Head of School Letter 15th July 202415/07/2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

We’ve nearly completed another academic year! This is the final Head of School letter for this academic year as we’ve got six and half more school days before the summer holiday. Although it’s not long, learning will continue this week. There is some fun planned with the STEAM trips heading to Legoland, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers next Monday. The final day of the academic year is  Tuesday 23rd July. 

Staff farewells Whilst saying goodbye to colleagues as they move onto their next steps can be tinged with sadness for the whole community, we celebrate the opportunities and adventures that lie ahead for everyone that will be leaving The Cottesloe School this summer. We thank them all very much for their service.

Mrs Nicola Brimmell will be leaving a very big hole in TEAM Hub’s wellbeing support. After six years of supporting so many students to navigate the ups and downs of their teenage years, she is taking a well deserved break. She will be incredible at whatever comes next for her. 

Mrs Janice Hammons is retiring, having joined the school as a teaching assistant over nineteen years ago, she went on to qualify as a teacher, teaching Maths for the past ten years. Janice was instrumental in the development of the school gardening club and the Wellbeing Garden, created by students during Lockdown. Thank you to Janice for helping students develop a love for gardening and giving them a real purpose during their time in school during Covid - many of them attending because their parents were key workers. 

Mrs Helen Norris, a Maths teacher at The Cottesloe School for five years is continuing her teaching career at a school closer to home. 

Mrs Steph Rawlins, a member of the English department is making a slight career change by moving to work as a class teacher in a Special School. 

Mrs Pam Rowlands has been at The Cottesloe School for nearly ten years, supporting students with SEND predominantly in Science. She has been a key member of the Exams Team, managing the exams concessions rooms, ensuring JCQ procedures are correctly followed. Happy retirement to Pam, we will miss her incredible organisational skills.  

Mrs Sophie Russell has taught English with us for three years and is leaving the teaching profession to spend more time with her family. 

Miss Jade Slee joined the school as a Newly Qualified Teacher of English in July 2019. Very excitingly, she is leaving to take up the post of Librarian in a school in Prague.  Hodně štěstí to Jade!

Mrs Jo Swaby, our Reprographics champion who has ensured everyone has had their resources copied on time for the last seventeen years is moving house to Lincolnshire with her family. 

Mrs Lesley Wright has taught Maths at The Cottesloe School for five and a half years. Lesley qualified as a teacher over forty-two years ago and we wish her every happiness in her retirement. Thank you to Lesley for giving such an amazing length of service to the teaching profession and to education - she has had a positive impact on the lives of an incredible number of children across the years.  

Also, although not leaving us, we wish Mr Passaro and his wife the very best for the imminent arrival of a new baby, expected during the summer holidays. 

End of the year  A gentle reminder that school finishes at 1pm on Tuesday 23rd July. School transport will collect students from the coach park at 1pm. Please support us in ensuring all students are able to get away promptly so that we are also able to send our staff on their well deserved holiday, thank you.

Start of 2024-2025 - important dates and times  For 2024-2025 term dates please see here: Parents Term Dates School opens for staff training days on Tuesday 3rd September and Wednesday 4th September. All students return to school on Thursday 5th September at 8:30am. 

You will already be aware that the school day timings are changing from September. The start of the day is moving to be ten minutes earlier with registration starting at 8:30am. School transport timetables are shared with families by the Local Authority in August; AM bus collection timings will reflect, where necessary, the amended school start time. 

Wing Family Fest -  Save the date! The fest has been rescheduled for Saturday 21st September from 12pm to 4pm. A letter has gone out to families with information about booking tickets, requesting refunds or donating your Colour Run entry fees. 

Year 7 History Walks If you live in or around Wing, you might have seen some lovely feedback from our local community in Wing that was posted on the Wing Facebook page this week. Understanding your own local history is a key part of the KS3 curriculum. All week, our Year 7 classes have been experiencing the local history of Wing through a two-hour walk through time. A local resident, taking a walk break from their day of home working and online meetings, encountered a group of students in hi-vis. They praised the students’ respectful behaviour and the way they thanked the resident for letting them all pass along a narrow footpath. The comments underneath the post were equally as positive and wonderful to read. One of the things that visitors notice when walking around the school site is the way students and adults interact with one another - holding doors open, saying thank you, wishing them a good morning or afternoon.  Having a member of the local community see what we see everyday and taking the time to share with the rest of the community was wonderful. 

Thanks to the History team and other colleagues who have supported the walks this week. Considerable planning goes into this type of event - although not far from school, risk assessments and the itinerary is detailed to ensure everyone is able to participate safely.

Thames Valley Police Parents & Carers Cyber Choices webinars Following the resounding success and popularity of the Parents & Carers Cyber Choices webinars that TVP ran back in February and March of this year, they are offering four more sessions over the summer. The Cyber Choices sessions for parents, looking at how we can help to safeguard young people from committing computer misuse offences, and why this needs to happen, can be booked now via this link: Cyber Choices by Police - South East Cyber | Eventbrite 

These sessions last around an hour and are totally FREE to attend. They are aimed at parents/carers of a wide range of children/young people, from KS2 pupils (7-8 year olds) right up to college/uni students (18+)  Each webinar covers the same material, so you only need to sign up for one of them.

TVP Police from Cyber Protect are running separate webinars for parents and carers, with a focus on protecting children from online threats. These sessions – also FREE - can be booked here: Online Safety for Parents by Police - South East Cyber | Eventbrite 

Camps International Cambodia The Camps International teams left school very early last Friday morning for 29 days of adventures. 47 students from The Cottesloe School have set out, accompanied by Mr Curtis, Mr Waite, Mr Clawson, Miss Gamage and Mrs Hankin. We wish them all very safe but incredible travels. 

Sport There were no fixtures to report on this week but we are looking forward to welcoming lots of Year 6s to the Transition Games this week. A huge thank you to all the PE staff, and other colleagues who have supported so many fixtures and opportunities this academic year, in rain, shine, heat and freezing temperatures. Whatever the outcome of each match or tournament, our PE teachers always celebrate the successes and lessons learnt for next time, on and off the field.

Year 13 Tonight's the night of the Year 13 Prom. We are looking forward to celebrating the end of their school education with our wonderful Year 13 students,  and hearing all about what they’ve been up to since the exams finished and what lies ahead for them next year. 

Year 10 It was wonderful to welcome over three quarters of our Year 10 families to our Year 10 into 11 information evening last Monday. We worked out that  it was the face to face in school event for this particular year group since they started secondary school in September 2020, because of Covid restrictions. The feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive and we intend to continue to develop more face to face opportunities in the coming academic year. 

Work Experience started on Wednesday and so far, we’ve heard brilliant things from students about their experiences. I caught up with one student on Friday afternoon who is working at a finance company in Canary Wharf; he is really enjoying it but finding the daily train travel in and out of London quite tough!  

Year 9 Year 9 will be off to Alton Towers next Monday.

Year 8 Year 8 are off to Thorpe Park next Monday.

Year 7 Year 7 are off to Legoland next Monday.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank you all very much for the support over the past two terms in my role as Head of School. The Cottesloe School is a wonderful place to work and learn; I am very proud of everything we’ve achieved as a community - students, staff and families over the last academic year. I hope you have a safe and peaceful summer, doing the things that make you happy, with the people that are most important to you. I’m looking forward to celebrating exam results with some of you in August and welcoming everyone back to school in September. 

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.

Best wishes, 

Louise Baldwin

Head of School