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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

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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 

Year 12

Start of Term September Arrangements

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.  

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.

COTHAM READING REPORTS 2024 MAILING - docx

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.

2024 SUMMER READING POSTCARD COMPETITION WEEKLY MAIL

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

RETURN LIBRARY BOOKS END OF TERM POSTER - docx

Please save these dates in your diary!

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.

BEP 2024 Review FINAL - pdf

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:

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

Seneca offers high-quality free online learning courses for students to study from a computer, tablet or phone. The courses are suitable for students aged 13 and above and cover KS3, KS4 GCSE and KS5 A Level subjects.

We are Premium subscribers to this service which unlocks further features of the platform.

Learn more about Seneca Learning Here

Total Seneca Learning Assignments Set for this Academic Year

1510

Total Seneca  Learning Study Time for this Academic Year

9839 Hours

Welcome! GCSEPod is the perfect resource to help your child learn, retain and recall all the information they need to achieve their GCSE goals. 

Learn more about GCSEPod Here

Pods Watched this Academic Year

2785

Most Watched Subject this Year

English Literature

Standing Items