Monday 23rd Feb | Head of School Letter
Welcome back to the second half of the Spring term. I hope that all of our students and their families enjoyed a restful and restorative half-term break – even if the weather meant you couldn’t get out and about as much as you’d have liked. As we return to school, we continue through a significant time of year for members of our community, with the holy month of Ramadan and the season of Lent both having begun last week. For families of all faiths and none, the approaching transition into Spring is a wonderful time for renewed focus, quiet reflection, and giving back to others. These shared values of empathy, discipline, and community spirit are central to everything we encourage and respect at The Cottesloe School. I would like to wish a peaceful Ramadan Mubarak and a meaningful Lent to all those observing, and a very positive half-term ahead to our whole school community.
Updated Curriculum Statement
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing the very best education for our students, we have recently updated our whole-school Curriculum Statement. This document clearly outlines our curriculum intent, how it is implemented across the different key stages, and the impact it has on our young people's development. The opening paragraph of the statement sets out our vision:
"At The Cottesloe School, our guiding principle of 'Prepare, Aspire, Succeed' is the heartbeat of the 'Cottesloe Journey'. We believe that education is about more than just academic results; it is about learning about and from the world in which we live. This journey is not a uniform path; instead, it empowers every student – regardless of ability, need, or background – to develop the aspirations required to become the very best version of themselves."
Please read the full statement to learn more about how we sequence and structure your child's learning. You can find the complete Curriculum Statement on our website here: TCS Curriculum.
Every Student Matters: We miss them when they're not here
At The Cottesloe School, every student brings something unique to our community. When a chair is empty, we do not just see a statistic – we see a missing voice and a young person we care about. We understand that for some students, simply getting through the school gates can require incredible courage. If school feels overwhelming for your child right now, please know that we are a helping hand, not a judgemental eye.
You don’t have to navigate these challenges in silence. We encourage you to reach out so we can support you and your child. Please feel free to contact:
- Your child’s Form Tutor
- Your child’s Head of Year (Staff contact list available here)
- Mrs Blair, our Attendance Officer (mblair@cottesloe.bucks.sch.uk
Together, we can find a path forward and ensure every student feels confident and supported in their learning environment. For more information: Detailed guidance and further contact links can be found on our website: Absences and Attendance
Year 9 Options
Thank you very much to all Year 9 parents, carers and students for getting all the options forms submitted before half-term! We have already begun the process to allocate students to classes, to support the wider preparation for the whole school timetable for September 2026. Should there be any queries or questions, we will get in touch with individual families. Students will find out which subjects they have been allocated to in June.
Year 8 KS3 Choices for Year 9
Following on from the Year 9 options, it is now the turn of our Year 8 students to start considering their KS3 Choices for Year 9. This is an exciting milestone in their Cottesloe Journey!
Further to the letter sent before half-term, this is a reminder of the key events happening this week to support families through the decision-making process. For more detailed information, please see our website: KS3 Choices.
Key Dates 2026:
- Choices Booklet and online form sent home: Tuesday 24th Feb
- KS3 Choices PSHCE Assembly for students: Wednesday 25th Feb
- KS3 Choices Information Evening in the school hall: Wednesday 25th Feb 6pm. Mrs Hooley and Mrs Castleton will take you through the choices process and explain the curriculum structure in Year 9.
- Year 8 Online Parents' Evening: Thursday 12th March. (Details about booking appointments have been shared separately).
- Deadline to submit the completed Choices form: Wednesday 18th March.
Sixth Form Parking and Site Safety
We recognise that driving to school is a necessity for many of our Sixth Formers due to limited public transport from our catchment villages. However, parking on local residential roads is a contentious issue. Recently, we have been made aware of unacceptable incidents where our students have faced aggressive behaviour from members of the public over off-site parking. We absolutely do not want our young people facing hostility at the start or end of their day. To protect our students and maintain positive relationships with our neighbours, please support us with the following:
- All student drivers should arrange a permit with the Sixth Form office and park on the school site, rather than on local roads.
- Student drivers should arrive at school by 8:20 am to ensure they have enough time to park safely in the designated sixth form car park. Students are able to carefully double park within the Sixth Form car park.
- To ease congestion, if you are a Sixth Former that lives in Wing, please walk. For those travelling from further afield, please lift-share where possible.
With more vehicles on site, pedestrian safety is our absolute priority. All drivers – students, parents, and staff – must strictly adhere to the 5mph speed limit across the entire school site, whether parking, or dropping off/picking up students.
Behaviour on School Transport
I am sad to report that after highlighting transport issues in my last letter before half-term, another incidence of poor behaviour and vandalism on a bus route has been reported to the school, taking place on the last day of term. Families of students on the affected route will be contacted separately. Parents remain responsible for their child's behaviour when travelling to and from school. However, we work with the Local Authority and the bus companies to sanction unsafe or anti-social behaviour. Please discuss these expectations with your child to ensure they represent themselves and the school with pride.
Sports Report - Bedfordshire County Swimming Championships
There’s no school sports report this week, but we are recognising and celebrating some fabulous results from TCS students who competed at the Bedfordshire County Swimming Championships over two weekends in late January/early February at the pool at Luton Inspire. The Cottesloe School was brilliantly represented by a strong contingent of swimmers, showcasing immense dedication, early morning training, and fantastic talent in the pool. A huge congratulations to Cameron T, who delivered an absolutely stellar performance to win the overall 13-year-old boys' age group category across the two weekends, taking home a massive haul of medals for his individual events! Cameron’s big sister, Sophie, swam beautifully to secure Bronze medals in both the 16-year-old girls' 100m Breaststroke and the 200m Breaststroke! Qualifying and competing at the county level is a huge achievement in itself. We would like to officially congratulate all the Cottesloe students who took part and represented themselves so well, including:
- Cameron T
- Charlie B
- Dexter T
- Eleanor W
- Flo D
- Frankie D
- George W
- Lucas T
- Luke T
- Samuel W
- Sophie T
- Sophie W
Congratulations to all our swimmers - it’s wonderful to share such fantastic sporting news with our whole school community.
Sparx Science
A huge well done to all our students for their hard work on Sparx Science this week! It is brilliant to see such positive momentum, particularly from Year 11 who have boosted their engagement by 8%, and Year 7 who are making a fantastic comeback across the board. Year Group Engagement:
- Year 7: 81% (Up 4%)
- Year 8: 65% (No change)
- Year 9: 65% (Down 5%)
- Year 10: 54% (No change)
- Year 11: 38% (Up 8%)
The top 5 classes this week show Year 7 absolutely dominating the leaderboard. A special congratulations to 7y/Sc2 for an outstanding 97% engagement rate!
- 7y/Sc2 – 97%
- 8y/Sc2 – 90%
- 7w/Sc1 – 88%
- 7y/Sc1 – 87%
- 7w/Sc2 – 84%
Keep up the excellent work, everyone! Let's see if Year 8 or 9 can knock Year 7 off the top spot next week.
easyfundraising App-eal
A super easy way to support our school is to sign up to easyfundraising! It's simple, shop with 8,000+ online retailers and we'll receive a free donation. This month only, with their Free £2 App-eal, if you register to support us via the app, we'll get £2, and when 10+ of you register we unlock more bonus funding!
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Events happening at school this week
All week: Year 13 Mock Exams. Good luck to all our students, we believe in you.
Monday: Year 11 football at home to STFS, Year 8 basketball away to AVA, Year 11 basketball away to RGSHW.
Tuesday: U13 girls football away to Coundon Court in Coventry.
Wednesday: Year 12 Lessons from Auschwitz trip, Year 8 KS3 Choices Assembly, Year 11 Mixed Badminton at home against SHFGS, Year 11 Football away to RLS, Sixth Form Cern Trip Parents meeting - 5pm, Year 8 KS3 Choices Parent Presentation - 6:30pm
Thursday: Year 11 Mock Results Day, Year 9 football away to RLS, Year 9B netball away to Waddesdon, U13 mixed badminton at home to Mandeville, Year 11 parents evening.
Friday: Year 12 What University? trip 7:30am-4pm, Year 11 Drama workshops all day.
Have a good week and thanks as always for your ongoing support.
Best wishes,
Louise Baldwin
Head of School