RAINHAM MARK GRAMMAR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER October 2021 Issue 098

Dear Parents/Carers

In my first term I have had the pleasure of getting to know the school far better, meeting the students, staff and parents. RMGS really is a fantastic place and it has been a pleasure getting to know the school community. It has been an exceptionally busy first term welcoming our new Year 7s and 12s to our community, open days and evenings and settling students back into the normal daily buzz of learning. Wishing you all a lovely half term. Yours faithfully

Mrs Lisa Barker

Headteacher

REWARDS

It has reached that point in the term where students are waiting to see if they will be successful in winning vouchers for individual success in terms of great academic work and/or excellent conduct. Have a look here to see how the prizes are awarded https://www.rainhammark.com/page/?title=Rewards+and+Sanctions&pid=626 and good luck to everyone. Winners will be announced next term. Mrs Horstrup

Rainham Mark Grammar School - Rewards and Sanctions

Contact Us Rainham Mark Grammar School Pump Lane, Rainham, Kent, ME8 7AJ 01634 364 151 office@rmgs.org.uk pastoral-team@rmgs.org.uk 24 Hour Dedicated Absence Line: (01634) 308609

www.rainhammark.com

MUSIC DEPARTMENT Congratulations to S Cox (Year 13) trombonist, who performed for the Queen at Westminster Abbey on 12 October 2021 as a member of the Band of the Royal British Legion. The service was to commemorate 100 years of the RBL. (As a side note, the Queen is known to particularly love the sound of military bands so she should have loved the performance!) He has also secured a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, which only takes the very best young musicians from across the country. This experience will give him opportunities usually only afforded to professional orchestras - for example, the NYO play a Prom concert every year. Hopefully you appreciate how hard it is to get in to the orchestra given the amount of competition for places (especially trombone sections as they have fewer numbers than the violin section for example). We are very proud of him as these are achievements on a national level. Miss Smallwood

DRAMA DEPARTMENT

SSF 2021 2022 It is fair to say that when studying Drama there are few more influential people to British theatre than the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. This half-term a group of creative and dedicated students came together to form their own Shakespearian theatre company in preparation for the prestigious Shakespeare Schools Festival. This is no small feat. Over the coming months the troupe will direct, devise and design every aspect of an iconic play before treading the boards at the The Woodville theatre in Gravesend. The play is The Comedy Of Errors which tells the story of two sets of legendary twins, separated at childhood by a freak nautical disaster. The farce begins when the twins happen to arrive in the self-same town in search for their siblings. Students have relished the opportunity to unleash their creativity and breathe new life into one of the funniest of the Bards plays. One student, Sherin, in year seven said “It’s great fun working as an ensemble, we have had some really hilarious ideas so far”. More details on performance dates will be released soon and we look forward to seeing many members of our school and local community on the night. Mr Birkitt National Theatre Connections 2021 2022 As a student who had previously participated in the National Theatre Connections project, it feels like a welcome return to normality once again by taking part in one of the school’s many drama opportunities. I missed the community and the companionship developed in rehearsal as well as the process itself, exclusively focused on an extracurricular drama piece with no distractions – I look forward to what our production will look like come March. As shared by my peers, it ’s been such an enjoyable experience so far with so many fun and lovely people, many of whom haven ’t seen each other properly since prior to the pandemic, and it’s exciting to have a focused goal and work constructively together on a piece with much more freedom than we had lower down the school.

Watch this space for our performance of ‘Like There’s No Tomorrow’ at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury in 2022 …

L Foster – Year 13

LATERAL FLOW TESTING Thank you to all of the our families who have continued to use lateral flow testing throughout the term. We have been asked by the DfE to pass on that it is really important that students continue to take lateral flow tests during the half term holiday and to ensure that a test is carried out before the start of Term 2 to help protect our community. Thank you for your continued support. Mrs Barker, Headteacher

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Congratulations to Jake F in Year 10 who’s creative writing piece (submitted during Year 9) has been published in Trinity College, Cambridge’s creative writing anthology ‘The Litmus: The Green Light’. Jake’s piece is one of just fifty submissions which were chosen for publication. Ali Smith writes in the foreword that the pieces published in the anthology “illustrate just a tiny percentage of the wild mesmerising range of the imaginative responses of writers to this year ’s theme, ‘The Green Light’.”

Mrs Wakeling

PE DEPARTMENT NETBALL: On Wednesday 22 September I took 9 Year 12/Year 13 girls to the U19 Kent county netball tournament at Rainham Girls School. The girls were fantastic and played six games winning five and just losing one. The top two in each of the pools of the competition go through to the finals. We came second in pool meaning we progress to the county finals in November. The tournament brings together the best netball school teams in Kent including private schools. The team was as follows: Year 13 L Barton, L Crawley, Z Perrin, A Budd, R Campbell, C Cleave Year 12 B Brewster, N Maple, J Anderson Mrs Prescott

UNVEILING OF A 2,000-YEAR-OLD ROMAN TEMPLE

Ellie W in Year 8 was asked to open Watling Temple on 28th September (a newly discovered roman temple) in Newington which is an archaeological find and project she has been volunteering with. The BBC filmed it on the day.

Mrs Rothery

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/kents-new-roman-temple-now-on-permanent-display-254838/

Schoolgirl unveils 2,000-year-old Roman temple found on Persimmon housing estate at Newing-ton, Sittingbourne

The recreation of the 2,000-year-old Romano-British temple discov-ered at Newington near Sittingbourne. But when retired journalist Richard Thompstone, a member of the village’s local history ... www.kentonline.co.uk

PTFA NEWS

Tickets for the PTFA RMGS Christmas Raffle will be distributed to students at the end of November. Each ticket will cost £1 and a book of tickets will cost £5 which contains 5 tickets. The draw will take place in school week commencing 6 December 2021. Please ensure that any tickets purchased are handed in at the main school office before Wednesday 8 December 2021. Unfortunately any tickets arriving after the draw will not be entered and will be returned to the student. There will be an array of lovely prizes. Thank you for supporting the RMGS PTFA. New members are always welcome. The PTFA lottery - details will be sent out soon.

DESIGN A POSTAL STAMP FOR THE ROYAL MAIL - NATIONAL COMPETITION Our students took part in a national competition last academic year. They were tasked to design a postal stamp for the Royal Mail which celebrated heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. We received some wonderful entries from across KS3, which communicated a range of uplifting, thoughtful and inspiring themes and messages. RMGS has been sent a certificate for all those who took part, contributing towards a Guinness World Records title for the largest postage stamp design competition in May 2021. Ms Sutton

Wednesday 3 November First day of Term 2 4 November 11.15am Years 10/11/12/13 (49) theatre visit to see ‘The Normal Heart’at the National Theatre, Southbank 11 Nov 5.45pm - 8.00pm 6th Form Open Evening - Year 11 to attend with parents - further details to follow 15 November Kindness week 15 to 24 November Year 11 PEQs 15 to 18 November Year 9 geography field trips to Herne Bay 2 December 3.30pm - 6.15pm Year 7 Form Tutor meeting with Parents’ 8 December 7pm Christmas Concert (7A, B, F & L) 9 December 7pm Christmas Concert (7P, N, R & S) 10 December Christmas Dinner 13 - 17 December Charity Week 17 December Last day of term - Finishing times to be advised Tuesday 4 January 2022 First day of Term 3 5 and 6 January Year 9 Parents’ Evening, including information about Options 10 to 14 January Careers week 10 to 19 January Year 13 PEQs 27 January Deadline for Year 9 Option Choice for GCSE 26 January Year 13 (30) attending Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridgeshire for Biology syllabus 26 and 27 January Year 11 Parents’ evening 7 and 8 February Year 13 Parents’ evening 11 February Year 11 make Sixth form choices 11 February Last day of term 14 - 18 February HALF TERM 21 February First day of Term 4 8 March 5.30pm Year 10 (7) theatre visit to see ‘The Nutcracker’ 14 & 15 March Year 8 Parents’ evening (1) 17 March Lower School Soiree 18 March Upper School Soiree 22 and 23 March Year 8 Parents’ evening (2) 1 April Last day of term 4, 5 & 6 April Revision Sessions (to be confirmed) Tuesday 19 April First day of Term 5 20 and 21 April Year 7 Parents’ evening (1) 26 and 27 April Year 7 Parents’ evening (2) Monday 2 May May Day Holiday 9 to 13 May Prov Admission Appeals 10 May Year 11 - last day before study leave 12 May Year 13 study leave begins and final assembly 16 and 17 May Year 10 Parents’ evening 27 May Last day of term 5 30 May to 3 June HALF TERM including Bank holidays (2 and 3 June) Monday 6 June First day of Term 6 6 to 10 June (all week) Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 exams 6 to 14 June Year 12 PEQs 16 June 7.00pm - 9.30pm New Year 7 Parents’ Evening 21 June 2.15pm Lower School Prize Day 23 June Post 18 Application Day 28 June Year 13 book return day 29 June Year 11 book return 1 July Sports Day 5 July Reserve Sports Day in case of bad weather 6 and 7 July Year 12 parent’s evening 7 July New Year 7 Taster Day 21 July pm Year 12/13 Sports day 21 July Last day of term - Finishing times to be advised 22 July INSET day no students in school (in lieu for Queen’s Platinum Jubilee - Bank holiday) 18 August Results for A level 25 August Results for GCSE

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY - 2021/2022 (Please note that some dates are subject to change)