It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to our school.
Proudly comprehensive, we provide an aspirational, vibrant and supportive learning environment into which we welcome children of all academic abilities. We understand that every child is unique and all our staff are committed to helping each one develop their independence, resilience and self-esteem; offering them every available opportunity to reach their full potential.
As reflected in our exceptional GCSE results, we have high academic expectations of all our students and offer a creative and aspirational curriculum whilst always respecting traditional values by demanding high standards of behaviour, attendance and appearance.
Sir William Romney’s has an excellent reputation as a caring and inclusive school where every child is known as an individual. We firmly believe that every child can achieve more than even they believe is possible, supporting all students to make outstanding academic and personal progress.
I hope that this website gives you a sense of our values and an insight into what the school experience is like for students at Sir William Romney’s.
If you want to find out more then please do not hesitate to contact the school to arrange a visit.
Click here to download our 2016/17 Prospectus, designed to give you a flavour of our school, we hope you will visit us personally to learn so much more.
Our broad curriculum covers all the subjects you'd expect, as well as Horticulture, Childcare, Personal Development and a wide range of Languages.
Students are encouraged to fully participate in our marvellous opportunities in sports, the creative arts, the Duke of Edinburgh Award and a wide range of clubs and activities.
Our newsletters are published every two weeks. Click here to sign up for regular information on news and events, as well as to read through our latest editions.
SWR Leisure offers a range of activities designed to suit all ages and abilities. We provide the local community with a quality facility for individuals, clubs and organisations.
Our Students have the opportunity to go on many school trips throughout their time at SWR. Recent Trips include a skiing trip to Zell am Ziller, Austria.
We are pleased to announce that our second ‘Proms in the Park’ will be taking place on Thursday 19th July. We look forward to welcoming students and parents from St.Mary’s and Avening School to our community event. There will also be wonderful performances from SWR students, Nailsworth Silver Band and many, many more. Tickets are available now from reception.
Year 10 exams start of Thursday 14th June through to Friday 29th June. The exam timetable is below and can also be found in the examinations page also on our website.
Year 10 exams are used to assess students’ progress at the half-way point of their GCSE courses and are designed to replicate the demands of the actual GCSE exam programme. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise the importance of revision to all our students. Teachers will be sharing a variety of revision strategies with students during lessons, but it is extremely important that students complete significant revision at home ahead of each exam. This will then enable teachers to accurately assess individual students’ strengths and areas for development that will be addressed during the remainder of all GCSE courses.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement to students throughout the Year 10 examinations.
Mr Bell
Positive Thinking
It has been a while since I have managed to update my blog. This is probably due to this term being extremely busy with a wealth of extra-curricular activities and I have really enjoyed visiting as many lessons as possible this term. As we approach Y11 mock examination week from the 19th March, it makes both students and staff very aware that we are fast approaching GCSE examination season. Therefore, there is not a better time to consider the power of positive thinking.
Internal Dialogue
I am definitely a positive person. Happy go lucky, my glass is definitely half full. But I astound myself with my critical internal dialogue. By critical internal dialogue, I mean that voice inside that puts you down, that keeps replaying the stuff that makes you cringe or emphasises what you’re not good at. It’s like a video on a loop, constantly replaying what I should be better at. If another person said these things to me, what I say to myself inside, I would think them a hideous, cruel, vindictive person. This is when the power of positive thinking becomes so important, reminding me what I can do well, my strengths and successes. Many studies have confirmed the correlation between positive thinking and success, so how can we all become positive thinkers?
Positive Gratitude
Be grateful for the people who love and care for you, and the people who want to spend time with you. Be grateful to sleep in a bed each night, for the sun that comes up each morning, for the teacher who greets you with a smile, and for a body that lets you experience life each day. Be grateful for your favourite series coming back on TV, for a friend that suggests you get together. Practicing gratefulness can cause almost an immediate shift in your perspective and mood. Keeping a daily gratitude diary can help remind you to keep life’s blessings at the forefront of your mind. There is something about writing it down that fixes it more firmly in your mind.
Positive Afirmations
What are they then? Positive affirmations are short statements that help you focus on what is good about you and your life. An affirmation can work as it has the ability to program your mind into believing the stated concept. These are some examples I found on the internet:
Write 5 or 6 statements about yourself, and read them every morning or when you feel a bit down in the dumps. It’s very positive thinking them up in the first place and they will make you feel more positive about yourself. You have to believe them and repeat them. Have them in the notes on your phone.
Random Acts of Kindness
It’s easy to get absorbed by our own problems and life, and to forget about the people around us. Stepping outside of your daily routine, to help someone else, can provide amazing perspective and fill you with positivity. Strive to do one nice thing for someone else each day. Can you think of someone in your form who might be a little lonely? A friendly hello in the morning might make all the difference. I’m not asking you to become their BFF, just a hello.
Music and Exercise
This will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone but listening to upbeat music can boost your happiness and help lift some of that negativity that can cloud all of us at times.
If you start exercising, your brain recognises this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). Ultimately this makes us feel at ease and helps us think clearly, and feel happy. Also endorphins are released, just like when you smile or laugh. These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria. So a message to all our students beginning their revision programmes, do not drop the exercise as it will help your positive energy and improve your focus and concentration during exams.
I look forward to hearing about students’ positive thinking strategies across this term!
Jon Bell
Headteacher
