Leave of absence/holidays must be requested by email or letter in advance of the anticipated date, but please note that holidays during term time do not qualify for leave of absence.  It is the school policy that requests for term time holidays should not normally be accepted. Requests are given reasonable consideration by Mr Stanford.

*note – this can be a letter or a note in the School Planner

Co-curricular activities are a very important part of RGS life and we pride ourselves on the range of activities on offer.  We believe that, in addition to play time, they help to enrich the lives of the children, help to foster links between children in other classes and also enable them to develop social skills and emotional qualities. Many of the activities involve children of different ages and exposure to children from other year groups is valuable for both younger and older children. Some activities take place before school, some during lunchbreak and some after school. Some are seasonal. It is important that they join activities and parents should discuss what is on offer with their children. Where places are limited, we operate a rota to ensure everyone who wants to, has an opportunity to try the activity.

Our co-curricular timetables are all available here, and change each term.

Uniform and sports footwear is all listed in the uniform list.  

A backpack for transporting school equipment is also needed. Kitlocker stock an optional RGS-branded backpack but any backpack is absolutely fine.

Your child will need a bag for their sports' kit, again Kitlocker stock an optional RGS-branded holdall but any bag for sports kit is fine. 

You will also need a bag for swimming, we suggest a waterproof one.

All bags should be clearly marked with your child's name or a keyring etc that will make it distinguishable to your child.

Children are encouraged to bring healthy snacks from home; this can be especially beneficial if they have a long journey to school from home, or if they are staying for a club or late room. We also have a tuck shop which is open at break times, and a Sixth Form cafe which is open at break and lunchtime. 

Students are also asked to bring in a named water bottle, which they can top up at the water coolers.

Please do not send anything containing nuts, sweets, crisps, chocolate or fizzy drinks; we discourage their regular consumption in the health element of our personal social and health education (PSHE).

Senior School students are encouraged to have all of their items named and to look after their belongings.  Each student has a locker, and there are also bag racks available outside all form rooms/their classrooms.

If an item is lost, students are encouraged to speak to Mrs Stewart or Mrs Barden at the main Senior School reception.  Alternatively, out lost property store (opposite main reception) is open each morning for students to visit.  Sports' reception also hold lost property left in the sports' centre.  When items are named, our staff will always attempt to message students.  Named items are easier to return to you!

Students must not use their phone (without permission from a member of staff) at any point during the school day once they cross the threshold into school and until they leave the school site.  If phones are brought on site, they must be switched off and kept in lockers during the day.

Our full mobile phone policy is here, and below is an overview of the Senior School rules:

If a student needs to use their phone in school, then can go to Main Reception and request to sit and use it.

Students may also use it in the Late Room provision in order to contact a parent/guardian. They will not be allowed to sit and play on their phone or use it for any other reason than as a means to communicate with a parent / guardian.

Sixth Formers will be given the privilege to use their phone in the Sixth Form Common Room.

For a variety of reasons, some students will need to have access to their phone during the day. They will be given an exemption card from their Head of Year or Learning Support.

If any parents need to contact their child during the school day, please phone Main Reception and they can pass any urgent messages on.

Students will have access to their Surface Pros and able to check their email over lunchtime in the designated spaces around school.

On trips and fixtures the restrictions will still apply. They will not have free access to phones; however, staff may give permission for use to update on travel times or allow phone use at designated times on trips.

Any breach of the above mean that students can expect to have their phone confiscated on the spot and will have to retrieve the phone at the end of the school day from their Head of Year. One “strike point” (S1) will be issued. For those who accrue their third confiscation over the course of the academic year, then the phone will be held at school until the time when a parent can come and collect the phone. Should this continue to be problematic after that point then the Head of Year will liaise with parents to establish a plan.

In the Senior School at RGS, we strive for excellence in academic study and achievement. Our students are supported in this by a curriculum that promotes both breadth of study in the early years to develop the subject knowledge, and development of the key skills that students will need to allow them to access learning at a suitably high level for success at GCSE and beyond. For each subject and each year group, we have Programmes of Study which are available on the RGS parent portal.  The programmes are comprehensive and show what content children will be covering, however we do have flexibility to respond to opportunities and the children's interests.  

Exam results are an important rite of passage and we are incredibly proud of our students' high achievements which consistently top the North East's academic league tables. However while academic matters are obviously a focus, at RGS we spend just as much time in school talking about character, as we do curriculum.  Resilience, judgement, courage, kindness, integrity and teamwork are words which may not appear in league tables, but they are the qualities we hope to instil in all students, and are the values are most celebrated in school day to day.

View our latest A-Level and GCSE results, here. 

KEY STAGE 3

In Years 7-9, all students study the same wide core of subjects that embrace and develop numeracy, literacy, scientific knowledge and understanding, development of language, appreciation of the humanities, artistic and creative learning, dramatic performance, sporting and physical development and social and emotional well-being.

Students study all subjects in mixed groups with the exception of Maths, where the groups are setted according to ability and attainment. Students therefore develop good social interaction skills within these groupings.

In Year 9, the curriculum allows a degree of choice to give students the opportunity to broaden their knowledge into new areas and to deepen their understanding of others. The broad core remains common to all. The arrangements for Maths continues as in Years 7/8.

KEY STAGE 4

At GCSE, students are given greater freedom of choice of academic subjects but within the constraints of what we consider a good RGS education should provide; namely a solid grounding in Maths, English and Science. New subjects are introduced in Year 10 that give opportunities for further knowledge and understanding to be developed.

Throughout these formative years students are encouraged to think carefully about their emotional, social and physical well-being through our PSHE programme together with a combined Philosophy and Religion course that allows them to explore spiritual and ethical ideas. This encompasses not only timetabled lessons but also time off-timetable to explore ideas in greater depth.

All students take 10 GCSE exams at the end of Year 11, with some taking an extra GCSE in Further Maths. Many of our subjects offer the IGCSE exam as opposed to the mainstream GCSE. These are directly equivalent in terms of university applications but we think they provide better courses more suited to our students and certainly a better preparation for A Level.

For a list of our exam boards and specifications, please click here.

KEY STAGE 5

In the Sixth Form, students have complete freedom of choice to choose the subjects they wish to study. We expect all students to study three or four subjects to A Level. Full details can be found in the Sixth Form Guide and here. 

For a list of our exam boards and specifications, please click here.

‘Digital Strategy’, is the term we are using to describe our increasing use of technology to deliver and reinforce teaching and learning, and the necessary hardware – specifically standardised digital devices – needed to facilitate this in and out of school. There are many benefits that technology can bring to how our students engage in learning, organise themselves and achieve better outcomes. Similarly, technology has many uses in supporting high quality teaching. As part of this, we are engaging with AI to ensure that its power can be harnessed to positive effect.  

All student in the Senior School are issued with a one-to-one Surface Pro and there are shared class sets of Surface Go devices in the Junior School. 

While we are excited about the opportunities and benefits we are confident this will deliver, our Digital Strategy is about so much more than the physical hardware; it is about the continuing evolution of our teaching and learning, making sure that we retain the best of traditional teaching, while accessing the growing technological advancements that can aide our children’s development for the 21st Century.  

The school's Surface Pro devices are the same as any other school infrastructure, in that the costs are wrapped up in our school fees.  As with any of the school’s resources, we need parents and students to be our partners in caring for and making the best use of our facilities.

There is much more information available here about the use of Surface Pro devices.

In Senior School all homework is set using 'Assignments' with is part of our Microsoft Teams programme.  Students receive notification of their assignments and due dates, parents also receive a weekly email summarising any outstanding homework.

We have a homework timetable in place, which can be viewed by parents on the Parent Portal, or students can view this on the Student Hub.  On most days, students will have between two and four tasks set to complete in any one evening, apart from one evening of no homework when the children are encouraged to take a break.  Homework assignments should last 20-25 minutes; any work that requires more than 25 minutes should be set over more than one week.

Students are encouraged to use the functionality of Teams to support them in engaging effectively and efficiently with their workload. Learning to manage workload and to stay organised is an important life skill and will help students to achieve academic success and, most importantly, to manage stress and pressure as they progress through their courses. Students who struggle with this should look to their Form Supervisors, Heads of Year and the Learning Support department, who are able to help with strategies to improve organisation.

Students should be encouraged to complete homework tasks as they are issued, and ideally the day on which it is set. If a student is struggling with a specific task, they should ask their teachers for guidance or attend a clinic prior to the homework deadline. Teachers will be happy to provide additional assistance to students struggling with homework but can only do so if students attempt to complete the work in advance of the deadline

At the beginning of the academic year, parents will receive a reporting schedule so that they know when they will receive feedback (in the form of grades and reports) and have parents' conferences.  The schedule varies per year group, as different year groups approach key milestones at different times.  The schedules can also be found on the Parent Portal.  Clearly, this does not mean that these occasions will be the only time we talk to you; we want you to feel that you can contact us at any time to discuss your child and we would hope that we will contact you when we feel it necessary. 

The feedback we give will be in three forms: grades, a written report comment and a conversation (parents' conferences). Grades are, by definition, code and, as such, are subject to varying degrees of interpretation. For example, a particular grade means one thing to a student, another to a parent and a third to a teacher. That is why we try and create more consistency by publishing descriptors of grades that, we hope, will provide a bit more clarity. We will provide two grades at each grading point through the year; an engagement with learning grade, and an attainment grade.

We often find students comparing their grades to each other, which we actively discourage.  Each student is an individual and will grasp and understand concepts and content at an individual pace. For one student to compare with another and then worry that they are not performing at the same level creates an unfair expectation. We would strongly advise students to compare to themselves and their expectations. They should talk to the teacher about their performance and understand their individual circumstances.

Report comments are more nuanced than simple grades and allow a degree of explanation of the grades, giving thoughts about what students do well, what they could do to improve and if there are any concerns about their progress. However, it’s still rather one-way in terms of dialogue. By far the best way to give feedback is to have a face-to-face conversation and that is where a Parents’ Conference provides a vehicle for that (whether virtual or physical).  It is a chance to discuss properly a child’s progress in their learning and that’s really what the conversation should be focussed on; too often it is side-tracked by a focus on grades. Certainly, in the younger years, prior to public exams, the focus really should be on progression of skills, knowledge, understanding and engagement with learning.

We try to place these three forms through the year in a way that gives appropriate feedback at an appropriate time for the year group. 

We encourage parents to put dates of the Parents’ Conferences in your diaries so you can plan around them.

There are nurses on site every day, and the school doctor visits regularly. Students who are involved in accidents or taken ill are quickly seen by the school nurses or by a first aid trained member of staff. Where treatment or the nature of injury warrant contact with home, we will do so via telephone or note, but we will not trouble you with information about everyday ‘bumps and scrapes’.

Any medication that you would like us to administer to your child during the day should be prescribed, clearly named and handed to either reception where you will be asked to complete a form.

Please keep us informed of any medical requirements or conditions concerning your child. Confidentiality is respected.

All Senior School students have periods of games and PE lessons each week (with timetabled swimming).  This is beyond the level of provision for physical education in the National Curriculum, but we believe it to be appropriate as it helps to develop physical fitness, skill levels and team spirit. There are inter -school competitive fixtures in all years and we try to ensure that everybody is selected to compete on at least one occasion every year.

Please see the sports kit list for mandatory safety items your child needs, for example children are not allowed to play in rugby or hockey lessons unless they are wearing a mouth guard. This can be purchased from a sports shop or your dentist.

Music at the RGS enjoys an outstandingly illustrious tradition. Children in both the Junior and Senior Schools are taught by music specialists and over 20 visiting instrumental tutors. A comprehensive programme of class music over flows into an extensive range of activities which take place before school, in lunch breaks and after school.

All students are encouraged to become involved in musical activities, even if they have had no previous experience. All groups meet regularly and perform in concerts throughout the school year.

Instrumental tuition and Speech and Drama (LAMDA) lessons are also available, further information will be sent home accordingly.

As of September 2020, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) was made compulsory in all schools.  There is more information here about the school's approach to RSE, and how this develops from the Junior School into the Senior School.