News May 2019 final

The Cotswold School
Other Great Sporting News
Year 8s WIN the Redrow Plate in Rugby
Year 11 and Year 13 prepare to leave School
Music Trip to London

TREASURER/
NUMBER CRUNCHER!
We have big plans to raise money and fund important
Tesco #Stow or #Moreton.
Raising funds to improve the seating and
lighting in the School Hall and help
reduce the carbon footprint.
Thank you
projects for our School and we need someone who
likes to count every penny to help us do it. If you
secretly love to categorise expenses and create
colour-coded pie charts, you have what it takes to be
our parent/teacher group treasurer! Please email
pta@thecotswoldschool.co.uk.
Your PTA
needs
you!
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,

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Word from HQ
Music Notes
Sister Act Auditions
Year 5 Open Morning/Book Fair
Parish Council Election Trip
The Sharon Laws Sportive
Geography Fieldtrip
Enterprise/Plastics
Student Head Team
Year 11 Celebrations
Year 13 Leavers’ Events
Accolade Update
Mathematics/Interact
Open Days
Cadence
Sporting News
Showtime/Mental Health
To sum up this term, I need to say
‘gweithio'n galed’, which is Welsh for
hardworking. Everyone has worked hard
this term, teachers, staff, pupils, parents and governors,
and will continue to do so as the examinations are well
underway.
We also have to keep working hard for the funds that
we need to keep this School Outstanding. Thank you to
all the helpers so far who have offered their time at the
car parking, almost £10K raised.
We hope you received the follow up to our Reality
Checker parentmail and we hope it explains some of the
issues facing The Cotswold School and that funding
expected for the 2019/2020 academic year from
Gloucestershire County Council is short by £1million. So
we are incredibly grateful for the generous offer a
grandparent has made to double all voluntary donations
made up to £10,000. What a wonderful offer, thank you.
We have to keep raising additional funds to protect our
provision of the Inclusion Hub, protect our vital support
services for our most vulnerable pupils and we must
continue our education experiences for all our pupils to
more than keep this School outstanding.
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Governors’ Corner/House Points
Dates/Display Board
The Cotswold School
Former Pupils’ Programme
Are you a former pupil?
Do you know a former pupil?
The hard work, as I can see in the pages that unfold
continues with Cadence, The Sharon Laws Sportive, PTA
events, Positive Mental Health initiatives and the
Showtime exhibition, plus all the trips and enrichment
that will take place in the next half term.
As ever, thank you to you all for working hard!
Gweithio'n Galed! Have a great half term.
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

London Music Drama Trip
The Music Department took a group of
50 pupils from Year 9 and 10 on a music/
drama trip to London on 4th and 5th
April. They had a full-on schedule, seeing the musical
Wicked, visiting The Globe Theatre, watching a Beroc
concert and finally attending Wicked workshops at
Pineapple Studios. At the studios, pupils attended
either a drama or voice workshop.
The pupils behaved impeccably throughout the trip and
we were delighted to receive the following feedback
from the Musical Director of Wicked, who ran the voice
workshop ‘I had a great time and you were one of the
best schools I ever taught!’ He also said he may pop in
to visit us at school, so watch this space. We will be

BACK IN BLACK SEEKS DRUMMER
Back in Black, the School Jazz Band are looking for a drummer. If any pupils are interested and play to
Grade 4 or above, please contact musicadmin@thecotswoldschool.co.uk to arrange an audition.
We held our Annual Concert at Sherborne on Wednesday 3 rd
April. The Cotswold School Orchestra opened the evening with
their two energetic performances followed by some of our
talented lower school performers, voice, cello and guitar. In
addition, there were beautiful performances from our Wind
Group and Chamber Choir. The event concluded with The
SHERBORNE CONCERT

SAVE THE DATE
18th, 19th, 20th
NOVEMBER 2019

Rhian Sneath and Tori Kennedy, both Year 9 students, visited Cirencester Leisure Centre to view the process
of counting the Parish Election votes. They had the opportunity to meet and interview several candidates, at
a time where there are great changes and movements within British politics. Below are their accounts and
articles of the afternoon. They were both a credit to The Cotswold School. Thank you to Bob McNally, CDC
Press Office, and Sarah Dalby for their warm welcome.
A Changing Cotswold Landscape by Rhian Sneath
On 2nd May, the Cotswold District Council and Parish Council elections took place along with 258 other councils in England. The outcome of the vote locally was a
massive swing to the Liberal Democrats, who for the first time in 16 years overturned a Conservative majority. Locally there are 34 Cotswold council seats: In the
end, the Liberal Democrats won 18 (up 8), the Conservatives won 14 (down 10) and there were two new councillors for the Green party and an Independent
candidate from Tetbury. Tony Berry, Head of the local Conservative party, acknowledged that it was a disappointing night for the party and blamed Brexit and
Theresa May for their results.
A significant issue that arose in these elections was the lack of young people using their democratic right to vote: In England, you can vote at the age of 18 and yet
only 50% of 18-34-year olds voted. Some had not registered to vote, and others cited that they did not understand what they were voting for and so did not vote.
Nigel Adams is the Cotswold Returning Officer, a job that oversees the registration process, postal voting service, setting up polling places (including staff) and
declaring the results for elections. He feels that we should be engaging more young people in politics and thinks that 16-year olds should be able to vote in local
polls as they can in Scotland. In fact, in some countries such as Austria and Brazil, 16-year olds can vote in national elections. We also spoke to Sabrina Poole, the
new Green party councillor in Cirencester, who felt that 13-year-olds should be given the vote, as most issues in politics are to do with changes that will impact on
their future and therefore we should be engaging those people whom it will affect the most. She also added that young people in her experience have the most
innovative ideas and she spends much of her time talking to young people through Guides, Scouts and schools.
The new cabinet and council leader for the Cotswold District Council is a young man called Joe Harris (26 years old). Joe was born in Cheltenham and grew up in
Cirencester attending Deer Park School. Joe was inspired to get into politics after a late-night assault that occurred in Cirencester when he was 18. The attack took
place in front of a CCTV camera, but he was shocked to discover that the District Council had cut the CCTV monitoring hours because of a lack of funds and
therefore it had not been filmed and no justice could be served. He felt so strongly about this that he got involved in local politics and campaigned for the CCTV to
be 24-hour to prevent crimes in Cirencester town. He has kept his promise, and in 2014 a 24-hour CCTV surveillance system was introduced in Cirencester which
he wants to extend to other towns within the Cotswolds.
He campaigns on a platform of crime prevention, period poverty, rural area transport, road management and sustainable development within the Cotswolds and
a few years ago at 23, he was elected Mayor of Cirencester, becoming the youngest Mayor in the UK.
As someone who has never spoken to a politician before, I can honestly say that having interviewed Joe Harris, I felt inspired to get involved with local politics. At
14, although I can’t vote, I am becoming aware and frustrated by the impact of political decisions on my future. Knowing that there is a 26-year-old heading up
our local council who is campaigning against The Cotswolds being turned into a national park, to ban single-use plastics in the council and to improve bus services
and rural transport systems for young people, is reassuring. It is a sad statistic that the average electoral candidate in the UK is 52, white and is most likely to be
called David. Funny as this may seem, you only have to look at what happened this week in Alabama to know what white, middle-aged men are capable of
imposing on a world where most of us strive to be inclusive and promote equality. If electoral candidates are too identical, with views that are several generations
behind ours, the decisions that are made for our district won’t necessarily be ones that will benefit the younger generation, who will have to live with them for

A Hive of Activity
But is everyone engaged in local politics? By Tori Kennedy
Tense and quietly hardworking, the votes were being counted by the worker bees in a hive of activity at the Cotswold Leisure Centre, Tetbury Road, Cirencester.
Throughout the night of Thursday 2nd May and into the early hours, first the count for District Wards, and after a few hours rest, the hall was humming again as
the Parish and Town counts were conducted.
Rowley Hughes, a Liberal Democrat, was excited by the prospect of standing for the 12th year, and won his seat by a staggering 87%. Being elected by such a
majority must have meant a lot hard work, but when asked how he won so many people’s favour, he simply replied, “Everybody knows Rowley!”. But underlying
this victory was a lot of campaigning: he had hand-posted 36,500 envelopes, sharing his priorities with the community (for example: fixing potholes, trimming
hedgerows, establishing youth clubs etc.). He also mentioned that he thought the voting age should be brought down to 16 years old - as one is entitled to count
the votes at the age of 16, yet still not eligible to vote - he doesn’t believe that is right.
Whilst present at the count, I had the opportunity to interview a few other candidates, eagerly awaiting their results. One by one the announcements were made.
One victor was Sabrina Poole, representing the Green Party, who defended her seat on Cirencester Town Council (Four Acres Ward) with 34% of the votes. Her
passions lay not only with the environment, but her enthusiasm for youth. She has already spent time speaking to the Girl Guides about what she does as a Town
Councillor and is keen to engage with other groups of teenagers. In her early 20s, she is one of the youngest councillors and has always been fascinated by politics.
After studying Politics at university, she went to work with her father, which gave her the flexibility to pursue her interest in local politics and attend Town Council
meetings.
Another candidate I was able to speak with was Joe Harris, a Liberal Democrat. Joe was first involved in politics at the age of 18 and went on to become the
youngest mayor in the UK, serving from May 2013-15, at the age of 20. His interest in politics was catalysed after being mugged. He was frustrated that the police
had not been able to trace the offenders due to the axing of CCTV camera monitoring. He successfully campaigned to have 24/7 camera monitoring reintroduced -
in the hope that no one will have to go through an experience similar to his. On Thursday 2nd, he was elected for St. Michael’s Ward, winning his seat by 72%.
Again this success can be put down to hard work at grass roots level: he began his campaigning for this election a year ago, delivering leaflets, sending letters
about topical issues by direct mail and most importantly, face to face meetings.
Nigel Adams, the Returning Officer, is making an effort to highlight the importance of voting and is trying to provoke interest, visiting universities and schools, in
the hope of encouraging young people to take up their voting rights and raising awareness of the whole voting process. His specific aim is to engage with 16-17
year olds who are approaching the age of being eligible to vote. He also sends letters to every household saying who is entitled to a vote and reminding people of
deadlines.

Year 8 and Year 9 have enjoyed a successful Geography trip to
Osmington Bay on the beautiful Dorset coast. It is an excellent
place for students to explore the Dorset World Heritage
coastline.
Within the Geography Department, we often see students working hard and demonstrating huge
amounts of enthusiasm and we like to be able to recognise this! Every year, we run a trip to celebrate the
effort and enthusiasm of our Year 8 and Year 9 Geographers.
We left for Osmongton Bay PGL on Friday 10 th May with a band of very excited students. We carried out
field visits to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, measuring beach profiles and footpath erosion on a very
sunny Saturday, taking time to try the awesome ice cream shop at Lulworth and followed this with an
afternoon of zip wire and team games. On the Sunday, we just managed to fit in some more zip wire,
giant swing and fencing before heading back to school. The students were amazing ambassadors for the
school; Mr White, Mrs Bradley and myself were very proud of the way they conducted themselves. An
amazing fun-filled weekend was had by all! By Mrs E Johnstone

By Ethan Waller, Business Ambassador
Over the past several months, Enterprise Club has been operating with a number of Year 7s. The club, ran
by Mr Langworthy, Kevin Seyon and Ethan Waller, saw students from Year 7 group together to run their
own ‘businesses’. Each group was given a loan of £10 to fund their venture. Then they had to come up
with a successful business idea, then conduct the operation of their business whilst taking into account
skills such as teambuilding and marketing. Whilst some days of selling saw sales rocket high, other days
saw more challenges than success, but the students then came together to find ways to be more
successful next time whilst selling. After operating, the groups each had to do a presentation,
highlighting what they had learnt and especially what they would do differently next time. All businesses
did well to stick to the project, especially when faced with the challenges they met, but in the end a
winner had to be decided. After a tough decision between the well-organised Marble Station and Ultra
Realities, it was decided that Ultra Reality Group should be the winner, as a result of deciding to do
something different. Normally the businesses set up in school go creative in the types of products they
sell. However, the Ultra Reality Group set the bar higher by deciding to operate a service in the form of
offering fellow students and staff the experience of virtual reality. Clearly a very big well done to the
group! Half of the profits made by the group will go to charity whilst the rest will be kept by the
entrepreneurs themselves and Enterprise Club itself look forward to inviting a new set of students on
after the holidays.
As we all know plastic waste is a serious problem. As a School we throw
away a huge number of pens, board pens, highlighters, correction fluid
bottles, board pens etc. Tutor Group 8SB is to start coordinating a new
scheme called TerraCycle. This company collects and recycles all these
products. Boxes will be placed in each classroom for pens that have run
out—this is for all pupils and staff. Tutor group 8SB will come round once
PLASTICS ROUND SCHOOL

It’s with pleasure that we welcome our new Student Head Team for the 2019-2020 academic year. Our
new Head Girl is Kate Edgerton, and Head Boy is Ethan Waller. Our New Deputy Head Girl is Sabrina
Torris, and Deputy Head Boy is Huw Dickinson. Many congratulations. May we take this opportunity to
thank our outgoing team, Finlay, Niamh, Priscilla and Hal – they have carried out a successful year –
THANK YOU!
The handover begins...passing the baton! We will meet
From Left to Right, New Head Girl Kate Edgerton, new
the new team in the next edition and once AS level
Head Boy Ethan Waller, outgoing Head Boy Finlay
examinations are over!
Macdonald, and Niamh Powell, outgoing Head Girl.
Thank you to our outgoing Head team!
Finlay is off to study Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London and Niamh to study Law at
D SCHOOL
Cardiff University. Hal is heading north to Birmingham to study Philosophy, Beliefs and Ethics and
Priscilla has an unconditional offer to study Fashions Textile Design in 2020. We wish you all best
wishes for the future. Please keep in touch!

AS YEAR 13s PREPARE TO LEAVE SCHOOL!

We recently received a letter from Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP,
the Minister of State for School Standards and he writes:
INTERACT

On Tuesday 30th April, a number of Year 8 students entered the Junior Mathematical Challenge
organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust. They had 60 minutes to answer 25 questions
including,
Q. Sam has eaten three-quarters of the grapes. What is the ratio of the
number of grapes that remain to the number Sam has eaten?
A 1 : 3 B 1 : 4 C 1 : 5 D 1 : 6 E 1 : 7
Q. How many minutes is it from 23.35 today to 01.15 tomorrow?
A 100 B 110 C 120 D 130 E 140
Q. What is the last digit of the smallest positive integer whose digits add to 2019?
A 1 B 4 C 6 D 8 E 9
We are still awaiting with baited breath for the awards for Gold, Silver and Bronze, all to be updated
in the next edition!
INTERACT
Interact Club, supported by the North
Cotswolds Rotary Club and our own Mrs
Gleed, have raised enough money through a variety of
events to give their chosen charity, Barnados, £500. Please
join us in congratulating them on their success.

COMPETITION!

For full fixtures and results, please visit: https://cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/fixtures-and-results/
Year 8 Rugby 7s team,
following their win in
the Sibford 7s, qualified for the
Northampton Saints Redrow 7s
series. Teams from Colchester,
Bedford, Cambridge, Warwick and
Wellingborough played and following
the different stages of the
competition, The Cotswold School
were the winners of the Redrow Plate
with a final win of 4-2 against Lincroft
School. Well done!

Izzy Honour, Year 11, rows for Gloucester Rowing Club, pictured here on the left. Last summer, she
was entered into a Talent ID program ‘Discover your Gold’ because of Izzy’s height and sporting
ability. She then had a trial at Cardiff University where they assess athletes and recommend to
National Governing Bodies. They were recruiting for Rugby 7s, speed skating, cycling, rowing and
other sports. Izzy was asked to attend Hartpury University for a trial where they head up the Olympic
start program for GB Rowing. As a result, she has been offered a place on the Rowing Academy and
will start in September, where she will board and allow her time to train, as well as studying for her A
levels in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. We will miss you in the sixth form, but the very best of
luck for the future!
MRS H HOLLAND
Our very own Mrs Holland, Head of
Philosophy, Beliefs and Ethics, took part
in the Manchester Marathon back in April.
Despite suffering from shin splints, a dodgy
ankle and a cold, she completed the race with
a Personal Best of 3 hours, 53 minutes! Well
done! If you would still like to sponsor her, she

Ryan Mills, back row, has been selected for the
2020 World Qualifying Great Britain squad.
From left to right, Lex Goddard, Year 9, Kyle
For full fixtures and results, please visit: https://cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk/fixtures-and-results/
Chilton, Year 9, and Dylan Glockling, Year 8, have
all been asked to start training for the 2022 squad.
Amazing News!
REGATTA
Year 12, Ollie Hanks, recently won
Gold at the Spring
International Ghent
Regatta in Belgium!
Well done Ollie!
CHELTENHAM WINNER—BEST TURNED OUT PONY!
Fern O'Brien in Year 9, with her pony Rosie, was awarded the
Area Champion at Cheltenham. Fern says, “We had our tack
checked and Rosie wouldn’t stand still! Then the race began and
I was in about third on the inside rail, but as I didn’t want to get
crushed, I steered to the outside and kicked on to get in front.
The second we turned into the home straight (which is about
half a mile long), I started pushing and we got into a bigger
lead. Then, as we were about 1 furlong (220 yards) from the
finish, two other ponies started to catch up with us, but we

POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
It was Mental Health Awareness Week, 13th to 17th May 2019, and to
recognise this in School, we carried out tutor time sessions in the run-up
to our own Positive Mental Health and Well-being Week, which ran
during the last week of this term.
SCH
Five pillars underpinned the activities
Connect I Be Active I Keep Learning I Take Notice I Give
We made reference to the Heads Together new initiative, SHOUT, which
was launched a couple of weeks ago: https://www.headstogether.org.uk/shout-launches-in-the-uk/
Activities planned ranged from tea & chat sessions with students and staff, Rounder's match and Frisbee,

committees, governors had a full agenda to discuss. Mr Smith spoke about the School
Evaluation Form which evaluates the progress we have made as a school in all areas over
the past academic year. This then prepares the ground for the main priorities identified in
the School Development Plan for the coming year. Governors review these regularly
throughout the year.
The various committees updated the Full Governing Body too including the annual SEND
report. Finance and premises had been very busy and reported back on school finances.
Governors also discussed the budget and what could be spent on improving the school
environment.
We were pleased to welcome representatives of the School Council who spoke very
clearly on the issues they had discussed including protecting the environment and charity
initiatives.
Preparations to implement the annual staff survey were underway. Governors continue to
visit departments. There is one more Full Governing Body meeting this
term with a couple of committee meetings as well. Can I take the
opportunity to thank all governors for their commitment to and support
for the school over the past year.
SCHOOL HOUSE POINTS
8941 8731

5 June Year 5 Open Day
6-13 June Exchange trip to Spain
11 June Tea Time Concert
12 June Rural Economy & Agriculture Careers Day
14 & 18 June Year 10 Bristol Geography Trip
17 June Year 10 Examinations
19 June House Charity Day, Key Stage 3
24 June Year 11 Prom
25/26 June Year 12 Induction
27 June Year 8 Mini EPQ
2 July Showtime
4/5 July Year 6 Induction
5-8 July Trip to Paris
5 July Year 13 Leavers’ Dinner
9 July Sports Day
6 July The Sharon Laws Sportive
7-14 July Exchange to Germany
9 July Sports Day
10&11 July The Greatest Showman Gym/Dance Show
12 July Cadence
12-20 July PE Adventure Trip
15-19 July Trip to Iceland
15-19 July Trip to the Battlefields
18-29 July Trip to Galapagos
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 closes for summer on
Friday 19 July 2019
School opens for the 2019/2020
academic year on
Wednesday 4 September 2019
DISPLAYS AROUND SCHOOL—YEAR 8—ANTARTICA WORK!