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FROM THE HEADMASTER

The term restless frequently has pejorative, negative connotations. Parents who have attempted long car journeys with young children will particularly relate to the frustration felt as bored, fidgety and tetchy individuals, sitting in the back of the car, epitomise the very essence of restlessness! It may, therefore, seem surprising to describe a school as having a restless culture and yet that is just one of the elements of the RGS which makes me so proud.

Roy Blatchford in his book The Restless School challenges schools to consider the key ingredients of both successful institutions and also their leaders. He argues that an outstanding school should never be complacent, however successful. And yet there is a fundamental paradox at the core of his argument: such educational establishments are confident and secure in their systems, values and ethos, yet simultaneously they are endlessly looking to change and improve. The RGS is proud of its 500-year history, its established culture and approach to education, and yet a healthy culture of self-reflection, selfevaluation and innovation persists, all the more so as we smoothly transition to co-education. In all such deliberation, however, we always keep the students’ best interests and welfare at the very heart of our strategy. As Blatchford comments, leading schools look both inwards to evolve and develop, as well as outwards to seize innovation to refine to their own ends. That is the restless school.

Our extended SMT Strategy meeting this week allowed us to take a step back and both reflect on what we have achieved in the last academic year and also to be forward-looking as we continue to ensure the RGS is well prepared to offer the very best education for all our students, and that we are best placed to deliver this in an efficient, measured and strategic manner. At the RGS, we continually fine-tune all we do and, in any one year, we reflect carefully and strategically on everything from our pastoral provision to daily logistics, from teaching and learning to the students’ play space. These are all aspects which we regularly discuss as a Senior Management Team and also as a staff body. In addition, your sons’ input as students living the RGS experience, as well as yours as parents, is invaluable as part of this process of selfreflection.

Our current Strategic Priorities are four-fold: integrate our pastoral and wellbeing offer, and tailor this to meet the needs of a modern-day student community; enhance our academic strength, in terms of exam results, developing minds and preparing students for higher education; develop a more focused co-curricular offer, organised around a personal development framework based on our school values; and maintain a healthy future pipeline of students in the face of increasing demographic, market and regulatory challenges. Each one of these priorities has a number of projects associated with it which will allow us to make meaningful, long-term change.

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” Strong schools are, undoubtedly, those that are continually evolving, not standing still.

In just the last year or so, these projects, with clear targets and timelines, have allowed us to bring about meaningful, impactful and lasting change. The following may give just a flavour of these: our review of how AI can be incorporated into teaching and learning safely, appropriately and effectively; our evaluation of our PSHME programme and how we can continue to support the wellbeing, as well as the physical and mental health, of our students; our analysis of tracking and data to improve our monitoring of every student as they progress through the School; our new rewards and sanctions systems; our work on RGS standards; our review of our co-curricular provision and how that feeds into our character development framework; our embedding of digital technology in our pedagogical approaches; detailed curriculum reviews and our introduction of new subjects into the Sixth Form with the addition of Psychology at A Level; without even mentioning the countless refinements and improvements which take place routinely in every area of school life and, of course, all the detailed, methodical planning in preparation for our first intake of girls into the Lower Sixth Form in September 2027, followed by the First Form intake in September 2028.

This is only the most cursory of overviews but I hope it serves to show how committed we are to continuing to improve every area of school life. Strong schools are, undoubtedly, those that are continually evolving, not standing still.

Restless? Absolutely, and that can only be a good thing, just so long as it’s not a car journey!

Our Vision

A high-performing and inclusive independent day school, which provides a great education so that students can lead happy, successful lives and have a positive impact on society.

Our Strategic Priorities

Integrate our pastoral and wellbeing offer, and tailor this to meet the needs of a modern-day student community.

Develop a more focused co-curricular offer, organised around a character development framework based on our school values.

Enhance our academic strength, in terms of exam results, developing minds and preparing students for higher education.

Maintain a healthy future pipeline of students in the face of increasing demographic, market and regulatory challenges.

NOTICES

Registration

We continue to be grateful to you, as parents, for your support with registration. Keeping your sons safe and accounted for is always one of our highest priorities. We would ask for your support in the following aspects.

Please always copy in rgs-office@rgsg.co.uk, as well as your son’s Tutor, to any illness, medical/dental appointment or absence requests which are sent to relevant staff members.

In the event of illness, the School must be notified on every day of absence.

We will not authorise absence requests sent in via the student themselves. Communication must come from a parent/guardian.

Permission must be sought by the Headmaster for an absence lasting a whole day or more, with as much notice as possible.

Forthcoming events

Friday 19 June

Sports Day.

Monday 22 June

Senior Prizegiving in Holy Trinity Church.

Tuesday 23 June

Art Summer Exhibition in the Art School.

Wednesday 24 June

Ensembles Concert in Holy Trinity Church.

Friday 26 June

Leavers’ Ceremony in Holy Trinity Church and Leavers’ Ball.

LATEST NEWS

Cadets Chemistry

Callum Moore has been invited to attend the presentation by the King of the Royal Marine colours. Callum is a keen member of the Guildford Royal Marine cadet attachment, and this is a rare opportunity to attend and serve at a national level parade which honours British traditions and heritage.

Olympiads

Fourth Form chemists secured first place at the regional final of the Royal Society of Chemistry Challenge held at Kingston University. Team members Orlando Gover, Rajvir Mangat, Arseniy Makarov and Lamine Sibachir competed in four different competition rounds ranging from practical analysis of unknowns to deducing uses of materials from quickly memorised property information.

Physics

On the basis of his performance in a recent Senior Physics Challenge competition, Lower Sixth Form student Aryan Sharma has been awarded a place on the Summer School at Churchill College and the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.

. Our Fourth Form students participated in the UK Biology Challenge, a prestigious national competition that encourages young people to explore and deepen their interest in the natural world. 42,000 students took part this year: the top 5% were awarded Gold, the next 10% Silver, and the next 15% Bronze. Our students demonstrated a strong understanding of biological concepts, with 10 achieving a Gold medal, 26 a Silver medal, and 38 a Bronze medal. 56% of our cohort gained a medal: an amazing achievement. Our top-performing student was Rajvir Mangat with an impressive 94.3%, followed by Arseniy Makarov and Sebastian Allam.

Yuvan Raja has been selected for the UK teams in both the Maths and Physics International Olympiads. He has decided to decline the Physics invitation to concentrate on the International Maths Olympiad which will be held in in Shanghai. In addition, he has been invited to represent the UK at the Western European Olympiad in Informatics, to be held in Luxembourg.

SPORTS NEWS

Ultimate Frisbee

Our students travelled to Windsor to compete in the Windsor Wolves Ultimate Frisbee tournament where schools split their teams into roughly even squads to give opportunities for newer players to develop. RGS teams impressed, finishing 1st, 3rd, and 7th respectively; in particular, Rayan Ouchfoun impressed throughout the tournament.