Achievement | Diversity | Respect
Keep us posted - It would be great if parents/carers could let the school know of any student achievements outside of school. We would like to find out what students are doing in their own time and celebrate their achievements.
Email us: weeklymailing@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Week commencing Monday 22 September 2025 is Week B
Standing Items are located at the bottom of the mailing
Dear Parents and Carers,
Please find our weekly mailing which I hope you will find both useful and interesting!
With very best wishes for a relaxing weekend.
Kindest regards,
Ms Jo Butler, Headteacher
Email received
I am sharing Daniel's achievement for this week, which I am very proud of. He works really hard on both, football club and the academy he attends.
Today he earned a "Player of the week" certificate on Pro football academy.
Year 7 Parent
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Email received
Hi Louise,
"Thank you for your email, that really reassures me.
I’m grateful for all the work you all do – I’m sure L's happiness at school each day is thanks to your dedication."
Best wishes,
Parent of L
Thank you
We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming Open Evenings, a wonderful opportunity to experience our school community and learn more about what we offer.
Year 6-7 Main School - Thursday 25 September 2025, 5:30-7:30pm
Cotham Post 16 - Thursday 2 October 2025. 4:30-6:30pm
Redland Green Post 16 - Thursday 9 October 2025
Open Evenings - All.pdfThe School’s Open Evening for Year 6 parents and families will be held on Thursday 25 September between 17:30 - 19:30. As you will appreciate, this is one of the most important events in the school year and therefore the school will close early for students to help staff prepare.
The school day for students in Years 7-11 will end at 13:45. Any student eligible for a Free School Meal will be able to collect their meal during their usual lunch break.
Should any parent need the school to supervise their child beyond 13:45, please contact your child's Learning Coordinator (email addresses below) to let them know. Students remaining in school will be supervised in our library and will be able to work independently until 14:45.
Year 7: Ms Louise Arnold; arnoldl@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 8: Ms Diana Dickerson; dickersond@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 9: Mr Ollie Knight; knighto@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 10: Mr Travis Lawrence; lawrencet@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 11: Mr Henry Arnold; arnoldh@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
All Post 16 lessons will continue as normal until the end of Period 5. It will not be an early finish for students in Years 12/13.
We would also remind you that Friday 26 September is an INSET day and therefore will be closed to students.
Thank you for your continued support of the school and its work.
Please remember Friday 26 September 2025 is our INSET Day for Staff. The school will be closed for students.
We have a fantastic opportunity to offer piano and keyboard lessons to years 7-9 on our grand piano at Cotham School with our very experienced piano teacher Christina Craig - Jones.
She is a specialist teacher of beginners to advanced levels and offers all styles of music from Classics, jazz improvising and rock and pop.
For more details and to book a free taster lesson please contact her directly at chriscraigjones@hotmail.com
Term_1_Clubs_A3_Main_25-26 (1).pdfThis is an incredible opportunity for your child to join our vibrant acting and musical theatre groups at Cotham School, held every Monday evening. Our focus is on creativity, fun, and collaboration in a supportive and aspirational environment. It's a fantastic way for young people to build confidence and make friends.
Free Taster Session:
• Monday 29 September
• 5.00 pm -7.00 pm
• Cotham School
CUE Theatre Company newsletter advert 25 Please inform the school by 9.00am on the first and subsequent days of absence.
School procedure is as follows:
absence message sent if absences have not been reported.
if no response to the absence message, a follow up letter requesting reason for absence will be sent.
If you haven’t already, please download the free Studybugs app, or register on the Studybugs website, and use it to tell us whenever your child is ill and unable to attend school.
Get the app or register now by clicking here.
Thank you
Cotham School
Poster with Additional Info.pdf
Please see the below information leaflet produced by Bristol City Council, it gives advice about term time absence and the consequences of unauthorised absence from school.
Bristol -PN leaflet 2024 - FINAL.pdfWith our new absence procedure Studybugs App running for a period of time, the absence phone line will no longer be available for Years 7-11. If you experience any difficulty downloading or using the Studybugs App, please contact or come to the school for assistance.
We are excited to announce a new resource for young people in our community. A new LGBTQ+ youth group, "Proud to Be," is starting up at The Station (BS1 2AG). This is a free provision for young people aged 11-19 who are LGBTQ+ or questioning their gender/sexuality.
The sessions are a relaxed and welcoming space where young people can meet new people, hang out, and take part in fun activities like crafts, music, and cooking. They can also explore LGBTQ+ issues and work on projects in a supportive environment. The sessions are led by experienced LGBTQ+ youth workers. Please see the leaflet below for more information.
CYN Proud to Be 2025 poster.pdfYear 7 have continued to impress me with their enthusiasm and commitment to learning over the past three weeks. They’ve quickly found their way around the school and are clearly enjoying the range of new subjects on offer.
It’s been lovely to see them socialising so well during break and lunchtimes, building new friendships and settling into the school community.
They’ve also been busy creating fantastic work for their tutor boards—there’s already lots of creative and colourful displays brightening up the classroom! We’re looking forward to awarding a prize for the best tutor board at the end of term.
Well done, Year 7 – keep up the great work!
Mrs Arnold
Year 7 Learning Coordinator
We are so proud to celebrate the fantastic achievements, attitudes, and efforts of our Year 7 students! A huge thank you to our staff for recognising the kindness, resilience, and hard work shown every day. Keep it up, Year 7 – you are off to an amazing start this year!
Mr Cony gives a shout out to both 7SME and 7LN. I teach Maths to these two tutor groups, and they have been a delight to teach... so far!!!
Miss Jamshidi gives a shout out to 7KD. Well done for demonstrating Cotham's value of respect in your library induction lesson. You listened so carefully to Ms Payne and asked some great questions afterwards. I was very pleased to see how many of you were queueing up to take books out at the end. Well done!!
Year 8 continue to make good progress and represent the school well. We have witnessed some genuine acts of kindness during social times over the past week, it's great to see such considerate behaviour. It's nice to see the reading programme starting in tutor groups, we have some real avid readers in Year 8.
Miss Dickerson
Year 8 Learning Coordinator
The Year 9 team is busy planning a range of reward activities to celebrate students' positive attitudes, efforts, and achievements. Watch this space to find out more.
We’re also excited to be launching a Year 9 Tutor Group Football Tournament, which will give students a chance to represent their tutor groups, show team spirit, and have some fun in a friendly competition. We look forward to seeing as many students as possible getting involved.
Now you are in Year 9 you have an opportunity to become a STUDENT LIBRARIAN. Do you want to make a VALUABLE contribution to the life of the school? Help DEVELOP the library and the services it offers? Contribute towards embedding a READING CULTURE in school? HELP Ms Payne provide the best library service? Make a DIFFERENCE to other students’ learning and act as ROLE MODELS for other students? Then please consider this incredibly popular role. CLICK below for how to apply.
YEAR 9 ADVERTISEMENT WEEKLY MAILING 25 It has been wonderful to see Year 10 settling into their GCSE years. They have risen to the challenge with maturity, focus, and positivity, and it feels like they are already finding their stride. Uniform is the best it has ever been, and Year 10 students have taken to the Yondr policy with ease. These routines are creating a calm, focused atmosphere, and I could not be prouder of the way they are embracing this new chapter.
Well done to Year 11 for completing their first week of Period 6 lessons! Their dedication to these extra lessons will make a real difference in the lead-up to GCSEs. Every lesson counts and helps build confidence, knowledge, and exam success.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mr H Arnold
Year 11 Learning Coordinator
Period 6 will be cancelled on the following dates across Terms 1 and 2:
Thursday 25.09.25 KS3 Open Evening
Thursday 02.10.25 NBP16 Open Evening (Cotham)
Thursday 09.10.25 NBP16 Open Evening (Redland)
Thursday 06.11.25 Staff Training
Thursday 04.12.25 Year 10 Parents Evening
Thursday 11.12.25 Year 11 Parents Evening
Many Year 12 and Year 13 students have been working hard on their applications for student leadership in a variety of roles including President, Vice President or to be on committees such as equity, diversity or the environment. Hustings and Elections take place next week.
Cotham have an INSET day on Friday 26 September so there will be no lessons for P16 at Cotham on that day. RGS lessons are still running on this day, so students with lessons there should still attend.
The charity "We Solve Problems", along with the Maths Department at the University of Bristol, are excited to offer a series of free extra-curricular Saturday activities for students who enjoy Maths. The sessions promote the art of problem-solving and structured thinking, and are designed to support students to articulate their ideas and construct mathematical arguments.
The sessions will be held weekly on Saturdays, 2.00pm to 3.30 pm, at the University of Bristol. It is starting in October, and are open to all students in years 7-11. This is not a course with a beginning or an end, but an ongoing social club for puzzle lovers.
Please note that this is not a school trip so the organisers will be responsible for students throughout.
For more information please refer to their website.
To sign up, please complete the attached form here, which is also available on Google Classrooms. Please note that places fill up very quickly due to high demand.
Year 7 students have been busy in the Food rooms this week putting their new knife skills into practice by making coleslaw from scratch. Learning how to safely and confidently use the bridge hold and claw grip to chop vegetables with precision, also gaining an understanding of why these techniques are so important for safety in any kitchen. They also focused on the correct use of chopping boards to prevent cross contamination, reinforcing the importance of good hygiene when preparing food. The result was not only a delicious homemade coleslaw but also a valuable step towards building essential life skills. Great start Year 7! ⭐️
This week, our Year 7 art students began their formal elements project. They are creating posters that showcase the essential building blocks of art: line, shape, tone, colour, pattern, form, texture, and space.
We are delighted to share with you the range of peripatetic music lessons available to our students this year.
We also have two self-employed music teachers who can be contacted directly:
Guitar – jack@skusemusic.com
Piano – chriscraigjones@hotmail.com
For any other instruments, please visit Bristol Beacon’s website for full details
We are able to subsidise lessons for Pupil Premium students. For more information, please contact me directly at: geogheganr@cotham.bristol.sch.uk.
The Performing Arts team are exceptionally pleased that Erin White (a recent graduate of Trinity Laban Dance Conservatoire) joins our Dance team to lead these dance companies. The sessions are open to all students who want to learn new dance skills, further their current dance skills, develop their choreographic skills, while of course having fun!
There are two available sessions, both in E008, the dance studio:
Monday 3.00pm - 4.00pm: Year 7s (and any students from older year groups who cannot make the Wednesday session, please do come along to this session).
Wednesday: 3.00pm - 4.00pm Years 8,9 10 and 11.
Please remember a change of clothing: t shirt, leggings, jogging trousers.
We very much look forward to seeing you.
Ms Phillips
Teacher of Dance
Junior Dance Company.pdfSenior Dance Company.pdfWe are excited to share that Gamma House has achieved the highest attendance for the start of the new academic year, September 2025!
This accomplishment is a testament to the students' hard work and commitment to their education. Strong attendance is crucial for academic success, and the Gamma House students are off to a fantastic start.
Thank you to all our parents for your continued support in ensuring your children are in school and ready to learn.
Cotham students from Year 10 and upwards, and their families are warmly invited to a talk by Photographer and author Patrick Dransfield at Badminton School on Thursday 9 October. Details attached, and link to registration form please click here.
Young photographer in Old Bejing'uh-JEK-tiv'
Meaning:
A goal or purpose that a person works to achieve (noun)
Not influenced by personal feelings, opinions or bias, but rather based on facts and observed reality (adjective)
Example:
My long-term objective is to become a surgeon.
The referee must be objective in their decisions to earn the trust of the players and fans.
Synonyms:
Aim, intention, goal
Fair, Unprejudiced, unbiased
'Im-PLIS-it'
Meaning:
Suggested though not directly expressed
Always to be found in, essentially connected with
Without question
Example:
The implicit meaning of the description is that the house is frightening and should not be entered.
Respect is an implicit value in the classroom
Their faith in God was implicit - deeply held though rarely spoken aloud.
Synonyms:
Inferred, hinted at, embedded, inherent, absolute, wholehearted
Dear Parent/Carer
Please find our latest online safety newsletter attached.
Important Notice:
This newsletter is intended for adults and includes discussions on online safety, including sensitive topics such as the online exploitation of children. Some of this content may be upsetting to both adults and children.
We strongly encourage parents and carers to prepare themselves before reading and to carefully consider which information to share with their child, based on their age and cognitive ability. The language and explanations used may not always be suitable for younger children, so please use your discretion when deciding what is appropriate for your child.
Your awareness and thoughtful approach is vital in ensuring a safe and informed discussion about online safety.
Kind regards
Farhan Ahmed
Digital Strategy Lead
Email: AhmedF@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Online_Saftey_Newsletter_Term 1_150925.pdf