COTSWOLD NEWS

FEBRUARY 2016

OLIVER!

The 2016 Cotswold School production of ‘Oliver!’ played four perfor- mances from 3rd - 6th February with a cast, crew and band of around 100 pupils from Years 7 to 13. With the role of Oliver Twist shared be- nals and the hugely versatile chorus tween two talented Year 7s, the whole and supporting roles brought the cast came together to bring Victorian whole production together and en- London to . The sured that there was never a dull mo- band, made up of pupils as young as ment or a wrong note in the whole Year 7, were expertly led by Ms Buck- show. We aim for a very high stand- ley and Miss Thomas to bring Lionel ard and all the pupils worked togeth- Bart’s wonderful music to life. The tech- er to ensure that the production nical and backstage crew worked hard to looked and sounded as professional make the whole production run smooth- as possible. ly. We believe that school is about Taking part in a school production is a so much more than lessons and big commitment but I am sure all the homework. Our aim as a pupils involved will agree that it is total- school is to provide pupils ly worth all the hard work. You get a with a wide range of opportu- huge sense of achievement to have nities and exciting and memo- worked together to create a 2 hour show rable experiences. During a of outstanding quality. We have had school production we work as a some fantastic feedback from parents, team, make new friends and learn a governors and members of the public range of skills that we do who enjoyed the show and commented not encounter in the usual on the incredible skill and enthusiasm curriculum. Why not shown by the students. I am also grateful come along and take part for the hard work of parents who spent a next year? Who knows lot of time transporting pupils to and what you might from rehearsals and to all the staff who end up doing?! helped out backstage and front of house on the performance nights. Miss Monk Show Director & There were many absolutely wonderful Head of Drama performances and special mention Department should be given to Ophelia Holston and Oliver Billing (Oliver - Year 7), Char- lotte Crouch (Fagin - Year 12), Amy Whitehill (Nancy - Year 12), Sam Pout (Mr Bumble - Year 12), Lucy Pomeroy (Artful Dodger - Year 8) to name just a few. Fagin’s Gang, from Years 7 to 9 were worryingly convincing petty crimi- BOOK AWARD for SECONDARY SCHOOLS The Cotswold School has lead the way in launching a brand new Book Award for Gloucestershire Secondary Schools.

Mrs Williams, our Librarian, initiated the idea of a Book Award and with the help of her fellow Librarian at Ribston Hall High School for Girls in , a new county based award has been launched: the Book Award for Gloucestershire Secondary Schools— BAGSS.

Endorsed by the Library Services for Education in Gloucestershire, 24 other Gloucestershire schools have joined in.

As a collective, all the schools assembled a longlist which has now been whittled down to a shortlist of six books. Everyone is now in the process of reading and voting for their winner, with the overall winner and two runners-up being announced in Spring 2016.

Mrs Williams explains: ‘All of the shortlisted books are available to borrow from the school Library, where the voting also takes place. We would love all our students to take part and have their say in the outcome of the award. All you need to do is read as many of the shortlisted books as you can and then vote for your favourite!’

The 2016 BAGSS Shortlist: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Awful Auntie by David Walliams

The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy Terror Kid by Benjamin Zephaniah

BAGSS voters (l-r): Elizabeth Joyce, Amy Kelly, Rosie Bowers and Alec Jenkins.

THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL PTA ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT 7.30pm FRIDAY 4th MARCH 2016 at The Cotswold School * TEAMS OF UP TO 4 * £15 per TEAM * LICENCED BAR & RAFFLE * * FREE SNACKS AND SANDWICHES *

Please contact Mrs Rachel Godfrey on 01608 676059 to enter a team ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BENEFIT THE SCHOOL! Cryptographers Celebrate!

CONGRATULATIONS to our Year 12 Cryptography Team 'The Grizzly Armadillos', who came 2nd in the Na- tional Cipher Challenge and received The IBM prize of £800.

The National Cipher Challenge is run by the University of Southampton and is sponsored by GCHQ, IBM, Trinity Col- lege, Netcraft and BCS.

This year saw an impressive 610 entries predominantly from the UK, but also some entries from China, Japan, Turkey and the UAE.

The team from The Cotswold School was made up of team captain, Alex Barter along with Toby Abrey, Charlie Beadle and Sam Fearn.

This is the third year that Alex and Toby have participated in the competition, rising through the ranks and only being pipped at the post this time by a mere 1hour and 5 minutes. They have spent the past two years analysing the challenges and learning a variety of different ciphers. Alex has created specialised software that decrypts many and various ciphers in order to reduce the time the team have to spend decrypting a cipher by hand.

While team ’Grizzly Armadillos’ are justifiably proud of their impressive 2nd place prize, they are not resting on their laurels: they will be entering the competition again next year with first place on their minds.

"Mrs Ashworth, teacher of Mathematics and team mentor commented: ‘The team has done very well. To come 2nd out of a field of 610 is amazing. It goes to show that determination and hard work pays off!”

Everything’s coming up … carrots Our Fork 2 Fork Gardening Club and broad beans and garlic have Paige Duester, and Gemma believe eating fresh, seasonal food been sown. Quiney . is what makes food taste really great. Teacher-in-Charge, Miss The gardeners are hoping to plant Thank you to Ms Lamb and Lamb says ‘The fresher, the more and grow onions, garlic, broad Mr Webb for all their sup- nutritious too and our Club’s aim beans, peas, carrots, and beetroot port. is to get our produce amongst others ‘and then find from Fork 2 Fork in less than 24 easy, nutritious meals to enjoy hours!’ them in’ explains Ms Lamb who is a teacher of catering in our The Club recently enjoyed choco- D&T Department. ‘We are hop- late brownies made with freshly ing to put in a picnic bench down picked beetroot in them ‘which by the vegetable patch and get a have half the fat of normal brown- camping stove so that we can ies too,’ explains Ms Lamb. enjoy some ‘al fresco’ dining

too!’ The Fork 2 Fork Club meet on a Wednesday afternoon and have Well done to Club Members: been working as long as they have Penda Mungendje, Callum light (or until the late bus arrives) Neale, Matthew Isemonger, which has meant working quickly. So far the hard working group have moved a large pile of com- post in order to expand their space, weeded the beds and bro- ken up the soil. It is now in per- fect condition to begin planting

ALICE SHINES AT ONLINE SAFETY CONFERENCE

We were delighted to be invited by Inside Government – an organisation that holds conferences on subjects and issues affecting the private, public and voluntary sectors – to speak to educationists on the topic of e-safety. E-Safety Lead Mrs Peake and Mrs Littler spoke to a packed conference hall in London but it was clear to all that Sixth Former Alice Gee stole the show. The only student speaker present, Alice spoke elo- quently and passionately about our school’s e-safety campaign and the necessity for all to engage in e-safety education and monitoring both in and out of school.

We are pleased to let all our students, staff and community know that we have installed a ‘Click CEOP’ button on the front page of our website and on the school’s intranet for your online safety. This button has been developed to offer children, young people, parents/carers and professionals a simple and convenient way to gain access to trusted online safety advice, and the help and support which is provided by the National Crime Agency Command CEOP (which stands for: Child Exploitation & Online Protection).

Rotary News... Rotary Young Writer of the Year

The North Cotswolds Rotary Young Writers Competition is an an- nual competition and is open to all year groups. This year we had several hundred entries from Years 7 to 11; a pleasing spread!

The winners are listed below.

Senior: 1st – Hal Pett; 2nd – Ella Sweeney; 3rd – Emma Parker Commended: Emily Coleman; Lydia Furner; Matt Hunt; Edan Winter

Intermediate: 1st – Dolly Forrester; 2nd= Eleanor Plater and John Simp- son; 4th= Huw Dickinson and Ralph Skliros Commended: Ellie Bowers; Jemima Branch-Charnley; Archie Clarke; Oliver Dunnicliffe; Hannah Hoadley; Elizabeth Joyce; Jennifer Morafkova; Jessica Powell; Grace Taylor.

Comments from the judges: “The judges were all very impressed with the overall quality of writing in both categories. There was plenty of imagination and originality, and it was clear that a lot of thought and effort had been put in by those taking part. Very well done to all involved.”

Many thanks to The North Cotswolds Rotary Club for organising the competition and supporting creative writ- ing in school! COTSWOLD NEWS Rotary Young Chef of the Year Back in November a number of Cotswold School pupils set out on an incredible culinary journey. A group of bud- ding young chefs took part in the first round of the annual Rotary Young Chef of the Year competition. This club round was made up of competitors from years 8, 9, 10 and 11. The challenge ahead of them was to prepare a three- course meal for two persons in two hours, with a budget for ingredients of no more than £15.

The judging criteria included planning and costing, healthy choices of dishes, table layout and presentation, neatness of working area, and range of skills used. But the most important criteria of all were the taste and presentation of each of the three courses, all of which were individually tast- ed and marked by the five judges.

The winner was Eleonore Gilbert, Year 8, and the runner up was Lily Harris, Year 11. Eleonore wowed the judges with a starter of goat’s cheese on toasted bruschetta, rocket, honey and paprika, followed by salmon en croute, sugar snap peas, toasted almonds and chives. For dessert she pro- duced a perfectly cooked chocolate fondant with raspberries and cream. Lily’s menu consisted of a nicely presented roast carrot and parsnip salad with soured cream, beetroot and walnut vinaigrette, followed by chicken breasts with wild mushroom and bacon stuffing, butternut squash dauphi- noise, and sherry sauce, and for dessert, blackberry cranachan.

Eleonore made it through to the District Semi Final which was held on 30th January. Chef and friend of the school, Shaun Naen from had kindly agreed to mentor Eleonore using his many years of experience to help prepare her for the next round. He spent an afternoon with Eleonore here at school, refining technique, presentation, and obviously taste of the three winning dishes Eleonore had produced. After a lot of tasting and practicing, and mistaking salt for sugar, the refined three dishes were settled upon.

The 30th came and there were a lot of nervous chefs—this time from all over the South West. Eleonore was ready, she had practiced and practiced - at home and at school. Even after facing obstacle after obstacle, the oven not switching on, and forgetting an attachment to the blender, Eleonore kept her calm.

Judging this time was by Chris Cane, Head Chef of The Kings Arms, Stow and Darren Brown, Executive Chef for the Luck Onion Group. Chris commented: “Eleonore’s starter of creamed goats cheese, poached pear, pickled beetroot, lightly toasted bruschetta and sweet balsamic was worthy of any restaurant menu.”

It was a close fought competition but Eleonore made it through to the next round along with a student from Cirencester Kings Hill. This next round, The District Final, will take place on 27th February at St Katherine’s School in North Somer- set.

The School wishes Eleonore every luck in this competition. As Chris Cane said on leaving, “Keep this up, and you will have a great catering career ahead of you.”

What more can be said? - Mr Smith, Head of Catering—D&T

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Congratulations go to Year 13 stu- Wychwood Library and helping organ- dents, Beth O’Brien, Ed Miles-Marsh, The DofE Award brings great benefits to ise Bourton Explorer Scouts, North- Ewan Waddington and Rosie Wilson those who participate, but also puts a lot leach Cubs & Northleach Rainbows. on completing their hard earned Sil- of valuable contributions back into the ver DofE Awards. local community. This is illustrated by A very impressive array of activities! the wide variety of different volunteering Praise is also well deserved for the fol- activities that have been undertaken by Year 10 students are now actively un- lowing Year 12 and Year 11 students the award winners, over a period of 3-6 dertaking weekly expedition training for who have completed their Bronze DofE months including: their Bronze DofE Award expeditions Awards: in the summer, as well as continuing Junior Sports Leaders Awards, junior their diverse volunteering, physical and Charlotte Edwards, Holly Markham, coaching at Stow Rugby Club, Great skills sections of the Award. Will Eggerton, Abi Burchell, Alice Tay- Tew Cricket Club, North Cotswold Ca- lor, Grace Clare, James Babbage, Ben noe Club, Bourton Vale Cricket Club, - Dr B Major Twyman, Henry Triff, Darcy Slattery, Stow Dance Club and Bourton & Sher- Fraser Nicholson, Bethan McGuiness borne Hockey Club, working in Sue Ry- Dean, Dan Ksiazczyk, Johnnie Parker, der, St Richards Hospice & Blue Cross Emily Yates, Amy Goodman, Beth Charity Shops, assisting at the Henry Weatherhead, Alaric Whitehead, Ellie Cornish Day Care Centre, Interact Club, Ballinger, Connor York and Haydn Combe Mill Society, St David’s Church Clarke. Sunday Club, Bourton Baptist Church, Another Spellbinding Event! Young witches and wizards received, by ‘Owl Post’, their invitations to attend the annual Harry Potter Night event in the school Library. With passwords to enter and wands at the ready, they were ‘sorted’ before having the opportunity to have their photo taken.

As the guests were sorted into their 'houses', Student Librarians read extracts from The Order of the Phoenix and pupils took their seats to begin the quiz. This year, the organisers (Bloomsbury publishing) of this national event introduced the theme of ‘Spells’. The quiz masters challenged pupils to recall their knowledge of the Harry Potter books. It was a close fought contest but in the end Ravenclaw triumphed!

During the quiz, students could buy home-made cakes and sweets from Hon- eydukes and there was a slideshow of clips from the films and illustrations from the books. Students also signed up to DA (Dumbledore’s Army), signed the petition to free Dobby and got the chance to fight off a dementor with their best Patronus charms! We raised a fantastic £29.50 from the sale of cakes which will go towards new books.

Special thanks go to Student Librarians Lewis White & Rosie Bowers (quiz masters and readings), Toby Vickers (dementor), Alec Jenkins (AV tech.), Louise Minns (baking), Anna Hall (confectionary), Alaric Whitehead and Elizabeth Joyce, and guest helpers Harriet Palfrey (star baker), Ellen Walk- ingshaw (flying keys), Zoe Jenkins (Rita Skeeter), Berin and Felicity White- head (props and petitions) and Alice Triff (quiz compiler), and special guest Mr Lord!

- Mrs Williams, School Librarian

COTSWOLD NEWS

Guiding the way...

Indira Frampton, Year 9, has been se- lected by Girlguid- ing UK to attend an international trip to Finland in July.

She will be joining 15,000 other Guides, Scouts and Leaders from several countries for the 7th annual Finnjamboree, ‘Roihu 2016’ - a huge campsite and activity centre in Southern Finland.

GREAT SCOUT! Indira is required to raise a minimum of £1800 for the trip and the cost of her kit which she has been Huge CONGRATULATIONS to Alex working hard to fundraise since August 2015. Townsend, Year 8, who has been awarded the Chief Scouts Gold Award—the highest A fantastic opportunity and an honour to be se- award a Scout can gain. lected! Congratulations, Indira.

Alex has been a member of the 6th Chipping Norton Scouts for many years. “It is the result of months, if not years of hard work and commitment and we are all very proud of him!” - Scout Leader, 6th Chipping Norton Scouts

A superb achievement—well done, Alex! Two in Emilyon!

CONGRATULATIONS to Emily Franks, Year 10, and Emily Rowe, Year 8, who both came away with medals at the Gloucestershire Levels Gymnastics Championships in Janu- ary 2016.

Emily Franks brought home a gold medal with a 1st on vault, bars and beam and 3rd on floor, with an overall 1st place in her group.

Emily Rowe, Year 8, has also achieved great things, placing second and taking silver in the same compe- tition.

Both girls are committed members of their club: Cheltenham School of Gymnastics under the direction of Mr Martin Collett. He said of the girls’ achievements at the County Championships: ‘Both of these young gymnasts have shown incredible dedication. Emily Franks has been working with me since the age of 2 and has shown great determination. I have seen her confidence really grow over the years through her gymnastics. These wins are a fantastic achievement from both girls.’

Well done Emily and Emily!

CHELTENHAM SCHOOL OF GYMNASTICS HOLDS CLASSES AT THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL ON MONDAYS FROM 3.30pm ONWARDS. FOR INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT MR COLLETT ON: 01451 820015 Page 7

CONGRATULATIONS: Oxbridge Candidates

Our brilliant Sixth Formers are making exciting plans for the future and amongst them is a group of outstanding students who have received of- fers from Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Congratulations to: Alice Gee: Queens College, Cambridge to read: Eng- lish; Adam Ellison: Magdalen College, Oxford to read Histo- ry and Politics; Josceline Munro: St Peter’s College, Oxford to read French and Spanish; Alistair Wilson: Trinity Hall, Cambridge to read Natu- ral Sciences.

Congratulations too to Ben Darwent, who, after his gap year, has also received an offer from Queen’s College, Oxford to read Mathematics and Philosophy. When it came time to select a Sixth Form for his final years of secondary education Alistair Wilson looked at two other high achieving Sixth Forms in the area but chose The Cots- wold School above the rest. He explains why: ‘both of (the L-R Alice Gee, Adam Ellison, Josceline Munro and Alistair Wilson other Sixth Forms) are regarded highly as top achieving Sixth Forms but they didn’t have the character of The Cotswold School. Here I feel I am treated fairly by teachers and stu- dents, with mutual respect. We are given freedoms that I did not observe in other schools I visited and the exam results speak for themselves!’

Adam Ellison, one of the school’s outstanding debaters, said that The Cotswold School provides the right environment for ‘enjoyable learning’, adding: ‘the resources and support available are fantastic, the teachers are passionate about their subjects and are always willing to help… the environment is positive, supportive and friendly.’

Alice and Josceline wholeheartedly agree. ‘There is huge motivation and support from the staff to fulfil your potential. Hard work definitely goes hand in hand with fun, and there is a true sense of community, ’ commented Josceline, ‘There are plenty of opportunities both subject-based and socially, making the Sixth Form such a lively place of study!’ Governor Update...

At all governors’ meetings there are items on the agenda monitor how things are going and to discuss with subject lead- which involve monitoring and review and as we approach the ers. This is an important part of the review cycle as it keeps midyear point of the academic year this is a good time to eval- governors well informed on school life. uate how things are going in some key areas. Finally may I on behalf of the governors say a big thank you to Governors are actively engaged in monitoring Performance Mr Ben Edwards who did not seek re-election when his term Management procedures at school to ensure that we as a staff as a staff governor came to an end. Mr Macmorland will be are offering our best to the pupils both in and out of the class- taking over from him. Also to Mr Dry who has served 4 years room. The School Development Plan and the School Evalua- as a parent governor, chairing the premises committee. Mr Dry tion Form will also be under scrutiny at the February gover- did not stand again as a parent but has been appointed to be an nors’ meeting along with the detailed analysis of exam perfor- associate governor for a term of one year. Welcome also to mance in comparison to other schools nationally which is pro- Miss Caroline Taplin who has been appointed as a co-opted vided by the Department of Education. governor and to Mrs Kathy Ellison who was elected to be a parent governor, both for a four year term. We have a total of 50 policies in school which cover all areas of school life and these are on a rolling programme of review, As ever if you have any questions or queries for the governors, most of which are looked at every 2- 3 years but some such as please feel free to contact me at Admissions and Safeguarding are reviewed on an annual basis. This half term governors have looked at Exams, various Fi- [email protected] nance policies and Data Protection amongst others. The peak season for school visits by governors is approaching Fran Hudson, Clerk to Governors – all governors have a link department which they visit to Page 8

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January/February 2016 To all parents, carers, staff and friends of our school

Our Annual Quiz Night will be on Friday March 4th, 2016. If you fancy a sociable evening, find some friends, make up a team and come along. To en- Next ter a team: Please contact Rachel Godfrey on 01608 676059 or email Events [email protected]. If you would like to donate a raffle prize we would be very grateful.

The PTA are a friendly group of parents and staff who raise about £10k each Who are year to pay for extra things at school and have a bit of fun at the same time. we? There is a small committee of 6 members and a wider group who help out when they can.

Over 2014/15 we funded: visualisers for the English depart- What is ment, compasses and other funding for D of E Awards, a trolley and refrig- the erator for the Catering Department, an outdoor table tennis table, lights for money performing arts, a visiting guest speaker for the History Department, Prizes used for? for Speech Day and money towards the School Counselling ser- vice, Activities week and Book Week.

Car parking: visitors to Bourton pay £3 to park on the school field on bank holidays and weekends in the summer. The PTA run the car park. Key PTA events? Bars: the PTA run the bar at key events at school.

Quiz night: A fun social event and fundraiser

Yes please! The more hands we have the easier and more fun it is for every- Do we one. If you could spare an hour or two to help with car parking one day, need any serve drinks on a bar, pass around mince pies at the Carol Service, or make help? sandwiches for the quiz night…. you would be very welcome!

Rachel Godfrey via [email protected] – please get in touch if you Contacts want to help, find out more or just be on the PTA email list.

COTSWOLD NEWS Page 10 Business Case Study: Aston Villa FC

Business Studies pupils in Years 7, 8 and 10 were given extra inspira- tion on the topic of ‘Marketing’ when they were treated to a tour of Villa Park and a talk given by Aston Villa FC business management.

Miss Hanks, Head of Business Studies explains ‘We were very fortunate to take a tour of Aston Villa and take part in one of their educational talks tailored to a topic area of particular interest to us – Marketing. We had a tour behind the scenes of Villa Park which included changing rooms, play- ers’ lounge, press rooms and more, followed by a talk delivered by Club management on how AVFC markets itself to different consumers.’ ‘Our pupils gained great insight into the functioning of the business world behind the game on the pitch.‘

THANK YOU! from the Business Studies Department The Business Studies Department would like to say a big ‘Thank you!’ to several individuals and businesses that have supported BTEC Vocational Business Studies students and staff over the past 18 months. In particular Peter Gorton from the Village Restaurant and Tea Rooms in Bourton –on-the-Water for two whole days evaluating website designs and mock interviews at the café. Also Chris Cullinane for a valuable presentation and talk on Human Resources at Systems Consultants Services and Graham and Clare Keyte from Bourton’s Bakery On the Water for a key case study interview and merchan- dising display materials. Thank you also to Natasha Willmore of Culpepper & Co and also Mr and Mrs Keene from The Cotswold Brewing Company for their support.

Other businesses such as Curry’s, Waitrose and Whole Foods from Cheltenham have hosted visits or provided material in interviews as well as the manager from Friars Walk Development, Newport. School governor Mr Emsley has also been a significant support this year in providing feedback on student live presentations.

Thank you all! Input from real businesses and personnel is essential to the students’ qualifications and is really appreciated. Please get in touch if you can offer any input – a visit to your company for a very small group of students is especially welcome or your visit to us to present or chat to students on various aspects of business in the modern world.

- Mrs S Gummery COTSWOLD NEWS