Head of School Letter 25th March 202425/03/2024

What a whirlwind of a term it's been! As we approach the well-deserved break, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the incredible achievements, experiences, and personal growth our students have shown over the past eleven weeks. From the sobering yet impactful visit to Treblinka, which provided a powerful context for students studying GCSE History and Ethics and Philosophy, to the exploration of Dorset's dramatic coastline for the Year 12 Geographers this weekend just gone, this term has offered a truly diverse spectrum of learning opportunities. From sporting triumphs on the football and rugby pitches, netball and badminton courts, as well as on cross country courses, the brilliant victories in the Rotary Technology tournament, to the exam results from students taking singing and instrumental exams, all these achievements and more have showcased the dedication and talent of our students. We've also seen them rise to the challenge of mock exams, with some students taking real exams this term, with grades contributing to their overall outcomes. The Options and Choices processes have been another highlight, with students demonstrating impressive maturity as they navigate their future pathways. Thank you for the support you’ve offered in helping your child make progress this term.

Parent Survey: Seeking the views of parents, and other stakeholders is important to help inform our school self-evaluation process. https://forms.gle/vwZzATYxcuMGcmHQ9. It plays a key part in our development planning for the year(s) ahead. We value your opinions and want to hear what you think of The Cottesloe School. What do we do well? What are the things that you think we need to improve on, to support your child(ren) make progress? We’d be grateful if you could complete the survey, and answer honestly. Your feedback will help us really focus on the areas that need to be further improved and so that our community can recognise and celebrate the things we are excelling at. If you have a specific or immediate concern, please don't use this survey but get in touch via the usual contact routes such as form tutor, Head of Year, subject teacher or curriculum leader as appropriate.

Change in the school day: You will have received a letter from the Chair of Governors last week regarding a proposal to adjust the school day to start ten minutes earlier and increase tutor time and lunch time by five minutes each in order that the school meets the DfE’s minimum expectation on the length of the school week of 32.5 hours for all mainstream, state-funded schools. If you have comments about the proposal, please get in touch via the dedicated email address: consultation@cottesloe.bucks.sch.uk

One lunch: As part of the planning and preparation, should the school day start time and length of day change, we will be trialling everyone taking lunch at the same time when we return after Easter. Currently, we operate two lunch times: early lunch at 12:20pm and late lunch at 1:20pm, this measure was introduced as part of social distancing requirements when students returned to school following one of the COVID lockdowns. We chose to move lunch to the earlier session at 12:20pm to support public exams which cannot start any earlier than 1pm. Moving to one lunch means the school will be quiet for the duration of afternoon exams. Trialling a return to one lunchtime will allow us to identify and resolve possible challenges this change may bring, such as ensuring all students and staff can access the canteen, or somewhere to sit and eat and take a break from learning. A timetable of lunchtime clubs and activities will be on offer - currently, the lunchtime activity offer is limited because the two-week timetable means a teacher can be on different lunch breaks across both weeks. On the first day back after Easter, there will be a short assembly for each year group where we will explain the practicalities, for example where each year group will line up for access to the canteen and which toilets are open for specific year groups.

Please see the new school day timings.

Staff Farewells: We will be saying goodbye to some staff at the end of this term. Mrs Ayling, our Exams Officer, is moving onto the same role in a bigger secondary school. Our new Exams Officer, Mrs Hall, started with us last week and a comprehensive handover has taken place to ensure all our students are fully supported this summer. We also say goodbye to Mrs Lambourne, Teacher of PE, who has been with us since 2012. She is moving to a school closer to home. Finally, we say goodbye to Miss Inns, the Science Technician. Freya completed her A Levels with us in 2023 and has been working in the Science department since the start of the academic year. We wish her well as she heads off travelling - we’re looking forward to hearing about her amazing adventures when she returns! Thank you to them all for the service and contributions they have made to our school community.

Sports Results: It was another bumper week for sport, including a number of end-of-season netball tournaments, some badminton matches and a Primary School Skills 4 Life Festival hosted at The Cottesloe School, ably supported by our Year 9 Sports Leaders students. In the netball tournaments, there were some excellent performances across all year groups. 10A came first and won all of their matches; 10B won 1, drew 1 and lost 1; Year 11 Lost 2, drew 1 and Year 9 lost all their matches. Year 7 and Year 8 will play their end-of-season netball tournaments this coming week. The Year 7 Rugby team played Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School with a loss of 25-10. On Tuesday, the Year 11 boys' football team played in the league cup semi-final against Royal Latin School. With a scoreline of 2-2 at full-time, it went to penalties. Unfortunately for the boys, the end result was a tough loss of 10-9 in sudden death penalties. We are proud of all students who have represented the school across a wide variety of sports throughout this Spring term. We’re looking forward to the cricket and athletics ahead in the Summer term.

Ski Trip: A group of nearly 50 students and teachers will head to the slopes in Kaprun, Austria on Friday morning for a week of skiing. The forecast suggests that there’ll be some snow this week and whilst they’re in the resort.

Assessment Point 2: AP2 reports will be available to access this week via G4S.

Year 13: Year 13 Parents Evening will take place on Wednesday and we wish good luck to our Year 13 A-Level Art students who will undertake their mock exam on Tuesday.

End and Start of term: We finish at 3pm on Thursday 28th March. Students return to school after the break on Tuesday 16th April. Monday 15th April is a Staff INSET Day.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday; a very Happy Easter to families who will be celebrating next weekend and Eid Mubarak to families who will be celebrating Eid in April. Thank you, as ever, for your support.

Yours sincerely
Mrs L Baldwin
Head of School