NEWS April 2019

NEWS
The Cotswold School
April 2019
View the Wonderful Images of the Ski Trip
Sixth Form Trip to Berlin & Krakow
World Book Day 2019!
Budding Scientists Enjoy Trip to CERN
A Fascinating Brain Day & Evening
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The Cotswold School PTA News
WELL DONE!
THANK YOU!
THE QUIZ NIGHT RAISED OVER £1,500 FOR SCHOOL!
The QUIZ NIGHT was a great success. We raised over £1,500—
and it was the best attended quiz to date! Thanks to all who
came along and to the generosity of local business sponsorship
and donations for the raffle. The winning team, made up of staff
from The Cotswold School, was The Rocket Scientists & David!
Well done!
We would like to thank again Essence Hair & Beauty in Bourton
on The Water; J. Hackling Transport in Bourton on The Water; J.
Harris - The Cotswold Tutor; and Robert Cox - Pilates 4 U in
sponsoring some of the Quiz rounds. Thank you to all who
donated prizes for the raffle on the night: High Bridge Jewellers,
Bourton on The Water; Badham Pharmacy - Upper Rissington;
Smith’s Restaurant - Bourton on The Water; The Coach&Horses
Ali Baba Indian Restaurant - Bourton on The Water; The
Cotswold Brewery and Klaudia Lucas, Tropical Beauty Products.
WELL DONE TO THE ROCKET SCIENTISTS & DAVID—THE
WINNERS!
Can you spare some time to get involved in
The Cotswold School PTA? Come along to
our next meeting on the 21st of May 2019
at 7.00 pm in the School Library.
CAN YOU BAKE A CAKE OR SPARE SOME TIME?
Chastleton National Trust - St Mary’s Church:
The Cotswold School PTA will be serving tea, coffee and cakes in
order to raise extra funds for pupils at the School. Last year we
raised £4,100 and we hope to do even better this year!
If you can bake a cake or two, or if you can spare a few hours to
help us serving during our allocated dates, please get in touch by
emailing: pta@thecotswoldschool.co.uk.
The allocated dates are:
31/3/2019 29/6/2019
24/4/2019 6/7/2019
19/5/2019 18/7/2019
12/6/2019 25/9/2019 and 6/10/2019
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Welcome...
Contents
2 The Cotswold School PTA
Word from HQ
Will Morgan, Principal
3 Word from HQ
4/5 Ski Trip to Wagrain
6 Open Days
7 Trip to Berlin/Krakow
8 CERN Trip
9 World Book Day
10 Brain Day/Bank of England Talk
11 Testicular Cancer Assembly/Lady Margaret
Hall Trip
12 Big Bang Fair/Fame Lab
13 Brittany Trip/Year 10 Work Experience
14 Sportive
15 Holocaust Day/STEM Riat/Pink Kangaroo/
Chipping Norton Music Festival
16/17 Sports Updates
18 Fairtrade Talk/Aston Martin Trip
19 Governors’ Corner/House News
20 Diary/Year 5 Open Day/Red Nose Day
The Cotswold School
Former Pupils’ Programme
Are you a former pupil?
Do you know a former pupil?
Clarity is a keyword to summarise this term.
Thank you to all those who came along to the “Funding Issues –
Reality Check” meeting. It was an engaging and informative
evening for both parents and staff. What is clear is that per pupil
funding is set at £4,778 which falls below the pre-confirmed
£4,800, leaving us with a shortfall that we did not or should not
expect. The definition of clarity is ‘the quality of being coherent
and intelligible’. How can we be coherent and intelligible with you,
when the information that was confirmed changed. We will aim to
be as clear and honest going forward, but it makes it a challenge
when the goalposts keep changing. The feedback at and following
the meeting has been incredibly positive. We have much to do.
Thank you to those who have signed up so far to help with the car
parking, bringing in monies that are ring fenced for School
Teaching and Learning Resources. We will update you after the
Easter holidays with a full summary of findings following the
meeting.
What is also overwhelmingly clear is how busy and outstanding
this School continues to be—recent data has put us in the top 8%
of secondary schools in the county. Thank you to staff, governors,
pupils, parents and carers, this School does go from strength to
strength. Well done to all! You’ve worked incredibly hard in the
classroom and the feedback from the recent trips has been
fantastic. Thank you also for supporting us in our school uniform
initiative – it is working well and if we can all pull together, a smart
appearance will help towards a positive outlook and first
impressions.
We wish all Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 students all the very best
as they embark on the revision timetables in preparation for their
impending examinations. The accompanying E-safety newsletter
sets out the top 10 tips for revision wellbeing. We recommend you
read and follow. Break it down into bite-sized chunks, be focused
on what you are revising at that moment and all will be clear. Good
luck. Wishing you a good Easter break.
Can you assist with careers and mentoring?
In the autumn of 2018, The Cotswold School
will be 30 years old and we want to reach out
to as many former pupils as possible to make
it a lovely celebration. Please sign up at:
www.cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/alumni/
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The Cotswold School News
Ski Trip 2019
“In February half-term, 52 excited young skiers made the journey to Wagrain,
Austria to take part in the 2019 Cotswold School Ski Trip. The group was made
up of a range of abilities and age groups, from Year 8 to Year 11. The advanced
group led the way and were tackling Black runs on the first day and they
continued to push their instructor (and the teachers) to take on more
challenging runs as the week progressed! Both intermediate groups excelled
and impressed with their control and technical ability throughout and soon
covered nearly all the routes on the two mountains we had access to. For
many of the novice skiers, this was their first experience of real snow and they
showed huge amounts of courage, determination and teamwork to progress
their way up the mountain; with all groups comfortably skiing Red runs by day
5. All pupils contributed to a fantastic trip and made huge amounts of
progress during a wonderful week of skiing. Mr Walker will be launching the
2020 Trip in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled for letters.”
Mr C. Jones, Head of Year 11
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Ski Trip 2019
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The Cotswold School News
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The Cotswold School News
Berlin & Krakow 2019
We had another fantastic sixth form trip to Berlin and
Krakow, this time blessed with sunny weather in
February! Both places simply ooze with history and
make for a fascinating and rewarding visit. The trip
included some wonderful opportunities to see the
historical sites we have been studying such as The Berlin
Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Wansee Conference,
Topography of Terror and The Reichstag, but also
included some great cultural moments such as seeing
the Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Museum, The Olympic
Stadium, the Medieval town and Castle of Krakow and
the famous salt mines. Despite it being such a busy trip,
we also found time to enjoy a street art workshop! One
of the most poignant days was visiting Auschwitz-
Birkenau extermination camp. It is hard to summarise
this visit and place of such horrific crimes, but I am sure
the memory will last for a long time with all the
students. The students all took a lot from the trip and
represented The Cotswold School perfectly. We are
already looking forward to our next trip in 2021!
Mrs E. Wahlen, Head of History
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The Cotswold School News
CERN Trip 2019
With great excitement the group of 20 students, Miss Reeves, Mr Duffy
-Turner and Mr Redding headed to Geneva to visit CERN. CERN is an
international nuclear research organisation, founded in the 1950s but
most famous now for the Large Hadron Collider which discovered the
Higgs’ Boson, in 2012, the fundamental particle that gives mass to
everything in the Universe. Currently in a phase of shut-down and
upgrade, we were able to experience a high quality tour from a
Scientist who works there, seeing the original 1950s cyclosyncrotron.
Visitors are now able to view as the radiation levels have fallen to safe
levels.
In the afternoon we headed to the Patek Phillipe Watch Museum and
saw plenty of watches worth more than the teachers’ houses.
Fondue was a popular choice at the restaurant in the evening, before
the students showed off their knowledge in the quiz, the question of
the common name of puffinus confounding all. The next day was spent
completing the Geneva treasure hunt and a visit to the museum of
Science and Technology followed by more fondue.
Geneva is a wonderful city to walk around and with the fascination of
CERN, a great trip was had by all. We look forward to returning in two
years’ time with a new bunch of A level physicists.
Mr T. Redding, Head of Science
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The Cotswold School News
World Book Day 2019
The highlight for this years World Book Day was a visit from the author Tim Hall. Tim, is a former journalist who has written
for the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, as well as writing freelance articles for magazines.
His first love however, is writing Young Adult fiction. His debut novel, Shadow of the Wolf, is a dark, fantastical reimagining of
the Robin Hood legends. Tim has just finished writing his second novel which is due out in July of this year.
Tim worked with Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 classes on a mix of creative writing and non fiction writing. Students came away
from the workshops inspired and informed. Some of the students were even lucky enough to win a copy of his book, kindly
donated by Tim.
There was a wonderful 'booky buzz' in the library throughout the day, as students had the chance to meet Tim Hall and order
his book. There was a new and nearly new book sale, proceeds of which will go to the charity, Book Aid International.
Students could use their World Book Day tokens towards purchasing a book from Scholastic's TEEN magazine. A special thank
you must go to the Student Librarians who helped with the various events during first and second lunch.
Mrs K. Williams - School Librarian
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The Cotswold School News
Brain Day
The Psychology Department held their annual ‘Brain Day’ on Friday
15 January 2019. Dr Guy Sutton, our visiting speaker, spent the
morning session talking about the brain, during which he discussed
neurons, nerve impulses and synapses; genes and brain
development; lateralization and localization of cognitive function
and brain imaging techniques. As part of the morning session, Dr
Sutton also dissected a sheep brain for the students to observe.
In the afternoon session, Dr Sutton turned to Forensic Psychology in
which he covered perspectives on criminality, the psychology of
violence and intimidation, offender profiling, and a number of other
interesting and useful topics including implications from research
for the law.
An evening lecture was also held by Dr Sutton on Thursday 14th,
‘From Here to Maturity: Inside the Teenage Brain’. The lecture
explored the truths and myths regarding the adolescent brain. A
retiring fund for the evening lecture raised £150.00 for Cancer
Research UK.
Economics Talk
Mr Ben Martin of the Bank of England
visited the school on Wednesday 13
March and spoke with A Level Economics
students about the work undertaken by
our central bank. Students benefitted
from this visit as all Economics students
need to have an understanding of how
and why monetary policy is devised and
applied within the UK. The roles of the
Bank of England were discussed in terms
of setting interest rates and quantitative
easing and regulation of the financial
sector. Students were attentive and asked
detailed and thought provoking questions.
Mr M. Sweetlove, Head of Economics
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The Cotswold School News
Testicular Cancer Awareness Assembly
Ben Hughes joined Mr Smith, Design & Technology teacher, and
presented an assembly to Year 12 and Year 13 male students on
testicular cancer. Both Ben and Mr Smith have suffered from
Testicular Cancer and in Ben’s case it was all down to his brother
Chris going on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ programme that he realised
he may well have cancer. He made an appointment with his GP
and was subsequently diagnosed. Testicular Cancer affects
mainly men under the age of 24 years. Thank You.
Lady Margaret Hall Trip
On Friday 1st March Mrs Newby and Miss Jones
took 30 Year 11 students to an Outreach Event
run by our link college at the University of
Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall. The day started
with a session dispelling many of the myths
surrounding applying for and studying at a top
university. As we sat in a beautifully ornate mini
lecture theatre, the Outreach Officer gave the
students a flavour of what the tutorial system is
like. Our students defended their points of view
admirably against the Marling students in a
philosophical conundrum. After a tour of the
beautiful grounds and facilities, we were
treated to a delicious lunch in hall, followed by
a session with two former Cotswold head boys,
Pip Cull and Joe Salf, and former students,
Sophie Taylor and Ben Darwent – all now
thoroughly thriving during their degree courses
at Oxford. It was an inspiring day, showing our
students what could be in store for them in the
future. Mrs A. Newby, Stretch & Challenge
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The Cotswold School News
Big Bang Fair
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists &
Engineers Fair is the largest celebration
of science, technology, engineering and
maths (STEM) for young people in the
UK.
The Big Bang Fair aims to show young
people aged 7 to 19 the exciting and
rewarding opportunities out there for
them with the right experience and
qualifications, by bringing classroom
learning to life.
A large group of The Cotswold School
Year 7 pupils attended the Fair at the
NEC in Birmingham and had a rewarding
and fascinating trip.
We look forward to lots of budding
STEM students’ heading their way up
through the School!
FameLab
The Cotswold School took part in Gloucestershire Schools’ FameLab Academy final this week at EDF’s headquarters in
Gloucester. Megan O’Brien competed with the finalists from 13 other schools supported by Sam Hollier, Giorgia Griffini,
Sophia Torris and Luca Devereux who had taken part in the workshops at school leading up to the final. Megan gave a
fascinating, confident and well researched three minute talk on ‘Mitochondrial Eve’ and in the face of tough opposition
lost out to the winner Arwen Borthwick-Hunter from Westonbirt School. Our students have benefited greatly from the
experience, enabling them to become effective science communicators of the future.
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The Cotswold School News
French Exchange
What a thrill to take such a great bunch of young people over to France! Twenty-three Year 10 and Year 12 students
headed to France to stay with their French partners on the return leg of our exchange. Six out of our eight Year 12s had
visited two years ago, and they loved it so much that they wanted to go back! This time, they enjoyed a two-day work
experience in various locations including restaurants, a primary school and sports places. We visited the
Océanopolis Sea Life Centre, ate in our favourite créperie, and attended lessons at
the school. We also visited the market, where we ate snails at ten in the
morning, before meeting the mayor of Lannion! We also had a beautiful
day at the Mont Saint Michel with our French partners and enjoyed some
family time at the weekend, with a fantastic time at our disco party on
Saturday. It all came too quickly to an end, but on our way back to the UK,
we managed to see the Bayeux tapestry and visit the D-day beaches.
Everywhere, people complimented our group as one of fun, well-mannered,
tolerant and open-minded youngsters, who enjoyed discovering new
cultures and horizons, representing so well Britain abroad! Thank you to
their amazing British families who showed so much support.
Mrs G. Moss, French Teacher
Year 10 Work Experience 2019
To coincide with National Careers Week, the
Year 10s took part in their week-long work
experience. The variety of placements
included Hairdressing, Veterinary Practice,
Primary School Teaching and time at a
Community Radio Station, Aston Martin,
BMW and Renault F1. One student event went
to Italy!
On Monday 1st April, the Grand Final took
place. Nine students presented on their week
of work experience. Three guest judges, all
from local businesses, kindly gave up their
time. The judges were Richard Emsley,
Graham Ramsay and Sarah Hoyle—an
enormous thank you.
By all accounts, it was not an easy decision,
but the overall winner was Callum Woolley, in
second place Theo Mitchell and in third Kate
Jacovides. Well done!
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The Cotswold School News
Sharon Laws Sportive
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The Cotswold School News
Holocaust Day
As reported in the last edition of The Cotswold News, on
Wednesday 23 rd of January, as part of their RE day on the
Holocaust, Year 10 students had the privilege of listening
to visiting speaker Ernest Simon. Ernest spoke of his
experiences and specifically of how he had witnessed
Kristallnacht, after which his parents managed to secure
him a place on the Kindertransport.
The feedback from students after listening to Ernest
reflects the value of the day and the importance of
remembering events such as the Holocaust:
‘….no one should have to experience what he
experienced and the fact that he shows no anger or
resentment shows how much he understands and
appreciates life, which to me is an amazing thought.’
‘…..listening to him was a once in a lifetime experience’
‘….after hearing about all the dreadful things that
happened, it made me happy to know that there were
some people who escaped.’
‘…..you could really feel what he went through’
Intermediate Kangaroo
Math’s Challenge
In the recent Pink Kangaroo Math’s Challenge, one
student received Gold in the intermediate Math’s
challenge with four receiving silver and ten bronze!
Well done!
Chipping Norton Music Festival
A note from the Music Department!
The Chipping Norton Music Festival was another
great success and the Music Department was nobly
represented with fantastic performances. The
Festival draws many candidates from Oxfordshire
and Gloucestershire. Instrumental pupils perform
every year and consistently gain high results with
praise and feedback from the Adjudicators. They
are a credit to the School—it takes courage to
perform in a competitive environment which is also
of a very high standard. A big well done to::
Gemma Fifield’s pupils:
Piano: Romilly Gapp, Year 8, Emily Melchior, Year
9, Luca Devereux, Year 9, Albertine Wheeler, Year
10 and Henry Wheeler, Year 8.
Senior vocal: Jenny Morafkova, Year 12
Speech and Drama: Maite Capper, Year 8
Piano and Guitar: Reuben West, Year 8
Rosie Meyrick’s pupils:
Clarinet: Albertine Wheeler, Year 11 and Ben
Douglas, Year 9
Flute: Tisa Maunder-Bushell, Year 10
STEM RIAT Event
Robots are used in a variety of settings, particularly in
situations where it is too dangerous for humans such as
in the military. A message needed to be sent over a long
distance and across mountainous terrain, which was far
too treacherous for humans... The brief was to design
and construct a tower using wood and aluminium,
then create a mechanism for remotely raising a flag and switching a light on and off in order to send a coded message. This
required students to design a pressure sensor, solder and build it into a circuit, design a suitable system for raising the flag and
programme a robot to carry out their precise instructions - quite a challenge!! The Year 9 triple scientists did a fantastic job,
demonstrating a high level of resilience and team working skills. Our thanks to Simon Kettle from STEMworks for coming in to
deliver the session. The winning team won 5 tickets for the Royal International Air Tattoo and will go on to represent the
School at the Royal International Air Tattoo in June.
Miss K. Reeves, STEM Coordinator
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Sporting Successes
NETBALL NEWS
April 2019
Year 7 won against Chipping Norton 33-10
Year 7a won against Pitville Park 11-10
Year 7b won against Pitville Park 6-2
Year 8 won against Chipping Norton 40-2
Year 9a won against Kingham Hill 38-6
Year 9b won against Kingham Hill 13-11
https://cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/fixtures-and-results/
For full fixtures and results, please visit:
HOCKEY
NETBALL
Year 11/12/13 – The Cotswold School vs Sibford
Cotswold won 3-0
Star Players: Zoe Lenihan and Eleonore Gilbert
“We played really well together, especially as we haven’t
practised or trained together as a team. We were really good
at making the ball do the work and used triangles as a
formation to get around players. The ball was transferred
quite a few times with success, as the opposition quite often
crowded, which gave us a lot of space to transfer the play. I
thought Freya from Year 9 played really well and everyone
was strong throughout the whole game so it would be hard
to choose a standout player!” Zoe Lenihan
Year 7a – The Cotswold School vs Pates
Cotswold won 10-9
Star Player: Hattie Backhouse
“We played in the Sports Hall to avoid the bitter
wind! We started the match off with two lovely
goals from The Cotswold School. The opposition
was strong at attacking but we had great defence;
Charlotte Carol , Lulu Lane-Fox and Emily Baxter.
Some great centres were taken by Lily Morgan and
goals were scored by Martha and Hattie. It was a
great game! Well done girls.” Hattie Backhouse
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Maite Capper, Cross Country
In early March, Maite ran for
Gloucestershire for the first time in the
inter county cross country race in
Loughborough.
“It was a great experience and has
opened my eyes to a whole new world.
Thanks to all the PE team.”
Hannah Rowley, Squash
In February, Hannah won the Bristol Open. Following
this success, she then competed for her county,
Gloucestershire, as number two seed, and came seventh
at the Inter-county finals in Northamptonshire. Then in
early March, she came second in the Thame Open and
then won the Marlborough Open—a busy few weeks!
Well done Hannah.
In addition, she joined Chipping Norton Leisure Centre
Box League and joined in at box five our of six, being the
only under eighteen and only female AND won all her
matches! Go Hannah!
FOOTBALL NEWS
April 2019
Year 7 won against Chipping Norton 2-1
Year 8 won against Chipping Norton 3-2
Year 9 lost against Chipping Norton 2-0
March 2019
Year 8 won against Farmors 6-1
February 2019
Year 8 won against Winchcombe 6-1
January 2019
Year 8 won against All Saints 7-2
CRICKET
The Year 8 Indoor Cricket Team won the
Gloucestershire Finals at Cheltenham Prince of
Wales Stadium. The boys had to win the District
Tournament to qualify for the County Cricket Club
(CCC) run. They continued their undefeated season
by winning matches against Redland School,
Winterbourne School, St Bedes School and Crypt
School, who were unable to deal with the plethora
of spin bowlers deployed! They became County
Champions. Oliver Forbes former pupil and
Gloucestershire Youth Cricket coordinator,
commented “How talented the whole squad were.”
HOCKEY
Players of the tournament were Ben Gilespie and
Henry Wheeler.
Year 8/9/10 – The Cotswold School vs Pitville
Cotswold won 11-0
Star Player: Keira James
“Due to lack of availability through the years, Year
8, Year 9 and Year 10 pulled together to play as
one team. The team did so well in all aspects and
started to use the width of the pitch which
widened their game and helped the play
dramatically. Stand out player was Megan Jones,
due to her excellent team spirit, when she
volunteered for the other team!” Keira James
Good Teamwork!
Well done boys!
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The Cotswold School News
Midcounties Fair Trade visit
On Monday 4 of March, Year 9 food pupils were treated to a visit from
Judy Cheyne from Bourton Midcounties Co-operative. She was here to
talk to pupils about Fairtrade fortnight, 25 February to 10 March, which
links in well with the current module of international cuisine. Pupils learnt
all about the Fairtrade products that are available at the Co-Op, what
Fairtrade meant and why it was introduced. And being a food lesson,
pupils were of course allowed to try some produce! Cookies made from
Fairtrade chocolate and sugar, and banana smoothies, all of which were
well received. A big thank you to Judy for taking the time to come in and
talk to pupils.
Trip to Aston Martin
Back in November, Year 9 Design and Technology students, took part
in a Cotswold Car Challenge supported by Aston Martin Lagonda. The
prize for the winning team, Team Egg, made up of Jake Clarke, Charlie
Gillett, Milo Lane-Fox, Charlie Phipp and Jake Vanstone, was to visit the
Aston Martin factory at Gaydon…..and so they did!
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Governors’ Corner
Governors have a four year tenure and therefore there is always a rolling programme of election.
There are various types of governor - we have one local authority approved governor (this is
currently Dr Warren, our Vice Chair). Then we have an equal balance of six co-opted governors who
are invited on to the board for their particular expertise, six parent governors who are elected by
the parent community and two staff governors who are elected by the staff. Associate governors are
nominated for a year at a time and this includes four further senior colleagues and maybe one or
two governors who have come to the end of their term but who are invited to stop on for a year in
order to complete any unfinished business. A list of our governors is on the website with a quick
profile about them.
We recently held a parent governor election and were pleased to have a good field of three strong
candidates. As it turned out we had three vacancies so were delighted to welcome Mr Backhouse
and Mrs Havill aboard for the first time and to welcome back Dr Emsley who was standing for
re-election
Monitoring of the School Self Evaluation Document which feeds into the next School Development
Plan will be coming up for governors after Easter. There will of course be the
usual policy reviews and presentations and updates on governor visits.
On behalf of the governors can I wish you all a very Happy Easter.
Mrs F. Hudson, Clerk to the Governors
SWIMMING GALA
Year 7 Boys ARTEMIS
Year 7 Girls POSEIDON
Year 8 Boys ZEUS
School House Totals
7799
Year 8 Girls
ARTEMIS
Year 9 Boys ARTEMIS
Year 9 Girls ZEUS
Year 10 Boys POSEIDON
7258
8557
7759
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Diary dates...
April
6-11 April Madrid Trip
23 April Summer Term Begins
25 April Year 8 Y-Half Parents’ Evening
29 April Premises Governing Meeting
29 April Finance Governing Meeting
May
2 May Year 8 X-Half Parents’ Evening
6 May Bank Holiday Monday
10-12 May Year 7 & Year 8 Osmington Bay Trip
13 May National Examinations Begin
13 May Full Governing Body Meeting
14 May Teaching & Learning Governing
Meeting
16 May Year 7 Y-Half Parents’ Meeting
21 May PTA Meeting in the Library
23 May Year 7 X-Half Parents’ Meeting
23-27 May Barcelona Trip
23-27 May Rheinland Trip
27-31 May Summer Half Term
The Cotswold School
Principal: Mr Will Morgan
The Avenue, Bourton on the Water
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 2BD
Telephone: 01451 820554
Fax: 01451 810658
Email: admin@thecotswoldschool.co.uk
Marketing: marketing@thecotswoldschool.co.uk
Website: https://cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/
School returns on Monday 3 June 2019
Red Nose Day 2019
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