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 2 December 2024 is Week A
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
With Gratitude
A big thank you to all the staff who took the time to nominate these exceptional young people. By recognizing their strengths and encouraging their aspirations, we're empowering them to make a positive impact on the world. It was an incredible event filled with pride, joy and aspiration.
Mrs Marlene Kelly
Thank you
Are you a skilled accountant looking to make a real difference in your community? We are seeking a passionate and committed individual to join our governing board as a School Governor.
Our school thrives on delivering excellent education and nurturing young minds, but behind the scenes, sound financial management is key to our success. That’s where you come in!
As a Governor with expertise in accounting or financial management, you will:
Help provide strategic oversight of the school’s budget and finances.
Help ensure resources are used effectively to benefit our students.
Help support the school in meeting its legal and financial obligations.
Work collaboratively with other governors to shape the school’s vision and priorities.
What we’re looking for:
We are looking for someone with -
A background in accounting, finance, or auditing.
Strong analytical and decision-making skills.
A willingness to contribute to the wider governance of the school.
A passion for education and the local community.
What’s in it for you?
Becoming a School Governor is a fantastic opportunity to:
Use your professional skills to give back to the community.
Develop your leadership and strategic thinking abilities.
Gain a unique insight into the education sector.
Make a lasting impact on the lives of young people.
No prior experience as a governor is necessary—we’ll provide training and support to help you succeed in this rewarding role.
Time Commitment
The role requires attendance at termly meetings and some additional time for reviewing documents and providing advice.
If you’re ready to use your financial expertise to support the future of education, we’d love to hear from you!
To apply or for more information, please contact Gosia Dreissig, Governance Professional, at Cotham School via email: governanceprofessional@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Help us shape a brighter future for our students—join our governing board today!
Dear Parents and Carers
Please see the updated Parent Governor Election letter and application form.
To support applications from new joiners to the school and to Bristol, we are going to accept applications without supporting nominations from other parents.
The closing date for application is by the end of Monday 2 December 2024.
Kind regards
Sandra Fryer
Chair of Governors
Parent Govenor Letter and Nomination Form November 24 (V2).pdfWe are excited to announce that we will be having our first Cotham Parents Network Meeting for 2024/2025 on Tuesday 10 December 2024 at 5.30pm. It will be wonderful to see you there! We will collecting your feedback and discussing plans for the upcoming year.
Last day of the the term - Friday 20 December 2024
Non-uniform day; students can wear a Christmas jumper if they would like to, and are asked to contribute a suggested donation of £1 for charity.
There will be no break service for food from 10:45-11:05.
Students will leave school at 12:00.
Students who receive a free school meal will be provided with a packed lunch which can be collected from K Block Canteen after 12:00.
This winter, Bristol’s children and young people can dive into a world of fun, learning, and friendship through Your Holiday Hub! Running from Monday 23 December to Friday 3 January. Your Holiday Hub is offering a wide variety of fully funded activities for eligible children from Reception age to Year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals. With over 30 providers across the city, children and young people can join in activities ranging from sports and games to cooking, music, and arts — ensuring there’s something for everyone this festive season!
For more information about Your Holiday Hub or to book a session near you, please click here.
Thank you Year 8 for your amazing engagement and eagerness to join in with the Gothic Book library lessons. We got to read some spooky books whilst also learning lots of expressive and imaginative new vocabulary. We study Gothic books because they balance suspense, characterisation and descriptive imagery in an accessible, but not-too-easy, combination. Year 8 did SO WELL! The winner (who answered ALL of their Gothic Book questions and entered the Library Lucky Dip) will be announced next week.
WEEKLY MAILING 24 GOTHIC BOOK LESSON Miss Smith (Safeguarding Lead KS4) and Miss Danso-Obeng (School Counsellor) have created this wellbeing advent calendar for this festive season.
We created this hoping this can help you and your loved ones feel a bit more grounded and connected to yourself and others during the festive period.
We hope you join in with the advent calendar activities.
Cotham School Wellbeing Advent Calendar.pdfABM Catering are pleased to unveil the 12 days of Christmas! The 12 days of Christmas are 12 festive food options which will be available over the 12 school days leading up to the Christmas break. View the festive choices for each day here.
Christmas Dinner will be served on Wednesday 11 December. View the Christmas Menu here.
We are also very excited to announce our next theme day! Thursday 16 January 2025 will be our Burger Themed Day! View the menu and find out more here.
St Joseph's Home (66 Cotham Hill, Bristol, BS6 6JT) would like to extend a warm invitation to their annual Christmas Fair at St Joseph’s Home, which will be held on Saturday 30 November from 11am to 3pm. This event is a cherished tradition for our residents, staff, and the local community, and we would be delighted to have the school join us in the festivities.
Christmas Flyer (A4).pdfBristol City Council seeks foster carers to provide loving homes for children from diverse backgrounds. To ensure that children can remain connected to their communities, the council aims to match them with carers in or near Bristol.
If you are over 21, have a spare room, and are willing to offer your time and patience, please consider fostering.
For more information, visit the Bristol City Council website or contact their fostering team: fostering@bristol.gove.uk or ring them on 01173534200.
BCC Fostering - poster 1.pdfBCC Fostering - poster 2.pdfYear 11 Prom committee are holding a Cookie Sale to raise funds for Prom.
When: Thursday 5 December 2024.
Where: In the HUB
All cookies £1
We warmly invite our parents of Somali heritage to attend our first Somali Parents' Coffee Morning on Tuesday 10 December at 9.45am. This session will be an opportunity to meet with the Deputy Headteacher, Ms Leong, and Senior Learning Coordinator, Mrs Arnold, to gain a greater understanding of some of the school systems and procedures, particularly relating to behaviour and pastoral care. Ms Jama will also be available to speak with parents.
Cotham School are proud to be involved with Tree Fest this year. Our tree will represent Cotham School of Sanctuary. The event runs from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 December at St Mary Redcliffe Church. We will share photos of our tree next week.
On Tuesday we held a small celebration for our Future Black History Makers in which those students who were nominated were presented with certificates by Ms Butler along with their nomination comments from staff members. It was fantastic to see all of our amazing students gathered together in such an affirmative space and to see their collective pride at being amongst Cotham’s inaugural Future Black History Makers.
A massive thank you to all of the members of staff who were able to make the time to nominate students as part of our Black History Month celebrations. The project may have been entitled the Future Black History Makers but it was really about recognising how great our young people are right now, as well as celebrating the incredible relationships that exist between staff and students here at Cotham School.
With the help of our amazing staff we were able to express genuine belief in our amazing young people, which will hopefully both empower and inspire them to do great things in the future.
We’re looking forward to nominations in 2025!
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 are taking 140 Year 7 students on a trip to the Hippodrome to watch Goldilocks and the Three Bears in pantomime on Thursday 12 December. Unfortunately the deadline for the trip has closed, however those students who are staying at school will be enjoying a festive movie. Students are all very excited!
Year 7 Disco - Wednesday 29 January 2025
Time - 5.00pm to 7.00pm
More information to follow from the Year11 student prom committee
Well done to the following students who have hit over 100 achievement points.
Comfort, Abi, Rui, Younes, Harvey, George, Leo, Lana, Zuben, Sophie, Sherry, Barbora, Penny, Alena Jonna, Vinny, Oluwatomisin, Monty, Freya, Iva-Estelle, Alfie, Eloisa, Livvy, Ibrahim, Isabella, Aditi, Evie, Arielle, Salma, Dorothea.
Well done to everyone who completed the first digital literacy lesson!
This week's top performers are 7AB - whoop whoop!!
Last week, a group of Year 8 students took part in a workshop focused on developing vital resilience skills. This mentoring intervention will equip our students with tools and resources to deal with stress and anxiety. We are very proud of everyone's participation and engagement.
The following students have received the most Achievement Points for showing Respect so far this term. They have been awarded with a Skip the Q card!
Khalid 9SS
Isla 9JG
Aishah 9SS
Abdallah 9JG
Souber 9MH
We love to see our students being respectful and being a role model to our other Year 9 students, keep inspiring us all!
Shout out to 9aSp2! They worked completely independently on a really challenging worksheet, translating high level sentences into Spanish and English. They were focussed and respectful. It was so lovely to be teaching them.
Ms Brooks
Naomi was excellent in Drama on Monday. Definitely the best performance in the class today. She has what it takes to keep delivering great performances and good behaviour every lesson.
Ms Ashcroft
This week in Year 10 students engaged with an assembly from our EAL team. The assembly discussed Cotham schools, school of sanctuary accreditation for recognition of being a school that goes above a beyond to welcome asylum seekers and refugees. A number of Year 10 spoke in their positive experience in Cotham school.
Year 10 defeated Blaise High School in a rugby match on Wednesday 27 November 8 tries to 6. With 10EK student scoring a hat trick. Well done boys!!!
Period 6 will continue this term.
We have noticed that attendance has slipped. Period 6 is compulsory. If your child was selected for Period last term they will continue with the same timetable up until Christmas.
If for any reason they cannot attend please let Mrs Arnold know.
Please note that Period 6 will be NOT be running on the following dates:
Thursday 5 December: Due to Year 10 Parents Evening
Ms Ingham gives a shout out to Umer for being such a dedicated and responsible student. He gets his work done to a good standard quickly, is super polite and overall is showing all the academic skills that will make sure he is successful in his GCSEs.
On Thursday Year 11 welcomed Shiva to Cotham who presented an assembly on HIV Awareness. The assembly was full of information and a quiz, the students got involved and a showed that they already had a knowledge of HIV. We had a guest speaker Sun, who spoke about life with HIV. We are looking forward to doing a workshop in the new year with Shiva. HIV Awareness day is Sunday 1 December.
We would like to thank all of Year 12 and foundation for taking part in the Futures Launch on Wednesday this week. It was great to see our young people getting excited about their P18 plans. If you have any follow up questions, please contact your young person's tutor in the first instance.
We had a fantastic culture day on Thursday this week. The Student Leadership organised a brilliant day with, fundraising, food, a cat walk, decorations and a party after school. It was wonderful to see the many cultures that our centre celebrated! Please keep an eye out for some photos on our Instagram.
Well done to Cotham Chess Team who played their first tournament of the year last week, against schools from Bristol and surrounding counties. Against some challenging opponents we came a very respectable 20th out of 28!
This week Year 7s have been learning the importance of avoiding cross contamination.
Following a recipe for Chicken Fajitas - Students learnt the importance of using the correct chopping board for Fresh Vegetables, Raw Meat and using the correct Hand washing advice. Every student were able to eat their final product during lesson with smiles all around.
Step into a world of colour and texture as our Year 12 students unveil their captivating oil paintings. Even for first-time painters, their work is a testament to their innate artistic ability. Join us to celebrate their innovative approach and stunning results.
Follow our Instagram Cotham_Visual_Arts to see more incredible work.
Dear Parents /Carers
As the rugby fixtures have now finished and the basketball season begins, I have made the decision to remove rugby training sessions for Year 7/8/9. This means no rugby after school on Tuesday for Year 8/9 and Thursday for Year 7 with a big focus now on our basketball teams.
Can I please remind you we are still offering the following for Y7/8/9 boys:
Year 7/8/9 basketball: Tuesday
Cross country: Wednesday
Badminton: Wednesday
Mr Moody
Join us for a fun one-lap run around the AWP, MUGA, and grassy area as part of the Santa Dash! There is a 50p entry fee, and all runners will receive a Christmas hat. Medals will be awarded to the top finishers in the 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, and 11s year groups. Additionally, the Santa Dash Shield Award will be presented to the house with the most participants. All proceeds will go to Omega House Charity in support of Cancer Research UK. We hope to see you there!
We sold nearly 1000 candy canes in less than 10 minutes in the hub at breaktime this week! Gammas annual candy cane sale has been a massive success for over 5 years now raising hundreds of pounds for Bristol and Weston Hospitals Charity. We were even mentioned in their REACH magazine printed across the South West. Thank you so much to our wonderful prefects for helping too!
"Be present today, have potential for tomorrow!"
Well done to Gamma House for securing the highest attendance for the week beginning 21 November 2024.
Huge thanks for Dan King for his ongoing work in the BEP chess network with several of our students participating in a tournament this week, finishing a respectable 20/28 in the first tournament of the year. Well done to :
Hyeonsoo Year 10, Zack Year 8, Tom Year 8, Huxley Year 8, Elmore Year 8, Lorinc Year 8, Ethan Year 8, Ollie Year 8
Following their training session on team building, our student leadership trainees ran their own team building activity with the Humanities Faculty which involved staff having to work together in their Team meeting. The Hums team enjoyed this lighter way to start a meeting and the students did a great job running the activity.
Student leadership trainees attended Redmaids for the third training session this week. The session was on communication and they undertook a variety of activities to develop their critical thinking skills as well as their ability to communicate both verbally and non verbally to different audiences. This will be useful in future planning for the ‘Get Moving Day’ as part of their social action project in the summer term.
Please check out the BEP Youth Talks videos attached. Our very own Djanu ('The Inner Game') and Mariama ('The Online Pandemic') from Year 13 did a super job and their videos are here. Huge thanks to Laura Wyles for her ongoing stellar work in this area!
'Im-pakt'
Meaning:
To hit another object with force (verb or noun, depending on use).
To have a strong effect on someone or something (verb or noun, depending on use).
Example:
The impact of the hurricane could be seen from space.
The boxer felt the impact from the punch.
Unkind words about someone impacts their happiness.
Synonyms:
Affect, influence…
'Kuhn-sol-uh-dayt'
Meaning:
To bring together many things into one (verb).
Example:
Consolidate the 10 bullet points into 3.
Effective revision involves consolidating information into key points to memorise.
Synonyms:
Combine, condense, integrate…
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