NEWS from The Cotswold School

WELL DONE!

RED NOSE DAY

MUSIC NOTES YOUNGEST ORGAN SCHOLAR AT JESUS COLLEGE OXFORD TRIPLE TIME & THE FLUTETS

ENTERPRISE IS ALIVE! CREATIVE YEAR 7S DONATE BUSINESS PROFITS

#LITERACYMATTERS WORLD BOOK DAY SPECIAL

YEAR 9’S - BBC SCHOOL REPORT TEAM

POETRY CURRICULUM COMES ALIVE

SCIENCE WEEK PHYSICS OLYMPIAD, ROCKETS & WINDMILLS

GREAT PTA FUNDRAISING RESULTS WELL ON OUR WAY TO A NEW MINIBUS

NEW FLAGSHIP SIXTH FORM CENTRE

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

APRIL 2017

Mrs Williams

School Librarian

Please visit: https://thecotswoldschool.wheelers.co/ 1. type in your school username 2. enter password: library6745 (please change at first login) 3. e-books can be borrowed for a period of two weeks Also available is the free Wheelers e-books App for ios, android smart phones and tablets.

E-library for all is FREE

Over 90% of parents and guardians with a child in the School have signed up to ParentMail—Thank you!

This will make an enormous difference to ongoing communications from the School.

In other news...

A BIG Thank You! ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT A HUGE thank you to The Cotswold School PTA team and all those who attended the Annual Quiz Night—you raised over £700, with £200 from raffle sales.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Upcoming events from The Cotswold School PTA include the annual car parking fundraising days and teas and cakes fundraising at Chastleton House. Please visit the website for dates and more

information. http://www.cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/our-community/cotswold-school-pta/pta-events/

IT WAS THE MOST MARVELLOUS AUCTION A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all at the Auction of Most Marvellous Promises at the end of March. Guest speaker, Ben Smith, captivated the audience, with his 401 Marathons in 401 Days talk! Bidding for the impressive lots was frenetic and fun, thank you to Philip Allwood, Auctioneer at Moore & Allen.

We would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to Lucy Jackson, Lisa Farley, Jo Moon, Sally Bult and

The Cotswold School PTA team, for their hard work in getting this event off the ground.

An impressive £10,000 was raised! These funds will go towards a new minibus.

Mr Smith

Assistant Head &

Head of Maths

Ben Smith was guest speaker on Friday 31st March. Ben, who has run

401 marathons in 401 days—The 401 Day Challenge in 2015/2016 and

raised £310,000 for anti-bullying charities. “We were delighted that he took

time out of his hectic running and awareness schedule to speak to the Year 9s. Ben’s

openness and honesty whilst talking about his life had a hall full of pupils transfixed

and in awe. A wonderful honest and inspirational man who spent time with pupils

and staff afterwards sharing his advice.”

Rare treat for Year 9s

All pupils now have access to a new free e-library with 1000+ titles in the catalogue

A Word from HQ

It’s been a busy term—many varied activities—it’s great to see and hear the

buzz and energy applied to science, sport, arts, music, academia, enterprise,

design & technology, the new #LiteracyMatters initiative and the list goes

on…..

As you know, in recent weeks, the plight of funding available to existing

secondary and academy schools has been much in the news—the

Government’s ‘politically motivated’ decision to invest in new grammar and

multi-academy schools, while cutting funding to existing institutions is a

‘national tragedy’. It is increasingly frustrating to watch the huge funding crisis unfolding across the

teaching profession—I am forced to ask more of my Staff to ensure our pupils receive the first class

education and opportunities they deserve. Thank you to all Staff for their energy, enthusiasm and

dedication this term. But, also to parents and guardians for their continued support and wonderful

fundraising efforts — it really does make the difference to all children at the School.

A hush will descend over The Cotswold School as the full exam timetable gets underway. We wish all

our students all the best and to you all a Happy Easter.

CONTENTS

World Book Day School Trips BBC School Report Science Week International Page Sporting Achievements #MusicNotes Design & Technology News Sixth Form Building Work RAF Brize Norton Enterprise is Alive Red Nose Day

The Cotswold School Alumni Programme

We want to hear from you! It’s early beginnings for The Cotswold School Alumni Programme, with more details to follow over the coming months, but if you would like to sign up or know of past pupils who would like to get in touch, please contact: Kathryn Allison at Marketing@thecotswoldschool.co.uk. We are looking to revamp the website over the coming months—please bear with us throughout this process. Up-to-date calendar, dates, sports fixtures, trips etc. will still be available.

FOLLOW THE RED NOSE DAY

TRAIL...

Will Morgan

Principal

STAY IN TOUCH

www.cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/

Marketing@thecotswoldschool.co.uk

@Cotswold_School

The Cotswold School

The Cotswold School PTA

World Book Day 2017 D.E.A.R. ALL!

D.E.A.R.—Drop Everything and Read- and that’s exactly what happened at 10am on the 2nd of March as the whole school stopped what they were doing and read for 20 minutes. There was an array of wonderful book-inspired costumes—a fabulous sight! WBD Bingo took place in the Library at lunchtime and Year 8s and 9s were treated to a performance by the educationalist and workshop facilitator, Adisa, who aims to make poetry and performance accessible to all. He then carried out an entertaining workshop with the Year 7s. The annual reading-themed assemblies were this year run by Mrs Smith, English Department.

Students and staff raised money for Book Aid International - an organisation that raises money for books, resources and training in sub-Saharan Africa—many pupils dressing up as their favourite literary characters!

The ever-popular

Book Week Bingo!

D.E.A.R.—Drop Everything And Read Students and staff joined in the 20 minute

reading session, with some teachers electing to read to their students!

Award-winning, silver-tongued performance poet Adisa’s entertaining and interactive show for Years 8 & 9 was followed by poetry workshops in the Library for all Year 7 pupils.

School of Rock On 2nd March, Year 8 and 9 pupils were treated to

a trip to London to see School of Rock! They

gained experience in the workings of a large-stage theatre production as well as enjoying the show!

Mrs Monk

Head of Drama

A Level Geography students visited Wales this March, to study rivers, sand dunes and coastal vegetation. Before heading to Aberystwyth, the group stopped off in Gloucester to study urban regeneration, undertaking a compare and contrast project of Gloucester Docks and King’s Square. Under the ever-wonderful hospitality of Pat at Plas Dolau Country House Hostel, the group carried out a cross-sectional river analysis of the Afon Clarach, from source to mouth. This was followed by sand dune observations at Ynyslas looking at vegetation changes from beach to inland including diversity, height and wind speed. A beach profile was also carried out, looking at the gradient of slope and assessing the impact of human activity on sand dunes.

Geography Field Trip to Aberystwyth

Mrs Johnstone

Head of Geography

Trips & Visits

Curriculum Comes Alive Year 10 pupils travelled to Birmingham to listen to top tips on exam techniques, given by Tony Childs, Chief Examiner for AQA. Then followed a recital by 3 illustrious poets from their curriculum: John Agard, an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, who in 2012 was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry; The Scottish poet, Dame Carol Ann Duffey DBE FRSL who is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009; and Imtiaz Dharker, a Pakistan-born poet, artist and documentary filmmaker. She has won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A wonderful experience for all involved. #LiteracyMatters

Emily and Daisy Interview BBC TV News Director David Croxson What is your main role at the BBC? I am a News Director and direct the camera, people and the presenters throughout the news programmes. Have there ever been any big mistakes whilst you have been at work? Even if you make a big mistake, you have to carry on or make it look like there were no mistakes!

Has working at the BBC always been your passion? Yes, I decided when I was 15 I wanted to be a TV Director. Have you ever thought about leaving the BBC? Yes, most directors work for themselves and take jobs when they come up. What do you enjoy most about working in the BBC? It is such a big organisation and such an interesting job. I am proud to work there.

The Year 9 BBC School Report team and The Cotswold School wish to thank David for his help and support. MANY THANKS!

An interview with Ms Littler, Head of Year 7 & Key Stage 3 at The Cotswold School What do you like most about the Cotswold School? The thing I like most about this school is the pu-pils and getting to know them, their siblings and the relationships between their friends. What do you want to change about the school? The school could introduce an even better reward system, so pupils’ parents’ receive a greater number of phone calls about how their child is doing better at school. I would also like to see a wider variety of trips and an online shop. What are your main goals for work, for the next five years? I would like to become Deputy Head of this

School or another school. I would like to be able to maintain the amount of students coming to this school, to ensure everyone gets excellent results. What would you want for the future of The Cotswold School? I would like for us to get bigger/better school buildings, also for plans/ideas about the school to come to be realised, such as a bigger canteen and for the School and its pupils, to continue with its successful work. Why did you decide to become a teacher? I like to help others and to make sure we have students that know a language and arrange travel to places like Egypt and to visit international schools.

Interviewing Ms Littler,

Assistant Principal

Interview with Mrs Joynes, PE Department at The Cotswold School Firstly, what do you personally think of the new P.E. curriculum? It’s very broad, the curriculum is good because it has a range of sports and different challenges for pupils as well as leadership contests. How does the new curriculum differ to the old one? It allows us to offer a broader range of sports: dance, gymnastics and girls rugby in addition to traditional sports such as hockey. Do you think there will be a drop in the number of students taking GCSE PE now that the curriculum has changed? I don’t think there will be a decline, but I think

there will be a different type of student taking the subject. More academic students because of heavier science content than before. Do you think that it is a good thing now that it is 60% theory and 40% practical? Yes I do because I think there will be more emphasis placed on the scientific aspects rather than just the practical and thus appealing to more pupils. Do you think PE is an easy subject to take? No, you have to be talented in at least three different sports, the theory is challenging because of the scientific aspects and a lot of detailed theory writing is expected.

It’s said that some sports are sexist, what is your opinion on this? I think it is becoming less so because a lot more sports are being offered to both boys and girls, for example boys’ dance and girls’ rugby – it’s balancing out.

The Cotswold School’s BBC School Report team was hard at work on 16 March 2017, bringing news from the school, region and around the world. If you missed their Facebook/Twitter feeds on the day, you can still view their stories on the School website. “A huge Thank you to A-Level English Sixth Formers Hannah and

Hope for their help and guidance.”

#LiteracyMatters

Mrs Sewell

Head of English

The BBC School Report team

Year 10 STEM Day Windmill winners, l-r: Ben Gibbons, Bailey Mitchell, Tom Dennett, Charlie Gilbert and Lasse Stammberger. Congratulations!

British Science Week, 10th—19th March, saw pupils taking part in fun activities during Science and Engineering Club and Lunchtime Science Club

Above: Pupils creating Mars shuttles designed to keep a square of chocolate insulated against heat, and the winning team: Cameron Black and Maddie Ratcliffe!

The camera wasn’t quick enough to capture the rocket’s rapid ascent!

Tony Zhang and Kai Wilkinson, both Year 11, achieved fantastic results at the recent Physics Olympiad

which took place on 3rd March. Tony was in the top 10% of pupils in the country for the challenge and

achieved a Silver, whilst Kai was in the top 15% and got a Bronze.

Christopher Bridges, Year 10, along with two friends, competed in the Formula 1 in Schools Technology Challenge in March. The aim of the competition is to design, manufacture and test a miniature Formula 1 car. ‘Team Zoom’ placed second overall at the Regional competition at the South Devon University near Exeter, achieving first place for the fastest race time of 1.1 seconds over a 20m track and receiving trophies for fastest car and best sponsorship and marketing.

The team then headed off to the National Finals on 29th and 30th March, held at Silverstone, and won the Judges Recommendation Award—a highly commended award.

Well done and good luck next year!

Physics Olympiad

Dr Pearce STEM Co-ordinator

Just Landed!

Cultural Visit In February, the School hosted 37 students from Reitaku Junior High School, Japan. It was a one day visit as part of a tour organised by inlingua,

based in Cheltenham. Mr Edwards, Assistant Principal (Teaching and Learning) and Teaching School Manager says, “We host them every year so they can experience a UK education and improve their English. It is great for our students as they

learn first-hand about the Japanese culture and language. The cultural show, put on in the afternoon, after the students have experienced lessons, is always good fun.”

Little Flower Academy from Vancouver, Canada, visited The Cotswold School as part of their UK tour, playing friendly games at a number of schools. We were delighted to welcome them—a range of age and ability—and pitted against The Cotswold School’s team, made up of pupils from Years 9 to 13. This was a wonderful opportunity for some cross-cultural sportsmanship.

Mrs Joynes, PE Teacher says, “It was a really fair game and both

teams were well matched in ability. It was a 1-1 draw.”

Jolly Hockey Sticks

Year 10 and 12 pupils have just retuned from a week in Lannion, Northern Brittany. “The French and English pupils mixed beautifully and they all made great friends. There were a few tears on departure, but it looks like more than a few will keep in touch and might visit again soon. It was wonderful to see them all have such a great time!”

German Exchange to Miesbach, Bavaria

Work Experience Spotlight - During their recent trip to Lannion, Brittany, three Year

12 pupils took part in work experience in crêperies and a café. Mme Moss comments, Robbie Lord spent two days working in a crêperie and when Year 10 pupils and staff visited, he waited on us—he did a great job and the bosses were really happy with him.” In addition, Jack Porter carried out work experience in the German school - teaching English and helping out as an English assistant.

INTERNATIONAL PAGE

More photos to follow in the next issue! “It was a great success and more updates in the next issue!” Mrs Christian

MFL Department

Mme Moss French Teacher

French Exchange

Izzy Lovat Izzy Lovat, Year 9, represented The Cotswold School Equestrian Team in the NSEA dressage event, finishing 5th in the Preliminary test and 2nd in the Novice test, which took place at Kings Equestrian in Bromyard. This is a fantastic result on her horse Archie, aged six. Well done Izzy and Archie!

Cross Country Stars

Jack Mundiñano, Year 12, has won the 2016/17 Gloucestershire Cross Country League Under 17. Jack has also participated in the Schools County Champions League, running at St Edwards School in Cheltenham, Newent, Cardiff and Truro, and is preparing for the last race in Norwich for the Nationals. He also competed in his first Duathlon this February at Castle Combe, coming 3rd in his age category. The Charity 'Cass & Friends’, which aims to raise money to sponsor up-and-coming athletes has also chosen Jack as one of three young athletes to sponsor.

Sporting Achievements

Mrs Holland, Head of Philosophy, ran in the

Manchester Marathon on 2nd April to raise

money for mental

health charity, Mind,

and Macmillan Cancer

Support, breaking her 4

hour record—3:58:58!

Thank you for your

support - she raised

£900!

Well done Mrs Holland!

Mrs Holland

Niamh Powell

Mr Smith, D&T Department, will be running the London

Marathon on 23rd April, for Macmillan Cancer Support—a

charity close to his heart. If you would like to sponsor him,

please visit his Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Matthew-Smith151

Alex Scrivener

Niamh Powell, Year 11, came 1st in her age group at the recent National Cross Country Championship, following on from her triumph at the Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships.

Alexandra Scrivener, Year 9, has made her England debut after an impressive performance at the New Balance English Schools’ Cross Country Championships, in Norwich, where she finished third. One of the nicest quotes we’ve heard at Cotswold HQ is “The image of Alex with her hands over her mouth and tears of sheer delight at her achievement, remain long in the memory of those who witnessed one of the best finishes of the day.” The following weekend, Alex took her place in the England team camp at Mawgan in South Wales for a briefing and spent the night with the rest of the team. The whole event was a success for England with the girls winning team gold.

Jack Mundiñano

Mr Smith, D&T

Department, has

developed a QR

code which links

to The Design

Technology Association

website—do take a look!

Delightful aromas were once again circulating around the School corridors as Year 11 Catering students created

international dishes for their GCSE Controlled Assessment. “Students had three hours to prepare, cook and serve two dishes for two covers based on a country of their choice. It was a chance for students to really highlight their skills, for this, the culmination of their GCSE. Students excelled with tricky dishes, such as pistachio flavoured choux with Chantilly cream, steamed hake with sauce béarnaise and homemade pasta dishes of lasagne and carbonara. Delicately flavoured raspberry macaroons by Kate Aitken, Jasmine Whitaker’s Seafood Bouillabaisse and Tabitha Davies’ Indian inspired trio of desserts: Thoothukudi meringue, gujia, and mango sorbet were highlights of the day. The tasting and marking of all these dishes, as you can imagine, was extremely difficult indeed, but I suppose someone had to do it!”

#MusicNotes

Pupil becomes youngest Oxford University organist

Louis Moss, a Year 8 pupil, has become the youngest Young Organ Scholar at Jesus College Oxford.

Louis is the youngest person ever to play the organ for an Oxford College and one of only 750 young

people now thought to be learning to play the organ in the UK. Louis has already started

to assist the musicians in the organ loft and will start to play hymns for services in the

spring.

He says, “It is great to play such an amazing instrument. I’m looking forward to improving further

through my organ scholarship at Jesus College.” “I just like the fact it’s a loud instrument!”

SPACES AVAILABLE We’re delighted to offer violin, cello and clarinet lessons. For more information or to book a place, please contact Mrs Powell: musicadmin@thecotswoldschool.co.uk

Huge Congratulations to Triple Time and the Flutets, who played at the recent Chipping Norton Music Festival. The Triple Time Clarinet Group were Imogen Sneath, Abigail Mackay, Lily Maunder-Bushell and Albertine Wheeler. The Flutets were Sally Cannon, Emily Yates, Harriet Adams and Tisa Maunder-Bushell.

In the ensemble class, Triple Time beat Flutets and were awarded a Distinction and the Certificate. Albertine Wheeler won her class and was awarded a Distinction and the Certificate. Lily Maunder-Bushell and Abigail Mackay, both achieved commended for their performances. Grace Clare performed a solo and was awarded a Distinction and was invited back to perform in the end of Festival Concert on 18th March. Well done to all involved and special thanks to Mrs Meyrick for organising this and all the extra rehearsals.

Mr M Smith D&T Department

RAF Brize Norton Trip

“Very informative

about different ways

to join/showed

different routes into

the RAF.”

“I’m now more likely to join

up as the support and

opportunities stated sounded

good. I really enjoyed my time

on the plane and in the air

borne centre.”

“Enjoyed seeing

the lifestyle from

different

perspectives.”

Enjoyed the tours of

each squadron –

“helped to make a

better decision to which

trade I would go in.”

“I liked the

staff – were so

friendly and

open.”

“It was a great day and I am thinking about applying to Brize Norton – information was good, enjoyed seeing a different work style”

“I learnt that it

isn’t as hard to get

into the RAF and

there are many

roles.”

THE NEW FLAGSHIP SIXTH FORM CENTRE AT THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL

BEGINS… Construction is underway of the new, flagship Sixth Form Centre within the grounds of The Cotswold School. The new centre will be created through the extension and alterations of one of the School’s existing two storey teaching blocks. The site at The Cotswold School area, is in two parts – a larger study room and a new common room at one end of the ‘old’ Geography building and two further classrooms at the other end. The existing building will link these two ends, via the current classrooms. This will ensure the Sixth Form Centre is on one, new site. The success of the Sixth Form, in recent years, has seen a steady growth of pupils attending with 200 in 2007, rising to over 260 in 2016/2017. Over the last 3 years, 15 students have received offers to Oxbridge and students going on to study at Russell Group universities has seen an unprecedented doubling in growth over a 5 year period, from 2012 to 2016 leavers. The new centre, designed by Gloucestershire-based Thomas Dean Architects, will utilise various green technologies including natural ventilation, high levels

of natural daylight, externally located solar shading and high insulation levels and will be constructed of robust, ethically resourced materials. Facilities will provide the following: - A multi-purpose ground floor common room,

equipped with multimedia facilities A first floor large study area equipped with

computer desking/fixed and bring your own devices to allow for independent study

Various offices, smaller meeting and counselling rooms, 2 classrooms for bespoke teaching and learning space and modern, contemporary social spaces

Building works commenced in early March 2017, with Snape Construction awarded as the site contractors. The Centre is due for completion in autumn 2017 with the initial phase ready for use at the start of the new academic 2017/2018 year.

YEAR 7s WIN ENTERPRISE AWARD Resilience, determination and creativity were all shown by 5 groups of Year 7s that entered The Cotswold School Enterprise programme – ‘The £10 Challenge’. The winners are Lottie Denne and Elke Hammerstein for their Christmas Wreaths and Valentine’s Day cards business. Run by Stuart Langworthy, Business Studies Teacher and holder of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, the aim is to raise awareness of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship amongst younger students at School. The projects all began in autumn 2016 with an initial launch assembly to the whole group which was narrowed down to 5 feasible groups. The groups were led by three sixth formers, Faye Conisbee, Siobhan Danks and Leah Clarke, as Subject Ambassadors. Mr Langworthy explains, “The groups had to work through the whole process of trading from how to use the initial £10, coming up with the creative ideas through to final presentation and pitch to win. With the Subject Ambassadors, this created a ‘double whammy’ approach as whilst the Year 7s developed their skills through teamwork, presentation, resilience, ICT and financial awareness, the sixth formers developed their skills of leadership, motivation, teamwork, and confidence. This is all done voluntarily, in addition to their A Levels.” Elke comments, “The most valuable attributes I learnt from this experience was to speak up, give my opinion, but vitally listening to others and realising that I couldn’t always use my ideas, but to compromise.” Lottie says, “I really enjoyed this experience – we had a successful business, but unfortunately we learnt a harsh lesson when the wreaths had to be recalled, but we still made money following the sale of the Valentine Cards. We have both learnt an important lesson - we should never give up.” The winners received the Stuart Langworthy Trophy for Enterprise. Enterprise will continue with Year 8s running a similar initiative, later in the academic year.

We speak to entrepreneur Faye Conisbee, Year 12, who began her own company, Ugly6, two years ago…

In the Beginning…. I started Ugly6 two years ago, when I was 15 years old, in the Year 10 summer holidays - the summer before beginning Year 11. The initial shop began with only two pairs of socks, as they were the cheapest to buy! After selling these on Depop, I was able to buy four more and this continued until I was taking around 3 orders a week from only a handful of Instagram followers. I quickly discovered that there was a gap in the market for quirky Instagram-based shops in the UK. The majority of shops were United States-based and thus expensive for buyers to pay shipping costs. The shop filled this gap! Growing I used the money I was slowly gaining from sales, as well as some money I’d saved from my Saturday job, to increase my stock and add other products including t-shirts, patches, phone cases and badges, and over time bought more and more of these products. Present day Moving forward to today, I am studying Business, Sociology, Economics and English Literature at A Level. In addition, I am a Business Studies Subject Ambassador and running Enterprise Club with Year 7. I am currently clearing 100 orders a week with over 25,000 followers on Instagram, and customers all over the world - ironically mostly from the United States! Looking ahead I recently invested in a heat-press, transfer papers and blank t-shirts and I’m currently emailing some popular artists to see if they are interested in collaborating. I have also been in contact with the magazine ‘The Messy Heads’ who are interested in writing an article on Ugly6! After I finish my A Levels I’m looking into either taking a business management or business and economics course at university or just staying on with my shop full time. Top Tips My main and single tip to anyone looking to start their own business is to just jump in and actually get started as soon as possible, instead of dwelling on it and thinking about it for ages and never actually getting a chance to begin! After that, just make sure you have a clear business plan with creative ideas for the future that you’ll be able to refer to and use as a guide while growing your business.

Enterprise is Alive at The Cotswold School

Stuart Langworthy with pupils, l-r: Siobhan Danks, Lottie

Denne, Elke Hammerstein and Faye Conisbee

A huge THANK YOU to all who contributed on the day -

we raised a whopping £2,000 for Comic Relief 2017!

www.cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/

Marketing@thecotswoldschool.co.uk

@Cotswold_School The Cotswold School

The Cotswold School PTA

An architects impression of the new Sixth Form Centre

HAPPY EASTER!

TERM RETURNS ON

MONDAY 24 APRIL