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 23 September 2023 is Week B
Standing Items are located at the bottom of the mailing
Dear Parents and Carers,
In this week's recording, I express gratitude to a parent for their positive feedback on Miss Bird's teaching. and I encourage all to share feedback, positive or constructive. Updates on upcoming events like Year 6 open evening and Year 12 post-16 opening are shared. Important reminders about staff contacts, year group news, and work experience for Year 10 are highlighted. Stay tuned for details on the Year 9 Modern Languages Trip and our Student President elections!
Please find below our weekly mailing home 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 sent to Heads PA:
To Ms Butler and the leadership team,
"I hope you are all well and enjoying the start of the new school year.
I just wanted to let you know how lovely it was to receive positive feedback from Ms Bird about my son last week, about his effort and knowledge in her English class. Only a few days into a new school year and in his first week at secondary, it was a lovely email to receive and we were very impressed with this.
Last year, I did get a phone call about my daughter from her English teacher Ms Power saying how hard she was working with her English, again this really impressed us and was so positive to share with our daughter and we really appreciated getting this. I didn’t get around to getting in touch at the time to pass on thanks so wanted to mention this too.
I don’t know whether this a school wide measure expected of the teachers to contact parents with feedback or just something the English team do or if it was just the teachers individually being really caring, but regardless it really was lovely to receive so please pass on our thanks."
Best wishes,
Parent of Year 7 and Year 10 student
Thank you
The School’s Open Evening for Year 6 parents, carers and families will be held on Wednesday 25.09.24 between 6.00pm - 8.00pm. As you will appreciate this is one of the most important events in the school year, therefore the school will close early for students to help staff prepare.
The school day for students in Years 7-11 will end at 1.45pm. Any student eligible for a Free School Meal will be able to collect their meal during their usual lunch break.
Should any parent or carer need the school to supervise their child beyond 1.45pm, 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 2.45pm.
Year 7: Miss Sherrain Wellington; wellingtons@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 8: Mr Ollie Knight; knighto@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 9: Mr Travis Lawrence; lawrencet@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 10: Mr Donald Farmer; farmerd@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Year 11: Ms Louise Arnold; arnoldl@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.
Thank you for your continued support of the school and its work.
Please see the Enrichment activity timetable attached as there have again been slight changes which needs your kind attention.
Thank you.
Download link to Extracurricular Timetable:
We warmly invite all prospective parents and carers to our Open Mornings. Please keep an eye on our website for the timings to be published.
Friday 04.10.24
Thursday 10.10.24
Friday 11.10.24
Tuesday 15.10.24
Wednesday 16.10.24
Thursday 17.10.24
Friday 18.10.24
Monday 21.10.24
Friday 6.12.24
Thursday 12.10.24
It’s time for parents across the UK to extend their Child Benefit claim if their 16-19-year-old is staying in full-time non-advanced education or approved training.
HMRC sent 1.4 million letters between 24 May and 17 July to parents, explaining how to extend their claim. If you haven’t received a letter, there’s no need to worry. You can still extend your Child Benefit via the HMRC app or online where eligible. If you do not extend your Child Benefit then you will not receive payments for your 16-19-year old children after 31 August 2024.
We know how important Child Benefit can be to families, so let HMRC know if your teen is staying in approved education or training.
If your child changes their mind about further education or training, you can simply let HMRC know online or in the app and they will update their records and adjust any payments as needed.
For parents who can’t extend their Child Benefit online, you can still do so by post or by phone.
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.
We have a fantastic opportunity to offer piano and keyboard lessons to years 7 and 8 on our lovely 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. Limited space availability for next term.
For more details and to book a free taster lesson please contact her directly at chriscraigjones@hotmail.com
We are a halal school. If you have completed the dietary section on the registration form when your child started here at Cotham, and you selected a dietary preference rather than a dietary need, e.g. prefer vegetarian foods but can eat meat, please complete this form again so student records can be amended.
Year 7 Dietary Form We are now in Week 3, and Year 8 are well into the swing of the new term! The students continue to impress us with their enthusiasm and focus. We’re particularly proud to report that we recently had a day with zero detentions – a fantastic achievement reflecting their positive attitudes.
On top of that, Year 8 has accumulated a huge number of achievement points. A grand total of 4018!! That is a huge testament to for their hard work and commitment to school values. It’s a pleasure to see their progress and teamwork growing each day.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
I am thrilled to launch the Year 9 trip to Germany, July 2025. This trip is open to all Year 9 students regardless of language studied. If you are interested, please ensure you return the completed reply form with parental/carer consent to binghama@cotham.bristol.sch.uk by Wednesday 25.09.24.
This a fantastic trip for making new friends, having fun and practising your language skills.
Year 9 are becoming far more settled in their new learning groups with positive 'shout outs' from teachers flooding Mr Farmer's inbox. There’s a lot of positivity in the year group. We have also had a number of new starters which has been great as there has never been a better time to join us.
Our Year 9 tutor group football tournament begins this month which each group battling for supremacy with nine games a week. May the best group win!
This week we started our annual year 10 5 A-side tournament with a win for 10GC.
The tournament has always been a success in previous years.
Students who have demonstrated respect received a Skip the Queue lunch card for this week! Students enjoyed the return of the House assemblies with a number of key messages and achievements shared with students across the school.
Students who wish us to consider a change to a GCSE course can request by asking parents/carers to email KS4pathways@cotham.bristol.sch.uk.
This Friday, 20 September, all Year 10 students will receive an email to their school email accounts with information regarding how to create a log-in with the platform UniFrog. This information will also be available via Google Classroom. By using UniFrog, students will be able log all the needed information ahead of their work experience placement.
If you have emailed about a change of option subjects for your child, then please rest assured that your email has been gratefully received. Please expect to hear from me early next week about whether or not the change request has been successful. If you do not hear from me by next Wednesday please email ks4pathways@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Thank you
Mrs Khan
Year 11 students have had a great start to their compulsory Period 6 lessons. Attendance to sessions has been very good.
Please note that Period 6 will be NOT be running on the following dates:
Wednesday 25 September: due to Open Evening
Thursday 3 October: due to NBP16 Open Evening (Redland)
Tuesday 10 October: due to NBP16 Evening (Cotham)
Thursday 17 October: due to Year 11 Parents Evening
Thursday 7 November: due to staff training
Thursday 5 December: due to Year 10 Parents Evening
If your child is not able to attend Period 6 for any reason please can you notify the school in advance so that they are not recorded as absent, please email Y11 Period 6 email on Yr11period6@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
The Year 11 Prom is not organised by Cotham School. A parent/ carer committee is needed to organise and oversee the Prom. If you would like to be part of the committee, please communicate between yourselves and your children to form it.
Once the committee has been formed please contact Mrs Arnold via email: arnoldl@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
The applications for President and Vice President are now under review. We will shortly be inviting successful students for interviews on Monday 23 September and then Hustings will take place on Wednesday 25 September. Our students will cast their votes on Friday 27 September, and the results of the election will be released by the end of the day.
The deadline for applications to all other roles on the student leadership team is Monday 23 September.
This week, year 12 had an assembly detailing the subject change week process, slides attached will give more information. Please encourage your young person to talk to a member of the P16 team or their tutor if they have any questions regarding this process.
Subject Change Week In order to recognise the diversity of languages in our school community we offer a number of qualifications for GCSE and A level that can be studied independently alongside their three subjects. Ms Swayne delivered an assembly about how our young people can sign themselves up for this, slides are attached.
Community Languages 2025 - Invitation Throughout Europe, 700 million Europeans are represented in the Council of Europe's 46 member states and all are encouraged to discover more languages at any age, as part of or alongside their studies. Help us celebrate languages and language learning at Cotham by entering the following competition. Year 7 and Year 8 students are welcome to enter and we look forward to seeing your creations. See poster for more details.
Danke, gracias, merci !!!
Cotham cook, bake, artistic EDoL 2024 Year 12 are currently studying their first scheme of learning, creating a body of work on "collections". They are exploring the many themes of what different people may collect over time or throughout their life and creating a visual journey of this through drawings, paintings, textiles and more.
Last week the PE department hosted our sports fair in the sports hall. This was an amazing opportunity for all year groups to get information on our extensive lunch time and after school clubs. There was also guest speakers and information from soccer shooters, futsal 360, fencing clubs and Kingsdown Gym.
We are very proud of the dedication towards sport from Cotham students. Our after-school clubs started on Monday 9th we since then we have had some amazing numbers. Netball (41 students), rugby (61 students), cross country (24 students), girls football (27 students), badminton (43 students). Please see the term 1 clubs timetable if you would like to get involved. M
TERM 1 2024-25 The girls celebrated an unbeaten season with a victory against BFS in the Final. We batted well in the first innings, nearly matching BFS's score, with contributions from all team members. In the second innings, sharp fielding from the girls limited the opposition's runs. When it was our turn to bat, we needed just one rounder to win, which we achieved easily, wrapping up a remarkable season.
This is the second time in 3 years this team have been crowed champions. Well done girls!
The student council meeting for Years 8, 9, and 10 at Cotham School focused on respect as a core value. Miss Madge praised the student leaders for their thoughtful discussions and proactive approach. They explored ways to promote respect among students, including initiatives like a 'Respect Reward'. The council emphasized respect in language, behavior, and recorded a video for assembly. Their dedication to creating a positive school environment was commendable!
Cotham School is introducing a new trophy cup to honor the House with the highest student attendance. Currently, Delta House is in the lead, showcasing exceptional commitment. The trophy will be presented during the Christmas whole-school assembly, celebrating the dedication and attendance of students. This new award aims to encourage healthy competition and reinforce the importance of regular attendance.
This week we held our first Sigma House assembly of the year introducing our new 'Respect' reward competition. The winner will be drawn from a raffle and will receive a phone call home from myself, a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers.
Please keep a look out for upcoming House events - they will be announced very soon!
Congratulations to Delta House for excellent attendance! Delta House secured the highest attendance for week 2 of the new academic year. Well done to Delta.
'In-fur'
Meaning:
To work something out from the evidence you are given (verb).
Example:
When he slammed the door, she could infer that he was feeling angry.
From the data, we can infer that crime is increasing.
Synonyms:
Work out, conclude, assume…
'Puh-sep-shuhn'
Meaning:
The way you think or feel about something (noun).
Example:
What is your perception of the Labour government?
I’ve always had a good perception of you.
Synonyms:
Perceive, attitude, opinion…
The NSPCC have created a quiz that can be completed as a family to help you have discussions together and find out about the NSPCC’s top tips for positive online wellbeing.
So get the family together and take our quiz to discover our top tips for positive online wellbeing.
Before you answer each question, have a discussion, then choose your answer together.
Link to Quiz: Link
