Achievement | Diversity | Respect
19 July 2024
Parent and Carer Weekly Mailing
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 22 July 2024 is Week B
Standing Items are located at the bottom of the mailing
Headteacher's Welcome
Dear Parents and Carers,
Good afternoon! Join me in reflecting on the amazing events of this academic year. From sports days to international trips, talent shows, and heart warming student achievements, it's been a whirlwind of excitement and success. Don't miss out on Muhammad's inspiring story and our upcoming charity event. Let's celebrate the end of the year together!
With very best wishes for a great summer holiday.
Kindest regards,
Ms Jo Butler, Headteacher
Positive Feedback of the Week 👍
School of Sanctuary
Congratulations to Muhammad, who won the Learning Hero Award at the Bristol Young Heroes Award. Nominated by all his teachers, Muhammad, an EAL student, has shown remarkable resilience and enthusiasm. Despite significant challenges, he excels in English and Maths. His positive attitude really stood out to the judging panel and other nominees. Muhammad wrote his speech for the event celebrating his award. Thanks to Community of Purpose for the awards evening.
Announcements and Reminders
End of term 6 Arrangements
Years 7-10
Non School Uniform Day. Students are asked to bring in £1 for their House Charity.
There will be no break service for food from 10.45am - 11.05am.
Students will leave school at 12.00pm.
Students who receive a Free School Meal will be provided with a packed lunch which can be collected from the K Block Canteen after 12.00pm.
Year 12
Lessons taught at Cotham will be running until break time on Monday. Lessons taught at RGS will be running all day Monday and until break on Tuesday.
There will be no food service in Charnwood on the last day of term.
Students who receive a free school meal will be provided with a packed lunch which can be collected from Charnwood Reception on Monday morning. They are also encouraged to visit the Post 16 food bank this week for a holiday meal plan.
Start of Term September Arrangements
Year 7 - Tuesday 3 September at 10.00am.
Normal day from Wednesday 4 September at 08.30am.
On Tuesday 3 September, students will only be able to enter via Student Reception on Cotham Road.
Our Lower Tarmac entrance on Cotham Lawn Road will not open until Wednesday 4 September.
Year 8 - Wednesday 4 September at 09.00am
Year 9 - Wednesday 4 September at 10.00am
Year 10 - Wednesday 4 September at 11.00am
Year 11 - Wednesday 4 September at 12.00pm
Year 12 - Tuesday 3 September at 10.45am (induction)
Friday 6 September at 08.30am (lessons begin)Year 13 - Wednesday 4 September at 09.00am (induction)
Friday 6 September at 08.30am (lessons begin)
School of Sanctuary Cooking Club
Another amazing cooking club event was run on the Friday 5 July 2024. These clubs bring so much joy and well needed home cooked meals to our students currently Asylum Seekers, and living in hotels. We are so proud to hold these events and to support our students and their families. As a School of Sanctuary, this is very important to us.
Thank you so much to Miss Iqbal and Miss Rios for organising it all. It does take some time behind the scenes to be able to run these sessions.
Thank you also to all the volunteer staff including: Miss Power, Mr Lyon, Miss Jama, Miss Boys, Mr Woodward and Miss Anthony. Miss Crossland has been amazing too with supporting the project and covering any expenses.
Thank you for the amazing amount of donations of food including from Pak Butchers.
We are looking forward to running these again from September.
Miss Andouard (EAL Leader and Coordinator)
Self-Care Summer Toolkit Resource
We hope you all will find these useful links beneficial for your summer holidays.
Green Careers Champion Award
The West of England Mayor congratulated Cotham School for being one of the first schools to meet all the criteria to achieve the Green Careers Champion Award. Green Jobs are those involved in helping to protect the environment, prevent climate change and look after our natural resources. Find out more about what these green jobs are and the different pathways into them on @Careerpilot4SoE: https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/green-jobs.
Keep Up The Brilliant Reading Cotham!
Our amazing library systems allow us to count the number of books Cotham students read throughout the year. Rewards are offered to the TOP reading tutor groups in both the first term and the last term. I can proudly say that READING HAS GONE UP this year. Our school is reading more than ever so keep it up Cotham students!
For more information, IMPRESSIVE reading statistics and a list of our AMAZING TOP READERS please click on the link.
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Summer Reading Postcard Competition
Please remember to encourage your child to take part in the SUMMER READING POSTCARD COMPETITION. Do they enjoy reading, writing and/or designing? If so, they can pick up a blank postcard from the library or art room (or use their own paper from home) and get creative! £10 amazon vouchers available for the best entries. Deadline is October 2024 so they have lots of time to enter. For more information please click on the LINK.
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Please Return Your Library Books
The end of term is approaching and the Library would really appreciate it if you would return any library books or textbooks/revision guides that are now overdue.
Many books are lost over the year so PLEASE look under chairs, behind cupboards and on your book shelf! Anywhere where a book may be hiding.
We are very happy for students to take books out over the summer but any overdue books need to be RENEWED. To do this please email: library@cotham.sch.uk
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Please save these dates in your diary!
Main School: Wednesday 25 September 2024
Cotham Post 16: Thursday 10 October 2024
Exciting things to do this Summer
If you are looking for things to do with the kids including parks, walks, events and places to visit, please click here as over 50% of the activities on the website are zero cost!
Useful Information from Bristol Family Hubs
Please find the latest parenting courses the Bristol Family Hubs team offer for parents/carers with children ages 0-8years.
Bristol family Hubs have also launched a new FREE online parenting resource for every family in Bristol.
Parents and carers can access a range of online courses to help them understand their children's feelings better and how they can best support their children through the years as they develop and grow. Family Hubs Virtual Offer can be found here.
Year Group News
Year 7
Year 7 Enrichment Week
Year 7 students enjoyed a variety of exciting enrichment activities over the three days of Enrichment Week. In school activities ranged from creative tech workshops delivered by The Watershed, financial literacy and programming workshops.
Out of school activities included a PGL Camp, Treetop Adventures and Legoland.
Year 7 Team
Year 8
Reminder of Learning Groups Change
With Year 9 approaching, the Year 8 team has been diligently working on organising the Learning Groups for next year. The current Learning Groups for Year 8 students will be completely restructured. The aim behind this change is to create more balanced classes, promoting social integration and inclusion, reducing negative interactions, encouraging adaptability, and ultimately boosting overall academic performance.
Year 9
Year 9 Rounders Round Up
This week Year 9 had the final of inter year rounders competition and we had 35 students taking part! It was a great tournament. The Year 9 girls rounders team used this opportunity to practice for their Bristol schools semi-final the same day. The girls put in a quality performance beating long standing rivals St.Bernadette's. The team have been together since Year 7 and it showed. The school is proud of their teamwork, sportsmanship and high skill level. The final will be played in September.
Year 9 Sports Day
This week Year 9 enjoyed the annual sports day in which students have the opportunity to gain prestige from their house. Students take part in range of classic athletics from Discuss to the 100m race, each event earning them points towards the house trophy. The day takes part at schools' offsite facility Golden hill.
End of year - Looking to the Future!
This week ends the students Year 9 and another academic year. This will be celebrated, as always with a whole school awards ceremony. It has been a hugely positive year with students making some real progress in maturity and independence. Next year students will begin there GCSE's and the challenges that come with it. They will also complete a week of work experience, the details of which will be shared to all parents/carers before the end of term.
Year 10
Drama Stars of the week
Congratulation to the following Year 10 students who are the Drama stars of the week.
Lila, Pablo, Agnes, Flo
For commitment to Drama both in lessons and extra-curricular performances.
Year 10 Euros Competition
Sunday saw the final of the Euros and we had two tutor groups left in our tutor competition.
10JWO England and 10KBO Spain.
The winning trophy went to 10KBO
Golden Boot to 10KBO who had Dani Olma and after looking at the data, he had 3 goals and 2 assists.
10GC won the first team to win on penalties
10LN won the red card trophy Scotland on 14 June
Thank you to Mr Bridge in DT who supported us and made all the trophies.
Year 10 SELT Team
What an incredible year the Year10 SELT have had. They have worked hard together to put on events for Year 7 and fundraise for their charity St Peters Hospice. On Tuesday Sophie from the Hospice came to our assembly to explain about the charity and how the money raised supports them.
Events held included bake sales, raffles, ice-lolly sales, preloved clothing sale, swimathon, Year 7 Disco and movie night, Year7 tutor football and egg and spoon race. An incredible £1,734.70 was raised.
Thank you to everyone who supported the events and a huge well done to the Year10 SELT team, I have enjoyed watching you grow as young leaders and working with you all.
Mrs Arnold
Year 10 Reward Assembly
We finished our year with our Year 10 summer award assembly, congratulation to the 16 students who were awarded the tutor awards.
Congratulations to Hibaq, Edie and Muhammad who were awarded the LC award.
Well done to those students who won in the house point raffle, each house point gives you a ticket and to the 3 tutor groups who were recognised for a great summer term.
Congratulations and thank you !
As we come to the end of this academic year, I would like to congratulate all our fantastic Year 10 students on a truly amazing year and to say a huge thank you to parents and carers for all of your support. I look forward to seeing all our students in September, refreshed and ready for an equally successful Year 11. In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful, relaxing and restful summer break.
Mrs Arnold
North Bristol Post 16
Post 16
Free School Meals
Sandwiches will be available for collection for all of our Free School Meal students on Monday 22 July from 10.00am.
Food Bank
The P16 Foodbank is fully stocked and our young people are welcome to come and collect food/ toiletries before the end of term. We will then be opening it on Friday 16 August and Friday 23 August over summer for a mid break stock up.
Subject Announcements
MFL
Bristol Bordeaux Exchange
We are really excited and proud to have welcomed students from Bordeaux as part of the Bristol Bordeaux exchange. Four of our Cotham students have taken part and their French exchange partners have loved being part of our community, they have enjoyed watching the school play and taking part in lessons. On Wednesday 10 July, all the students, parents, carers and teachers were invited to meet the Lord Mayor and learn more about the twinning between Bristol and Bordeaux that dates back to 1947.
STEAM
Work of the Week
For enrichment week, the Year 7 students have been working on a mural in our memorial garden to mark the 100 year anniversary since the tragic event at Bantham Sands. The mural artist Rose Popay had the students' involved by decorating wooden cut outs of birds which will form a flock across the mural. We hope that this is a space to commemorate and honour our past students.
House Announcement
Inter-House Table Tennis tournament a Success
During the lunchtime of Friday 12 July the Omega house prefects and SELT team, Lyra, Ethan and Rosie assisted in the running of a very successful inaugural Inter-House Table Tennis tournament.
Featuring 16 players in both the Year 7 and combined Year 8 and 9 tournaments, the players battled through up to 4 knock-out rounds in an attempt to be crowned champion and take home the 2024 Cotham Table Tennis Trophy.
Congratulations to the winners: Shaquille of Omega and Alex of Delta!
Bristol Education Partnership
BEP Round-Up! 2023-2024
Thank you to all staff, students, parents and carers who have supported the Bristol Education partnership this year. Students and staff have participated in many different fantastic activities. We are excited as the BEP now moves to a new home under Bristol Charities. Please see attached the celebration booklet of 5 years of the partnership across the city.
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Literacy
Summer Holidays
Word of the Week
Recuperate
'Ri-koo-puh-rayt'
Meaning:
To recover strength or health by resting (verb).
Example:
Use your time off to recuperate.
Sleeping and resting will help you to recuperate and come back full of energy in September!
Synonyms:
Get better, regain, recover...
Digital Literacy Corner
Topic: Being unkind online
It can be very easy online for children to behave in a way that they would not if they were face to face with each other.
Talk to your child about how they speak to others online and encourage them to talk to people online with respect and kindness, like they would if they were face-to-face. How they act online should be how they behave on the school playground when they are following school rules. Here are some examples of what being unkind looks like online:
Sending nasty or hurtful messages
Leaving unkind comments
Sharing photographs of somebody else without their permission
Excluding somebody on purpose
Impersonating somebody with a fake account
Telling/sharing lies
The above might happen whilst your child is gaming online or whilst using social media or messaging apps for example.
What should I do if my child is being bullied online?
Ensure that your child understands that if they receive unkind messages or see something that worries them, they should not reply or engage in conversation with the perpetrator. Instead, they should tell a trusted adult. You can use the tools within an app to report any offensive or hurtful content as well as block people so they cannot contact them again in the future.
Starting a conversation with your child
BBC Own It have curated a selection of videos and quizzes with ideas and advice to help make the web a kinder place. You could use these to help you start a conversation with your child.
Support Information Links:
Our latest: Seneca Learning and GCSE Pod Usage
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Total Seneca Learning Assignments Set for this Academic Year
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