://www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk/

Suicide

Samaritans

• www.samaritans.org
• 08457 90 90 90

Relaxation and stress management for children

https://www.moodcafe.co.uk/for-young-people/relaxation-and-mindfulness/

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

Merry Christmas!

It has been a term where we have seen a lot of illness, and I am hoping that the holiday period will allow time for rest and recuperation.

Christmas is a time when we remember God taking on our humanity to bring peace between himself and humankind. In our society the Christmas season can be a time of worry, grief and loneliness as well of one of joy, celebration and gratitude. I would like to encourage us all from the words of Philippians 4:4-7.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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

Mr Planter

Headteacher

 

• For safety and good health for all of our staff and students over the Christmas break
• For peace in our homes over the holiday
• For good rest so that all of our students come back in January ready for 2026

Contents

As we approach the end of a long term, it was great to see the excitement and anticipation of our Year 11s as they received their mock results last week. In the assembly before the results were issued, there were excellent inputs from a range of staff highlighting the link between a positive attitude, good attendance, hard work and outstanding results. It was also great to hear from some of our Sixth Form students as they shared their experiences of their own Year 11 journeys and reflected on the things that had helped them along the way.

Year 13s have their own mocks coming up after Christmas, and I am confident that they will approach them with the same attitude and determination that our Year 11s showed and that the outcomes will be equally encouraging.

After Christmas, Year 9s will take the first steps towards thinking about GCSE options. There will be some input in their ViP lessons during January which will be followed up later in the month with a letter from me which will outline all the key dates and events in what is quite a lengthy process.

Finally, a huge thanks to all the teachers and support staff who consistently go the extra mile to help our students to develop the skills, knowledge and Alive qualities which will help them to make their unique contribution to the world. 

Mr Taylor

We have been keen to reinvigorate our House ethos and rewards this year, and we are pleased to share the results of our end of term celebration assemblies with you.  Our leading House at the end of Term 2 is ......Johnson House!
 

Congratulations!  This is based on a combination of House Competitions (Redcliffe’s Got Talent, Poetry, Christmas Jumper and Christmas Quizzes), Alive Points and Attendance.   Ten students have also been awarded £20 Amazon vouchers for achieving the highest Alive Points and 100% attendance with zero late marks this year.  Well done to them too!

We are two terms into the new mobile phones policy and we are pleased to share that students are continuing to be compliant and respectful of the rules.  We can see the impact in school with reductions in behaviour incidents and students talking and engaging with each other more.   Thank you for your support in ensuring the policy is kept to and enforced.  It’s not unusual for screen time to increase during holidays periods and there may be the chance of a new phone or headphones for Christmas too, so please do remind your children of the rules ready for January! 

Here is the link to the page on our website that provides all information.  As the weather gets colder it’s worth reminding that hoodies are not allowed to be worn on site at all.  If a student is without a coat and needs one, please ask them to see their Head of Year who may be able to support with some secondhand items that are available.  Please also ensure that school trousers are worn (not leggings) and that shoes are ‘plain, black and polishable’, not only are they smart but also more practical for the time of year.  Jumpers and ties are compulsory items and should be worn proudly every day. 

We hope you have a wonderful break over the next two weeks.  The festive period can bring joy but for some families that is not always the case.  Please remember those in our school community who may be struggling with ill health or times of change in your prayers over this period. 

Mr Morgan

This month we have had our first ‘Gathered’ worship event of the academic year. Approximately 100 students came together to worship and pray together. It was wonderful to experience such a student led event. The evening finished with Pizza and some extra prayer!

We hope you have enjoyed our Advent reflections this month. Our theme has been ‘Divine Hope’,  we have used real-life story to bring some relevance to the reflections and have considered how we can have hope when we are: displaced, disappointed and diverse.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who came along to our carol service on Monday 15 December. We had over 300 people in the congregation – what a wonderful way to start preparing for Christmas. A big thank you to Mr Davies for directing all of the musical aspects of the service – with some stunning choir pieces throughout. Thank you also to all those who contributed in the retiring collection. We raised nearly £98.

Mrs Duzniak

We thoroughly enjoyed welcoming John and Bridget from Ikoba Girls Secondary School. They were with us for a full school week and during that time were able to join in with worship lessons and all other aspects of school life. Staff also took them to various evening events and even further afield to learn more about the UK. They visited London the Roman Baths and had a walking tour of Bristol which included a visit to the M Shed.

John is a Chemistry teacher, and he found lesson observations really interesting. He was particularly impressed with how we use mini-whiteboards in lessons to ensure all students are engaged in learning and also to address misconceptions and gaps in learning. It was amazing how similar the content of our curriculum is to that in Uganda and yet our approaches to teaching it are different.

Bridget is a student about to enter ‘S4’ which is the equivalent of year 11 here in the UK. She went to a variety of lessons and especially enjoyed our Humanities lessons. She was fascinated by the content of our Geography and History lessons and how this is different to what is taught in Uganda. Many of our students enjoyed talking to Bridget and asked her a lot of questions about life in Uganda.

Our visitors taught us so much while they were with us and it was a wonderful opportunity for us all to learn from each other. We are looking forward to sending some staff to Ikoba in February Half-Term.

It was so wonderful to see so many Christmas jumpers on 11 December. A big thank you to everyone who donated money. We raised £1,110.47 and have used this money to buy individual presents for every Sanctuary Seeking child staying at the Mercure hotel. The gifts include: colouring books and felt tip pens as well as a variety of board games and activities to keep them busy over the Christmas break. We are going to donate the rest of the money to Aid Box to support refugees in Bristol.

Mrs Duzniak

The English Department is excited to launch a short film competition for all Year 8 students. Using knowledge and understanding from Term 2's Short Film Unit, students are invited to plan, film, edit and share their own short films. Lasting up to 3 minutes, films can be original, creative, or inspired by films they have studied or watched previously. The deadline is Friday 9 January.  Students need to  send all entries, via email or memory stick, to their English teacher. There will be prizes for the winners and house points for everyone taking part.

Miss Staynings 

We have had a very exciting term in DT with a big focus for year 8 and STEM.  We have been fortunate to be able to offer two different experiences for most of the two halves of the year.  This week some students were able to have a whole day in the hall sponsored by AirBus.  They had a very inspirational speaker explaining the many opportunities available in the DT/engineering field.  They worked in teams to build a motorised aircraft.  The day was laced with numerous challenges, building prototypes, taking on roles from lead engineer to team leader or marketing manager. The teams had to do a flight and presentation! It was a great day and we were very proud of our students as they were the told they were the most creative and engaged school they had worked with.

A HUGE congratulations to our Sixth Form students Adil and Kaspar.  They have designed and built their own robot with sponsorship from VEX robotics.  They entered the V5 tournament, which is a game-based match of robots competing against each other.  They have to be able to not just score, but collect items, all whilst trying to stop their opponents.  There is teamwork and strategy and also having to know the rules inside out!  Not all of this is achieved by remote control either. Part of it is programming your robot in advance. 

They have won TWO awards - The 'Judges award' in their first competition and the 'Excellence Award' in their second which they also won.  This means they have now qualified for the UK Nationals in February.

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

Festive greetings to all our parents/carers of children with SEND.

During the last term, our Year 11 students have been working really hard to prepare for their mock exams. Well done to them!

They have also been attending college open events and making plans for their post-16 education. Exciting times!

Our Year 7 students are settling into school well and have made really successful transitions from primary school. Great stuff!

It was great to meet some of our Y8 parents/carers at the parents'/carers' evening.

In January, we welcome Suella Chapman and Ria Nash to support the leadership of KS5 and KS3 SEND provision respectively.

The intervention menu for Block 2 has been sent out to parents and carers of students with SEND. 

Please have a look at the selection of intervention sessions we offer and if you are interested or have any questions, please direct them to InterventionRegistration@smrt.bristol.sch.uk email address. 

The deadline is 12 January 2026.

We met a few parents at our most recent forum. We will be sharing the dates of next term's events in the new year.

In the meantime, below you will find a link to the Bristol Parent/Carer Forum. I hope it is of use to some.

Bristol Parent Carer Forum

Have a great holiday.

 

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.

Link

Our next Friends of SMRT meeting will be on 20 January at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you then. We are hoping to use this meeting to consider a number of financial proposals raised by school staff so do come along if you can.