Head of School Letter 3rd June 202403/06/2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

It’s hard to believe that it's already the final term of the school year! So much has happened over the last ten months and yet it feels as though it was not long ago that we were welcoming Year 7 to the school at the start of their secondary school journey. This term promises to be another exciting one, filled with a number of different experiences and opportunities for all year groups. A key part of this term is looking ahead to September and ensuring everything is ready for a smooth start to the 2024-2025 academic year. This includes Transition and welcoming the new Year 7 students to the school. It’s really enjoyable to visit students in their primary schools, answer their questions and help them put faces to names of key members of staff who will be working with them when they join us in September. An incredible amount of work goes into the planning and preparation of Transition; thank you to our Transition Coordinator, Mrs Moore for her time and energy in ensuring students are well prepared for what lies ahead.

Building Work If you visit the school this term, you’ll definitely notice the building work is under way. Thank you to everyone during the last week of term in adapting to the changes to parking and site access. These changes will continue for the foreseeable future.   

Year 11 Celebration We said a formal farewell to our brilliant Year 11 students on the last day of term. They had a great afternoon signing shirts on the field, spending time with their form tutors, some of whom have been with them since Year 7, and remembering successes throughout the years in their final Celebration Assembly. A very big thank you to the incredible team of Year 11 tutors: Mrs Savine, Mr Clawson, Mr Herman, Miss Goddard, Mrs Nicholls, Mr Brokenbrow, Mr Knightley and Mrs Bye, as well as Mr Magill who has led the year group as Head of Year since Year 11 joined the school in 2019. 

British Physics Olympiad Congratulations are in order for a number of students across Years 7 to 10 who participated in British Physics Olympiad competitions over the last term. The British Physics Olympiad, organised by Oxford University on an annual basis since 1982,  encourages the study of physics and recognises excellence in young physicists through fourteen annual physics competitions. Certificates are awarded at Commendation, Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. The very best A Level students can go on to represent Great Britain at the International Physics Olympiad.

All of Year 8 and most of Year 7 competed in the Year 7/8 Physics Challenge, a new competition for 2024. At The Cottesloe School, an incredible 27 students achieved a Gold award! Our four highest scorers were Charlotte in 7D, Felix in 7O, Freddie in 8R and Frederick in 8O.  All students in Years 9 and 10 competed in the Junior Physics Challenge, with three Gold awards being achieved by TCS students: Silas in 9C, Ella in 10O and Alfie in 10H. In addition to this, two Year 11 students stayed after school to compete in the Junior Physics Challenge, with both students achieving Gold awards: Jack in 11E and Finlay in 11T. Certificates have been presented to all Commended, Bronze, Silver and Gold achievers in their Science lessons. Thank you very much to Miss Gamage for organising the opportunity, and a very well done to everyone who accepted the challenge and participated. 

Uniform Following the confirmation of a change in school skirt style at the end of last half-term, a reminder that the deadline to request a free skirt for students in current Years 7 to 10 is this coming Friday, 7th June. This is to ensure orders arrive in time for September. Here’s the form link: https://forms.gle/XyWhcvMGk5FL2hA77  

The weather for this coming week looks to be in the mid to high teens; students need to wear their full school uniform including blazers to school, and around the site, unless it is their day to wear their PE kit to school. Students are able to remove blazers in classrooms if they need to. During the parental consultation regarding skirts, a few parents requested that shorts be incorporated into the uniform. We don’t have a specific winter/summer uniform and at present have no plans to make additional changes to the uniform such as introducing shorts. We are aware that one local secondary school in Aylesbury is trialling school shorts this term; it may be something we consider in the future. 

Wing Family Fest Saturday 6th July 2024 Another reminder that tickets can be purchased for the Colour Run at Wing Family Fest - here’s the link to book tickets:  Friends of Cottesloe PTA Colour Run This is a community event open to everyone, not just families with children attending either school so share with your friends and neighbours to encourage them to come along for what looks to be a brilliant day.  

Sports Fixtures and Results On Thursday 23rd May, a team of triathletes travelled to Stoke Mandeville Stadium to participate in the Bucks Secondary School Triathlon competition. Split into age groups of Year 7/8 and Year 9/10, teams participated in swimming in the stadium pool, cycling on Spin bikes and running around the stadium track, over different distances according to their ages. Year 7/8 girls came 15th out of 16 teams, Year 7/8 boys came 12th out of 13 teams. Year 9/10 boys came 8th out of 14 teams and the Year 9/10 girls took the Bronze medal, coming third place out of 12 teams. Congratulations to the Year 9/10 girls and to everyone who took part - the photos suggest it was a lot of fun to participate in! 

This week there’s cricket matches at Buckingham for the U15 girls and at home for the U13 girls, as well as a cricket tournament for the U13 girls at Ascott on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, we’ll be welcoming Year 2 sports people from local primary schools to participate in a Multi Skills Primary Festival, supported by our own Year 9 Sports Leaders. 

Year 13 and Year 11 Public exams continue this week, with an increased number of A Level exams taking place. Although both year groups are now on study leave, they are very welcome to come into school to study and have been encouraged to get in touch with their teachers and tutors for support, or if they need help with specific topics/past paper questions.  

Year 10 A letter will be coming out to parents later this week with details of a face to face information evening in the school hall on Monday 8th July,  to support students and families with the transition into Year 11. Year 10 students will be on Work Experience from Wednesday 10th July.  

Year 9 Another group of students undertaking their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award will be out on expedition on Thursday and Friday this week - we wish students well on their adventure! 

Have a great week and thank you for your ongoing support.

Best wishes, 

Louise Baldwin

Head of School