2025 News Archive • Sir Thomas Rich's School

From the archive

National Theatre

Friday 6 June 2025 SJV

Our Year 10 GCSE Drama students experienced the touring National Theatre production of War Horse at the Hippodrome Theatre, Bristol this week. Everyone agreed that the performance was outstanding: the puppetry, lighting, sound design and acting were unbelievable! Students will be using this experience to write reviews for their GCSE Drama...

Year 12 Greece Trip

Friday 6 June 2025 SJV

In the half term holiday 21 of our Year 12 pupils accompanied by Mr Gowler and Mrs Harris took part in a project working with homeless people and refugees in Athens, followed by a marine conservation turtle rescue programme. An amazing trip - check out the Geography Instagram account for more...

Culture Day 2025

Thursday 5 June 2025 SJV

We are looking forward to our annual Culture Day on 27 June, a special student-led event at our school where we celebrate the diverse traditions, customs and culture of our community. It's an opportunity for pupils and staff to come together and learn about different cultures through food, music, dance, clothing...

Year 8 Visit Historic Bletchley Park

Tuesday 3 June 2025 SJV

Our Year 8 pupils visited Bletchley Park this week, the centre of British codebreaking during the Second World War. During the trip, pupils took part in a coding and ciphers workshop, where they were introduced to a range of encryption techniques and challenged to solve puzzles using methods inspired by those...

Best in Festival

Friday 23 May 2025 SJV

We are proud to announce that Archie in Year 10 was awarded Best in Festival at the prestigious Cheltenham Performing Arts Festival last Friday. Building on his earlier success at the event - where he won awards for Best Shakespeare Performance and Best Solo Acting Performance - Archie was shortlisted for...

House Creative Writing

Wednesday 21 May 2025 SJV

Well done to all of the students who took part in this year’s House Creative Writing Competition. This term’s focus was ‘nature’ in association with the Laurie Lee Poetry Competition for Gloucestershire 2025. All of the poems submitted are displayed in the Creative Writing corner of the LRC. The winners are...

Cholet Trip

Wednesday 21 May 2025 SJV

Last week, 26 students from Year 10 and 12 travelled to Cholet in north-western France to complete the second leg of the French exchange. They stayed in their partners' homes, enjoying the food, practiced the language and experienced lessons in French at school. They also took part in several day trips...

Drama Festival Success for Archie

Friday 16 May 2025 SJV

We are delighted to share that Archie in Year 10 has been shortlisted as one of the top six Drama Performers at this week's Cheltenham Performing Arts Festival! Archie has delivered outstanding performances throughout the Festival, achieving 1st place in his Shakespeare performance; 1st place in his Solo Acting performance; and...

Kickboxing Double English Champion

Thursday 15 May 2025 SJV

Before Easter Jago in Year 10 competed at the ISKA English Kickboxing Championships at Oxstalls Sports Park in Gloucester. We are delighted to report that he was crowned double English Champion, winning the Kick Light and LC -50kg Junior Male categories. He also claimed silver medals in the Junior Tag Team...

Parliament Visit

Thursday 15 May 2025 SJV

On Monday 38 of our Year 12 Politics students travelled to London to enjoy a tour and workshop in Parliament, followed by a Q&A with Cameron Thomas MP. The tour included walking through the House of Commons, learning about the history of Parliament, and people spotting (we saw Max Wilkinson, Lindsay...

National Schools Table Tennis

Thursday 15 May 2025 SJV

Toby in Year 8 competed for Gloucestershire (and STRS!) at the National Schools Table Tennis Championships on 26 April. It was very stiff competition, but he won one match and represented the School with true grit and determination. Well done Toby...

Ten Tors Team Smashes It!

Tuesday 13 May 2025 SJV

A team of Year 12 Rich’s pupils tackled the Ten Tors challenge on Dartmoor at the weekend. This is the first time that the School has taken part in the notoriously tough event, with the Rich’s team completing the challenge and crossing the finish line at a very respectable 15:30 on...

New Minibus

Tuesday 13 May 2025 SJV

We are delighted to report that our new minibus has arrived, and has seen plenty of use already over the last couple of weeks! In the short-term, this will be an addition to our existing fleet, giving us the flexibility to perhaps retire one of our older vehicles in due course...

Owen is 3 x County Champ

Tuesday 13 May 2025 SJV

Owen in Year 7 competed in the Gloucestershire County Athletics Championship at the weekend and was a three times County Champion in U13 High jump, 200m and 4x100m Relay, and achieved 2nd place in the Shotput. All of which were Personal Bests too! A huge well done Owen, your school is...

Silver Medal in County Championship

Monday 12 May 2025 SJV

Harry in Year 9 ran in the 800m final at the Gloucestershire County Championship at the weekend. He won a silver medal and broke his personal best by 2 seconds to get a time of 2 minutes 16 seconds, which he was very pleased with. Well done Harry, your school is...

LAMDA Results

Monday 12 May 2025 SJV

A huge well done to the four pupils who have just received the results of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) examinations they took in April. Ralph achieved his Grade 4 certificate in Acting, and Hem, Nathaniel and Thomas their Grade 4 in Speaking in Public. Ralph...

Year 13 Last Day

Thursday 8 May 2025 SJV

Year 13 students celebrated their last official day in school as they start their study leave and examinations. As per tradition, they have enjoyed a morning of breakfast, shirt signing and a special goodbye assembly with recorded messages and awards given out. Our caterers Aspens finished the morning off with a...

Student Produces Own Play at Cheltenham Theatre

Thursday 8 May 2025 SJV

Talented Year 13 student Kyle has written, directed and produced a play, New Beginnings, which is on at the Cheltenham Playhouse at 6pm on 1 June. Kyle acts in the play as well, along with Eleanor and Eloise from Year 13, and Harvey from Year 12. The event is part of...

Year 7 Tennis Ace

Tuesday 6 May 2025 SJV

A huge well done to George P in Year 7 who played in the West Warwickshire Under 12s Easter Tennis Open and came 4th overall. This weekend he was also runner-up in an Under 14s tournament at Cardiff Met University, another great achievement. George is planning to dedicate plenty of time...

Year 8 Assembly

Tuesday 29 April 2025 SJV

This morning Year 13 student Pranav, one of our fantastic anti-bullying ambassadors, gave an assembly in the Sports Hall to Year 8 pupils on LGBTQ+ and how to be an upstander and an active ally. It was his first time delivering an assembly, and he did a great job...

Gloucestershire Young Photographer of the Year

Friday 11 April 2025 SJV

An amazing 11 entries from Sir Thomas Rich's have been selected for inclusion at the Gloucestershire Young Photographer of the Year awards evening on 29 April! The work will be shown as part of an on-screen presentation at the ceremony. Two of our entrants have also been given an Award of...

Girls' Football Team Win

Thursday 10 April 2025 SJV

The Girls’ Football Team returned to Chosen Hill on Wednesday and played their fourth and final match of the year, taking a decisive 7-1 victory. The team have shown amazing resilience, skill and growth over the last few fixtures and came into the match determined to build on their previous performances...

Year 12 Pupils Welcome Parents to Open Morning

Tuesday 8 April 2025 SJV

The first of our Spring Term Open Mornings is underway today, with the Year 12 members of our new Student Leadership Team doing an excellent job of welcoming prospective pupils and their families to the school! They have been handing out our brand new Lower School Prospectus, which is also available...

Bridge Club

Monday 7 April 2025 SJV

The very first meeting of Bridge Club took place last Wednesday after school in B2! Pupils in any year group are welcome, and it doesn't matter if you've never play the card game before, just come along or see Mr Stanfield for more info...

Easter Rugby Camp 24-25 April

Monday 7 April 2025 SJV

Spaces on the Easter Rugby Camp are filling up quickly, so book and pay this week to secure a place for your son, via your parent Scopay account. The Camp is aimed at players of all ability levels who are currently in Years 7-10 at Rich's, and is a great opportunity...

Founder's Fortnight Raises £5k!

Friday 4 April 2025 SJV

The money has been counted by our hard working Finance Office team and the total raised for Founder’s Fortnight in March currently stands at (drum roll) £4,980.36! This is a fantastic whole-school effort, and with a few more monies still to be paid in the total will likely pass the...

Poetry By Heart

Tuesday 1 April 2025 SJV

Our Year 7 pupils took part in the annual Poetry By Heart competition at the end of March, with the Poetry By Heart team joining us to record the event, having selected Sir Thomas Rich’s to be just one of nine schools in the country to be filmed. This is an...

House Speaking Competition

Tuesday 1 April 2025 SJV

Last week the House Speaking took place in the hall, with Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils as the audience. It was a close fought competition, with Westgate winning the Junior round with their topic 'Should social media companies be allowed to censor our opinions?' Eastgate won the Senior round with...

Göttingen Exchange

Monday 31 March 2025 SJV

Recently 18 of our boys travelled to Germany for the second leg of our successful exchange programme with the Otto-Hahn Gymnasium in Göttingen, to stay with their exchange partners and their families. Our pupils received a very warm welcome from the entire school, temporarily becoming members of their host families, tasting...

Easter Rugby Camp: Bookings Open

Friday 28 March 2025 SJV

We’re offering pupils in Years 7-10 a unique and exciting opportunity to attend an Easter Rugby Camp at the School. Taking place on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 April 9am-3pm, the camp will be led by the School’s senior rugby players, and all funds raised will go towards their tour to...

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Friday 28 March 2025 SJV

Year 11 prepared for their final English Literature Paper 1 exam in their final whole-cohort lesson, which focused on planning effectively for their Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde essay. They then watched a fantastic production performed by Quantum Theatre Productions, which proved a useful reminder of plot, characterisation, genre and key...

Book Fair Now On

Thursday 27 March 2025 SJV

The Scholastic Book Fair is on now in the LRC; pupils can visit at lunchtimes until next Wednesday to buy titles using cash or card. Many prices are cheaper than Amazon and there are a great selection of titles for all year groups...

Rugby 7s Success

Tuesday 25 March 2025 SJV

Congratulations to the Year 7 and Year 8 Rugby 7s teams who went to the Summer Fields 7s competition over the weekend, with both teams getting to the Cup Final match. The Year 7 side (pictured above) didn't lose a game throughout the day and won the Cup Final; overcoming tough...

FameLab Finals

Monday 24 March 2025 SJV

The FameLab Academy Gloucestershire Final took place last Thursday at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, with Hem B from 9R scooping the runner up prize with his fantastic talk on time dilation: ‘The Truth Time Won’t Tell’. All of the students from the various Gloucestershire schools gave excellent talks, and the judges...

National Netball Finals at Loughborough

Friday 14 March 2025 SJV

After very narrowly missing out to Sir William Perkins School in the first match of the Sisters N Sport final four yesterday, the 1st VII Netball Team powered through the play-offs for third place, snatching victory from Carmel College with a tense Golden Goal to win 28-27! To reach the finals...

Squash Team Take Part in National Finals

Thursday 13 March 2025 SJV

The Key Stage 3 Squash Team competed in the National Schools Championship Finals in Birmingham on Wednesday this week. The boys won their first game against Boston Spa Academy, putting them into the semi-final against Harrow School. They gave a good account of themselves in the semi-final, losing to the eventual...

Debate Team Through to EYP National Final!

Thursday 13 March 2025 SJV

The STRS team AIDA (AI in the Digital Age) won the South West Regional Final of the European Youth Parliament Debates on Wednesday, hosted here at the School, and now progress through to the National Final. We fielded two teams for the event and welcomed six other schools for a wide...

Rapid Play Chess Tournament

Tuesday 11 March 2025 SJV

Well done to the Junior Chess A, B and C Teams, who took part in a rapid play tournament at Bristol Grammar School this week. Our A Team (Alan A, Satvik J, Kshitij H and Kareem M) did incredibly well, coming third out of 34 teams and narrowly missing out on...

Happiest School Data

Monday 10 March 2025 SJV

We are incredibly proud to have been recognised as one of the 13 happiest schools for pupils in England and Wales, according to analysis by The Sunday Times (using Ofsted Parent View data), published on 9 March: “Official surveys shows that 99 per cent of parents agreed, or strongly agreed, that...

New Vacancy

Monday 10 March 2025 SJV

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated, outstanding teacher to lead our successful Physics Department. This permanent, full-time post would be particularly well-suited to an ambitious practitioner ready to progress in their career. We offer exceptional opportunities for professional development and remain dedicated to mentoring and supporting our staff...

Rugby 7s Plate Win

Monday 10 March 2025 SJV

Our 1st Vll won the Plate Completion at Mount St Mary’s Rugby 7s this weekend, finishing second in the pool, playing against Lancaster Grammar School, Dane Allan’s School, Gosforth Academy and Denstone College. In the Plate round robin we won two games against Kirkham Grammar School and RGS Newcastle, which meant...

World Book Day

Thursday 6 March 2025 SJV

We've been celebrating World Book Day, with many students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters! A fantastic effort from all involved. There were also 25 entries in the World Book Day Bake-Off, with staff tasting and judging some wonderful cakes in the Food Tech building at lunchtime...

Netball Team Through to Final Four of SnS Cup

Thursday 6 March 2025 SJV

A massive well done to the Netball 1stVII who are through to the final four of the Sisters N Sport Cup at Loughborough, having beaten St Edward’s, Oxford on Tuesday. Amazing! Match report by Emily (follow @STRSNetball on Instagram to stay up to date with fixtures and results): SnS Shield...

Normandy Trip

Wednesday 5 March 2025 SJV

This week 60 of our Year 8 and 9 students and six staff are visiting Normandy to immerse themselves in the language and culture of the region. The weather has been absolutely glorious and the students have been having a great time! A packed itinerary has included bread making, aeroballe...

The Masked Readers Are Back

Tuesday 4 March 2025 SJV

The Masked Reader Competition is back! World Book Day takes place on Thursday this week, and between now and then we'll be posting images of our 10 Masked Readers on our social media channels: all you need to do is guess which member of STRS staff is pictured, from what they...

Rugby 10s Tournament Win

Monday 3 March 2025 SJV

Huge congratulations go to the Year 11 and 12 players who beat Cokethorpe School at the weekend to win the cup in the final of the Society of Heads Under 18 10s Rugby Tournament, hosted by Cokethorpe School. The Rich’s 1stX came up against some tough opposition in Cokethorpe School, Reading...

National Careers Week

Monday 3 March 2025 SJV

It’s National Careers Week, and on Friday students will be taking part in a quiz in tutor time about staff members’ career journeys and aspirations. Of course, careers education is an all-year-round focus for us; we’re incredibly proud to hold the national quality mark for careers education – the Quality in...

French Play

Friday 28 February 2025 SJV

This afternoon students in Years 7-10 enjoyed a comedy play by the Onatti Theatre Company in the Old Gym; Prendre Sa Revanche was performed entirely in French, with plenty of student participation. The aim of the play was to reinforce classroom French lessons in a humorous and exaggerated manner, and was...

Funds Raised for Local Children's Charity

Friday 28 February 2025 SJV

Our last free dress day, in aid of the James Hopkins Trust, raised an incredible £759.46 for the charity! This week we received a lovely certificate of appreciation and email from Laura at the Trust, she says: "We are incredibly grateful to you all for raising this money for us, as...

Year 12 County Court Visit

Friday 28 February 2025 SJV

Students in Year 12 attended Gloucester County Court today, where they experienced a court in session prefaced by a briefing from court officials and an address by the sitting Judge. There was an opportunity at the end of the sitting for the Judge to explain any matters of interest and answer...

IEA Budget Challenge Semi-Finals

Thursday 27 February 2025 SJV

Year 12 economists Harry C, Harry Y, Olly G and John S represented Rich’s on Wednesday at the semi-finals of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Budget Challenge. They placed in the top 20 out of 200 entries – an incredible achievement! The team had to initially write an essay conducting...

Mental Health Talk for Parents

Thursday 27 February 2025 SJV

Next Tuesday 4 March there’s a free talk on self-harm awareness for parents by mental health expert Satveer Nijjar of the organisation ‘Attention Seekers?‘ in the Drama Studio starting at 5pm. See the email sent by Mr Marks on Wednesday for the booking details, or email him on [email protected] if you...

We Will Rock You!

Monday 24 February 2025 SJV

Before half term students treated us to three amazing performances of the musical show, We Will Rock You. A huge well done to everyone involved both on stage and behind the scenes: students, staff and parent volunteers! It was a massive undertaking and took a lot of dedication and hard work...

Year 4 and 5 Visitors Enjoy Basketball Session

Friday 14 February 2025 SJV

At our third Shaping Futures session this week, students enjoyed a fantastic basketball session led by Mr Raddon, who was supported by our Basketball Captain Toby and Vice-Captain Charlie in Year 13. Our Year 4 and 5 visitors enjoyed a high energy session learning new skills and even playing some short...

A Level Students Meet Top Author

Thursday 13 February 2025 SJV

Our A Level English Literature students visited Wycliffe College in Stonehouse this week to hear from poet, novelist, playwright and Professor in Creativity at Swansea University, Owen Sheers. Owen read excerpts from his BAFTA and Grierson nominated film-poem, *The Green Hollow*, a poetic history of the Aberfan disaster of 1966, his...

Girls' Football Team Wins First Ever Match

Thursday 13 February 2025 SJV

The Girls’ Football Team travelled to Chosen Hill School on Wednesday and played their first ever match – winning 2-1! Coach Mr Ormston reports: “After months of training and anticipation, the girls were excited and nervous, but as soon as the game got going, they showed skill, discipline and great determination...

Year 9 Students Deliver Impressive STEM Talks

Thursday 13 February 2025 SJV

Back in December Year 9 forms competed in the first round of the FameLab Academy STEM competition, and today the top two students from each form competed in the next stage. The students all gave a three-minute STEM talk in front of a Year 8 audience and judges, Mrs May...

French Exchange Guests

Monday 10 February 2025 SJV

Last week Year 10 and 12 students hosted their French exchange partners from the Sainte-Marie Lycée in Cholet. Our guests enjoyed a busy itinerary designed to immerse them in the British way of life, including visiting classroom lessons with their partners, a football tournament, a cooking class, a visit to the...

We Will Rock You!

Monday 10 February 2025 SJV

The final dress rehearsal for *We Will Rock You* is underway today, well done to all the students and staff involved, it's looking and sounding absolutely great! There's still time to get tickets - click the button at the top of the home page. (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, starting at 6pm...

Junior Debate Team

Monday 10 February 2025 SJV

Three Year 8 pupils from the Junior Debate Team (Sam C, Thomas H, David S) competed in the District Final of the prestigious Rotary Youth Speaks: A Debate Competition on Saturday. The group chose to present the arguments in favour and against the motion “This house would suspend the development of...

Senior Basketball Team In Last 16 of National Cup

Thursday 6 February 2025 SJV

Yesterday, the 1st V Basketball team achieved an historic win in the U19 Dynamik School’s National Cup. After going unbeaten in the pool stage, the team knocked out a strong Hayward’s Heath Sixth Form College side to advance to the last 16 in the country, an incredible achievement! The game started...

GCSE Poetry Live!

Thursday 6 February 2025 SJV

Yesterday 130 Year 11 students enjoyed a fantastic trip to GCSE Poetry Live! at the Bath Forum. This incredible event included the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, and former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and was a great opportunity to hear them read their work from the AQA GCSE Anthology. There were...

GFRS Talk on Risks to Young Drivers

Wednesday 5 February 2025 SJV

As part of our Enrichment programme, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service delivered an excellent presentation to Year 12 students yesterday designed to deepen their understanding of the risks face by young learner drivers or newly qualified drivers...

High Sheriff and Magistrate Speak to Students

Tuesday 4 February 2025 SJV

Today some of our Sixth Form students interested in the Law enjoyed a talk in the Pavilion from High Sheriff of Gloucestershire (and former managing editor of BBC Radio Gloucestershire), Mark Hurrell, and serving Magistrate Julia Hurrell. The Hurrells spoke about their careers in media and the law, and Mrs Hurrell...

SW Regional Schools Netball

Tuesday 4 February 2025 SJV

Our Netball players had an incredible day at the South West Regional Schools Tournament on Saturday, coming 5th overall in a field of 14 very strong teams. The team put in an amazing showing, resulting in 4 wins and 2 losses, coming third in their group and only narrowly missing out...

Auf dem Campingplatz

Monday 3 February 2025 SJV

The Onatti Theatre Company visited us again last week to perform a play in German to our Lower School students. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed Auf dem Campingplatz! Performed completely in German with elements of audience participation, the play has been specifically written for 12-16 year olds to reinforce language teaching in a...

Josh Wins U14 Regional Fencing Championship

Monday 3 February 2025 SJV

Josh in Year 8 competed in the West Midlands Youth Championships in Fencing at the weekend, where he won in the U14 Boys' Epee category. This means he has now qualified for the British Youth Championships, which take place in Sheffield in May. Good luck Josh, your school is very proud...

Book of the Month: Cogheart

Monday 3 February 2025 SJV

February’s Book of the Month is a review by Ben in 9R of Cogheart by Peter Bunzl - a steampunk-style tale of ambition, pursuit and revenge. Students in any STRS year group can submit a book review - just contact any one of the teachers in the English Department...

We Will Rock You

Sunday 2 February 2025 SJV

Some of our Year 12 Art students are pictured here hard at work creating the amazing set for We Will Rock You, based on Sophie in Year 12's winning graffiti design. Tickets for performances (11-13 February) are on sale now at www.tickettailor.com/events/sirthomasrichsschool/1530620 - they are selling fast, so don't miss out...

Apply to our Sixth Form

Thursday 30 January 2025 SJV

Applications are now open to join our Sixth Form in Year 12 this September! Just click on the button at the top of the homepage to apply online; the closing date for applications is 28 February. There's still time to register for and attend our Open Evening on Thursday 30 January...

Newgate Wins House Music

Thursday 30 January 2025 SJV

Around 250 pupils took part in House Music in the hall this week, which was amazing, and it was wonderful to see so many students enjoying playing and singing. There were some stunning performances – particularly from the junior soloists this year. Ying-Tai Y won the Junior Solo for Westgate, and...

Local Poet Visits Year 13 English Students

Wednesday 29 January 2025 SJV

Year 13 students enjoyed a poetry workshop this week with visiting local poet and photographer (and former English teacher), Philip Rush. Students gained a valuable insight into the writing process, developing their analytical skills by ‘thinking like a poet’. Philip also gave practical advice for approaching the comparative poetry essay in...

Year 12 Biology Practical

Wednesday 29 January 2025 SJV

Year 12 Biology students are busy performing a fish head dissection in Lab 8 with Mr Moore this week. Local business and restaurant the Severn & Wye Smokery at Chaxhill (www.severnandwye.co.uk) supply us with around 30 huge fresh fish heads each year free of charge, which we really appreciate...

Biggest Ever Careers Fayre

Tuesday 28 January 2025 SJV

Students from Year 9 to Year 13 attended our annual Careers Fayre today, with 45 companies exhibiting in the main hall and 30 universities in the sports hall. Our thanks to all the exhibitors who attended, it was our biggest and busiest Careers Fayre yet...

KS3 Squash Win

Friday 24 January 2025 SJV

Pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 won the Regional Squash Championship on Tuesday this week, beating Wycliffe College and King's College Taunton. A fantastic achievement, which means we are now through to National Finals on 12 March in Birmingham. A huge well done to Mr Deacon and the team...

Chess Success

Friday 24 January 2025 SJV

A huge well done to the Chess Team - Curtis C, Sai V, Muthu M, Alan A, Samuel G and Artur F - on their win against Denmark Road High School this week 5 ½ to ½ in the regional knock out stage of the national competition...

Year 4 and 5 Pupils Enjoy Mentoring Session

Thursday 16 January 2025 SJV

This week we hosted our first Shaping Futures event with a new group of Year 4 and 5 pupils, who enjoyed meeting their Year 12 mentors for the first time and taking part in a range of icebreaker activities. A particular favourite was the challenge to build the tallest tower out...

Netball Team Win Quarter Finals of Sisters 'n' Sport

Thursday 16 January 2025 SJV

Another win for the Netball 1st VII - this time in the quarter finals of the Sisters ’n’ Sport competition against The Priory Academy, who travelled all the way from Lincolnshire for the fixture! Final score 60-43. Players of the match were given by the opposition to Niamh G and Millie...