Dear Parents and Students,

Who can I contact for support?

Please note the following sources of support available to you during this time:

Leicestershire Children’s Services https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/community-safety/

NHS England

Call 111 or visit https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/

Guidance on coronavirus

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Market Harborough Food Bank

https://www.harborough.gov.uk/foodbanks

Childline Call 0800 1111 or visit www.childline.org.uk

Samaritans

Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org

Mental Health Support https://youngminds.org.uk/

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Cleary

Principal

office@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

01858 440770

www.robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

13 Holiday Young Adult Novels - That Will Put You In A Holly Jolly Mood!

'The Afterlife of Holly Chase' by Cynthia Hand

'Kiss Me in New York' by Catherine Rider

'Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe' by Melissa de la Cruz

'Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless' by Liz Czukas

'My New Crush Gave to Me' by Shani Petroff

'The Chaos of Standing Still' by Jessica Brody

'Ex-mas' by Kate Brian

'Together at Midnight' by Jennifer Castle

'Love and Other Train Wrecks' by Leah Konen

'Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances' by John Green, Maureen Johnson, & Lauren Myracle

'The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily' by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

'Carols and Chaos' by Cindy Anstey

'My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories' by Various Authors

Helen Hackett Head of English

Congratulations to the following students who have

excelled this Autum term in their language classes

Key Stage 3 Maddie Moore French Year 9 Harry Mayhew French Year 7

Evie Allan German Year 7 Amy Knight German Year 8

Henry Turrell German Year 9 Oscar Burke French Year 8

Lily Stead-Burdett Spanish Year 7 Mae Maltby Spanish Year 8

Key Stage 4 Sahara Tomas French Year 10

Josh Brambini-Meadows French Year 11 Amelia Wilson Garman Year 11 Emily Casey Spanish Year 10

Cameron Shepherd Spanish Year 11 Christelle Mode Head of Modern Languages

Congratulations to the following students who recently took their music

exams:

Ellin Baldock - Grade 5 Clarinet - distinction Iris Singleton - Grade 4 Clarinet - merit Freya Wingfield-Dobbs - Grade 5 Clarinet –merit Ben Davies - Grade 3 Sax - distinction Archie Woolmer - Grade 1 Sax -merit Charlie Sutton - Grade 3 Sax - pass Kye Gardner - Grade 8 Piano - pass Mia Stone Grade 4 Piano - merit

We would also like to share with you news that four of our talented musician students performed for a local primary school’s virtual assembly recently and this video has been districuted to 20 local primar schools. Our telented perfomers are: Lauren Allsopp, Mari Dickenson, Hannah Stewart and Naomi Benson Please click on the link to hear there beautiful peices

We are proud to share with you the latest members of our Robert Smyth family. We send congratulations to Lucy Wass and her partner James, on the birth of their daughter Evelyn (below)

and Congratulations to Andria Pott and Nick Hughes on the birth of Holly (left)

Miss Alden will continue with homework club, starting in the New Year from 3.00pm – 4.00pm in J1/J13

Tuesday Years 10 & 11 ~ Wednesday years 8 & 9 ~ Thursday Year 7

Dance Videos to fill you with Holiday cheer! The following dance videos will keep you dancing

throughout Christmas!

Have a look at the following video! It highlights the history of famous dance styles in a quick action-packed rundown.

The Evolution of Dance - 1950 to 2019 - By Ricardo Walker's Crew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rSdt0aFuw

And to get your Christmas groove! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5daqhHgCDnY

The Christmas Chronicles 2 | Dance Scene - the spirit of Christmas - YouTube

Kate Pierce, now a cynical teen, is unexpectedly reunited with Santa Claus

when a mysterious troublemaker threatens to cancel Christmas - forever.

Hollywood meets Bruno Mars. Old Movie Stars Dance to Uptown Funk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE

BEST Dance Group on America's Got Talent 2019? | Got Talent Global

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9M-e_DFFtY

BEST Dance Group on America's Got Talent 2019? | Got Talent Global

http://www.youtube.com/user/gottalentglobal Watch more Got Talent

Finally this fantastic dance, and acrobatics performances that will leave you breathless! ZURCAROH - Final, Semifinal e Quartas de final - Americas Got Talent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feFV7tzigD4

Marie Routledge Head of Dance

Level 1, 2 and 3 Sports Leadership (current sports

leadership courses)

Students need to look out for information regarding this

courses that will be sent out through satchel one.

Extra-curricular PE Clubs

All students please look out for updates that will be advertised in the New Year regarding clubs and activities. Well

done to all those who have attended extra-curricular activities this term, the attendance has been excellent.

Congratulations to

Daisy for being

awarded Harborough

Heroes 2020 certificate

of achievement

For those of you that took advantage of the Down Dog apps over the summer lockdown we have a great update for

you:

Dear Down Dog Community,

In response to rising COVID-19 cases and school closures, we are extending the free period on all our apps for students, teachers, and healthcare workers until July 1, 2021. If you’re currently in the trial, the extension will

automatically apply.

For new users:

Anyone who signs up with a .edu email will automatically have access until July 1st 2021

Students and teachers (K-12 and colleges) can sign up on our schools page:

https://www.downdogapp.com/schools

Healthcare workers can sign up on our healthcare page: https://www.downdogapp.com/healthcare

Please share this with the students, teachers, and healthcare workers in your lives and thank them for all that they do! Students log in via their Microsoft Office 365 Outlook email account. If you are having trouble logging into your

account please contact parentsupport@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

Mike Scully

Head of Physical Education

Congratulations to some excellent mathematicians!!!

On Tuesday 3rd November students from year 12 & 13 took

part in the Senior Maths Challenge. This is a national

competition that involves students from around the UK and we

are very proud to share some superb results!!

Top score for the school and huge congratulations goes to Elliott Sneath, year 13 who made it through to the first

round of British Mathematical Olympiad.

Silver Certificates

Ella Barney ~ Jamie Maskell ~ Wilf Burden ~

Ben Brown ~ Isabela Lopes

Tom Perry (also best in Year 12)

Bronze Certificates

Ava Hubbard ~ Olivia Percival ~ Josh Pollard

David Stribling ~ Henry Brooks ~ Hannah Davey

Emily Docherty ~ Alicia Durham ~ Max Hill ~ Grace Howe ~ Torin Lindsay ~ Joseph O’Connell

Oliver Rodgers ~ Ethan Sumpter ~ Oliver Turnbull ~ Harry Wilford ~ Viola Zocchetti

Certificates will be presented during maths lessons and students should file these in their blue progress file.

Dan Copp Acting Head of Maths

A Remembrance to Remember

In a year when many things have been unique, we were privileged to celebrate a unique Remembrance Day this

November.

It was unique for three reasons.

First, it was the first time in living memory that the whole school celebrated a Remembrance Day assembly at the

same time. Granted, we were all in different places at the time: not quite the event which the Principal and I had

considered twelve months previously (maybe next year!) However, even though the whole school was ‘together’

remotely, we came together in a new way.

Secondly, it was unique for the participants. Not just the debut of the talented Owen Yarrow and the return of Mr

Markham as trumpeter and bagpipe man respectively, providing real musical panache to the end of the assembly; not

just the very welcome return of Sergeant Ben Brassington from the Army reserve with harrowing tales of life in the

Forces today: but the very welcome appearance of a former student, Tom Raymond. Tom left us a couple of years

ago and spoke movingly of how important Remembrance is for those in active service.

Lastly, it was very poignant for the time it allowed the whole school community to reflect on troubled times and the

fortitude needed to confront it. Perhaps the year which we have all been through gives us the merest taste of the sort

of sufferings which previous generations have tasted fully that we might relish the freedoms we can so easily take for

granted.

Remembrance 2020 – uniquely memorable.

Steve Davies Head of History/RE

We are proud to announce this past term’s winners of the prestigious Art Award, winners received the coveted Silver and Gold paint brush from head of Art Dan Page

Dan Page Head of Art

Science Department

Sam Mayer Textiles Department

Our Food technology department has had a fantastic makeover with new equipment that has improve the opportunity for our students to produce some delicious food which in turn will help towards their success in GCSE’sI am sure you will agree that our new personalised chef’s whites have added some flair to the kitchen,here we see Tom, Sienna, Alfie, Finn and Kieran modelling them for us.

Year 10 produced some tasty flavoured garlic butters

Stunning food created by our Year 11 students for their mock exam Student’s own choice of dishes Suitable for children Aged 4-12 years Incorporating fruit and vegetables

Fiona Harvey has kindly included some Christmas favorites for you to bake at home! Feel free to share your

creations with us at parentsupport@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

Sparkling vanilla Christmas cookies

Ingredients

140g icing sugar, sieved

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

375g plain flour, sieved

250g butter

To decorate

200g icing sugar, sieved

edible food colouring, optional

edible gold and silver balls

approx 2m thin ribbon cut into 10cm lengths

Method

Tip the icing sugar, vanilla extract, egg yolk and butter into a mixing bowl, then stir together with a wooden spoon (or pulse in a food processor until well combined). Add the flour and mix to a firm dough.

Shape the dough into two flat discs and wrap in clingfilm.

Chill for 20-30 mins.

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of two £1 coins.

Cut out Christmassy shapes (use a cutter if you like) and place on the baking sheets.

Using the tip of a skewer, cut a small hole in the top of each cookie. Bake for 10-12 mins until lightly golden.

Lift the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

Mix the icing sugar with a few drops of cold water to make a thick, but still runny icing.

Colour with edible food colouring, if you like. Spread it over the cooled biscuits, decorate with edible balls

and thread with ribbon when dry.

If you’ve ever fancied making your own Panettone – here’s a simple step by step guide below:

Star Bread

Method STEP 1

Mix flour, salt and a 7g sachet of fast-action yeast in a large bowl. STEP 2

Make a well in the centre, then add 3 milk and mix well. STEP 3

Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for around 10 mins.

STEP 4 Once the dough is satin-smooth, place it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 1 hour until

doubled in size. STEP 5

Follow instructions below and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes until golden brown

Ingredients

2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 180ml whole milk 60g unsalted butter –room temperature 1 large egg 290gms plain flour 1 teaspoon salt Filling of your choice

To decorate

Egg wash – 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon 15ml milk

2 tablespoons icing sugar

Christmas Yule log

Sponge

3 Eggs

75g Caster Sugar

75g Self Raising Flour

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder.

Filling

3-4 Teaspoon Jam or buttercream or NUT FREE chocolate spread

Buttercream

500g Icing Sugar

250g Butter

1 -2 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder

METHOD

1. Grease and line a swiss roll tray with greaseproof paper. 2. Put the eggs and sugar into a clean mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until doubled in size and pale in

colour. Test this by drawing a figure of 8.

3. Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder, fold into the mixture with a metal spoon, slowly, until it is completely blended in. Do not over mix as this knocks all the air out and the cake will not rise.

4. Pour the mixture into the tin. Tip the tray so mixture gets into the corners… DO NOT smooth with a palette knife. Bake at 180C until golden brown, 10 - 12 mins.

5. Turn out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper sprinkled with caster sugar. Remove the tin and grease proof lining

carefully. 6. Spread with jam quickly (if using, if using buttercream roll up empty) and roll whilst still warm. Use the greaseproof

paper to help you roll the sponge 7. To make the butter cream– whisk the butter until soft; add a tablespoon of icing sugar until all blended together.

Then add cocoa or other flavouring/colouring as required. 8. f filling the yule log with butter cream, unroll the sponge and spread a thin layer inside, then re-roll.

Fill a piping bag with the butter cream and decorate your sponge. Do this whilst it is on your presentation tray.

Fiona Harvey Food Technology

We are pleased to announce that we now have our own Twitter Page

@RSACareers3

I would encourage ALL parents and local businesses to follow us We will be posting careers information for students such as

College Open Events

Apprenticeship Opportunities

Training Opportunities

Work Experience Opportunities

While this information will be appropriate for ALL students it will have particular relevance to students who are

thinking of their next steps after Robert Smyth (Year 10, 11, 12 & 13)

We are also posting information on Satchel:One Show my homework, so if you are not a Twitter user I would also

encourage to get a login for your son/daughter’s account. Login details can be obtained from;

parentsupport@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

Merry Christmas! Robin Webb

(Charity in Action in Robert Smyth)

Exciting news from CAIRS (Charity in Action at Robert Smyth)

Faced with a difficult context in school, and in our community, the CAIRS group of students were determined to

maintain their focus on fundraising this year.

The team knew that whole school events would be tricky however with the support of Form Teachers and College

leaders, and the great team in Student Services, CAIRS were able to launch an appeal for The Smile Train - a great

charity which provides cleft palate surgery for children all over the world.

We are so pleased to have raised over £120 so far, and this week we will be announcing the four winners of our

Smile in Art competition which ran across all year groups.

On Friday December 11th, CAIRS organised Christmas Jumper Day at the Academy in support of Save the

Children.

We are pleased to announce that we raised £ for Save the Children.

The CAIRS team would like to wish everyone in the school community a fantastic Christmas and thank you for all your

support.

We would like to thank the Langton Greenhouse Garden

Centre and Homebase this year for kindly donating

Christmas trees. The Student Services entrance and

Bragg Hall have been made to feel very festive!

Exam Invigilators Hours: Flexible throughout the year

Salary: Scale 1, Point 1 (£9.25p/h plus holiday pay £1.11)

We are looking to extend our pool of exam invigilators to support the academy in the running of external GCSE and A Level exams as well as internal exams, for morning and afternoon

sessions throughout the academic year. If you are reliable, flexible and able to use your own initiative, we would be interested in hearing from you. Full

training will be provided for successful applicants.

Please send your completed application form and covering letter to: aread@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk Closing date: 6th January 2021 Application to ARead@robertsmyth.tgacademy.org.uk

Robert Smyth Parents’ Association would like to wish a Very Merry

Christmas to all the Students and their families as we look forward to a Happy

New Year!

If you haven’t already signed up for ‘Easyfundraising’ please take two minutes to do so, it is quick and easy and raises money for our Parents’ Association, automatically when you shop on-line. Robert Smyth Parents’ Association is registered with

‘easyfundraising’ so just click on the link below and register. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us

when you see ‘easyfundraising’ as you shop online – at no extra cost to yourself!

Please ust click on the link below and start spending – it’s as easy as that! All money raised will go back into the

Academy for the benefit of the students.

Thank you so much!

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/robertsmythpa/?utm_campaign=raise-more&utm_content=cpl

Sarah Potter Secretary, Robert Smyth Parents’ Association

6th Form Catering - Sixth Form Canteen

Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to all our year 12 & 13

students for your tremendous support, we have had many hurdles to cross since returning at the end of August and

you have shown a great understanding and compassion as our customers. We are so proud that we have been able

to offer a full menu and service during these very challenging times, it’s been so good to witness the effect a hot

beverage and warm breakfast can have to help get the morning underway. We’ve also had great reviews about our

infamous homemade soup otherwise known as a ‘hug in mug’.

Our “Christmas Dinner Wraps “from our specials menu, included Sliced Turkey, Chipolata sausage, streaky bacon,

stuffing & cranberry sauce, hand held and ready to serve from our grab n go range, have been a great option for our

students on the move. Our Christmas promotions have been well received and proved very popular they included,

free topping on all our hot chocolate range, free bottle of water with any of our festive sandwich and toasties range.

On the back of this our students have asked if they can donate the bottle of water to the local foodbank, great

imitative.

Year 7-11 Catering - Sixteen07

I am reporting this year not on one catering outlet but three, Sixteen07, ‘The walk – Thru’ and the Hunger Hatch.

Again I would like to express our thanks to you all for the wonderful support during this time of change, I would like

to feed back on the amazing politeness and gratitude our students have shown during these changes, we now get the

chance to serve our students away from the main dining room and witness them managing their new routines and

surroundings.

Our kitchens and teams have been very busy preparing and cooking the foods for these additional services and I

wanted to share a few of the tasty treats with you that have been enjoyed during this time.

I think I can say this dish is one of the student’s absolute favourites, buttermilk chicken, macaroni cheese, sweet

potato fries, American creamy sweetcorn and fresh salad leaves, and this features on our Street Food Range and gets

the most votes.

Our Christmas promotion has been received very well our “ding dong merrily on high its festive sausage time “special;

Jumbo pigs in blankets served in a soft floured sub roll finished with a cranberry mayonnaise.

Wishing you all a happy & safe Christmas!

Emma and the catering team.

Emma Spencer Catering Manager

Friday 18th December 2020 School closes

Monday 21st Dec to Friday 1st January 2021 Christmas and New Year break

Spring Term 2021

Monday 4th January 2021 School opens to staff only (inset day)

Tuesday 5th January 2021 School open to students

Friday 12th February 2021 School closes

Monday 15th to 19th February 2021 Half term break

Monday 22nd February 2021 School opens to staff and students

Friday 26th March 2021 School closes

Monday 29th March to Friday 9th April 2021 Easter break

Summer Term 2021

Monday 12th April 2021 School opens to staff and students

Monday 3rd May 2021 May Day Bank Holiday

Friday 28th May 2021 School closes for Half term break

Monday 31st May to Friday 4th June 2021 Half Term break

Monday 7th June 2021 School opens to staff and students

Friday 9th July 2021 School closes at 1.00pm

Autumn Term 2021

Monday 23rd August 2021 School opens to staff (inset day)

Student return week commencing Tuesday 24th August (exact days for each year group tbc)

Monday 30th August 2021 Bank Holiday

Monday 18th to Friday 22nd October 2021 Half Term break

Monday 25th October 2021 School opens to staff and students

Friday 17th December 2021 school closes

Monday 20th December 2021 to Friday 31st December 2021 Christmas and New Year break

Spring Term 2022

Monday 3rd January 2022 Bank Holiday

Tuesday 4th January 2022 School opens to staff (inset day)

Wednesday 5th January 2022 School opens to students

Friday 11th February 2022 School closes

Monday 14th February to Friday 18th February 2022 School opens to staff and students

Monday 21st February 2022 School opens to staff and students

Friday 8th April 2022 School Closes

Monday 11th April 2022 to Friday 22nd April 2022 Easter Holiday

Summer Term 2022

Monday 25th April 2022 School opens to staff and students

Monday 2nd May 2022 May Day Bank Holiday

Friday 27th May 2022 School closes for Half term break

Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd June 2022 Half term break

Monday 6th June 2022 School opens to staff (Inset day)

Tuesday 7th June 2022 School opens to students

Friday 8th July 2022 School closes 1.00pm

Note: Additional INSET days to be added

Dear Parent/Guardian/Student

Privacy Notice - Data Protection Act 1998

The Robert Smyth Academy 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 Department for Education (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

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, Glenfield

Leicester, LE3 8RF

tel: 0116 305 6637 email: mike.challands@leics.gov.uk

Public Communications Unit

Department for Education

Sanctuary Buildings

Great Smith Street

London, SW1P 3BT

website: www.education.gov.uk email: info@education.gsi.gov.uk 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.

SJP