RPA Library Volunteers needed

The RPA library is becoming busier and busier - partly driven by its state of the art online literacy quiz scheme that now spans all students in Years 7,8 and 9.  It would be fantastic to have a small number of adult volunteers from the local community to help support this growing initiative, so if you are able to commit 1, 2 or 3 hours per week at a regular time, RPA would be delighted to hear from you.  Full training given, and of course you'd also have the chance to see the academy from the inside and meet many of the students.

RPA HALF TERM NEWS

RPA HALF TERM NEWS
 

1. The newly refurbished and equipped dedicated Year 7 Base opened on schedule for the start of term, and is proving to be a fantastic resource for our 100 new Year 7 children.  It has certainly helped smooth the transition from primary to secondary school, and was also the venue for RPA's 1st Birthday Party last week - held in glorious autumn sunshine

 

2. Our Year 7 and Year 8 cohorts are now significantly more local than those higher up the academy - 60% of the children arriving in September 2010 and 2011 attended primary schools less than 2 miles away from RPA.  Those from further afield include former pupils of Belleville Primary School in Wandsworth, a school of such outstanding quality it was recently named as one of the government's first 100 teaching schools in the country

 

3. The project team, including architects, are now actively engaged in planning the £10m spend.  Any CB members wishing to become involved in the consultation, which will run into Q1 2012,  are invited to contact the headteacher

 

4. There has been a significant increase (more than double) in the number of families visiting the academy for tours since the start of term compared with the same period last year, and our open evening also saw an encouraging growth in attendees

 

5. 71% of all families attending tours and / or the open evening came from primary schools within Richmond Borough and / or located less then 2 miles from RPA - additional evidence that the progression towards being a local academy for local children looks set to continue.   

 

6. Attached ( inlcuded in this mail) article in Richmond Twikenham Times on progress at RPA . 

 

7. Next week we shall also be sharing with you the half term report. Please do revert back to us if you need more details or clarifications or have any questions or concerns about the progress at RPA. We will be happy to share more information with parents and invite all to have a discussion on the blog.   

HAPPY HALF TERM!

First Birthday Party

Don't forget RPA's First Birthday Party this Friday from 3.30 to 5 in the year 7 base. 

CB Meeting - POSTPONED

Dear all, 

Due to the work commitments of several of the core CB members, we are postponing the meeting that should have been tonight. 

As soon as we have a new date we'll let you know, 

Sorry to disappoint, 

best wishes, 

Harriet

Plans for New Secondary - Have your say....

As part of Richmond Councils investment in new local secondary schools it has chosen to give priority to offering a site and funding for a Voluntary Aided Catholic school, which will effectively be closed to a majority of the borough's children. A petition has been launched to ask the council to re-consider this decision.  On reaching 1000 signatures a full council debate will be held.  Should you wish to sign this petition the link below will take you to it. 

 http://tinyurl.com/riscpetition1

JWT Advertising Workshop for Yr 9 & 10

CB Member Bob Boxer organised an amazing opportunity for RPA year 9 & 10 pupils to take part in a workshop organised by the world renowned advertising agency JWT. Below are his comments on the day.

I took a number of my JWT colleagues into RPA last week to run a workshop with 35 year 10 and year 9 pupils.  The session looked at how advertising works,  the type of careers available within the industry, and ways to break into the business.  But, the bulk of the session involved giving the kids a brief – we asked them to develop a product, pack design, TV ad and social media campaign for a chewing gum called ‘Mystery’.  We were with the group for nearly 6 hours, and I have to say I was blown away by the response we were given.  The kids were well behaved, attentive, smart, sharp and highly creative.  They listened intently to the presentations we gave, asked smart and probing questions and brought huge energy to the project work.  Each team made a short presentation in-front of their class mates and my team.  They all did very well and a couple of them included performances that were worthy of an Oscar!!   The winning team presented a very smart product idea that linked seamlessly with their packaging and advertising idea, which, for someone who tries to do that for a living, is never easy to achieve.  Two of the students made a particular impact on us during the day and we have invited them to come into  JWT next term for a period of work experience which they were  both very excited by. All in all a tremendous day, and for me a huge endorsement of the progress that Lesley and her team are making at the school.  I am now encouraging everyone I know locally to get into the school and see it in action, in whatever capacity they can.  Bob Boxer

Amendment to notes - GCSE's

Anne Hahlo, RPA Governor has asked us to send out the following amendment to our notes:

"What Lesley said was that 92% take a minimum of 9 GCSE's.  In fact, around half of these will take a minimum of 10 and this can be up to 14." 

Best wishes, 

Harriet

Notes from CB Meeting.

Dear all, 

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting last week. A huge thanks to both Lesley Kirby and Paul Hodgins for all of their time in preparing and answering the questions set by the community. 

The meeting was attended by over 30 people who took away some new information and welcomed the opportunity to hear Lesley and Paul. David Fuller of AET also asked us to reiterate the CB structure issued at the last meeting. 

Attached are the notes from the meeting, Lesley Kirby's key points and the CB Structure. 

The Community Board's mission is to help enable communication between the school and the community and support the school on it's journey to being outstanding. 

We are looking for more CB members to help our Primary School Reps with the two way communication between the primary schools and RPA and also looking for people who can mentor and take part in the careers day (sharing your career with Year 10). Please do email us if you'd like to help in either area. 

I attended the RPA first Annual Achievements Awards on Tuesday. It was great evening and wonderful to see so many students' efforts being acknowledged, - the school should be proud of them. 

Please make a note of the dates for your diary at the end of the notes. 

Best wishes, 

Harriet

http://www.communityboard4rpa.blogspot.com/ 

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who made it last night to the 3rd public CB meeting. It was a great success and Lesley Kirby gave an informative presentation dealing with questions CB members had previously sent in.

We will publish more notes from the meeting but in the meantime, you can see Lesley's notes for her talk and also a link giving more information on the EBac system below.

The English Baccalaureate

Lesley Kirby has sent us the following link to help people understand the EBac system


"English baccalaureate: a set of subjects which, if all gained at C or above, will give students an overarching qualification and certificate to match. The subjects are: English Lang, maths, 2 sciences, a modern foreign language and history or geography. 


Seehttp://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/qualifications/englishbac/a0075975/theenglishbaccalaureate for details."


It is worth noting that to get the science element of the English Baccalaureate you either need to get an A*-C pass in core and additional science or you must take all of the three single sciences and get an A*-C pass in two of them.  Both alternatives are offered at RPA, with the more able students taking GCSE in physics, chemistry and biology.  

Lesley Kirby's CB Presentation

Below are Lesley Kirby's notes from last nights meeting. It was extremely informative and we are very grateful to her for the time she put in for us.

TEACHING

• ·      Context: comprehensive school; attainment on entry, especially in upper school, very mixed
• ·      66% of teachers are good and outstanding
• ·      Results in other schools will be better because they begin at a higher level in Y7
• ·      2 ASTs and 2 more will start when they finish
• ·      Proactive and vigorous approach to raising the bar for all
• ·      Support and coaching for ‘satisfactory’ to move them up
• ·      SLT and Faculty Directors have been trained in Ofsted observation; numerous external verifications of our judgments
• ·      Teachers undergo a very wide range of training

CURRICULUM & EXTRA CURRICULAM

• ·      Streaming on entry (SATs and CATs)
• ·      KS3: broad and balanced
• ·      KS4: 3 routes: Route 10+ and 9+ taken by 92% of students
• ·      Separate humanities for all and separate sciences for abler; options which are not in KS3 are business, sociology, psychology; plus classical civilisation for G & T
• ·      ICT projects eg internet rangers, Dragons’ Den, all children do ICT OCR Y10 (95% pass rate), some do GCSE
• ·      Wide-ranging and creative G and T programme for ablest
• ·      Period 6
• ·      Support through LAF for those needing to reach higher levels
• ·      Numerous extra curricular opportunities, particularly sport, DoE, art, drama, music
• ·      Ebac - encouraged
• ·      6^th form – discussions under way. Collegiate model being discussed by all LBRUT HTs – we have decided we will all work together (statement of moral purpose being drawn up)
• ·      Skills developed through eg public speaking, courses like Wider Key Skills, DoE, participation in national and local projects, prefects and their training, ambassadors
• ·      Some single sex teaching has taken place
• ·      Latin: a pilot, one pd pw for Year 7 at the moment. Working with the (reputedly) best organisation in England, Cambridge Latin course and have agreement for some support from St Paul’s
• ·      Lot of sports opportunities and lots of inter school competitions

LEADERSHIP

·      Leadership team to be expanded to include two of our finest teachers who will have, among others, responsibility for Y 7 and teaching and learning. Strong team, to be revitalised by new-comers

• ·      AW joining through our sponsorship of his programme of Tomorrow’s Heads
• ·      DF and LK in contact weekly: advice, support, challenge. AET have been in very regularly this first year and seem satisfied with progress made.
• ·      Leadership planning: currently a very detailed one year plan and a broader brush plan up to 2015. Aim is to be good with outstanding in 3 years. Greensward Academy, the first AET academy, is outstanding
• ·      Very strong, committed and intelligent GB
• ·      Behaviour – clear improvements in school, school not afraid to exclude permanently or extended fixed term. Students clear they know this will happen if they misbehave. We also, though, promote the carrot approach eg Vivos

BUILDING

• ·      Yr 7 refurb due to finish Sept 2011
• ·      Discussions planned for £10mill next week
• ·      New ICT facilities being developed – staff use ICT across the curriculum

COMMUNITY

• ·      Police presence at most schools including those with buses
• ·      Police in schools part of London-wide initiative to get dialogue between Met and young people
• ·      We only have PCSOs – there to ensure students get home safely and for no other reason. They attend where there are large numbers of people
• ·      Continue close work with quindrat HTs and our primaries
• ·      Numbers for Y7 change all the time – about 1/3 are local, but greatly increased number from Barnes. This year’s cohort very able – very different from all current years

Reminder - Community Board Meeting tonight

Dear All, 

A reminder that the CB meeting will be held tonight in the Library at Richmond Park Academy starting at 7.30pm.

We are delighted that both Lesley Kirby and Paul Hodgins will be our guests, answering questions that members of the community have sent us. David Fuller of AET will also be attending. 

We look forward to seeing you later.

Best wishes, 

Harriet

http://www.communityboard4rpa.blogspot.com/ 

Community Board Meeting Next Week

RPA Community Board

 

next meeting

Tuesday 12 July, 7.30pm

 

at Richmond Park Academy

 

 

Come along to hear Lesley Kirby,  Head of RPA  and Cllr Paul Hodgins, Cabinet member for Education at LBRuT, speaking about RPA and answering questions sent in by the local community.

 

Please let us know if you are planning to attend so we can have an idea of numbers. Thank you.

communityboard@richmondparkacademy.org

New Yr7s Transition Camp at RPA July 25th-27th July.

Extended Schools Services have organised three days of fun at the beginning of the holiday for the new intake of YR7 in September. It is a great way for the young people to familiarise themselves with the school, some of the teachers and  meet some of their new peers to say hello to on the first day!

During the first two days the young people put a play together under the guidance of the RPA drama department and perform it for their parents at the school. They also take part in games, a treasure hunt, art and design and on the third day take a trip to Thames Young Mariners for canoeing. 

The feedback was very positive last year from all the students and helped to make the transition from primary to secondary a little less daunting. 

RPA to host local primary school’s Sports Day

RPA will be closing early on Friday 15 July in order to host the annual Sports Day of its neighbour, East Sheen Primary School, from 1pm-3.15pm.  Staff, children and parents will be welcomed to the academy by students who have volunteered to stay on in the afternoon.

In addition to watching their children compete in track and field events, Head Teacher, Lesley Kirby has invited families to have a look around whilst they are at RPA; there will be opportunities to take a tour, view art and technology work, speak to students and meet members of staff who will be on hand to answer any questions.

HB

Reminder - Lesley Kirby to answer questions at the next CB meeting July 12th

We are very pleased that Lesley Kirby will be attending the next Community Board meeting on Tuesday 12th July. She will be sharing her views on progress and plans at RPA. 

We would like to give her some questions in advance so she can answer them as fully as possible. If you have something that you'd like her to answer or address please email us on communityboard@richmondparkacademy.org by 30th June.

The school is entering an exciting phase. Having had (nearly) a year to settle into it's new persona, the Autumn term will be crucial in the transformation and we want to help Lesley and her team achieve everyone's aim - an inspirational local school that is the community's preferred choice. 

Cllr Paul Hodgins will also be attending to update us on educational issues/ plans within the borough. 

We look forward to your questions for Lesley and Paul and hope to see you on 12th. 

An Update from Simon Danciger, Chair of the Board of Governors.

School Governors agreed at our last meeting that we will focus on five objectives over the coming year in order to move towards our vision of academic excellence at the heart of our community:

• Increase year seven entry numbers, with focus on our link primary schools. There is an obvious opportunity for the Community Board to help here. We have seen a significant increase in applications for September 2011 (over 100 already confirmed acceptance of a place), with very encouraging numbers from Barnes Primary. We now need to build on this with our other link primary schools.
  
  
• Move more teaching from satisfactory to good and good to outstanding. We are fortunate to have a core team of outstanding rated teachers at the school, as many, if not more than most secondaries of comparable size. These outstanding teachers are providing best practice which we want to see inspire all our teachers.
  
  
• Make the most of our £10 million capital funding. One of the obvious benefits of academy status, we now need to use the money to good effect. Again, Community Board members with relevant skills are welcome to contribute to the planning.
  
  
• Improve our GCSE 5 A*-C inc English & Maths performance. Academic excellence is at the heart of what we want to achieve. We are about to embark on reviews of Maths and English provision to ensure we are delivering the best possible curriculum. We are stepping up Gifted and Talented provision, introducing Latin for top sets in Year 7 for September 2011.
  
  
• Improve our punctuality and attendance performance. We have already seen improvement in the last term which is encouraging. Over the coming months we will review the school day to determine whether the current timetable / hours is the most effective.

Simon

David Fuller visit to Kew Riverside Postponed

Please note that David Fuller’s visit to Kew Riverside on 24 June has had to be postponed. RPA are currently liaising with the school to try and re-arrange an alternative date and we will let you know as soon as this has been decided.

A Date for your Diary

For those of you that like to plan ahead, there will be an open day on Monday 26th September 2011 at Richmond Park Academy. More details will follow nearer the time but in the meantime, put it in your diary!

Next Community Board Meeting - TUESDAY 12th July

The next CB meeting will be Tuesday 12th of July and we we are delighted that Lesley Kirby will be coming along to answer questions. Paul Hodgins, Cabinet Member for Education at LBRuT will also be on hand to give us the wider update on schools in the borough, as will the Governors and David Fuller of AET.

If you have a specific question for Lesley, please email them to us by 30th June so that she can be fully prepared. communityboard@richmondparkacademy.org

Updated David Fuller visits

David Fuller visits to Primary Schools

School	Phone	Date Agreed
Barnes Cross Street Barnes SW13 0QQ	8876 7358	14 June 9am
Darell Darell Road Richmond TW9 4LQ	8876 6721
East Sheen Upper Richmond Rd West London SW14 8ED	8876 7484	7 June 9.15am
Holy Trinity Carrington Road Richmond TW10 5AA	8940 2730	7 July 9.00am
Kew Riverside 37 Courtlands Ave Richmond TW9 4ES	8487 8437	24 June 9.15 – 10.15am
Lowther Stillingfleet Road Barnes SW13 9AE	8748 3984	14 June 2.45 – 3.45pm
Marshgate 157 Queen’s Road Richmond TW10 6HY	8332 6219	26 May 9am
Sheen Mount West Temple Sheen SW14 7RT	8876 8394	26 May 3.30pm
St Mary Magdalen’s Worple St London SW14 8HE	8876 6679	15 July 9am
St Osmund’s Church Road Barnes SW13 9HQ	8748 3582
Queen’s Cumberland Road Kew TW9 3HJ	8940 3580
The Vineyard Friars Stile Road Richmond TW10 6NE	8948 0195

David Fuller's visits to other Primary Schools

David Fuller, Executive Principal at RPA will be visiting the following schools :

Lowther - Tuesday 14th June at 2.45 -3.45pm

Holy Trinity - Thursday 23rd June at 9 - 10 am

Kew Riverside - Friday 24th June at 9.15 - 10.15 am

If you can't attend the meeting at your children's school you are welcome to attend other meetings.

David Fuller's visit to East Sheen Primary

David described how a new school, including a 6th form, is being built from the 'bottom up' within the old school.  The 6th form will definitely be open in four years' time, possibly one year sooner.
 
Parents asked why send our children to a school with such poor GCSE results.  David understood that no parent would take a risk with their child's education, and emphasised that going to RPA is NOT a leap of faith,
 

• in Septenber there will be a significant improvement in GCSE results, achieved without changing the profile of the students
• 'level 5' students who entered Year 7 in September 2010 have made better than expected progress in their first year
• ongoing improvement in quality of teaching

 
Parents commented that improvement in behaviour outside the school grounds needs to continue further and smartly dressed students would give a better impression of the school to the local community.


HB 

This week

Don't forget the open day at RPA for year 4 and 5 parent TOMORROW, Wednesday 25th May.

David Fuller will also be at Marshgate and Sheen Mount on Thursday to meet parents.

Community Board Meeting, Monday 16 May 2011 MINUTES

At last weeks Community Board meeting we got an update on the progress to date and future plans to transform the RPA into an outstanding school. 

Don’t forget the open day at RPA school tomorrow, Wednesday 25^th, from 4pm for prospective parents and their children.

Update from academy sponsor, AET

Since September a great deal of time and energy has been invested in improving the quality of teaching and learning at RPA.  To date, 

* The percentage of teaching rated as good or outstanding has risen from 62% to 75% - the goal is for this rating to be in the top 25% of schools nationally within the next 3-4 years

* The GCSE results for 2011 are predicted to be significantly higher than last year

* This September 95 children are due to join Year 7, 36% from local primary schools, (up from 32% in 2010).  The school is committed to driving up the proportion of local children significantly and sees this as essential to the schools success

* 'Discipline with dignity' programme has been introduced, outlining the schools expectations of students within and outside of school and any reports of unsatisfactory behavior outside school should be send to school head

Update from RPA governors

* A new governing body has been established and is chaired by Simon Dancinger, (ex Chair of Governors ESPS), their mission is to take RPA to 'Outstanding' status

* The strategy set by the governors is for the school to continuing to offer a curriculum with a strong academic focus

* The new board has strong links to the local community and includes two Community Board members

Future Role of the Community Board 

 * Set up to support the school in raising the aspirations and

expectations for the students, staff and wider community as a whole

* Acts as a 'critical friend' to RPA

* Providing support to RPA in its programme of improvement and a channel of communication between RPA and the community with over 100 active members and 1,100 receiving email updates

* Have representatives in local primary schools to aid communications

* Is providing practical help to the governor committees such and school activities such as mentoring Yr 10 pupils

Help needed

Please get in touch if you can help out with any of the following: 

* mentoring year 10 students

* presenting to pupils about your career

* providing IT support to RPA governors

* maintaining contact database for CB

* maintaining Community Board website

* production of a regular CB newsletter

* market research expertise

If you would like a copy of the full meeting minutes and presentations email 

 CommunityBoard@richmondparkacademy.org

RICHMOND PARK ACADEMY - EVENTS/ACTIVITIES IN THE COMMUNITY

Richmond Park Academy representatives will be attending/supporting the following events:

Date	Event
May
Saturday 14 May	Richmond May Fair
Wednesday 25 May	Summer Open Afternoon – 4.00-5.30pm Parents and pupils in Years 4 and 5
Thursday 26 May	David Fuller, Executive Principal, visit to Marshgate Primary School – 9.00-10.00am Sheen Mount Primary School – 3.30-4.30pm (Informal meetings with parents)
June
Tuesday 7 June	David Fuller, Executive Principal, visit to St Mary Magdalen’s Primary School Meeting parents – 2.30-3.30pm
Saturday 11 June	Lowther Primary School Summer Fair RPA dancers to perform
Tuesday 14 June	David Fuller, Executive Principal, visit to Lowther Primary School Meeting parents – 2.45-3.45pm
Saturday 18 June	Sheen Mount Primary School Summer Fair
Thursday 23 June	David Fuller, Executive Principal, visit to Holy Trinity Primary School Meeting parents – 9.00am
Friday 24 June	David Fuller, Executive Principal, visit to Kew Riverside Primary School Meeting parents – 9.15-10.15am
Saturday 25 June	Mortlake Community Fair/ St Mary Magdalen’s School Summer Fair
	The Vineyard School Summer Fair
	Kew Riverside Primary School Summer Fair
	East Sheen Primary School (sports activity held at RPA)
Sunday 26 June	East Sheen Primary School Summer Fair
July
Wednesday 6 July	Battle of the Books (Borough event to be hosted at RPA)
Saturday 9 July	Barnes Primary School Fair

Please visit the RPA web site where a version of this will be posted and regularly updated to give the latest information.