Headteacher's Welcome
At The Cottesloe School, we believe that every student deserves the opportunity to thrive academically, socially, and personally. Our dedicated staff work tirelessly to create an environment where students are encouraged to explore their interests, develop their talents, and achieve their full potential. We pride ourselves on our inclusive and supportive atmosphere, where respect, integrity, and a love of learning are at the core of everything we do.
It is a privilege to serve as the Headteacher of The Cottesloe School, where our dedicated staff and I are committed to maximising the life chances of all our students. We strive to create a rich, deep, vibrant, and challenging learning experience for everyone. Our students benefit from highly qualified and exceptionally committed staff who emphasise creative and challenging teaching, strong pastoral care, and uphold high professional standards.
"Prepare, Aspire, Succeed" is more than our motto, it embodies our educational philosophy. It is the guiding principle behind everything we do at The Cottesloe School.
Prepare; build your foundation, shape your future
Aspire; go confidently in the direction of your dreams
Success; achieve excellence, celebrate success
Our carefully designed curriculum pathways cater to the diverse needs of our students, offering an excellent range of options in GCSE and A-Level qualifications, alongside various vocational courses. This breadth of choice allows each student to pursue their interests and goals effectively.
Each child follows a ‘Cottesloe Journey’ that ensures that they develop the necessary knowledge, skills and qualities to be successful. This journey is shaped by learning in the classroom and is integrated with educational trips and visits, clubs and extracurricular opportunities to create a holistic learning experience. The vision of this journey is to inspire learning and promote a sense of fulfilment from educational and personal achievement.
10 things you need to know about The Cottesloe School
Relationships
Our school is founded on creating and sustaining Healthy Relationships. All members of the school community are expected to demonstrate the qualities that reflect how we should treat others, ourselves and the wider community. Treating others with respect, equality and being honest are non-negotiable. Success in life comes from investing in positive relationships that support our aspirations.
Learning Habits
Acquiring knowledge and skills requires students to develop some important learning habits - we call these our 6Cs; Challenge, Cooperation, Collaboration, Coaching, Creative and Critical Thinking. We can learn as much from the world as we can about the world through learning in different ways. Coaching another student how to do something is just as valuable as the ‘thing’ itself.
High Aspirations and Standards
Our mission statement is firmly grounded in making sure every student sets their sights as high as possible. Being the best version of yourself is central to achieving your dreams and ambitions. A positive mindset and attitude to learning, being well-organised, punctual, high attendance and being smartly dressed show us you mean business and are here to achieve great things.
Committed and Caring Staff
We have experienced teachers and leaders who are central to our success. Parents and students often comment that our staff are amazing and go the ‘extra mile’ to support our students. Staff are experts in their field and passionate about their subjects; they want our students to learn about the best things in their subject and grow into inquisitive and independent lifelong learners.
The Cottesloe Journey
The ‘Cottesloe Journey’ is something we always refer to with students and parents. This begins even before a student joins us. We have strong relationships with our feeder schools and this is important to create a positive transition. There are many important milestones and opportunities throughout secondary school. Ensuring students are equipped and ready at each of these is essential. Increasingly, we see this journey as a 7-year plan; many students stay on into our successful Sixth Form, and we support their transition into apprenticeships, university or the world of work.
Safeguarding and Wellbeing
Safeguarding is our primary goal. Students who feel safe and happy will succeed at school. We have a large, trained and experienced team of Designated Safeguarding Leads. We have dedicated wellbeing staff whose role is solely to support students and families and remove barriers to learning created by anxiety or other mental health concerns. TEAM Hub is home to Teddy, our wellbeing dog, who is a popular member of staff, along with our Sixth Form Wellbeing Ambassadors and Counsellors.
Outcomes
Good exam results create opportunities for our students to thrive and take their next steps in training, education or the world of work. Students of all abilities are challenged to achieve aspirational targets throughout their time at school. Staff, students and parents work closely to ensure that underachievement is not accepted. Excellence or being the ‘best version of yourself’ is a key theme.
Destinations and Careers
Achieving aspirational outcomes and taking the wider opportunities the school offers is key to our students taking the next steps at key milestones. Our careers provision is of high quality; we have achieved all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks. Students across all key stages follow a structured roadmap that provides them with relevant and up-to-date guidance to support their decision-making throughout their Cottesloe Journey.
Sense of Community
There is a strong sense of togetherness across the school and wider community. This was typified during the recent school closures during the pandemic. Students and staff work closely with each other, look after each other and support the wider community. We regularly support local and national charities with fundraising events such as Macmillian, a local food bank project and Christmas appeals. We are a Beacon School for the Centre for Holocaust Education to support the quality of learning and expectations of the school.
Student-centred Support
The students and their development are at the centre of our decision making. Creating a structured journey from the curriculum they study, to the wider educational experiences such as trips they attend, the quality of teaching they receive and the advice and support they receive to remain healthy, safe and happy is centred around our students. Our vision is to enable them to achieve a sense of personal and educational fulfilment from this journey.