Message from Headteacher
Dear Families,
Welcome to the RPHS Parent E-Bulletin. This will be sent to families each week and aims to keep you
updated with key dates and reminders about events taking place at the school. We hope you find
this useful.
As this is the first bulletin of this academic year, I thought I would take the opportunity to give you
some updates on the school since my summer mailing. We were delighted with both our A-Level and
GCSE results. 62% of Year 11 students achieved secure GCSE passes (A* - C equivalent) in English
and Maths, with English achieving a 73% pass rate and Maths achieving a 70% pass rate. These
results are particularly pleasing in the first year of the reformed GCSEs in English Language, English
Literature and Maths. With the abolition of coursework and controlled assessments, these GCSE
examinations were more demanding and there is also a Grade 9s different assessment mechanism
in place. Despite these increased demands, weve found that some students gained the new Grade 9
(A**) in English and Maths, placing them in the fop 3% in the country. At A-Level, another excellent
pass rate of 99.7% was achieved, with almost a third of the cohort achieving the top grades with 31%
of all subjects taken passed with grades A*- A, a 10% improvement on last year, and 89% of students
who took Applied Courses achieving Distinction*/Distinction. These results reflect a tremendous
amount of hard work and commitment from students and staff, maintaining the trend of improved
performance in several subject areas. However, we are not complacent and will continue to seek to
build on this achievement.
Our staff team was also the most stable it has been for some years and we have been fortunate to
recruit some excellent members of staff to join and continue the development of our school. To key
posts, we welcome Mr Hogarth as Deputy Headteacher, Ms Scott as Head of English and Mr Hughes
as SENCo, as well as Ms Smith as Office Manager and the return of Ms McGuillion as School
Attendance Officer. I also wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that Mr Myton has
started his new post a term early and we wish him well for the future. There have also been some
developments to the site including a much needed facelift to the front entrance to the school, the
refurbishment of the girls toilets in the main building and two IT classrooms, as well as the
introduction of Student Services in our quest to improve communication.
Next week there will be an opportunity for parents/carers of Years 8 -13 to meet the Head of Year
and Form Tutor and find out more about the year ahead from key staff at our Information Evenings
(see separate letter for details). We also look forward to meeting you at our Academic Target Setting
Day on Friday 22nd September, details to follow.
We have been especially delighted to welcome the new Year 7 students to our school this week.
They have settled in quickly, building on their induction day in the summer term. Year 7 parents will
have the opportunity to visit the school next Friday afternoon (Friday 15th September) for the Team
Building event and will also have both the Academic Target Setting Day (Friday 22nd September) and
Year 7 Progress Evening (Thursday 30th November) to meet with the Head of Year and Form Tutors.
We are striving to improve the school in every way and build on the success that we have achieved
so far. I trust that we can do this through effective communication and being consistent in the
messages that we give your child as they move through the school. I am confident that we can
continue to build a strong learning community where every child can flourish and succeed.
Thank you for your support to date and I look forward to working with you over the coming months.
Week Ahead
Tuesday 12th September 5.30pm Year 12 Parent/Carer Evening
6.30pm Year 13 Parent/Carer Evening
Wednesday 13th September 5.30pm Year 8 Parent/Carer Evening
6.30pm Year 9 Parent/Carer Evening
Thursday 14th September 5.30pm Year 10 Parent/Carer Evening
6.30pm Year 11 Parent/Carer Evening
Friday 15th September Year 7 Team Building Day
Upcoming in Autumn Term
Tuesday 19th September School photos
Thursday 21st September 4.30pm - Open Evening (students finish at 12.05pm)
7.30pm
Friday 22nd September Academic Target Setting Day details to follow
Saturday 23rd September - RPHS participating in Merton Arts Festival
Sunday 24th September
Friday 29th September MacMillan Biggest Coffee Morning &
Jeans for Genes Day (Mufti Day)
Monday 2nd October 9am - 11am Year 6 Transition Open Mornings
Friday 6th October
Wednesday 4th October 6pm - 7pm Parents Forum Focus: Governance at RPHS
Friday 13th October INSET Day
Monday 23rd October - Half term
Friday 27th October
Please click here for Term Dates 2017/2018
