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 21 October 2024 is Week B
Standing Items are located at the bottom of the mailing
Dear Parents and Carers,
Please accept my apologies for the lack of a summary video this week. but find I hope you will find our weekly mailing useful and interesting nevertheless.
With very best wishes for a relaxing weekend.
Kindest regards,
Ms Jo Butler, Headteacher
Email sent to Heads PA
I met up with a jazz musician at a gig last night…
He was overflowing with congratulations for Cotham School being an ‘amazing school’. His daughter has just joined Year 7, from Cotham Gardens School, he said, 'she is absolutely loving school.’ He was so pleased!
Message from Chair of Governors
Thank you
A huge thank you to everybody who donated, engaged and supported with our #HelloYellow campaign last week! From a combination of generous donations and the proceeds from our successful bake sale we managed to raise over £200!
This money will be donated to YoungMinds to continue to provide incredibly important work to support young people.
If you would like to know more about YoungMinds, please their website for information, resources and support.
I can finally reveal the WINNERS of the POSTCARD BOOK COVER and BOOK REVIEW competition! An amazing 163 students visited the library to vote for their favourite design and review. I am totally impressed that so many students showed such an interest in this competition. From the talented students who entered (30 entries overall) to the 163 voters who had very difficult decisions to make, the level of talent was very high!
Please click the link to FIND OUT THE RESULTS.......
WINNERS ARE POSTCARD WEEKLY MAILING 24 
We are excited to share with you some exciting events and activities coming up next week, the final week of our Black History Month celebrations at Cotham:
BHM in the Cotham Curriculum - students should look for the logo in their lesson slides! Throughout this month their teachers have been exploring black history with them in their subject learning. There are posters in faculty areas to give them an overview of what they can expect in each year group.
On Wednesday - Year 10 will take part in a black excellence session with Bristol changemaker Julz Davies. A small number of students will take part in a question and answer session afterwards.
Also on Wednesday - a group of students have been invited to take part in a design workshop with support from a professional graphic designer. The best creations will be selected and showcased in a town centre shop window mural!
Our Future Black History Makers project is now complete and the amazing student profiles are being finalised and printed, ready for their debut at our African Caribbean and Dual Heritage Celebration Evening this week.
A group of students will be workshopping scenes from Sabrina Ali's hit play 'Dugsi Days'. This is in advance of a visit from the young Somali playwright next term, to run a workshop and Q&A session with groups of students.
This week is the final chance for students to complete Mr Lloyd's research challenge for all year groups, which can still be found on their Google Classroom. Loads of incredible stories of inspiring black changemakers to explore and the submissions are still coming in excitingly big numbers.
In tutor time, Year 7-8 will be debating the support of global vs local charities. Year 9-10 will be exploring the challenges and benefits of expressing our identities and Year 11 will be discussing inter-cultural, interracial and interfaith relationships.
And finally, if you would like to join us next Thursday for our African Caribbean and Dual Heritage Celebration Evening, there are still a few spaces for this FREE event. Details on the invitation below. Reserve your space HERE.
Thanks to the success of the Cotham Climate Committee and their brilliant "Movement Matters" Campaign, we achieved Modeshift STARS Good School Travel Plan Accreditation. To celebrate, Team Modeshift and Bristol City Council are offering a free breakfast to every student and staff member who travels to school actively on Monday, October 21. So, Walk, wheel, cycle, or park & stride to receive your breakfast from Bristol City Council. Stop by the Hub to claim your breakfast item!
If you are reporting the absence of your child, you must notify attendance on a daily basis. Please fill out the Year 7 - 11 absence form which is on our website. Absence must be reported by 9.00am, otherwise it will result in an absence message still being sent home. If there is no response to the message, a follow up letter requesting reason for absence will be sent home.
If you are interested about the music that will be played at the concert for Friends of Alalay (Santa Cruz) on Wednesday 13 November 2024 in Bristol please see the information below:
Programme
THE DRAGON AND THE PHOENIX * solo cello by Grace Tin Yen Christus
COMO UNA FANTASIA * solo cello by Joaquin Rodrigo 1901/199
SONATA no 5 by ANTONIO VIVALDI 1678 /1741
Largo
Allegro
Largo Allegro
KOL NIDREI by Max Bruch 1838/1920
SCHERZO , Daniel Van Goens 1858/1904
Interval
RACHMANINOV sonata in G minor 1873 /1943
Lento Allegro moderato
Allegro Scherzando
Andante
Allegro Mosso
reminder supporter note re concert november 2024.docxYear 7 Family Consultation Day is on Thursday 14 November 2024.
The event will take place between 8.30am and 4.45pm.
Parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet your child’s tutor for a 15 minute appointment to discuss your child’s engagement and wellbeing, participation in the wider life of the school, and to set targets for the remainder of the year.
Please visit SchoolCloud website to book your appointments.
A massive congratulations to tutor groups 7ALE and 7PD for receiving the highest number of achievement points this term. These tutor groups enjoyed a cinema afternoon experience in our main hall watching Inside Out 2, with lots and lots of goodies!
KK has had a fab start to English in 7ALE. She cracks straight on with the work, is polite and respectful and follows instructions. It's a big well done from me - English
The school Catering team would like to shout out our Year 7s for being kind and respectful when purchasing food at break and lunch.
7CC were amazing in German this week! They did some FANTASTIC writing summarising everything we have learnt in German so far, gave each other written and verbal feedback, and performed their writing to the class - there were SO many volunteers to do this!
7CB had a fantastic assessment lesson in Music. They were supportive of each group performance and provided useful peer feedback.
7NJ learned all about tolerance. We had a really detailed discussion about why it is beautiful that there is so much difference in Bristol, how we all want to live in peace and how the way to do this is to accept that everyone has different rules for how they live their life, and we must be respectful to everyone. Overall they had a really respectful discussion about differences. PSHE
Year 8 continue to be amazing and make sure that they earn as many house points as they can. As a year group, students have accumulated over 6500 points as they continue to demonstrate their amazing work ethic and effort throughout the curriculum.
Special shoutout goes to the Year 8 Rugby Team who despite a narrow loss last week, continue to develop, improve and enjoy representing our school. We are very proud of all of you.
Our Year 9 tutor group football league is in full swing, with 9SI charging ahead with 9 points! ⚽ But don’t count out 9JG, 9MI, or 9MH just yet – they've all played one game less and are hot on their heels. As we approach the halfway point, things are definitely heating up as each group battles for every point.🔥
Stay tuned for details on even more inter-tutor group sports.
In other exciting news, this week we welcomed Kayah and Sofiia to the Year 9 family! 😊
A reminder for students who have secured their work experience placements, please begin to upload all information onto the UniFrog platform in the section 'placements'.
If you require support with this, please follow the instructions provided in this step-by-step video.
The deadline to secure work experience placements will close on the 7 January 2025.
If any students are struggling to gain their placements, the careers team are running weekly drop-ins on Tuesday lunchtimes in B002. During this time students will have the opportunity to gain valuable advice and complete research on computers.
Additionally the UniFrog website has lots of questionnaires and resources to support students.
On Thursday 24 October, a number of Year 10 students will be taking part in a tutor vs tutor spelling competition! The competition will include a speed round, anagrams and the spelling of recent Key Stage 4 Words of the Week.
Year 11 Period 6. Year 11 students are engaged in their learning and attendance has been very good.
Please note that Period 6 will be NOT be running on the following dates:
Thursday 7 November: due to staff training
Thursday 5 December: due to Year 10 Parents Evening
Miss Madge would like to give a massive shout out to her Period 6 class- Hussain, Naima, Bella , Saabrina, Tanaka, Connor and Isobel. They are literally DREAM GCSE students. They went above and beyond in their recent upgrade session and I know they are going to do incredibly well in their mock exams. I'm very proud.
Mr Dutton gave a shout out for being our Seneca champions of this term:
Zoya, Sooniya, Henry, Rosie, Karina, Sasha, Liam, Alyssa, Agnes, Marli, Isobel, Eliska, Martha
"Now go and smash it with your mocks."
Mock exams commence from Monday 21 October to Friday 8 November
Most exams will take place in the Sports Hall.
Make sure that you arrive on time.
Make sure that you’re wearing correct uniform.
Make sure that you have your Lanyard with you (for identification during the exam). If you forget it, ask reception for a Year 11 Exam Sticker and wear this on your T-shirt or jumper.
Please make sure you are equipped for your exam. You will need:
Clear pencil case
Clear bottle of water (no label)
2 black pens (they must be black)
2 Pencils
Rubber/ruler/sharpener
Compass/protractor for Maths
Scientific calculator for Math/Geography/Science.
Exams P1&2 Students do not go to tutor time, they should go to K block dining hall, this is the bag drop area.
For Exams P3&4 you will use the changing rooms for bag drops.
For the science exams:
If you do combined science go into changing room 1/2/3
If you are combined science with XT go into 4
Separate science go into changing room 5.
If you are taking your exam in an arranged smaller room:
Please take your bags with you.
Year 11 Family Consultation Day is on Wednesday 6 November 2024.
The event will take place between 8.30am and 4.45pm.
Parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet your child’s tutor for a 15 minute appointment to discuss your child’s engagement and wellbeing, participation in the wider life of the school, and to set targets for the remainder of the year.
Please visit SchoolCloud website to book your appointments.
Last week we held a community event for parents and carers of our Year 12 and foundation students. The focus was Post 16 transition and logistics. The resources are linked for parents and carers who were unable to attend.
Y12 in-community: P16 Transition and Logistics - Kate SkinnerNext week, you will receive the first attendance review of this academic year. This will have breakdown of your young person's total attendance, number of authorised absences, number of unauthorised absences and number of lates. Should you have any follow up questions, please make contact with your young person's tutor in the first instance.
An absolutely amazing effort and investment: 100% buy in and completion to Sparx Reader this week. WHAT A CLASS! BE PROUD OF YOURSELVES!
Ms Papworth
In preparation for their upcoming oil painting assignments, Year 12 students have been practicing with acrylics and watercolors to develop their painting techniques, and to explore colour, composition, and brushwork.
The Year 7 rugby team triumphed over Oasis Brightstowe with a final score of 15-5. Huge well done to our player of the match, Jacob who scored all 3 tries.
Final Score: Cotham Year 7s 15 - 5 Oasis Brightstowe.
On Wednesday 23 October at lunchtime Year 7 students will have the opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to their teachers! The Omega prefects are offering to send their favourite teachers a brownie for a pound, with a short personalised 'thank you' message. Please remember to bring a pound coin! All money raised goes to Omega's new charity, Cancer Research UK. Thanks to Lyra and Flo for volunteering to bake some tasty teacher treats!
'Be Present Today, Have Potential for Tomorrow!'
Well done to Delta House for achieving the highest attendance for week 6 of Term 1.
Last week, Mariama and Djanu from Year 13 took part in the final showcase of student talks for a Bristol-wide public speaking competition. Inspired by TEDX, these talks require students to create, learn and deliver a talk on a subject of their choice to an audience in Clifton’s MacKinnon Theatre. Our two students were absolutely superb. They spoke like professionals - I was not the only one to make that comment. I look forward to sharing the YouTube links to their talks in the near future.
You must be over 13 years of age to set up an account. Instagram is used to post photos and videos as well as send direct messages, make voice/video calls and send disappearing messages. Users can also upload to ‘Stories’ (which disappear after 24 hours), broadcast live and upload reels (short videos).
Teen accounts – NEW feature
Instagram have introduced Teen Accounts to try and create a safer experience for them. With a Teen Account, who they can contact is limited and the content they access will be set to the most restrictive setting to reduce exposure to sensitive content. If a teen would like to override any of these settings, then they will need their parent’s permission by setting up parental supervision. These changes will be in place for all new users straightaway so any users that sign up that are under 16 will automatically be given a Teen Account. Existing users will be moved over to Teen Accounts over the next couple of months (in the UK).
Supervision settings – new features
Instagram already offers a supervision facility, but they have added to the features to include:
The ability to see who your child has messaged in the past week (you will not be able to see the contents of these messages)
The option to block your child from accessing Instagram at certain times e.g. during school or at night.
The ability to see what topics your child has chosen to see.
Read the press release from Instagram, which outlines all the upcoming changes: https://about.fb.com/news/2024/09/instagram-teen-accounts/
You may not be seeing everything!
Did you know that you can hide your stories and live videos from specific people so your child could be uploading content but restricting your account from viewing it?
Safety Features
Ensure your child knows how to report posts and people, how to unfollow and block people, delete and turn off comments. View here: https://help.instagram.com/269765046710559
Make sure your child understands that there is a risk that content they upload can be shared with others without their permission as other users can screenshot it.
Visit the family centre to learn more about the features available: https://familycenter.meta.com/uk/
