Monday 24th November | Head of School Letter
Winter arrived last week, delivering a mix of crisp cold, snow, and heavy rain. It's been great to see how prepared our students have been, with coats and warm clothing in full effect. As the cold sets in, please remind your children to continue dressing warmly. To clarify uniform expectations: V-neck black jumpers can be worn as an additional layer, but not instead of the school blazer. A coat is also an addition to the uniform and not a replacement for the blazer.
Respecting Our Community Spaces
We are experiencing a serious and persistent issue regarding unacceptable misuse and deliberate damage occurring in the B Block boys' toilet facilities. Over recent weeks, we have seen damage including graffiti in the toilet cubicles, ripped posters, and misuse of the toilets and toilet cubicle spaces. This behaviour has forced staff to clean the facilities more frequently throughout the school day, using specialist products, and diverting valuable time and resources away from other tasks. We expect all members of our community to have actions that are supportive and show respect to others, including how they use shared spaces such as the toilets. As parents/carers, we ask for your support at home in discussing this behaviour with your child to reinforce the need for respect for the environment and community.
We have closed the B Block boys’ toilets and will be speaking to all boys next week to reiterate these expectations. Students identified as being responsible for the damage or misuse will be sanctioned accordingly. Disappointingly, since the B block boys’ toilets were closed on Friday, students have chosen to now damage the A block boys’ toilets. This misuse must stop. Please be aware that CCTV monitors entry and exit points to toilet blocks to deter and identify individuals involved in activities that compromise the wellbeing of our students; the CCTV policy is available on the school website. We need and want these facilities to be treated with respect; thank you for your support in helping us uphold our community standards.
Annual Christmas Food Bank Collection
Further to the detailed letter sent home recently, this is a reminder about our annual Christmas Food Bank Collection. We are currently gathering donations of non-perishable food and personal hygiene items to support the Wing Church Foodbank and Leighton Linslade Helpers. Please remember that the final deadline for sending donations in with your child is Friday 5th December 2025. Thank you again for your incredible support for those in need during the holidays.
Christmas Jumper Day Reminder
Just a reminder that Friday 19th December 2025 is our Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children. Students can wear a Christmas jumper instead of their blazer with their normal uniform - the letter details how to make a donation of £1.50 via the MyChildAtSchool (MCAS) app. Please see the previous letter for full details regarding uniform and alternative options.
Get Ready for East High!
This week, the pressure is on and the energy is buzzing as our cast enters the final rehearsals for High School Musical! It's crunch time, and if the cast and crew weren't already All in This Together, they certainly are now - perfecting every dance step, note, and line before we hit the stage next Wednesday 3rd December. There’s been some truly 'What team?! Wildcats!' worthy performances, and even the crew is getting swept up in the drama; we're trying to stop one of the lighting techs from singing Breaking Free during rehearsals! If you were lucky enough to get tickets (it’s a total sell-out!), prepare for an unforgettable show. We promise, this won't be like trying to decipher one of Coach Bolton's chalkboards - it's going to be spectacular!
Changes to the Detention System
This week, we will be sending home a detailed letter outlining changes to our detention system. This new, streamlined procedure is part of our updated Behaviour for Learning Policy and is designed to provide greater clarity, structured support, and opportunities for student reflection. The new detention protocol will come into effect on Monday 1st December 2025. We encourage all parents and carers to read the letter carefully as it provides important details on how we will continue to ensure a positive and successful learning environment for all our students.
INSET Day
A reminder that this Friday 28th November is an INSET Day. Students should not come to school; no home to school transport will be running.
Maths: Sparx Success
Our students continue to show incredible effort in Maths with Sparx this term! Students have now answered a running total of 478,524 questions and completed 5,420 hours of independent learning. This week 507 students achieved a new XP level.
Huge congratulations go to 9Y3 for achieving the highest average XP and to 7Y2 for the highest overall completion. A special shout-out is also due to our top-performing classes this week: 7W1, 8Y1, 9Y2, 10WY1, and 11WY6. Finally, Year 7 leads the year groups with a fantastic average completion rate of 92%! Well done to all students for their hard work.
Global Success with LanguageNut
Our linguists are truly excelling in their independent revision using LanguageNut, our exam-board approved practice website! To find out more about LanguageNut and how to help your young person succeed in MFL, click here: https://www.languagenut.com/en-gb/secondary/ Every week, we celebrate the Top 5 scorers in each year group for their commitment to French and German. These students are the five highest scorers this term:
- Chloe (Year 7 German)
- Gracie (Year 7 German)
- Rose (Year 8 German)
- Grace (Year 11 German)
- Victoria (Year 9 French)
Our students’ excellent efforts have placed The Cottesloe School in the top 50% of all schools using LanguageNut globally! The competition resets every Monday - it’s both très bien and sehr gut to see new names topping the leaderboard each week!
Sports Report
Despite a slow week for fixtures due to the weather, our teams made their limited time on the field count. Our Year 7 Football team delivered a crushing 9-1 victory against Kingsbrook on Monday. Wednesday saw the U18 Football team involved in a thrilling, high-scoring game against Chesham, narrowly losing 7-8. The best result of the week went to the Year 8 Rugby team, who secured a fantastic 45-35 win against Waddesdon, with Jake B earning a well-deserved Player of the Match award. Well done to all students who competed last week! Fixtures this week include rugby, football and netball.
Vacancies
We’re advertising for roles in our Assistant Teacher team, and to appoint a Head of Digital Media and Computing. Please share with friends, family and colleagues in case they know someone that would like to join us! Further information about both roles, and details on how to apply are here: Join Our Team
Year 13, 12, 11 Geographers will attend an EKFB Geoscience talk on Thursday.
EKFB are the teams responsible for building HS2 from Buckinghamshire and South Warwickshire. As part of the excavations, the Geology team discovered the remains of an ichthyosaur near Waddesdon. It is thought to be around 153 million years old and would have been around 5 to 6 metres long. TheEngineering Geologist team will talk to our students about this discovery and how their knowledge of the geology of the landscape helped ensure HS2 is well-built.
Year 13
Well done to all Year 13s for completing their November mock exams. Year 13 Biologists and Human Biologists are on a trip to the University of Birmingham today to attend a Biology Subject Conference.
Year 11
Good luck to the Year 11 Art GCSE students undertaking their mock exam on Thursday.
Year 10 Work Experience assembly on Thursday.
Year 8
All Year 8 will complete Reading Assessments today or Tuesday. Good luck to the Quadcopter team as they head to the national Quadcopter finals in London on Tuesday. Students will participate in a Farming talk on Wednesday in their science lesson.
Year 7
All Year 7 will complete Reading Assessments today. Students will participate in a Farming talk on Wednesday in their science lesson.
Have an excellent week and thank you for your ongoing support of our super school.
Best wishes,
Louise Baldwin
Head of School