12 January 2024

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

First Aid Training - Exciting News!

The Red Cross is returning to Cotham for the next few weeks to deliver First Aid training to all students in Years 7 and 8. Following last year's incredibly successful sessions we are excited to welcome Kathryn back to teach our young people how to treat common injuries and perform CPR". 

Year 8 Vaccination Reminder

Year 8 HPV vaccination session is scheduled on Wednesday 17th January 2024. It will take place in the Main Hall from 09:00-15:00.

Parents and career have been asked to complete the consent form at https://imms.sirona-cic.org.uk/hpv/2023/consent by 09:00 on Monday 15th January 2024. 

 Year 9 Parents' Evening - Wednesday 24 January 2024

The event will take place between 3:45 pm and 6:45pm and will be a live event.  

Parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet their child’s teachers for a 5 minute appointment. 
All appointments will take place in A Block and all parents should enter the school via our Visitor Reception Entrance on Cotham Lawn Road. 

Please visit https://cothamschool.schoolcloud.co.uk to book your appointments. Bookings will close on Tuesday 23 January 2024 at 6pm.

Year 9 MFL Trip, to the Black Forest, Germany Trip Updates

Thank you to all parents and carers who have sent me a copy of their child's passport. If you have not done so, please can this be shared soon as possible so I can check expiry dates. Some October payments are still outstanding, please can these be paid. I will be sending out forms and more information at a later stage and we will have a parent information evening during term 5. Transport, accommodation and activities are now booked. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via email: binghama@cotham.bristol.sch.uk

Vielen Dank. 

Anna Bingham

Faculty Leader for MFL

Is your child looking for their next read?

If your child is struggling to choose the next book they are going to read, this website provides a useful list of recommended books that you could look through with your child. Remind your child to visit the school library and to let the librarian, Ms Payne, know if there are any books your child would like her to order that we don't currently have.

Year 7 News

Year 7 Bake Off will take place on Wednesday 17 January 2024. Selected students will compete to make the best cakes. This is part of a series of competitions starting in Year 7 that will include everything from sport to poetry, photography and a raft of other things as well. We are really looking forward to seeing the talents of our Year 7 students.

Basketball and Football clubs have been really well attended in Year 7. Please have a look at the website and speak to your child about joining one of the many clubs available and helping them discover their passion.

Thanks from all of Year 7 to Mrs Arnold and her Year 10 leadership team for the fantastic events they helped to run for Year 7 before Christmas. The disco especially was a big hit. 

Lots of teachers also want to give shout outs to Year 7 students.

Mme Kennedy would like to say a huge well done to the students in 7LH who learnt songs in French, they were absolutely amazing.

Mr Sebana would like like to give a huge congratulations to the Year 7 Rugby Team. He reported that there was a lot of courage and perseverance shown when it really mattered so a huge Well done.

Miss Power would like to mention 7AVA who produced some amazing work on the nuances of good and evil characters in their Princess Mononoke work.

Mr O Knight

Year 7 Learning Coordinator

Year 8 News

Welcome back to all of year 8! I hope you all had an enjoyable break and have come back raring to go for the new term!

Although it is quite a short term, we have got a lot packed in. We have started the Year 8 assessments, these happen for two weeks. This is just to see how you are doing within your lessons, please do not worry about them, just do the best you can!

I am really hoping we can keep reducing our number of after school detentions by students really engaging with their lessons- teachers and students have all become used to the new classes and are saying they work well which is enabling all students to enjoy their lessons.

I am trying to organise an after school trip which I will send out when I get more information about it. Students who are showing myself that they are trying very hard to engage with school in a positive way, students who attend all of their lessons, students who follow instructions for the first time and wear the correct uniform all of the time, will be on the top of my list to go.

Parents should have received a letter regarding uniforms, we are having a new incentive on uniforms and our expectations remain high. Students need to be wearing their lanyards everyday and all day in school, with their school jumpers and polo tops on, black trousers, not leggings, skirts which are knee length and shoes which are black and leather look. If a student wears a hoodie (zip up jackets are included) they will be confiscated, and they are not allowed to wear hats inside any school building and no baseball caps at all.

Let's all have a great term 3!

Briony Buckley

Year 8 Learning Coordinator

Year 8 Shouts Outs

Shout out to the following Year 8 students from Ms Séverine Kennedy who went above and beyond for their French Christmas homework:

Charlie - Rahaf  - Maryam 

And an even more special mention to Ella who not only sang her French song beautifully but also completed her Seneca assignment to great standards.

Year 9 News

Year 9 have had a very positive start to the new term! It has been wonderful to see so many students enter 2024 with a great attitude towards their learning. Keep up the great work!  

Subject Spotlight - Geography 

Mr Cook (Geography Teacher)  

This term Year 9 pupils are investigating some of the issues that arise in Urban areas and some of the solutions to these challenges. We will be investigating questions such as: Why have towns and cities grown? Why do people move to urban areas? What is life like in informal settlements? And finally, What might a city of the future look like?" 

Student Feedback 

"I'm looking forward to learning about this interesting subject. I have been really enjoying Geography and I would like to take it for GCSE"

Twelfth Night

Students involved in the Year 9 production of Twelfth Night are excited to return to rehearsals ahead of their performance in February. More details for tickets sales and performance date to follow. "

"Year 9 Football Club - Monday's 

Student feedback:

"I really enjoyed Monday's football club session after school. The coaching we received was of a very high standard and I will definitely go again."

Mr J Moody - PE Faculty Leader: 

"We had 30 students attending the football club on Monday which was a huge success" 

Year 9 Girls Sports Hall Athletics 

Congratulations to the Year 9 team of Sports Hall Athletics who have made it through to the Bristol Inter Schools Sports Hall Athletics final! The final will take place on Thursday 11 January at Redland Green. Good luck Year 9!  

Henry Arnold

Year Team assistant

Year 9 - KS4 Pathways Event 17 January 05:30pm

This is an in-person event for the Year 9 students and their families. The event will explain the KS4 pathways process. This process will allow Year 9 students to select their subject preferences for the subjects they would like to study in Year 9 and Year 10. 

There will be two presentations from the senior leadership team of the school, one at 5.45pm and the same presentation again at 6.45pm. 

Each presentation will last 30 minutes and cover how the KS4 Pathways process works and how students will be able to make their subject preferences for their KS4 courses in the following weeks. 

Parents will also have the opportunity to visit each faculty area to meet the teachers of the KS4 courses and to learn more about the courses that we are offering at KS4. The online KS4 Pathways Portal will also open on this date. The portal will include videos for each of the courses that are available at KS4. The videos are recorded by our faculty leadership teams and are designed to provide you with an overview and introduction to each of the courses available at KS4. The videos are a great way to learn about the courses and can be watched by students and parents and carers in their own time.  

When you arrive on Wednesday 17 January please enter via Visitors Reception on Cotham Lawn Road.  Please either make your way to the main hall for the presentation or visit the different subject locations.

If you have further questions please submit them to the KS4 Pathways email (ks4pathways@cotham.bristol.sch.uk)

We look forward to meeting you.

Mrs Khan 

Assistant Headteacher

Spotlight on KS4 GCSE History 

Mr Lloyd: Students have recently been looking at the Nazis and the Holocaust.

When we study the Holocaust, we're dealing with fundamental questions about what's right and wrong. Learning about it makes us think about how people should behave in society. The Holocaust teaches us awareness about genocide. It helps explore important moral questions effectively. Learning about the Holocaust makes us think about the dangers of staying silent or being indifferent to others' suffering. It motivates young people to consider making a positive impact through individual and group efforts. It gives learners a chance to appreciate the importance of diversity in a diverse society and encourages sensitivity towards minority perspectives.

Edie is studying GCSE History: 

I chose History as one of my GCSE subjects since I’ve always had a fascination with the past and how different it was to our modern day society. We’ve recently been learning about WW2 in Germany, about the persecution of Jews and how the Nazis rose to power. The content contains lots of interesting insights about what was happening at the time and who were involved (which I quite like to learn about as I’m curious about the peoples’ lives at that time and the choices that they made). Overall I find it to be a very engaging subject - one I would recommend taking for those in younger years who enjoy history.

Pablo is studying GCSE History: 

I am in year 10 and I am studying GCSE History. I chose this subject because I found the content in year 9 to be interesting, fun and important. This has continued into year 10. I find History really engaging, recently we have been learning about Hitler and the Nazis and I find this to be fascinating because it sheds light on the problems of the past and extremism as well as how it affected those in and out of Germany at the time. This is useful due to the fact that we can learn important lessons in History and apply them to our modern age and ages to come. I find studying History to be challenging in a good way.

Year 11 Revision Workshops

Next week we will be running Revision Workshops during the school day for all Year 11 students. These will run on Monday 15 January, Tuesday 16 January and Thursday 18 January during Periods 1 and 2. All students will attend one workshop. These workshops are designed to support students in using revision strategies that will help them to retain information into their long term memory when revising. We will also be showing students how to manage their revision time effectively through the creation of a revision/study timetable.  This is a student only event but please do support your child in implementing the strategies that they will be introduced to.

If you have further questions or queries please email Mrs Khan on khana@cotham.bristol.sch.uk 

Kind Regards

Mrs Khan

Assistant Headteacher

Year 11 Shout Outs

Geography - Mr Burfield, Great work in Mock retakes! - George 

Mr Burfield 11CB  - Good, focussed learning during D.E.A.R in tutor time - Tabitha, Bayan, Amogh, Oscar, Marcel, Iram, Maryam, Khairia, Verity, Ayesha

Mrs Brock - Food - Superb start to NEA 2 in Food - Khairia , Maya , Tamsin 

Mr Cony - Maths - Zabiullah , For doing a magnificent job with Simultaneous Equations last week. Well done!

Mr Saunders - PSHE

Bethanie - Excellent independent work in PSHE and impeccable work ethic.

Ash - Excellent independent work in PSHE and impeccable work ethic

Mr Cook - Geography - Amazing effort and work in Geography - Iman, Orsolya, Orson 

Mr Bates - Business

For showing his potential in business studies and a new determination in class - Rayshawn 

Ongoing excellent work and commitment -  Iram

Miss Bridgeman - Art - Meeting deadlines in art- commitment to course - Ayesha, Anoush , Lois 

Working really hard, seeking out feedback and ways to improve and generally making great progress in English - Ashley and Ismail 

Miss Power - English, Working really hard in preparation for his mocks in English

Soban  and Yahya 

Miss Knight - EAL, Works so hard in EAL- Sadam

Mme Kennedy - Always working hard and going the extra mile - Ellie, Orsolya and Inez 

Mme Kennedy - Great attitude to learning - Aidan

Mme Kennedy - Great pronunciation in reading aloud - Muzon

Mr Burfield - Helpful in tutor, as always - Amogh, Marcel and Nafay 

Miss Boys- Science, Brilliant turn around in science - Jiyan

Miss Boys - Science, Works incredibly hard inside and outside school on her science knowledge - Zaynab

Miss Boys - Science, Excellent contributions in science - George

Miss Boys - Science - Excellent contributions in science and working incredibly hard inside and outside of school on his science knowledge - Sameer

Miss Boys - Science - Working incredibly hard in science with some brilliant written practice answers in class - Marcel

Miss Boys - Science - Attempts every challenge given and excelling in science - Anous

Year 11 Bath Ice Skating Trip

30 year 11 students were invited to go Ice Skating in Bath CityCentre. All students had a great time and enjoyed the reward. Well done to all students who attended!

Year 11 - Period 6

Period 6 runs every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2.45pm-3.45pm. If your child has been selected for Period 6 then their attendance is compulsory. Your child will have a sticker on the back of their lanyard detailing which days they have period 6. Please can you support us by ensuring your child attends. You receive a message the next day if your child has failed to attend Period 6. Non-attendance to Period 6 will be classed as truancy and maybe sanctioned accordingly. 

If your child needs another timetable this can be collected from Mr Thomas (Year 11 Learning Coordinator). If you have any queries about period 6, please email Mrs Khan on yr11period6@cotham.bristol.sch.uk. 

Careers Futures

NHS – Healthcare Careers Event in Cotham School

Date: Wednesday 24 January 2024

Proposed timings: P4 & P5

As part of our partnership with the NHS, we are excited to be delivering a free in-person careers session themed arounds careers in healthcare: Healthcare professionals are visiting Cotham School to meet our Year 7 and Year 8 students to inspire and inform them about careers in the NHS. The NHS provides a diverse array of clinical and allied health professional roles from midwives and doctors to radiographers and dietitians. Students will have the opportunity to:

• Gain insight into a range of healthcare roles from local healthcare professionals.

• Learn about different pathways into healthcare roles from apprenticeships and technical qualifications to university.

• Interact with healthcare equipment and props used in these roles

• Ask the professionals questions during Q&A’s

Cotham Futures

Weston College are currently working in partnership with the Luke Wheaton Legacy Trust to organise a careers evening to be held at the North Bristol Rugby & Football Club on 24 January 2024 (4-7pm).  Luke Wheaton sadly lost his life in the tragic Avonmouth accident in 2020, whilst completing an apprenticeship. The Luke Wheaton Legacy Trust was set up by his parents and brother to celebrate his memory, and aims to support and encourage young people on their journey through life, through furthering their education outside the classroom, and developing skills. 

As a response to this,  we are inviting a select number of employers to attend the event in order to meet learners and their parents to discuss ‘live’  apprenticeship opportunities for 2024.  The evening will also have a rolling presentation about apprenticeships from our teaching faculty and participants and will be centred around Engineering, Construction and Digital. There will also be a presence from team who will be offering Information, Advice and Guidance to those needing support with applications, CV’s etc. 

The link below will take you to the booking page – where students are able to book a slot at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and each slot will have a presentation and a chance to engage with the employers.  

https://www.weston.ac.uk/event/luke-wheaton-legacy-trust-apprenticeship-careers-open-evening

Courses for Aspiring Medical Students 

For your students aged 14-18 who may be considering careers in medicine, we've 2 courses coming up that may interest them.

• The first course is an online course, taking place every Monday evening in January from 7.30pm - 9.30pm. Students tune in to watch our doctors explain all about careers in medicine and work through some interesting medical cases with them. There's a free trial so students do not have to pay for the course unless they wish to continue into February - just visit www.theweeklysurgery.com and use code NEWYEAR to access for your free month.

• The second course takes place on the weekend between 16-18 February and is our popular in person course in London. Students can expect to shadow doctors and get hands on with some fantastic work experience complete with accommodation, meals and supervision. Students aged 14-18 from all over the UK attend to find out if medicine is for them and to provide some great work experience for applications and interviews. You can see all the details of that one here: www.premedprojects.co.uk/course/medicine-work-experience-day-event