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