February Newsletter 2010

The Cotswold News
February
2010
THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL
Bourton-on-the-Water
Gloucestershire GL54 2BD
Tel: 01451 820554 Fax: 01451 810658
e-mail: [email protected]
An ‘Outstanding’ 11-18 School, Ofsted 2009
Specialist Language College, since 2002
DfES Leading Edge School, since 2004
Specialist Science College, since 2006
“Breathtaking !”
Sell-out audiences acclaim stunning
production of Little Shop of Horrors
The school hall was packed for three evenings
just before half term as a cast of 30 pupils taken
from Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 wowed audiences
with their superb production of the musical Little
Shop of Horrors.
Everybody worked hard on this show – and
commitment and flexibility were really important
after the snow days cut down on rehearsal
times. Our principals were outstanding - Conrad
Godfrey (Seymour), Ruby Young (Audrey),
Henry Fothergill (Mr Mushnik), Ben Pearson (the
Dentist), Nathan John (the Plant), and Bertie
Edwards-Moss (the TV producer).
This show’s exciting but difficult musical score
was sung by the Divas (Lucy Gibbs, Izzy Harper,
Ellie Bearcroft, Faye McKeever, Laura See,
Nickie Hughes, Vicky Neville, Jodie Tyack and
Clodagh Ogden), our team of nine talented female backing singers who sang wonderful close
harmony backing vocals, accompanied by the
show’s band the Skid Row Six (Alex Elliot, Jim
Dee, Tim Godfrey, Rob Bygrave, Oscar Meyrick
and Mr Briggs). The production also boasted a
versatile chorus who sang and danced their way
through several challenging numbers. Thank you
to Mr Briggs for his masterly musical direction.
On the technical side this was a difficult show to
produce so we are grateful to everyone who
worked on the lighting and sound desks, including
Mrs Gummery, Dr Cox, Mrs Hamlet, Oli Gummery,
Will Fisher, Alex Kennedy and Louis LeBreuilly.
Thanks also to our backstage crew, led by Jess
Smith as stage manager who did a wonderful job
in ensuring that everything ran smoothly. And as
always there was a small army of people involved
in preparing for the show and working backstage
and front of house on the night – a big drama
department THANK YOU to all of you.
Mrs Monk, who deserves a massive thank you
herself for putting on such a superb production,
commented:
“Following on from the success of ‘Godspell’ last
year, our young people have excelled themselves. Their commitment and hard work shows
how well they respond to the discipline involved
in putting on a demanding show for a paying audience. Well done everybody!”
Congratulations to:
The Cotswold News
•
•
•
Molly Birchmore who has recently
been selected for the U15 South West
North Rugby team. A great
achievement, well done!
Georgie Read for her selection in the U13
Satellite Academy
Andrew Scull who competed at the NIA in
the Birmingham Games recently. He
came 3rd in both of his races, gaining
Personal Best times in the 200m (24.5
seconds) and 400m(53.26 seconds).
Business Enterprise Club
Three teams of budding entrepreneurs have
taken on the challenge of running their own
businesses through the weekly Business Enterprise Club run by Mrs Gregory and Miss Hanks.
The Nice-Cream Ice cream Company (Josh
Aberson Y8,
Josh Pearson
Y8, Charles
Gregory Y7,
Brendan
Mann Y7 and
Tom Minns
Y7) have
been selling
delicious, fair
trade ice cream at school production, such as
Little Shop of Horrors and the Jazz Evening. They are also shining shoes on a Friday
lunchtime, under the canopy, to keep the cash
rolling in. They have so far made £350 profit.
Well done boys!
'The Washer Boys,' a car cleaning and valet
service for staff and sixth formers is led by Jamie Lomas Y7. This service has been hampered by the extreme weather conditions, but
Jamie hopes to resume his service shortly when
the weather warms up, if ever!
'Feel Real' run by partners, Theo Munroe and
Joe Cobert , Y9, is a clothing company selling
bespoke tee-shirts and hoodies. The boys can
organise embroidery or letter printing to your
design, such as
the splendid
Little Shop of
Horrors teeshirts worn by
the cast and
helpers. The
boys now have
samples to
show future
customers the
quality and finish of their product and are putting
a catalogue together of sizes and prices for
potential customers.
Most businesses start out from a hobby, interest
or skill. You might be able to turn your talent
into a real business. So please come along to
Room 6.1 on a Monday lunchtime at 1.15pm, to
discuss your ideas with Mrs Gregory or Miss
Hanks. All years welcome.
January Jazz is Just Fantastic
A packed house enjoyed musicianship of the
highest order last month at our very first jazz
evening. “January Jazz” was a showcase for
the school jazz band Back in Black and everything else jazz-related going on at school.
The hall was transformed with candle-lit café
style seating, the bar was open early so the audience could enjoy a drink during the show (in
true jazz club style…) and we enjoyed a whole
range of styles and traditions – from Acker Bilk
to Miles Davis.
There were so many wonderful performances it is
difficult to pick out highlights – but some of the
most memorable items
were Ornithology featuring Will Ingram (Y13), a
beautiful rendition of Tenderly by Amy Hayes
(Y11), vocal solos by Izzy
Harper (Y12), Alice Sidgwick (Y11) and Sarah
Frosh (Y9), piano solos by Gemma Fifield (Y13)
and Sophie Mustoe (Y11), and the clarinet and
sax ensembles.
Special thanks goes to our house band for the
evening –
thank you
Alex Elliott,
Oscar Meyrick (both
Y11), Liz
Murray (Y13),
and Charlie
Meyrick (Y9)
– not forgetting Mrs Hamlet, who put the evening together for us.
Year 7 Music Showcase
We are really looking forward to this event on
Thursday 11th March. To help promote the
Showcase we held a poster competition, won by
Poppy Bridgwater (well done!) whose design is
now being used around the school. Beatrice
Durante’s design was our runner-up and this is
being used on the tickets themselves—which
are now available for purchase from Pupil
Reception.
Sixth Form Auction of Promises
On Wednesday 24th March, the Sixth Form will
be staging an Auction of Promises to raise
money for The James Hopkins Trust and Helen
and Douglas House, both of which provide local
hospice care for terminally ill children. We would
like this event to be as special as possible and
so if you think that you could donate to this wonderful event, please contact Rory and Alana on:
[email protected]
Alternatively if you cannot donate but would like
to attend, please contact the above email address to request tickets which are free of
charge. We hope to hear from you soon—thank
you.
Alana Powell & Rory Goodman
Science College News
This is a very busy and exciting half term for Modern Foreign Languages at The Cotswold School.
National Science and Engineering Week
12th – 21st March
Our 5-week adult language classes will start on
Tuesday evenings. The first Spanish class is on
March 2nd from 7- 8.30 pm. (Follow the pink arrows
to the MFL department). French starts on April 20th
and it looks as if Italian has become a viable group
since we last went to press – this would be after
Easter and I will confirm in the next few weeks.
Secondly we have the second of our Language
Play trilogy when the German actors of Onnatti
visit us to perform. Our Languages at Work day
takes place on March 4th when we aim to show our
year 9 pupils how languages and the world of work
go hand in hand.
The French exchange students will be with us
from 5th -12th March and we will be going over to
France from 23rd to the 30th March.
We are delighted also that we now have a viable
group for an Italian trip and will therefore be off to
Tuscany in October half-term holiday. Mr Edwards
is currently marketing his Sixth Form trip to Berlin and Krakow and the MFL department will
shortly be advertising France 2011 and Rhineland 2011. Meanwhile there are still a few places
available on the German exchange and the Italy
trips so see Mrs Hudson if you are interested.
Year 11 are making excellent progress
towards success, whether on GCSE or on NVQ
courses. We have organised some sessions for
those pupils who still need to top up their coursework portfolio and you will have received a letter if
this involves your child. Please do your best to
ensure they come to the session as it could significantly improve their final grade.
Our brilliant Language Leaders (Louise King,
Rebecca Bowran, Kieran Wiseman, Jessie Honnor, Tabitha Brown, Ellie Bearcroft, Milly Chapple,
Kirstie Guest, Charli Porter, Amy Lyons, Kirsty
Manning, Shannon Hitchman and Callum Haseler)
have been promoting languages and developing
people’s interest in them. They have amongst
other things taken part in Open Day, where they
helped to run the Languages Café and talked to
parents about languages here at Cotswold. Upcoming events that they will be involved in, include
the Year 9 Languages at Work Day, where they
will run a special assembly.
We are looking forward to hosting our 22 Chinese
visitors from Souzhou International School after
Easter. We still need several families willing to
host a Chinese pupil for either half a term or
the whole summer term. Pupils can travel on the
buses, and will attend school during the
week. They will be on tour during halfterm. Families are paid £100 a week. This is a one off opportunity which promises to be really rewarding. If
you would like more details please contact
Miss Rodda at school as soon as possible.
National Science and Engineering Week
(NSEW) is a ten day programme of
science, engineering and technology events
and activities across the UK aimed at people of
all ages. This year's theme is 'Earth' in support
of International Year of Biodiversity and includes everything from the Earth's amazing
wildlife and people to its place in the Universe
and how it works. Get nature-spotting with the
What on Earth Project and find out what events
are happening near you at: whatonearth.org.uk
We will be celebrating this in school with lots of
activities such as ‘Science is Fun for Parents’, poetry writing in English,
designing space equipment for visiting other
worlds in Art and competitions including
‘Endanger Ranger’. Details will be in tutor
groups soon!
After-School Science & Engineering
The latest group of enthusiastic students have
been very busy developing their scientific and
engineering
skills. Tackling a lighthouse construction
challenge
proved an
enlightening
initial experience. Since
then they
have been busy investigating the physics of
toys with Mr Kemp, and testing some sand
yacht racers. They have also used their computer-aided design skills to produce a digital
camera with Mr Smith. Further egg-citing activities will follow in the run up to Easter.
Lunchtime Science Club
Science Club continues to grow in popularity
with students engaged in a diverse and fun
range of activities. So far this term they have
investigated
the flight of
helicopters,
the formation of
clouds,
foam production,
eggficient
cooking and
disappearing worms!
Congratulations to all those who attend so
regularly, including: Luke Pawley, Henry Yates,
Jessie Kettlewell, Alistair Wilson, Felicity
Brooker, Hannah Cairns, James Twin, Michael
Johnson, Vanessa Evans, Edwin Greves,
Tegan Saunders, Alexander Woodd and Naomi
Fearon.
The Cotswold News
Language College News
The Cotswold News
Holocaust Memorial Day
Book Week 2010: 1st-5th March
Holocaust Memorial day occurs on 27 January
every year; marking the day Auschwitz Birkenau
was liberated 65 years ago. This year the theme
was ‘Legacy of Hope’.
This year Book Week has teamed up with our
Science department for a spectacular 'Earth’
theme.
Assemblies both in Upper and Lower School
were held where pupils heard survivor’s testimonies of their experiences. They were given a
chance to reflect and think about their ‘Hope for
the Future’ which they then wrote anonymously
on paper. These thoughts are now displayed in
the shape of candles in the school’s foyer and
include such comments as ‘I hope for a world
where differences are celebrated and not discriminated against’ and ‘I hope people learn to
accept others and share’. We hope the pupils are
proactive in making these wishes come true.
Besides the annual free £1 book tokens, story
and poem competitions, fancy dress, literary
speakers, storytellers and quizzes that happen
every year, this year we have a new KS3 book
club, Book readings and hot chocolate in the
library, a Year 10 Macbeth workshop, an English language Conference and numerous
speakers. These noted speakers include Dr
Peter Williams talking about snails; Lilie Ferrari
on 'Creative Writing'; Anthea Dickie talking to
some Year 7 Geographers, Julia Melvin
(Prince Charles' archivist); Fiona Castle talking
about 'Living Simply' and Selena Hastings, the
biographer.
What a line up! Please encourage everyone to
dress up as their favourite book character on
Tuesday the 2nd of March and don't forget to
spend those free book vouchers
Sport Relief Week:15th-19th March
On Wednesday 3rd February the school also
planted a tree to remember the persecution that
occurred 65 years ago and still occurs in places
today. This is the second year the school has
marked this occasion in this way and once again
the pupils were impeccably behaved; they were a
credit to themselves and the school in their
thoughtfulness and their ability to reflect on what
was one of the most horrific events in history.
We would like
to thank the
pupils for their
attendance,
behaviour and
attitude and to
Miss Moody
and Mr Webb
for organising
the treeplanting.
There are lots of events happening in school
this year for Sports Relief and we would like to
raise as much money as possible for really
worthwhile causes through taking part in sport.
If you would like to add any ideas to the busy
schedule already planned, please see Miss
Hemming as soon as possible.
Monday 15th March: Year 11 Fun Run Mile,
Year 7 Fundraising events (lunchtime)
Tuesday 16th March: Year 11 GCSE PE
Fundraiser, Year 10 Fun Run Mile, Year 8
Fundraising events (lunchtime)
Wednesday 17th March: Year 12/13 Fun Run
Mile, Year 10 GCSE PE Fundraiser, Year 9
Fundraising events (lunchtime)
Thursday 18th March: Year 11 GCSE PE
Fundraiser, Year 10 GCSE PE Fundraiser,
Year 10 Fundraising events (lunchtime)
Friday 19th March: Years 7, 8, & 9 Fun Run
Mile (during PSHE), Year 11 Fundraising
event (lunchtime) , Staff vs. Student netball
match (boys and girls!)
Please support as many events as possible.
DIARY DATES — March 2010
Monday 1st March
Book Week begins
Tuesday 2nd March
Non-Uniform Day— dress as your favourite book character!
Thursday 4th March
Monday 8th March
Thursday 11th March
Year 9 Languages at Work Day; Year 9 Options Evening
Science and Engineering Week begins
Friday 12th March
Year 10 Reports to Parents
Wednesday 17th March
Year 12/13 Parents’ Evening
Tuesday 23rd March
Year 8 Parents’ Evening
Thursday 25th March
Cotswold Partnership Swimming Gala, am
Friday 26th March
Year 7 Reports to Parents
Thursday 1st April
Break-up for Easter holiday, 2pm
Year 7 Music Showcase