E: [email protected]

T: 01858 440770

W: www.robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

Dear Parent/Carer,

As we approach longer days and a bit more brightness this seems a good time to reflect on the many positives that we have experienced at the start of 2020. The full breadth of the wider curriculum at our has burst into life already this year. I am delighted to commend the brilliant work of the PE Faculty on an incredible ‘Lock In’ event which involved students from Year 10 through to 13 participating in a 24-hour team sports in aid of charity. This event was started by Erin and Ben Brant who launched the games with an inspirational introduction which many students have talked to me about personally. I would like to thank all members of the PE faculty for organising and leading this event for the students so that this fundraising could be made possible.

I would also like to thank all members of our fantastic Science Faculty, supporting members of staff and student leaders for their contributions to the 11th Annual Primary Science Conference held in collaboration with The Ogden Trust. This conference engaged over 180 local primary-aged students in experiential science activities and projects and it was an incredible success. I have never seen so much dry ice in one venue, and I must confess that the sight of Bragg Hall disappearing into manufactured fog was a less calm moment, but the kids loved it!

We have seen fantastic achievements made by students beyond the classroom and through the Performing Arts. These moments have included a terrific performance by the RSA Dance Company at The Curve in and Soul Patrol who have performed as part of Music for Youth. It has also been fantastic to see the way that our Year 12 students from the Rigby Quartet have visited local primary schools to engage younger children in musicality through their performances. The Academy is also privileged to be able to host an event held by The Arts Society Harborough later this month as a continuation of our contribution to the community.

I must take a moment to reflect on the excellent progress that students in Year 10 have made toward their GCSE courses. There is now significant evidence that shows how well students in this year group have progressed through their programmes of study and I have been delighted by feedback from my colleagues about what this group have achieved. It has also been encouraging to see the progress that students in Year 9 have made as they develop their knowledge and understanding of the specialist pathways that they are now following. This week we have also enjoyed meeting students and parents in Year 8 who are now planning for their specialist curriculum pathways in the future. I am proud that we empower our students so that they can develop a love of learning that will take them further.

I have been grateful for the partnerships with parents as we have conducted most parents’ evenings for the academic year. The feedback from these events reflects the support, commitment and care of our community for their children. We have also reflected on the feedback from students and parents regarding commendation letters. To promote more opportunities for recognition I will lead ’20 day challenge’ assemblies in the second week back (w/b: 2nd March) to explain how we will be offering special recognition and rewards to students who attend well, acquire fewer than 4 penalties and acquire no penalties for disruption to learning over a fixed period of time. I am delighted by the number of positive postcards, letters and stickers that students continue to achieve as a result of their preparation, character and diligence. They are a credit to their parents and our Academy.

I would like to wish all members of our community a positive half term and I look forward to seeing you for brighter and (eventually) warmer days ahead!

The week back after half term, a few practical notes:

- All students will follow their timetable for WEEK B in the week beginning 24th February - Cycling spot checks will take place throughout the first week back with a focus on protective headwear - There are no main school assemblies in the first week back due to Year 11 trial examinations - Year 11 trial examinations begin on Monday 24th February with English Language after tutor time - Students will be expected to have their planner which must be brought into school every day as an essential part of their equipment. Failure to do so will result in a thirty-minute detention after school - Mobile phones are not permitted on site. If seen or heard they will be confiscated, a serious sanction will apply, and a parent will be required to collect the device from Main Reception

Daniel Cleary

Principal

Dates for your Diary

Monday 24th to Friday 28th February 2020, Year 11 Trial Exams

Monday 24th to Friday 28th February 2020, Year 9 GCSE Geography & Business trip to Cornwall

Saturday 8th February 2020, Soul Band performance at MFY

Tuesday 3rd March 2020, Year 9 Immunisations

Thursday 5th March 2020, Year 8 Parents’ Evening

Friday 6th March 2020, Year 8 Option Deadline

Friday 6th March 2020, Year 9/10 vocal workshop with Mark De Lisser

Thursday 12th March 2020, Year 11 Achievement Evening

Saturday 14th March 2020, Jazz band and Junior band performance at MFY

Wednesday 25th March 2020, Year 9/10 vocal performance at the Morningside Arena

Monday 30th to Tuesday 31st March 2020, German Partner School Visit

Thursday 2nd April 2020, Dance Show

Friday 4th April 2020, Ski Trip departs

Lock in 2020

Well done to the 140 students, and staff, who participated in this year’s 24-Hour sponsored ‘Lock in’ event. This was the 13th year we have run the event and it was great to see the engagement and efforts of students once again. The event started with superb speeches from Erin Brant (Year 8) and Ben Brant (Year 11) who both spoke about this year’s chosen charities – Teenage Cancer Trust and CLIC Sargent. The attitude and behaviour of the students was superb throughout with students participating in over 14 different activities including volleyball, dodgeball, football, basketball, handball, TAG rugby and Sumo wrestling. All students paraded their banners and wore outfits at the start to represent their chosen Olympic country. After all the events and the talent contest the winners were ‘The God’s of Lock in’ (Greece) with ‘Kenya feel the love tonight’ in second place, the ‘Slumberjacks’ (Canada) third and ‘The Expandables’ (China) in fourth. We now look forward to collecting lots of money for the chosen charities!

Football

The U18 team kicked off their league campaign with an entertaining 7-4 win over . Unfortunately the Year 8/9 girls’ team and the Year 10/11 girls lost their opening two league games but the Year 7 girls’ team remain unbeaten in league and national cup with 3 wins out of 3 so far.

Rugby

The weather has seen the cancellation and rearrangement of a number of fixtures although the Year 7s did secure an excellent recent win at Lutterworth High whilst the Year 8s scored 5 tries in a defeat. The Year 9s lost to Welland Park, with both Year 9 and 10 waiting to play their county cup semi-finals. There are a number of games and 7s tournaments after half term.

Basketball

Well done to the Year 10 basketball team who reached the area final following a comfortable win over . The team are in action this week against Cedars in the County Cup. The Year 7 team continued their good season with two wins over and Crown Hills Community College whilst both the Year 9 teams dropped out of the County Cup having qualified through the area group (the Year 9 boys being unbeaten in the local league).

Year 7 Boys

Cricket

The U13 and U15 teams have competed in indoor competitions recently with both teams finishing in runners up position on both occasions to Leicester Grammar. The U13 team consisted largely of Year 7 students which bodes well for the summer season for the U12s as well as U13s.

Year 7/8 Boys

Trampolining We recently hosted the KS3 and KS4 area trampolining competition at RSA and were very pleased to come away with both area titles. Well done to Mr Grundy and all the students involved on both teams – a great reward for a number of weeks of preparation.

Sports Leadership Well done to students who have been involved with the primary school basketball, cross country and boccia events this half term. Those on leadership courses should be completing their booklets for certification. More details about new Level 1 and 2 courses will come out after half term. There is also a TAG rugby leader’s course ahead of the annual festival.

Cross Country The final race of the cross country season saw seven athletes perform at the secondary schools cross country championships at . Ruby Collins (Year 7) has had a fantastically consistent season and did not disappoint in the first race at the championships by coming 21st. The junior boys saw Xavier Pierrejean’s first race for the Academy finishing 5th with Finn Singer closely following behind in 7th. Will Ronald and Will Colman (junior boys) both put in very brave performances with Will Ronald 6th and an injured Will Colman 35th. The senior girls also saw Beth Wallis and Lizzie Clapp show strong performances in a talented field and both finishing in the top 10 with Beth 4th and automatic selection for in the English schools, and Lizzie 7th.

Xavier Pierrejean, , Finn Singer, Will Ronald and Lizzie Clapp will all be waiting for the selection of the National English Schools Cross Country.

Congratulations and thank you to all athletes who have represented the Academy this season and I look forward to seeing you all compete next year.

Any student in Years 7 - 13 who is interested in competing in the cross country next season please let me know – Mrs Edwards.

Lizzie Clapp and Beth Wallis (Year 12) Zavier Pierre Jean and Finn Singer (Year 7)

Mike Scully

PE Department Macbeth - a story of power, ambition and murder!

The English faculty were delighted to welcome 'Fred Theatre Group' to Robert Smyth on Wednesday 5th February. In an action-packed 90 minutes, six actors presented this timeless classic in a contemporary setting. This innovative theatrical group performed Macbeth to a full cohort of eager Year 9 students, forcing them to consider who, in the twenty-first century, can be trusted to tell us the truth? How easy is it to manipulate others? And, what happens if ambition is left unchecked? The experience also included a Q&A at the end of the performance and was designed to enable students to develop an understanding of the play prior to their in-depth study of it in the Autumn term of Year 10.

On March 5th there will be an opportunity for current Year 11 students to watch a Royal Shakespeare Company live stream of the same classic play.

Helen Hackett

Head of English

Congratulations to some excellent mathematicians!

Back on Thursday 7th November, students from Year 12 and 13 took part in the Senior Maths Challenge. This is a national competition that involves over 200,000 students from around the UK and we had some superb results! 6% nationally were awarded a gold certificate, the next 13% silver and the next 21% bronze.

Top score for the school were James Howland in Year 13 and Elliott Sneath in Year 12 who along with Niamh Arthur all made it through to the next round.

Gold certificates were awarded to

James Howland, Niamh Arthur and Elliott Sneath

Silver certificates were awarded to

Lauren Wright, Thomas Melody, Joe Harrison, Florence Tandy, Isabela Lopes, Finlay Smith & Olivia Percival

Bronze certificates were awarded to

Harvey Lloyd-Williams, Jacob Cowley, George Hooper-Gee, Callum Renwick, Will Parry, Ben Wooding, Herbie Lakin, Lauren Copple, Teigan Kilby, Joshua Pollard, Jamie Maskell, James Skipworth & Molly Pye

Certificates will be issued in Maths lessons so make sure they are stored in your certificates folder.

Well done to everyone that took part!

The Maths Faculty

Music for Youth Primary Proms

After the Jazz Band’s successful performance last June at the National Festival of Music for Youth, the band were invited to perform at Music for Youth’s Primary Proms. The proms were held at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Monday 27th January 2020. The Jazz band performed two concerts to over 4,000 primary school children; some had never watched a concert or experienced live music before. This was a prestigious event at a top venue and it was a huge success for the Jazz Band to be asked to perform as part of The Proms. The band performed the Glen Millar classic ‘Chatanooga Choo Choo’, ‘My Funny Valentine’ by Richard Rodgers, and ‘Strike up the Band’ by George Gershwin. The performances also featured solos by Year 12 students Oli McGinnes and Charlie Cleary-McHarg, Year 11 student Ed Clay and Year 13 student Anna Halberda. The performances were a huge success and the primary school children clapped along and cheered for the band. Performing in such a prestigious venue to so many people gave the Jazz Band a real buzz and a great day was had by all!

Soul Patrol

This term we welcomed two new members to Soul Patrol, Year 10 student Alex Liptrot on guitar and Year 9 student Owen Yarrow on drum kit (photo below). Both students sat an audition just before Christmas and were awarded places due to their great musicianship and fantastic technical ability. The students will make their debut with the band on 8th February performing at the regional Contemporary Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham.

A level composition workshops

Five of our talented A level Music students have been working with the composer Mark Simpson since September to create a piece of contemporary music for clarinet. On Thursday 6th February Mark visited the Academy to hold tutorials with each student to work on their composition ideas and offer his guidance and expertise. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to work with a professional composer and utilise his experience and expertise to improve their work. The students are now continuing to work on their pieces ready for April when Mark will perform and record each composition. The best compositions will be included in the concert series for Leicester International Music Festival next year.

Upcoming concerts and competitions

Saturday 8th February - Soul Band performance at MFY

Friday 6th March - Year 9/10 vocal workshop with Mark De Lisser

Saturday 14th March - Jazz Band and Junior Band performance at MFY

Wednesday 25th March - Year 9/10 vocal performance at the Morningside Arena

Saturday 4th April - Soul Band private gig

Lucy Wass

Head of Music

The RSA Dance Company performed in ‘U Dance - Mass Movement’ at the Curve on Sunday 27th January, an annual youth dance platform celebrating the best of youth dance in Leicestershire and Rutland with a host of other dance schools. The company showcased their latest work ‘Introductions’. The piece was based on meeting and departing, using British sign language as movement in the dance. There were 25 students involved, ranging from Year 7 to Year 12, and they all did a fantastic job of representing the Academy. RSA may be in with a chance to perform at a national festival ‘U Dance 2020’ in Glasgow if selected. The students demonstrated commitment and dedication to the rehearsals and they had a fantastic performance with excellent feedback from the audience and other professionals attending the show.

Marie Routledge

Head of Dance

The Parents’ Association will be providing refreshments on 15th March 2020 at the Hammond Arboretum Spring Bulb Day.

If any of you are willing to volunteer and help manage the Arboretum please contact the Academy on 01858 440770.

Student Services

Spring Term 2020

Monday 17th to Friday 21st February 2020, Half Term break

Monday 24th February 2020, Academy opens to staff and students (Week B)

Friday 3rd April 2020, Academy closes

Monday 6th April to Friday 17th April 2020, Easter holiday

Summer Term 2020

Monday 20th April 2020, Academy opens to staff and students

Friday 8th May 2020, May Day Bank Holiday

Friday 22nd May 2020, Academy closes

Monday 25th to Friday 29th May 2020, Half term break

Monday 1st June 2020, Academy opens to staff (Inset Day, students not in)

Tuesday 2nd June 2020, Academy opens to students

Monday 29th June 2020, Standardisation, Moderation and Assessment Day, Trust Inset Day (closed to students)

Friday 10th July 2020, Academy closes

Dear Parent/Guardian/Student

Privacy Notice - Data Protection Act 1998

The is the Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. We collect information about you and may receive information about you from other educational establishments you have attended previously. Information may also be received from the Learning Records Service. We hold this personal data and use it to:

 support your teaching and learning;  monitor and report on your progress:  provide appropriate pastoral care, and  assess how well the Academy is doing.

This information includes your contact details, national curriculum assessment results, attendance information and personal characteristics such as your ethnic group, special educational needs and any relevant medical information. If you are enrolling for post 14 qualifications we will be provided with your unique learner number by the Learning Records Service and may also obtain from them details of any learning or qualifications you have undertaken.

We will not give information about you to anyone outside the Academy without your consent unless the law and our rules permit it.

We are required by law to pass some of your information to the Local Authority (LA), the (DfE) and the NHS Vaccination Team.

If you want to see a copy of the information we hold and share about you then please contact the Data Manager.

If you require more information about how the LA and/or DfE store and use this data please go to the following websites:

http://www.leics.gov.uk/schoolsfpn and http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datamanagement/privacynotices/pupilsdata/ http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datamanagement/privacynotices/pupilsdata/thirdpartyorgs/

If you are unable to access these websites, please contact the LA or the DfE as follows:

Mike Challands Information and Data Team Room G8 County Hall Leicestershire LE3 8RF tel: 0116 305 6637 email: [email protected]

Public Communications Unit Department for Education Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT website: www.education.gov.uk email: [email protected] tel: 0870 000 2288

Prospects - once you are aged 13 or over we are required to pass on certain information to Prospects. Prospects is the South Leicestershire careers support service for all young people aged 13 to 19. We may provide both your name and address, and those of your parents together with any further information relevant to Prospects services’ role. However, you can ask that no information beyond name and address be passed to Prospects if you are over 16 years old. Your parents also have this right. Please inform the Data Manager if you wish to opt out of this arrangement.