Newsletter 02/05/2025

 

Thank you from the Repair-Ed Project!

 Arathi Sriprakash from the Repair-Ed Research Project at the University of Oxford visited Cotham Gardens Primary School before Easter to speak to teaching staff, parents, and former pupils about their educational experiences.

 By listening directly to stakeholders, the Repair-Ed project explores how schools across Bristol can better address racial and class inequalities. Some of the key issues raised by stakeholders so far include:

• The importance of a culturally-responsive curriculum and pedagogy
• The need to improve Black and Ethnic Minority representation and retention in the teaching workforce
• The importance of parent-school partnerships in building racial literacies in schools.

 Repair-Ed researchers will continue to visit schools across the city and diverse perspectives are being brought together in an online interactive archive which you can access here – A People’s History of Schooling in Bristol.

 Arathi would like to thank the Cotham Gardens community for welcoming the project. She’ll be staying in touch with the school to share resources that the Repair-Ed Project develops. In the meantime, you can follow updates on their website: www.repair-ed.uk.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 Please find the remaining bank holidays where the school will be closed.

 

Monday 5th May 2025

Monday 26th May 2025 - School on half term for the whole week

 

 

 

The next Community Forum Meetings will be held next week - all welcome!

• 7th May in the Cotham Grove Hall at 9am

 

• 8th May online at 6.00pm - you will find the Microsoft ID and Password to join on ClassDojo calendar

   

We have a special  lunch on Wednesday 21st May.

If your child would like:

 

• Chicken Fajita served with rice – please select the Roast Chicken with Roast Potatoes.

 

• Halal Chicken Fajita served with rice– please select the Halal Roast Chicken, Roast Potatoes.

 

• Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla served with Rice– please select the Chickpea and Spinach Curry and Rice. 

 

 

 

If you have recently moved house, updated your mobile number or email address - please make sure you update these on Arbor to ensure we have the most up to date information for you.

 

 

 

 

Please see below some of the trips that are happening over the coming terms. If you have not consented for your child to attend, please head over to Arbor to give consent as soon as possible.

 

 

• Y1 Bristol Zoo Project - Tuesday 13th May
• Y2 Aerospace museum - Thursday 15th May 
• YR Farm Trip - Tuesday 20th May 
• YR5 Circus Skills Workshop - 21st May
• 5B Tudor Boat trip - 12th June
• 5WL Tudor Boat Trip - 17th June
• 5MC Tudor Boat Trip - 20th June
• YR5 Children's Theatre Trip - 27th June
• Y6 Residential Camp -  Wednesday 2nd July - Friday 4th July 

 

 

 

As stated in our school attendance policy, only exceptional circumstances warrant an authorised leave of absence. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure, recreation or visiting family would not constitute an exceptional circumstance.

If seeking permission for exceptional circumstances leave of absence, the parent/guardian should complete a Leave of Absence Request form. The request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated; and wherever possible, at least four weeks before the absence. Leave of absence cannot be approved retrospectively.

The school will consider each application individually, considering the specific facts and circumstances. Parents may be required to provide the school with additional evidence in order to support the request. The expectation of the school is that term time holidays should not be planned or booked as a matter of course, as they are likely to be unauthorised.

 

1. A Penalty Notice

The penalty is £80 per parent, per child payable within 21 days, rising to £160 per parent, per child if paid between 22 and 28 days. (Failure to pay will result in prosecution.) If a second Penalty Notice is issued within a rolling 3-year period the penalty is £160 per parent, per child if paid within 28 days. There will be no option to pay a lower amount.

2. Prosecution

Prosecution could lead to fines up to £2500 and /or up to 3 months imprisonment. (See DfE’s statutory guidance on School attendance parental responsibility measures for more information and Bristol City Council’s Penalty Notice Code of Conduct, available here).

Further information can be found in our Attendance Policy and in the Penalty Notice Leaflet from Bristol City Council.

  

 Term Dates

Term 5: Tuesday 22 April 2025 to Friday 23 May 2025

   Term 6: Monday 2 June 2025 to Tuesday 22 July 2025

 

INSET days remaining this year 

Monday 2nd June 2025

 

INSET days for next academic year are now confirmed as follows:

Tuesday 2nd September 2025

Friday 24th October 2025

Monday 3rd November 2025 

Monday 5th January 2026

Monday 23rd February 2026

Friday 3rd July 2026

Wednesday 22nd July 2026

  

 

Bristol City Council are providing Free School Meal vouchers up to the value of £15 per eligible child in order to provide extra support during the May half term break. 

 

Do I qualify for a food voucher?

All children in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 are entitled to free school meals. This is called Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM). However, Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) is different to Benefit-Based Free School Meals (FSM).

 

Children are only eligible for Benefit-Based FSM and Pupil Premium funding if their parents receive certain benefits and have made a successful application with Bristol City Council. If you think you may be eligible for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium, please visit https://www.bristol.gov.uk/schools-learning-early-years/free-school-meals or contact free.school.meals@bristol.gov.uk

 

If you need any help filling out the form, please come to the office where we can support you with this.

 

 

Year 3 have had another wonderful week. They are producing excellent third person narratives, which are focused on predators and prey, and the writing is very exciting to read! In Maths, we have been getting stuck into time and the children have worked really hard on this challenging concept. We have also really enjoyed having Simon Porter teach us tennis whilst our Art lesson was brilliant. We were using tabs, slots and strings to join cardboard together and create sculptures. Well done for being so amazing Year 3! 

 

 

 

We have been reading 'Escape Room' by Christopher Edge, who visited us a while back.

When twelve-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it's just a game - the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. Meeting her teammates, Adjoa, Ibrahim, Oscar and Min, Ami learns from the Host that they have been chosen to save the world and they must work together to find the Answer. But as he locks them inside the first room, they quickly realise this is no ordinary game.