THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL Bourton-on-the-Water Gloucestershire GL54 2BD Tel: 01451 820554 Fax: 01451 810658 e-mail: admin@mail.cotswold.gloucs.sch.uk The Cotswold News September 2010 An ‘Outstanding’ 11-18 School, Ofsted 2009 Specialist Language College, since 2002 DfES Leading Edge School, since 2004 Specialist Science College, since 2006 An Outstanding Academy, since 2010 The A Level and GCSE classes of 2010 became The Cotswold School’s most successful ever year groups with outstanding results in all public examinations. At A level, one in three of all entries was awarded a top A* or A grade and a superb 86% of all grades were at A*-C. On average each student gained 345 UCAS points—equivalent to more than 3 A Levels at AAB grades. These results placed The Cotswold School in the top 60 schools in the country. Among our top achievers were: James Ager 1 A* and 3 A grades Amy Castleton-White 2 A’s and 1 B grade Josie Dorling 1 A* and 2 A grades Seb French 1 A* and 2 A grades Rory Goodman 1 A* , 2 A’s & 1B grade Olwen Hills 3 A’s and 1 B grade Will Ingram 3 A grades Sammy Luney 2 A’s and 1 B grade Liz Murray 3 A grades Ellie Peters 1 A* and 2 A grades Carys Reed 2 A* ’s, 1 A & 1 C grade Anna Tuckey 4 A grades Cotswold students celebrate school’s best ever exam results At GCSE, 85% of Year 11 students achieved 5 -15 A*-C grades, exceeding the school’s previ- ous highest of 79%. 32% of all GCSE entries were at the top A* and A grades, 9% higher than a year ago. Among the outstanding performers were: Sophie Mustoe 13 A* and 1A Rebecca Howard 11 A* and 1A Joseph Armstrong 11 A* and 1A Emily Dean 10 A* and 1A Beth Pudifoot 10 A* Andrew Scull 10 A*, 4A and 1B Logan Bell 8 A* and 4A Ewan Boyd 8 A* and 2A Eleanor Powley 8 A* , 1A and 1B Alice Bray 7 A* and 4A William Wood 7 A* and 4A Rebecca Hudson 6 A*, 8A and 1B Cait Bleakley 5 A* and 8A Tom Everitt 5 A* and 7A Samuel Roberts 4 A* , 8A and 1B Right the way through the two year groups, the quality of the outcomes reflected the hard work of students and their teachers. The new Year 13 and Year 11 have high standards to live up to, but we have every confidence that they can rise to the challenge! Clockwise from top left: 1. Rory Goodman, Seb French, Carys Reed, Will Ingram, Harriet Powell, Ellie Peters and Josie Dorling celebrate their superb achievements. 2. Liz Murray secures the 3 A’s for her place at Brasenose College, Oxford 3. James Ager and Carys Reed celebrate a total of 3A*’s and 4 A’s. 4. Mr Mor- gan congratulates Seb French, delighted with his A* and 2 A’s. Clockwise from top left: 1. Paige Yates, Rebecca Howard, Emily Coombes, Charlotte Green, Talisa Oakey and Cameron Williamson celebrate their GCSE results. 2. 12 year-old Maximillian Stout enjoys his first taste of GCSE success—an A* in German! 3. Andrew Scull and Joe Armstrong enjoy the moment as they reflect on their total of 21A*’s, 5A’s and 1B. 4. Ellie Powley, Faye McKeever, Emily Dean and Logan Bell each celebrate an outstanding set of grades. The Cotswold School becomes an Outstanding Academy. See Page 2.
The A Level and GCSE classes of 2010 became The Cotswold School’s most successful ever year groups with outstanding results in all public examinations.
At A level, one in three of all entries was awarded a top A* or A grade and a superb 86% of all grades were at A*-C. On average each student gained 345 UCAS points—equivalent to more than 3 A Levels at AAB grades. These results placed The Cotswold School in the top 60 schools in the country.
Among our top achievers were: James Ager 1 A* and 3 A grades Amy Castleton-White 2 A’s and 1 B grade Josie Dorling 1 A* and 2 A grades Seb French 1 A* and 2 A grades Rory Goodman 1 A* , 2 A’s & 1B grade Olwen Hills 3 A’s and 1 B grade Will Ingram 3 A grades Sammy Luney 2 A’s and 1 B grade Liz Murray 3 A grades Ellie Peters 1 A* and 2 A grades Carys Reed 2 A* ’s, 1 A & 1 C grade Anna Tuckey 4 A grades
Cotswold students celebrate school’s best ever exam results
At GCSE, 85% of Year 11 students achieved 5-15 A*-C grades, exceeding the school’s previ-ous highest of 79%. 32% of all GCSE entries were at the top A* and A grades, 9% higher than a year ago. Among the outstanding performers were: Sophie Mustoe 13 A* and 1A Rebecca Howard 11 A* and 1A Joseph Armstrong 11 A* and 1A Emily Dean 10 A* and 1A Beth Pudifoot 10 A* Andrew Scull 10 A*, 4A and 1B Logan Bell 8 A* and 4A Ewan Boyd 8 A* and 2A Eleanor Powley 8 A* , 1A and 1B Alice Bray 7 A* and 4A William Wood 7 A* and 4A Rebecca Hudson 6 A*, 8A and 1B Cait Bleakley 5 A* and 8A Tom Everitt 5 A* and 7A Samuel Roberts 4 A* , 8A and 1B
Right the way through the two year groups, the quality of the outcomes reflected the hard work of students and their teachers. The new Year 13 and Year 11 have high standards to live up to, but we have every confidence that they can rise to the challenge!
Clockwise from top left: 1. Rory Goodman, Seb French, Carys Reed, Will Ingram, Harriet Powell, Ellie Peters and Josie Dorling celebrate their superb achievements. 2. Liz Murray secures the 3 A’s for her place at Brasenose College, Oxford 3. James Ager and Carys Reed celebrate a total of 3A*’s and 4 A’s. 4. Mr Mor-gan congratulates Seb French, delighted with his A* and 2 A’s.
Clockwise from top left: 1. Paige Yates, Rebecca Howard, Emily Coombes, Charlotte Green, Talisa Oakey and Cameron Williamson celebrate their GCSE results. 2. 12 year-old Maximillian Stout enjoys his first taste of GCSE success—an A* in German! 3. Andrew Scull and Joe Armstrong enjoy the moment as they reflect on their total of 21A*’s, 5A’s and 1B. 4. Ellie Powley, Faye McKeever, Emily Dean and Logan Bell each celebrate an outstanding set of grades.
The Cotswold School becomes an Outstanding Academy. See Page 2.
Welcome to: Mr S Smith, Assistant Headteacher/Head of Mathematics BEng Hons (University of Swansea) who has joined us from Cleeve
Mr T. Redding, Head of Science MSc (St John’s College, Cambridge) who has joined us from Wallington Grammar School
Miss R Camp, English Department, BA Hons (University of Liverpool) who has joined us from Farmors School
Mr J Dark, Music Department, BA Hons (University of Nottingham)
Mr J Ellis, History/English Department, BA—joint Hons History and English (University of Sussex)
Mrs J Franklin, Design Technology/Textiles Department, BA Hons (University of Bournemouth)
Mr E Glynn, IT Department BA Hons (University of West England)
Miss A Hamlyn, English Department MA (University of St Andrews)
Mr M Holland, Modern Foreign Language Department, BA Hons, (University of
Warwick)
Mr C Jones, PE Department BA Hons, (University of Bath)
Mr A Shorter, History Department, BA Hons (University of Nottingham) joined us from Bournside School
All our new Teaching Assistants—Miss R Wait, Mrs L Burnside, Mrs J Illingworth, Ms S Lobley, Mr D Young, Miss H Powell and Mrs A Burch.
Congratulations to: Mrs Vaughan (née Hemming) who is now Head of PE—working with Mr Turner as Head of Boys PE
Ms Littler and Mrs Dee who are job shar-ing Head of Year 9
Mrs Buck who is Deputy to Head of Year 7
Mrs Hamlet who has had a little boy—Paul
Mrs Veenstra who now has a little girl, Rhianna
Daniel Feaster who has been selected to represent Great Britain at the Salzburg
Under 17 Fencing competition in November and John Feaster who has been selected to represent England at the World Under 15 competition in Paris in February 2011
Sam Arthurs who was named Gloucester-shire U13 Player of the Year at the recent County Cricket Club Awards Evening and accepted his trophy from Alex Gidman, cap-tain of Gloucester County Cricket Club.
Victoria Smith and her pony Chit Chat, who took part in the Pony Club National Intermediate Championships coming 2nd in the individual and team eventing and 1st in section and 5th nationally overall (dressage). Victoria also took part in the Badminton Grassroots Championships coming 7th and the only child in the top 10.
30 sporting volunteers in Year 11 who were awarded their JSLA Certificates recently for completing the award. They were all a
credit to the school throughout the year when coaching and officiating at various primary school events. Congratulations also go to Jemma Moore and Charlie Gullis who have been selected to repre- sent the school in the ‘adistar’ coaching set up, which is for talented young volunteers across the country.
Monique Le Breuilly who was named joint winner of the Young Harehunters Award at the Festival of Hunting
Ex-student Tom Duckmanton who has won the prize for being the best first year History student at Warwick University
Ex-student Ian Marshall who achieved a 2:1 from the University of Southampton in his Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering/Sustainable Energy Systems
Ex-student Euan Forbes who has gradu-ated from the University of Exeter’s School of Biosciences with a 2:1 Honours Degree in BSc Biological Sciences
the select group of students who took part in the Junior Maths Challenge in the sum-mer term and performed extremely well, with five achieving the ultimate—a Gold Certificate. They were Beth O’Brien, Douglas Haseler, Andrew Everitt, Ja-mie Bayliss and Benjamin Darwent. Ben did so well he was invited to take part in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad—this is for the Top 1200 from the 250,000 entrants. Ben did superbly in this compe-tition, coming in the top 300 nationwide.
The Cotswold School achieves Academy status
The school re-opened on Monday 6th Septem-ber as an Outstanding Academy—one of just 32 schools nationwide that completed the process successfully ready for the start of the new school year.
The new status will make little visible difference for pupils, parents and staff. What it will do is give the school the freedom, flexibility and re-sources to continue to provide an Outstanding education for all our young people. In an era of public sector spending cuts, Academy status will help to ensure pupils at The Cotswold School do not suffer. We are delighted with the swift transi-tion and excited at what the future holds.
Late Bus service expanded The late bus service on Wednesdays and Thursdays has been extended for another school year to support a growing programme of after-school activities. Details of Bus LB1 and LB2 were provided in the recent letter. A new service, LB3 (Public Bus No.801) de-parts at 5.15pm from the High Street and runs to Notgrove, Andoversford and Cheltenham. All 3 bus services are free to students who have been taking part in school after-hours activities. The school library is open and supervised, to provide support for students and access to books / ICT facilities, every weekday from 8.15am until 5pm. We encourage all students to make use of this valuable opportunity.
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Science College News
Nuffield Science Bursaries It was with great excitement that Imogen Nicol and Conrad Godfrey, two of our Year 13 students, set off for their summer work place-ments. Both had been awarded one of the few hotly contested national bursaries from the Nuffield Science Foundation. These bursaries offer students the opportunity to take part in a research project for 4-6 weeks in either a company or research institute. Unlike other work experience schemes, the students carry out projects that reward them with the Gold CREST award and allow them to make a real contribu-tion to the host organisation.
Imogen was placed with ‘Infineum’ who make additives for oil and fuel. She worked in the development and setting up of a hand-held monitoring device to use within the company. Meanwhile Conrad worked in the Oxford Univer-sity department of Gene Function where he investigated algorithms to predict the secondary structure of RNA molecules. Congratulations to both of these hard working students!
GCSE Astronomy A one-year GCSE Astronomy course is open to year 12 students and also interested members of staff and adults from outside school. The course includes both theory and practical work, much of which can be done at home using work booklets and other resources which we provide. There are also tutorial sessions in school and contact is always available via telephone or e-mail. The examination is done at School in June. This makes up 75% of the value of the qualifica-tion. The other 25% is made up of coursework, done during the year. This involves observations of the night sky and some daytime observations. We will be having two Sky at Night evenings in the Sixth Form centre on Wednesday 10
th No-
vember and Wednesday 9th February 2011, both
from 5p.m. until 6.30 p.m. For more information please contact Mr T Kemp on 01451 820554 or at [email protected] After School Science & Engineering Club The latest group of enthusiastic students have commenced their term’s activities. Successfully lighting the way were Tom Panter, Harry Pegrum, James Milhench and John Feaster who utilised the engineering skills they learned from a STEM work-shop run in activities week, to solve the Lighthouse design chal-lenge. The next project on the horizon is an eggciting rocket challenge.
Language College News In the last Cotswold School News of last year I mentioned our end of term trips. I can now tell you that the French trip, the German exchange and the Spanish Work Experience were huge successes. In France we enjoyed a history day visiting the World War I battlefields. Add in a WW2 museum, a visit to a bakery and an aquar-ium and lots of opportunities to speak French and you will see that we all had a culturally and linguistically enriching experience. However the highlight was undoubtedly the day in Paris where we went up the Arc de Triomphe, took a boat down the river Seine, saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower the Champs Elysées and the St Denis stadium, on our coach tour and ate in a traditional French restaurant. In beautiful Bavaria our exchange students had a fantastic welcome from their host families and enjoyed a variety of activities including trips down a salt mine, to a royal palace, up mountains and on lakes and to Munich. In Spain the sixth form worked in various shops whilst exploring the cultural delights of Madrid in their time off. Many thanks to the organisers Mrs Hudson, Miss Underwood and Miss Tingle and to all the teachers who supported them.
This year’s MFL trips include the German and Spanish residentials to the Rheinland and Barce-lona, the Italian trip to Florence, the French ex-change to Brittany, the Spanish Work experience to Madrid and the German exchange to Bavaria. Other departments will be taking trips to Berlin/Krakow, the WW1 battlefields, the Dordogne (PGL) and the ski trip. We will shortly be issuing an overview of all trips abroad so that parents can make an informed decision about what they would like their child to go on in the future. Please do stick to deadlines for payments – it helps our office staff enormously as we have to honour financial commitments to the companies who run our trips.
We have enjoyed having our 20 German exchange partners from Bavaria in school this week. They had a varied programme of visits including Oxford, Stratford and Warwick and also did lots of different things with their families at the weekend. Thank you to all our hosts for their hospitality which was much appreciated and special thanks to Miss Underwood for organising it all so well.
I am thrilled to report that we have been awarded the full International Schools Award (which recognises the variety of international activities across the curriculum) for the second time. Thank you to all departments who contributed and especially to Mr B Edwards for all his hard work coordinating the various activities across departments culminating in the fiercely contested Cotswold World Cup!
And lastly please save any shoeboxes you might have at home as we are will once more be sending some off to Romania. Last year we sent off over 100 boxes and it would be great to emulate that this year!
Whilst most enjoyed a break over the summer holi-days, Mrs Holland and the Bursar, Mrs Turner, gave up their summer to ensure that the school achieved Academy status. The Governors would like to thank them for all their hard work and congratulate the School on starting the new academic year as an Academy. This will help to ensure that the school can continue to be outstanding in every respect.
DIARY DATES — October 2010 Wednesday 6th October Open Day—visitors in school 9.15am-1pm; school closes at 2pm; Open
Evening—6-8pm
Friday 8th October Non-Uniform Day in aid of The Joshua Foundation
Monday 11th October DofE Year 11 Project Presentation—6th Fm CR—7-9pm
Tuesday 12th October Year 7 Parent/Tutor Evening
Wednesday 13th October Alexander Ardakov Piano Recital
Friday 15th October Year 10 Grade Card to Parents
Monday 18th October Civil War Day for Year 8
Tuesday 19th October Sixth Form Information Evening
Thursday 21st October Charity Fashion Show
Friday 22nd October Year 12/13 Grade Card to Parents Break-up for half-term, 3.20pm (Return to school Mon 1st Nov)
News from the Music Department
Little Shop of Horrors on DVD DVD s of last year's musical Little Shop of Hor-rors are now available to buy. They cost £5 each—see Mr Briggs or Mr Dark to order. We are very grateful to Mrs Godfrey for taking on the job of producing and packaging the DVDs : thank you, - we really appreciate it !!
Instrumental exam results, Summer 2010 Flute: Lizzie Hughes grade 1 merit; Victoria Smith grade 1; Ellie Taylor grade 2 merit; Milly Francis grade 2 merit; Phoebe Dry grade 2 merit; Molly Ames grade 2; Emily Eaton grade 3 merit; Nina Meyrick grade 4 merit; Naomi Cull grade 7 merit; Ellie Powley grade 7 merit Classical guitar: Tara Hughes Initial merit; Bonnie Whitehill Initial merit; Tom Minns Initial merit; Frederika Dalwood Initial; Adrian Ubando Initial; Maximilian Stout grade 1; Emily Beadle grade 2 merit; Charlotte Fenton grade 3 merit Electric guitar: Luke Saunders grade 2 merit; Jim Dee grade 8 merit Piano: Emily Eaton grade 2 merit; Tegan Saun-ders grade 2 distinction Violin: Saskia Woodd grade 4; Charlotte Rich grade 5 Clarinet : Callum Mitchell grade 5 Well done everybody!! Please let Mr Briggs know if there are any omissions or mistakes..)
Kupcake Kitchen serves up tasty profit! During the Summer Term, Year 9 pupils put forward ideas to sell a product out of the school’s new Enter-prise Hut. In a Dragons Den style judging contest, proposals were scrutinised by the judges, Mr Pul-ham of Pulham's Coaches and our own Mr M. Smith. The winning proposal was put forward by Aletia Laird and Phoebe Matthews, whose proposal to sell muffins and flapjacks one lunch time a week was so detailed that it even set out the government guidelines for the sale of sugary snacked goods, as well as projected profit margins and sales forecasts! The girls were given fifty pounds start-up capital which was wisely invested and every penny ac-counted for. The business operated over six weeks and saw the girls sell out nearly every week. At the end of this time a final report was written, which de-tailed all the highs and lows of running a business. Any profit made was split equally with fifty percent going to the girls’ chosen charity and the other half rewarding the girls for their efforts. A big thank you must go to Pulham's for sponsoring this event.
Calling all business men and women! Want to run your own business, be your own boss, and make some money? Come along to Enterprise
Club on Thursdays at 1.15pm in 6.1. See Mrs Gregory or Miss Hanks for more details.
Duke of Edinburgh News Congratulations go to Guy Keeble, James Skaife, Hannah Davis, Lauren Castleton-White, Will Wood and Ed Crewe on achieving their Bronze DofE Awards after fully completing the volunteering, physical recreation, skills and expedition sections. The Year 11 Bronze DofE teams are now busy pre-paring and compiling their expedition projects for presentation to parents and an assessor on Monday 11
th October in the Sixth Form Centre.
Year 12 students are organising their Silver DofE training walks and expeditions, with the next cohort of Bronze Award Year 10 students sorting their registration forms.
Sadly, Dr David Tustin who had assessed the expedition skills of our Bronze Award students over many years, died suddenly over the sum-mer. His commitment and dedication to ensuring that the students received a high quality learning experience whilst undergoing the assessment process will be greatly missed.
Piano Recital by Alexander Ardakov Prize Winning Russian Soloist in The Cotswold School Hall
Wednesday 13th October at 7.30pm Tickets priced £8/£10, £6 for pupils
from School Reception or Lorretta Newton on 01451 812975
The Cotswold School Academy Trust is a company incorporated in England and Wales, limited by guarantee with registered Company number 7338767.
