20 October 2023

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

Year 7 - Family Consultation Day

Booking for Year 7 FCD  is now open. 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 well-being, participation in the wider life of the school, and to set targets for the remainder of the year. Your child’s Learning Coordinator, Mrs Veale, will also be available to meet with you if that is needed.  Mrs Begum, our Attendance Officer, will also be available to discuss any concerns you may have regarding attendance. The SEND team will be on hand to discuss any issues that you wish to raise with them regarding your child’s learning needs.

Year 7

Year 7 Choir during tutor time and the Year 7 after school drama club are going brilliantly! You can still join in after half term and explore music and drama with your friends in these great extracurricular activities.

Mrs Veale - Learning Co-ordinator

Year 8
Well done to the Year 8s for starting the term so positively. The tours led by Year 8s have continued to be amazing, and it is wonderful that so many students want to take part in these events to showcase how great our school is.

Also, a big congratulations to all of our football teams who competed last Friday, I aim to get the rest of the teams played by the first week back so we can begin our knockout stages!

Ms Buckley - Learning Coordinator 

Year 9 

Congratulations to Year 9 (9 RS)  who have achieved the most House points this week and will enjoy a sweet treat in their Tutor on Friday Morning. Unfortunately the Year 9 Rugby team lost 8 tries to 4 against Blaise high school this week in wet and muddy conditions. It was great to see so many students from the year involved. A man of the match performance for one Year 9 who scored a Hatrick of Tries from 9AWA.

Mr Farmer - Learning Co-ordinator

Year 10 - End of Term Round Up

Wow, Term 1 has gone so quickly and has been a great term for Year 10 students. Their attitude to work and their behaviour has been outstanding. Well done Year 10.

This term we have welcomed five new students into Year 10. Whilst it can be a scary time joining a new school, Year 10 have shown compassion and kindness and welcomed them to Cotham. A special shout out to Kiranjeet, Lavell, Henry, Ridwan M, Hafizah and Kuldeep who have been outstanding buddies and supported them to settle in. 

In our assembly this week we said a huge thankyou to Rosin and Olea who both showed kindness to a younger student when they were finding things a little difficult. They were both awarded a Mrs Arnold Super LC bar.  We also gave Jayron a shout out, he has received lots of positive comments about his behaviour and attitude to work, Jayron was also awarded a Mrs Arnold Super LC bar.

Mrs Arnold - Learning Coordinator

Year 10 - Shout Outs This Week:
Congratulations to 10SME who have the highest amount of achievement points this term in Year 10. They were rewarded with a lovely selection of doughnuts to enjoy during tutor time.

A shout out to 10a/ma6 - Mr Woodward said that students were absolutely fantastic in their maths lesson last week. Well done to Tayshon, Haddi and Abdulraham H. 

A special shout out to Jayron for conducting himself with maturity and for treating the school property with care and respect during his food technology lesson. From Mr Sebana, Jayron was also awarded top chef in his food lesson by Mrs Brock for making superb Jamaican Patties with care and attention! Well done Jayron.

Ms Ingham gave shout outs to 10A/ps3 a shout out  for their calm and purposeful attitude to work in PSHE. Everyone got caught up with coursework, and they helped each other out so nicely. Really lovely lesson.

And to 10A4 for their PSHE lesson on Tuesday who were absolute perfection. They listened to instructions carefully, got on with all tasks set and managed to complete all their work with time to spare at the end of the lesson. I was so impressed.

Miss Madge gave a shout out to her History group 10Y/Hi1, they did fantastically in their recent assessment.

A particular shout out to Hussain for his brilliant answers in class.

The Year 10 Student Executive Leadership Team (SELT) had their first meeting on Wednesday. We started planning some exciting ideas for the next few terms, including a Charity Christmas Raffle, a Charity Fashion show of preloved clothing with items going on sale after and a Year 7 Disco. Look out for more information on these events. They will come together to decide on a charity to support next term.

Mrs Arnold - Learning Coordinator

Year 10 - Tutor Football League 

The Year 10 tutor football league has got off to a great start with lots of goals and surprises along the way. 10SME the current cup holders for Year 8 and Year 9 drew 0-0 in their first game, so the pressure is on for them to start scoring some goals. The results so far are:

JWO v KD 2 - 1

LN v KBO 6-6

Girls A v Girls B 5-1

SME v FRA 0-0 

Year 10 - Athletics Competition

This week has been the INTER HOUSE indoor athletics competitions! Students have been competing for their houses and the sports hall has been full of cheering and encouragement as students compete to take the trophy! 

Mrs Arnold  - Learning Coordinator

Year 10 - TED Talks - Finals 

Last week, two of our Year 10 students took part in the Bristol Youth TED Talk final competition. The event was hosted by Bristol Grammar School at the Mackinnon Theatre, and attended by staff and students from across Bristol, as well as Barney Grenfell from Ignited Presenting and a representative from TEDxBristol. The standard was very high, but everyone from Cotham who attended felt that our students more than held their own. We are so proud of the skill and courage they demonstrated by standing on a stage in front of such a large audience, and delivering talks that were engaging, inspiring and heartfelt. We are waiting to hear the results of the competition this week…

Year 11 - Student Rewards Survey

Mr Thomas (Head of Year 11) and Mrs Khan (Year 11 SLT link) have posted a link on google classroom for our Year 11 students to have a say in what rewards, activities and trips they would like in Year 11. Please do encourage your child to complete the survey as soon as possible so Mr Thomas and I can get organising. Follow the link to the google form for Year 11 Rewards Student Voice Questionnaire.

Year 11 - Parent Information Event

The Year 11 Parent Information Event is now live on the school website under the Parents/Carers section titled 'Parent Information Events'. Please click on the Year 11 site. Here is a link to the site.

This site will give you valuable information and resources about the Year 11 subjects your child is studying and how you can support them through upcoming examinations. We hope you find it useful.

Year 11 - German Careers Roadshow

On Thursday 12 October, in the afternoon, 26 Year 11 students took part in a German Careers Roadshow which was hosted by the Goethe Institute at Bristol University. Students had the opportunity to take part in 4 different workshops all linked to careers and German cultural awareness. Students also gained an insight into what life at Bristol University is like, how studying a language is a transferable skill which can lead to many jobs, not only those in travel and tourism.

I was so impressed how well our Cotham students engaged with the workshops, their enthusiasm and openness to asking and answering questions and overall positivity at spending the afternoon with me at Bristol University.

Well done Year 11!

Danke Frau Bingham 

Year 11 - Good News 

Cotham School would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the 15 Colleges, Training Providers, Employers and Universities that have visited Cotham School as part of our Year 11 "Passport to Success" events over the past two weeks.  Year 11 students met with a wide range of options at 16 providers in order to help them with their preparations to make applications and eventually choices for post 16 study.  

These events have been timed to coincide with the learning students are undertaking in PSHE lessons and the NBP16 open evening last Thursday 12 October and at Redland Green last night.

Year 11 students will still be able to meet providers informally during their lunchtimes at "pop up shop" events on Tuesdays in the "canopy" area and of course at the individual providers own open events.  

We hope you will agree that this is a wonderful way to start the process of considering options for Post 16 studies.  Year 11 students will be invited to individual 1:1 personal Career Guidance meetings next term to help them discuss their ideas and make plans for the future.  In the meantime as you visit open events, please remember to apply for courses that you would like to be considered for as soon as you can.  All options can be applied for and decisions can be delayed until you are ready or GCSE results day in August 2024. 

Ms Paice, Careers Leader

Year 11 - Shout Outs! 

French

Mr Dutton would like to say a shout out to the following students in his 11X French group that have been amazing since the start of term by keeping on top of homework, staying fully focussed in lessons, contributing to class and always presenting work of a very high standard.:

Amal 

Mikeas

And some others who will receive a special shout out in assembly next term.

English

Ms Papworth would like to give a shout out to her 11aEn2 English class who have been incredibly focused and engaged; they are so determined to get the right outcome next Summer. Particular shout outs to George and Bushra for their contributions and Noor for her sheer resilience.

Other students will also receive a shout out in assembly next term.

Bristol Muslim Conference - Saturday 4 November 10am - 4pm

Keynote speeches:

 Azeem Rafiq

 Baroness Sayeeda Warsi

 Mayor Marvin Rees

 Dentist Twins

Multiple interactive workshops exploring the challenges and opportunities facing young Muslims in Bristol.  There is additionally food served for lunch and an art exhibition taking place alongside the conference.  Free parking  will be provided on site.  Have a share of the voice that will change the future for the Muslim youth in Bristol by attending.  Follow the link to reserve a place.

Online Safety Parent/Carer Session

Here you can find a recording and a presentation, as well as a useful links document signposting you to further resources from an online safety workshop for parents and carers that was streamed live this Wednesday evening. You'll learn about how to keep your child safe online, looking at current trends, understanding the risks, what you can do and signposting to further support.  

Monkhouse - School Uniform

Our school uniform supplier, Monkhouse is offering a huge 20% off everything in store and online between Monday 16 October 2023 -  Sunday 22nd October 2023. If you need to top up on any uniform or P.E kit items or need a refresh on your everyday essentials and stationery, now’s the time to shop. Use code DEAL20 at checkout or in store.   www.monkhouse.com 

Google Classroom email summaries for parents and carers 

On Monday 4 September, we re-enabled Google Classroom email summaries for parents and carers.   If you were receiving the summaries last year the emails will automatically resume. If you are a new parent for a new student, you will receive an email invitation via the email account that the school holds on record for you. You have 120 days to accept the invitation before it will expire.  When you accept the invitation, you can select whether you have a daily or weekly summary of all the work set for your child and the status of all tasks set.

To outline: the parental aspect of Google Classroom is an email summary

This will be sent to you on either a daily or weekly basis depending on the option that you selected when you signed up. You can check and amend the frequency of your emails by visiting https://classroom.google.com/gs. If no work has been set for your child since your last email, you will not receive an email until the next piece of homework is set.  Google has written a comprehensive user guide which can be found here. There are also answers to the most common parent and carer queries below.

I have downloaded the Google Classroom app and am being asked for a class code - What does this mean?

Unfortunately, the Google Classroom app can only be used by Students at this time. The parental aspect of Google Classroom is an email summary of the work set. Google are proactively developing Classroom and the app may be available for parental use in the future.

The set work in my email summary refers to some attachments or links but I cannot see them, what do I need to do?

The parental aspect of Google Classroom is currently an email summary - This will not include attachments or links which have been uploaded to your child’s assignments. This is normal behaviour. If your child logs into Google Classroom they will be able to see all of the attachments and links that are needed to complete the task.

I have lost my invitation link and have not signed up - Please can you invite me again?

If you have misplaced the invitation link, please email us on GCSupport@cotham.bristol.sch.uk with the name of your child and their tutor group and we will resend the invitation to you.

Year 11 Family Consultation Day

Booking for Year 11 FCD is now open. 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 well-being, participation in the wider life of the school, and to set targets for the remainder of the year. This event is in addition to our Year 11 Parents Evening last week when you will have the opportunity to meet your child’s subject teachers. Your child’s Learning Coordinator Mr Thomas will also be available to meet with you if that is needed. Mrs Begum, our Attendance Officer, will also be on hand to discuss any concerns you may have regarding attendance.

Student Absence - Reminder

Notifying the school of student absence - all info can be found on the  School website 

Parents and carers can report student absence in 3 ways.

Parents and carers can either:

- complete the absence form on school website

- email the attendance absence email at absence@cotham.bristol.sch.uk (Year 7-11) or  p16absence@cotham.bristol.sch.uk (Year 12 and 13)

- telephone the attendance absence line on 0117 919 8000