Achievement | Diversity | Respect

24 March 2023

Parent Weekly Mailing

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 27 March 2023 is Week B

Standing Items are now located at the bottom of the mailing.

Headteacher's Welcome

Dear Parents and Carers

Please find this week’s mailing with important information for parents/carers and students as well as updates on school events, activities and opportunities for your reference below. With very best wishes for the weekend.

Kindest regards, Ms Jo Butler, Headteacher

Thank you for the positive feedback 👍

Positive feedback from a member of staff regarding student behaviour forwarded to the Year 9 Learning Coordinator.

Well Done!

I just wanted to say about an extremely polite student in Year 9. The student had his first practical of Year 9 on Friday and as you know we are here to assist students and we may get the odd quick thank you from them. The student politely asked for my help but to be honest he only needed reassurance rather than assistance as he was able to proceed once I gave an example of what he needed to do to continue. At collection time at 2.45pm, we had two groups collecting food (54 students) plus friends who tag along which can then be a bit of a chaotic time at the very end of the week, especially as I was by myself.

However, the student very kindly went out of his way through the crowd and said "Thank you so much for helping me today Miss" in a very polite and sincere tone. I was reminded why I love being a Food Technician and it was so nice to hear right at the end of a busy week, it was a great start to my weekend and I wanted to pass on how much this meant... I thought you'll be pleased to hear that you have such a thoughtful student in your year who treats staff with such respect.

From Ms Burt

Do you know our three school values?

Achievement

Progress- at Cotham every child matters and no child is left behind.

Academic, creative and sporting excellence - high standards of teaching; ambition for every student ; a top school in Bristol for examination results.

Potential - hidden talents, confidence and character are developed aided by excellent staff, facilities and opportunities to try new things.

Celebration - of student successes both inside and outside of school.

Diversity

Environment - warm and welcoming; the school community is richly diverse and cohesive; we embrace our differences and are a school that gives its students and staff the tools to do so positively.

Curriculum - we develop curiosity and knowledge about the world and each other through our broad and inclusive curriculum.

Openness - we believe in being open with students and their families, colleagues in our school and beyond, sharing information and ideas to raise standards and life chances.

Respect

Caring for Others – staff understand that children only have one childhood.

Safe and Happy - all members of our school community have this right;

Empathy - we treat everyone as we wish to be treated ourselves.

Honesty – we act in a courteous and respectful manner in our dealings with everyone.

Social responsibility – we maximise our positive impact on the people in our communities while minimising our footprint on the world.

Word of the Week

Word of the week

Chronological

Chronological is an adjective

It means: ‘In time order’

New Announcements

Non-Uniform Day - Friday 31 March

Friday 31 March we have a non uniform day and students are welcome to bring £1 for their House charity. The money will be collected by House prefects at the gates.

The Future Brunel's Programme

The Future Brunel's programme aims to inspire and enthuse young people with science and engineering throughout their time at secondary school.

By introducing young people to the impacts science and engineering have already on their own and other’s lives, and to the range of career options available to them through studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, the programme encourages the Future Brunel students to consider careers in the broadest set of STEM fields.

50 of our Year 7 students have been chosen by their teachers to take part where they have spent today doing a series of engineering challenges where they will be assessed on their teamwork and communication skills.

12 will then be selected for the second round where they will go to the SS Great Britain for some more challenges. From this group, 4 will be selected to do the full programme where they go on 6 trips per year until the end of Year 11 taking part in a series of exclusive out of school activity days designed to sustain interest and enthusiasm in STEM subjects and to give the Future Brunels an understanding of the options open to them by continuing these subjects through further education and beyond.

Performing Arts Update

There has been much excitement in Performing Arts as auditions started for the upcoming whole school production of Matilda, The Musical. Scores of students signed up to the audition and despite the snow day, were able to showcase the huge amount of talent that we have at Cotham School. On Friday, the casting list was put up and there was much excitement as students gathered around to find their name. Rehearsals are underway and we cannot wait to see the finished product in the summer term. Everyone is working exceptionally hard and it is bound to be a show stopping event.

PE Extra Curricular Activities and Clubs

As we come to the end of term 4, this is a good opportunity to briefly update everyone on what has happened so far regarding extra-curricular activities at Cotham school and also to tell you about what is happening after the Easter break.

Since the start of September a large number of PE clubs and fixtures have taken place after school and it has been great to see a large number of students taking part, especially the badminton and table tennis club with excess of over 60 students regularly attending. The after school clubs include: boys and girls football, girls netball, boys and girls basketball, boys rugby, health and fitness club, a badminton and table tennis club, rounders.

Cotham has seen success with the Year 7 girls rounders team being crowned Bristol Schools champions back in September and the year 10 boys sportshall athletics winning the Bristol Schools Championship in January.

After Easter we move to summer sports with all students having an opportunity to participate and compete in rounders, cricket, tennis and athletics plus few other activities later in term 6. The PE extra-curricular timetable will be available on the schools website and weekly newsletter as well as displayed in tutor classrooms. Students don't have to sign up, just turn up after school with their kit and join in from 3-4pm.

The PE team look forward to seeing everyone at clubs after Easter and well done to everyone who has attended and competed so far this academic year.

Russell Group Webinars

Russell Group Webinars are taking place on Tuesday 25 April, Wednesday 26 April and Thursday 27 April.

Each webinar will run either during an afternoon (12:00 - 13:30 pm) or evening session (18:00 - 19:30 pm) and cover topics such as Personal Statements & Applying to a Russell Group University, Researching University Options and Student life, as well as a special session for International Students. This is an incredible opportunity for students considering applying for Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Bristol or any of the 24 Russell Group Universities.

Students, teachers and parents can sign up for each webinar via the registration link.

Health and Care Industry Taster - College Green Campus

Experience developing Health Skills at the Health Skills Room at College Green Campus. Over the course of an hour, you will be given the chance to learn about clinical skills used in both acute and clinical healthcare settings. Use the VR headsets to experience what it may feel like to have a learning disability or explore inside the body. Then practise taking a manual blood pressure and other observations on your friends or our interactive simulation equipment and manikins.

Explore our other new resources including catheterisation trainers, stoma care simulators and wound care trainers and resources. Or try on our geriatric simulation suit whilst trying to put on your shoes?! Experienced clinical staff lecturers will also be able to advise and offer information regarding routes into health and social care employment. Register your interest here

The Apprenticeship & Technical Education Roadshow at Cotham School on Thursday 20 April (17:15 - 18:15)

Apprenticeships have changed dramatically in the last few years and offer such exciting opportunities, but they can seem confusing to understand. These roadshows created for parents and carers, bust myths, inform, inspire and provide the answers you are seeking! Follow this link to book.

"Mingle Bristol" Community Exhibition

Thank you to all our students who took part in the "Mingle Bristol" Community Exhibition, supporting Hong Kong March. We are so pleased to support our local community. A special shout out to Natalie in Year 9, who produced this fantastic painting for the exhibition.

Year 8 3D Bug Construction Has Begun!

Students have been working on hybrid bug designs, learning how to draw with accuracy and symmetry. They will be constructing 3D cardboard sculptures as a final outcome.

School Uniform - Pop Up Shop

HARRIS Uniform Suppliers will be having a pop-up shop in the Visitor Reception, Cotham Lawn Road. The Pop Up Shop will take place on Thursday 20 April, 2023 from 2.00pm – 3.15pm.

All uniform items will be available, (except the Cotham Essentials PE Polo shirt).

Both Card and Cash payments will be accepted.

House Events

This week was House Assembly week where students across all year groups came together to celebrate the achievements and hard work of Cotham Students. Prefects were extremely helpful in handing out awards for the top House point earners in each tutor group who each received a voucher and certificate. The very top House Champions in each house received a chocolate egg and a £15 voucher which we were thrilled to give out.

Over the Christmas period, there were some fantastic events run by our house teams. The Santa Dash was a great occasion and is quickly becoming a regular highlight on the school calendar. Gamma House raised an amazing £150 for charity by selling Candy Canes in the run up to Christmas and the Christmas Tree decorating competition was a wonderful success.

There are many exciting House events coming up in this festive season to celebrate Easter and observe Ramadan. The Omega house prefects have hidden loads of small easter egg cards around the school. Any students who find one can exchange this for an actual creme egg from Mr Worster. Amongst those cards are 5 golden cards which the discoverer can swap for a larger chocolatey treat. As students and staff start their observation of Ramadan, we are launching a Ramadan decoration competition. As Ramadan continues and leads into Eid, we hope to see our student hub adorned with a selection of student made decorations. There is also an Eid card competition, students are being asked to submit their entries to Ms Ahmad and the winning entry will receive a prize as well as a pack of their cards printed, and ready to hand to their friends and loved ones.

In addition to these wonderful events, Ms Ahmad and Sigma house ran a bake sale to raise money to help the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. In 8 minutes at breaktime, the cakes and treats sold out and raised a huge £240. This is especially amazing as selling the cakes should have raised £130. This is a huge testament to the generosity of our students.

Following the success of the bake sale by Ms Ahmad, Ms Forbes and Delta House are also running a bake sale next week with some slight changes to allow those students observing Ramadan to join in this great event without breaking their fast. Details will be in tutor slides all next week.

Mr Worster and Omega house are starting a clothes collection to help with the impact of Fast Fashion on our environment and climate. Students and staff are being asked to donate any clothes in good condition that are no longer being worn to try to do our part in alleviating the pressure put on our environment by the manufacturing and processing of new clothes and fashion wear.

Parent Teacher Association

As a school, we are always looking for new ways to support our students both in the classroom and beyond. In light of this we would like to establish a friends and supporters of Cotham School Group.

A few people responded to an email that went out at the end of February and we would like to invite them and anyone else interested to meet with Mr Knight at school on Thursday 20 April at 5pm to discuss ideas and how we can use the incredible diversity, skill set and generosity of our local community to help your children get the most out of their time in school.

Further details on this meeting will be released before we leave for the Easter break. It would be fantastic to see you there.

Helen O'Grady Drama

Drama Classes for children aged 4 –18 at Cotham School each Thursday evening.

Our international curriculum has developed over 40 years and the brand operates in more than 38 countries with over 100,000 students attending each week. Our aim is to provide self-development through drama programme. Please follow the link to find out how Helen O'Grady can help your child develop through drama.

Post 16

Student Achievement

A huge well done to Sara in Year 12 who helped to raise £6,000 with Bristol Youth Empowerment (BYE) for earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria. We are very proud of her, for more details of her excellent achievement please read this article.

The young people making Bristol proud in wake of tragic earthquakeThe volunteers are all in their late teens and early 20s but dedicate their free time to good causes

Year 12

Progress Reviews

Progress reviews were sent home last week. Based on this data, new Upgrade+ cohorts have been allocated. This will appear on individual timetables from next week and the workshops will begin on Monday.

UCAS Convention

50 of our Year12 students attended the UCAS exhibition at Westpoint Exeter on Wednesday this week. The students behaved perfectly and were excited to start thinking about their futures.

Parents Evening

Thank you to all parents and carers who virtually attended Year12 Parents Evening. Please contact our Home and Community academic mentor Habon Ibrahim (ibrahimh@cotham.bristol.sch.uk) if you were unable to attend.

Avon Wildlife Trust

The Cotham Climate Committee are working with Avon Wildlife Trust to raise clothing, shoe and accessory donations for their new charity shop! Clothes collection boxes can be found in Upgrade. Please see the poster for more information.

Mocks

Year12 mocks will be held Monday 24 April - Tuesday 28 April, we will deliver an assembly to give more information closer to the time. Lessons will be suspended for the week with the exception of BTEC and visual arts lessons.

Year 13

Easter Revision

Some subjects will be offering Year13 revision sessions during the spring break. Students will be invited by their teachers so please talk to your child about dates for these.

Leavers Assembly

The provisional leaving date for Year13 is Friday 12 May. Within the school day, we have an annual leaver celebration before they embark on study leave. This event has input from staff and students alike, always proving to be a brilliantly positive way to mark the end of their Post 16 education.

Coming Up Soon...

Year 8 Parents Evening

Year 8 Virtual Online Parents’ Evenings will be running on Wednesday 29 March 3:45pm - 6:45pm.

This event will be held virtually, via our online Parents Evening System platform. Please follow the link regarding booking and attending appointments.

And don't forget from last time....

Monitoring your child's Home Learning

As a school we use Google Classroom to set all our home learning tasks for students. On this platform, we can set work with deadlines and attach digital resources and links to the assignments. Each subject has its own classroom that groups all work together for that subject making it easy to see. Students use their school google accounts to log in and check their work.

There are no specific parent accounts so to view all the home learning that is being set for your child you will need login using your child's school login details to access the platform.

Parent Email Summaries

We have enabled Google Classroom email summaries for parents and carers.

If you would like to receive the email summaries for your child please please email us on GCSupport@cotham.bristol.sch.uk with the name of your child and their tutor group and we will send the invitation to you.

Please see the above video for how to use Google Classroom effectively. This would be great to watch alongside your child.

VOI

As you may know, VOI have launched an electric scooter scheme within the city. Unfortunately over the course of the last few weeks, we have been made aware of students using these scooters in the local communities.

Without the proper knowledge of navigating traffic and the rules of the road, not to mention safety equipment, these scooters are potentially very dangerous. This is why the VOI website contains very specific information regarding who can and cannot use these scooters. The website says that all users should be over 18 and hold a current driving license, two criteria which our students obviously do not meet. More information can be found here.

Please make sure your children are aware of the dangers of using these scooters and the restrictions in place to maintain their safety

Pay It Forward Campaign

‘Pay It Forward’ is an international movement which promotes the undertaking of random (or not so random) acts of kindness. ‘Pay it Forward’ can take many forms, a general donation which we can decide how to use in order to assist our students in the best way possible. Also a donation to help us provide access to extra-curricular activities which carry extra costs that some families cannot afford to pay. Such activities at Cotham include music instrument lessons, sports clubs, e.g. Badminton, Cue Theatre (drama) club, Duke of Edinburgh, Rucksack Club and any school trip which is not part of the curriculum.

Are you following us on Social Media?

We have been working hard to improve our use of social media to keep parents and carers more informed about what is happening here at Cotham. It is a work in progress and we are getting better so please follow us on our social media feeds to keep up to date. 😊

We are on instagram, facebook and twitter.

Digital Literacy Corner

Latest Parent Online Safety Cheat Sheet

10 Top Tips For Respect Online

A Digital World for Everyone - One in every five 10-15 year olds experience bullying online - abusive messages, having rumours spread about them or being excluded from group chats for example through smartphones and tablets. Our tips can help you to build positive relationships online and avoid some of the potential issues.

All - Digital Respect.pdf

Our latest GCSE Pod Usage

Welcome! GCSEPod is the perfect resource to help your child learn, retain and recall all the information they need to achieve their GCSE goals.

Learn more about GCSEPod Here

Pods watched this academic year

5,151

Number of Pods watched so far in Term 4

1,113

Most watched subject this week

Geography

Our latest Seneca Learning Usage

Seneca offers high-quality free online learning courses for students to study from a computer, tablet or phone. The courses are suitable for students aged 13 and above and cover KS3, KS4 GCSE and KS5 A Level subjects.

We are Premium subscribers to this service which unlocks further features of the platform.

Learn more about Seneca Learning Here