Achievement | Diversity | Respect

2 May 2023

Parent and Carer 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 1 May 2023 is Week A

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.

Kindest regards, Ms Jo Butler, Headteacher

Positive feedback of the week 👍

Feedback from parents and ex-students regarding Iftar celebration at school on Tuesday 18 April.

"Thank you for organising such an amazing Iftar. The children were proud of the event and felt valued and connected."

"A very well organised Iftar gathering at Cotham School. I am sure the first of many to come. Thank you for the invitation and thoroughly enjoyed the evening."

"Thanks for the hard effort and amazing hospitality

From our ex-student:

"It was an honour to be invited to my secondary school, Cotham School, to deliver a speech about Hope for Mankind and Bristol Youth Empowerment. A massive congratulations and thanks for organising and inviting me to this amazing Iftar event."

"A great honour to attend the Iftar event at Cotham School yesterday evening, Well over 200 parents/children attended the event and we opened the fast together. All about building bridges/community cohesion/diversity in our lovely City of Sanctuary. Congratulations on a successful well organised event. Thank you for the invitation and thoroughly enjoyed the evening by meeting the children and their parents, as well as staff members at Cotham School."

Thank you

Do you know our three school values?

Word of the Week

KS3

Word of the week

Empathy

Empathy is a noun

It means: ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another'

KS4

Word of the week

Hence

Hence is an adverb

It means: ‘As a consequence or from now on’

New Announcements

#Cakes4Syria - The Cake Campaign

The Year 8 Executive Student Leadership Team have been running the #Cakes4Syria charity campaign at Cotham School.

In a week of tireless cake selling. They have managed to raise £888.88 (I know 👀) for struggling families affected by natural disasters (Earthquake) and war in Syria. Our students demonstrated an exceptional drive to help the less fortunate and have used their amazing communication skills to inform other about the current situation in Syria.

This also could not have been done without the support and organisation of Mr Arnold and Mr Famer (Year 8 Leadership Team). The work that they have put in to supporting the charity (Islamic Relief and The Cake Campaign) and students in such a short space of time was inspirational and is a credit to our amazing school.

Attendance Matters

In future weekly mailings, there will be a section on attendance called "Attendance Matters". In this section there will be information on why attendance is important and how to help your child achieve outstanding attendance. This will go beyond the legal requirements and hopefully give you information that you can discuss with your child to help them see the importance of being in school.

For example, did you know that if a student has 90% attendance from Year 7 until they finish Year 11, that means they will have missed half a year of school. That equates to 20 weeks or 500 lessons.

(Please note that teacher strike days are of course not included in students' attendance percentages)

Weekly Attendance Tip

Wellbeing is a huge factor in attendance. One of the best ways to help wellbeing is the proper quantity and quality of rest. Don't underestimate the importance of a good night's sleep.

Digital Platform Awards

Every term we like to acknowledge the great work that our teachers and students do on our digital learning platforms.

We mainly focus on GCSEPod and Seneca Learning at the moment, but are currently looking into using other platforms to help out students with their independent learning.

These are the main categories we give awards too:

Seneca

Teacher - Most Assignments Set
Faculty - Highest Avg Completion Rate
Student - Most Sessions Complete
Tutor Group - Most Sessions Complete
Year Group - Most Sessions Complete

GCSE Pod

Teacher - Most Assignments Set
Faculty - Highest Number of Assignment Set
Student - Highest Individual Use
Tutor Group - Most Pods Watched
Year Group - Highest Total Usage

Congratulations to all the Term 4 winners! 🥳🥳🥳

Year 9 MenACWY and Td/IPV catch-up clinics

MenACWY and Diphtheria, Tetanus & Polio vaccination catch-up clinics are available for Year 9 students who did not receive their vaccination at school. Please book an appointment by following the link

If you have any queries please contact the Immunisation Team directly on 0300 124 5515 or email sirona.sch-imms@nhs.net

Year 10 Work Experience

Year 10 students are continuing to source their Work Experience placements. This is an invaluable part of our students experiencing the workplace and an opportunity for students to explore options for their futures. If you are in a position to offer a work experience placement for our wonderful students this would be greatly appreciated. Please contact our Careers Lead Suzanne Paice on paices@cotham.bristol.sch.uk if you are able to offer a placement or if you would like to find out more about what this would entail, please get in touch. As a school we will be responsible for all risk assessments and safe-guarding of the students out on placement.

Joseph Elliott - Shadow Skye Trilogy

The inspirational and brilliant author who visited our Cotham Year 7 students last month, Joseph Elliott has his amazing SHADOW SKYE TRILOGY available to purchase on WISEPAY at a discounted price.

Cotham Library are selling :

The Good Hawk - Book 1, The Burning Swift - Book 2 and The Broken Raven - Book 3 for £5, £7 and £7 respectively.

All books come with a SIGNED BOOKMARK and STICKER.

Limited copies available.

Cotham Climate Committee - Avon Wildlife Trust

On Tuesday 25 April, Avon Wildlife Trust came in to work with the Cotham Climate Committee in concluding our month-long clothes drive. The day involved workshops and discussions on fast fashion and the climate issue and gave the students in the committee an 'on the ground' experience of what is being done in the real world to tackle these problems head on. The clothes sort, labelling and even steaming was a great success. I personally would like to thank every member of the committee for their help and dedication to this, they have made me very proud. I would also like to thank Keily, Mia and Lynda from Avon Wildlife Trust for their help on the day and for working with our fantastic students to lead the three hour event. Finally, I would like to thank all the staff, students and parents who donated to the drive, making all of this possible!

- Mr Worster"

Pre-loved Uniform

We have a limited number of regulation black, knee length shorts with the Cotham School logo available in our pre-loved uniform shop. These are available at £1.00 each, they are mostly sizes 28” – 32” waist. Please contact our Visitor Reception to purchase. Cash only.

Call out for Alumni help

Whether you are still studying, did an apprenticeship, found your ideal job straight away or have had a range of different roles - your experience is valuable for our students to hear about and we would love for you to take part. Would you be available to help out at the Cotham School Careers Event on Monday 15 May? if yes, please contact careers@cotham.bristol.sch.uk

Seneca Learning - Study at Home

Seneca Learning is a fantastic independent study platform that we use for many of our home learning tasks.

Students can also use it independently to recap and study all the subjects at home.

You can sign up for a free parent account to see what assignments your child has been set and what study they have completed on the platform.

Watch the video to find out more.

Seneca Learning is one of the main independent learning platforms that we recommend for students.

Post 16

Lanyards

We would like to ask for your support to encourage all P16 students to wear their lanyards at all times for the safety of all of our students. If students need a new lanyard, you can order one on Wisepay. If students get the bursary, they should see Ms Lugg Williams who will order them one at no cost. If they need a new string or plastic casing, they can drop into Charnwood reception and we will provide one. This is an especially timely reminder for Year 13 as they will not be able to get into their summer exams on time without one.

Year 12

Mocks

We would like to congratulate our Year 12 students on their exemplary behaviour during their mocks last week. The P16 and exam team have been extremely impressed with the high levels of maturity and responsibility the students demonstrated throughout.

Attention all Mathematicians

If you are applying for maths at university next year you may need to take the step assessment this June. It is highly likely you will need to do this if you are applying for mathematical studies at the University of Cambridge, the University of Warwick or Imperial College London but please check if this is a requirement at the universities you are intending on applying to. The deadline for school to apply for a student to take Step is Thursday 4 May so if you are considering this you need to let exams know as soon as possible on exams@cotham.bristol.sch.uk.

Year 13

Leavers Assembly

The leaving date for Year 13 is Friday 12 May. The leavers assembly will take place during lunch and into period 5. The student leadership team are busy planning the event and we are excited to celebrate with the whole year group.

Exam Timetables

The final summer exam timetables are not yet available to be sent to students. All students were sent a provisional timetable on Friday 10 February 2023 via their school email. Please ask them to check their emails for these if they have mislaid their copy. Final timetables will be issued next week. If any student has a clash they must come to the exams office as soon as possible to resolve this. All clashes resolved/access arrangements etc will be indicated on the final timetables.

Post 16 Futures Bulletin

There is still a lot to discover and do when considering your career and gaining the experience and knowledge that you require. Take a look at this week's bulletin.

Coming Up Soon...

Careers in Medicine and Healthcare

Students aged 14-18 - practical courses for those who may be interested in careers in medicine and healthcare.

Premed Projec+s have 2 very unique work experience courses coming up soon, an online course that can be enjoyed at home and an in person course in London. Online course takes place on Saturday 13 May 2023 and is a day of Surgery work experience. This interactive day is delivered by practising surgeons & current medical students and is designed to give students a meaningful insight into careers in medicine and surgery. The doctors will guide you through how they would conduct a surgical consultation and how surgery is performed. Students can find out more and register by following the link

The in person course is something very special indeed. It takes place at Kings in London on Sunday 21 May 2023 where students aged 14-18 are allowed to enter the dissection room. It is not a simulated course but rather a real dissection room with NHS doctors leading the day examining real medically donated Students can find out more and register by following the link

DR.EAM Big Virtual Conference - for Year 10-11 Students

Saturday 13 May 2023 at 10am to 3pm, via Zoom Webinar, Birmingham Widening Access to Medical Sciences Society (BWAMS) will be hosting its free-to-attend DR.EAM Big Virtual Conference, an outreach event for students considering healthcare careers, such as medicine, dentistry, and nursing.

This conference offers students an opportunity to gain exclusive insight into the daily lives of students and healthcare professionals studying and working in a wide range of healthcare fields. Inspiring talks and panels will feature practising healthcare professionals who will share their experiences. Students will also have the chance to ask their burning questions and receive invaluable advice from these healthcare experts.

Please apply before Wednesday 10 May 2023 using the following link

Greenlight Bristol Apprenticeship Open Day - May 2023

Location - 127 South Liberty Lane, Bristol BS3 2SZ - Reserve your place using the Eventbrite ticket system below (FREE) here

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

PE Extra-Curricular Clubs - Term 5

Please see the PE and Extra-Curricular Timetable for Term 5

Digital Literacy Corner

Latest Parent Online Safety Cheat Sheet

Loneliness Online

What Causes it and ways to feel better:

Causes of Loneliness Online and what you can do:

All - Loneiness Online.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

5,837

Number of Pods watched so far in Term 4

256

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