cotham gardens primary school

weekly newsletter

 

 

This week’s newsletter comes from our CEO, Chris Seaton. Thank you for your kindness and support over this busy term. I hope you have a lovely half term break and we will see you on Monday 24^th February. 

Best wishes 

Emmeline Smith 

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Dear Parents and Carers 

As we reach the end of Term 3 and the official half-way point of the academic year, I want to write to everyone to give a quick summary of where we are at a strategic level as a school. 

Firstly, this has been an important term in part because the official report from December's Ofsted inspection was published. We were very pleased that the inspection found that the children at our school felt ‘happy and safe’ and acknowledged that we have introduced a long-reaching blueprint to transform all aspects of learning, support and development for every child. It also acknowledged that the school has seen considerable change and turbulence in leadership and governance over the past few years and found that, consequently, standards were not as high as they should be. But the inspectors said recent work to solidify governance and introduce a more strategic approach is ‘laying the foundations’ on which to build for the future.  

You may be aware that Ofsted no longer delivers a one-word judgement on schools, but quite a lot of the tone of the report was quite negative, with limited recognition of the recent improvements that have been made. Whilst we as leaders do not shy away from the changes and further improvements that are still needed, we have been overwhelmed by the support of the vast majority of the school parent/carer body. The feelings were best expressed by a letter signed by over 120 parents that was sent to the school and to the Bristol Post, observing that the Ofsted report, “does not reflect our or our children’s positive experiences” of the school. Please see the article published this week in Bristol Live for more details: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/parents-hit-out-inadequate-ofsted-9935718. 

I cannot express the depth of gratitude that we feel as staff, leaders and trustees of the school for the trust and support you have shown to us over recent weeks. We will work to repay this trust by our ongoing hard work and commitment to make the school even better. In particular, early next term I hope to be able to share with you the milestones of our post-Ofsted action plan. 

I also want to thank those of you who came to our two community forum meetings after drop-off earlier this term. They were very well attended and the conversations were lively with a variety of views being shared after the publication of the Ofsted report. We listen to all views and continue to learn from these conversations. We will hold the first community forum meeting of next term online at 6pm on Thursday 27^th February and our usual 9am Wednesday morning termly forum on 12^th March (more details to follow). Also, regarding communication, we have re-booted our social media accounts and hope that this will be another way to keep the wider community informed about the school (please do Google these accounts and follow us!). 

This term has seen a rapid implementation of a plan to accelerate the improvements to the quality of education in our school with more external support. We are now working with a school improvement partner from Futura Learning Trust who has been in once a week working alongside Ms Smith to help us embed our curriculum offer through a consistent approach to teaching. We also continue to work with Olympus Academy Trust who are supporting Mrs Welsford and our SEND action plan and the English Hub who are conducting a whole school phonics audit. 

Finally, I mention our on-going negotiations and conversations with the DfE and trusts concerning our plan to join a multi-academy trust. A 'silver-lining' of the Ofsted outcome means that any trust we join will now be very likely to qualify for additional capital funds to help to improve the school estate physically. Next term, I am hopeful that we will be able to publish a proposed time-line for joining a trust. 

Thanks again for a being a brilliant parent/carer body and I hope you all have some rest and fun with your children over the half-term break. 

Kind regards 

Chris Seaton 

CEO 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week’s class attendance winners are:

Classes Honeybees, Dragonflies, Hedgehogs and 5WL all  with 97% - Well done!

 

This week’s class punctuality winners are:

6B with 100% Well  done!

                                Also a big well done to Ladybirds, Foxes and Dragonflies with 99%

 

At Cotham Gardens Primary School, we believe that our community is stronger together, with all of our pupils in school, on time, every day. We are building life skills, life-long friendships and preparing your child for future success. 

We know that sometimes our pupils cannot come to school because they are really unwell - and that's the right thing to do for them and other students. Medical advice is clear however that children with mild illness will often be well enough to attend - for example if they have a cough, or cold, without a temperature. The NHS guidance Is my child too ill for school? - NHS (www.nhs.uk) is designed to support parents in their decision making about mild illness. 

Reporting absence:

Sickness can be reported via the new Arbor Parent Portal - as well as our usual absence line (0117 3772610 option 1)

To do this on Arbor, go to:
- Quick Actions
- Attendance
- Log Absence
- Input the absence details, ensuring you provide a detailed reason for the absence
- Submit the request by clicking Log Absence

School staff will then approve or reject the absence. Once approved, it will be visible in the Attendance tab.

Punctuality:

Please ensure your child arrives on time for school.

When a child arrives late to school, they miss important events like assembly, teacher instructions and introductions. Children often also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late. Gates close at 8.55am and children should be in class, ready for registration at  9am. Children arriving after the gate closes should be signed in late via the screens in the school office entrance. 

If your child arrives after 9.30am, the morning session will be marked as unauthorised. 

 

MONDAY   

YR5 Swimming

5B and 5MC will be swimming in T3/T4. Please remember to bring Swimming Kits into school.

  

TUESDAY 

Coffee Morning at Cotham Grove hall after drop off 9am-10am

 

PTAF Meeting on 26 February

Everyone is welcome at Cotham library at 7.30 pm.

Year 3 ventured all the way to the wonderful Carleon Museum last week and by the looks of the photos, they all had a wonderful time!

 

 

 

Please make sure your child comes to school wearing appropriate clothing during cold weather, including a warm coat, hat and gloves. 

Please make sure all items are labelled with your child's name and class.

 

 

  

 

 

On Monday 31st March 2025, we will be celebrating EID with a special lunch menu.

Unfortunately we are unable to add this special lunch onto Arbor now that our menu is live – so please can we kindly ask you to book your child’s meal choice for the day according to the options below:

EID Meal Options
If your child would like:

• Chicken Curry– please select the Roasted Gnocchi in tomato sauce

• Halal Chicken Curry– please select the Roast Gnocchi in tomato sauce - the kitchen will note if your child is Halal.

• Chickpea and Spinach Curry– please select the Vegetable Lasagne

 

The above options are all served with vegetable samosa and rice.

Jacket potato options will still be available.

Thank you for your cooperation and we look forward to celebrating with the children!

 

 

 

 

 

The school nurse will be dropping in for some sessions with parents and carers on the dates below, please click on the date you would like to book:

• Tuesday 20th May
• Tuesday 1st April
• Tuesday 15th July

The sessions will be about offering support and information around topics such as emotional support and relationships, sleep, healthy eating, exercise, being healthy, smoking/vaping.

The sessions will be running between 9am-10am and are held in the hall at Elmgrove. There are four slots available per session and are offered on a first come, first serve basis. You will be able to join in with coffee morning whilst you wait to be seen.

If you do book a slot with the Sirona Nurse and are then unable to  attend, please let us know in advance so we can offer out that sessions to another family.

 

 

Sponsored Read 

10 February - 6 March

Read 15 times to have fun and raise money for your fantastic school. Everyone is entered into a prize draw and the winner will be announced on World Book Day. 

Your child should have brought home a form. You can also print one from Classlist. 

 

PTAF Parents Game Night on 31 March

We are pleased to bring you a games night in partnership with Chance & Counters on Gloucester Road.

7-11 pm, £20 per person including games, a burger and fries and a soft drink.

Tickets will be on sale on Classlist soon.

 

Easyfundraising 

We have been paid £55 from the online spending by parents and carers who use this site. It’s an easy way to support the school at no extra cost to you so please register.

 

PTAF Meeting on 26 February 

Everyone is welcome at Cotham library at 7.30 pm.

Anything for the agenda, please email me on maija.alan@gmail.com

 

Lost property 

The office has told us that there’s a mountain of lost property at both sites. After half term, please check for yours. PTAF will be selling the rest in March.

 

 

 

 

Please find all information on the below link for all the afterschool clubs and Breakfast Clubs that take place at Cotham Gardens.

https://www.cothamgardens.co.uk/Pre-and-Post-School-Care/

 

Great News from Shine! 

If you need last minute childcare, or you have forgotten to book your child into their After School Club, don’t worry we have extended the time that you can book your child into Shine.

You can now book at MyShine.co.uk for the same day, until 2:30pm. Shine staff use live registers on a tablet, so you can be reassured that they will pick up your booking.  
After 2:30pm, you can still book, but you will need to phone the office on 01174 033 033, or email info@myshine.co.uk and the admin team will be able to help you.

 

 

 

 

 

Bristol Family Blog

February Half Term Guide for families is available at: https://bristolfamilyblog.com/bristol-february-half-term

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Brush Club

Big Brush Club are hosting several live oral health improvement webinars for parents/guardians. These sessions will provide valuable information on how to support children aged 0-11 years to have the best oral health start.

During each session there will be two dental care professionals presenting and on hand to answer any questions you might have throughout the webinar. We do not require any cameras or microphones to be used, however there will be a chat box to ask any questions you might have throughout.

Parent Oral health improvement webinars:

Thursday 20^th March at 7pm – Parent/Guardian - https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/fc918f1d-1937-4dd6-8caf-876b2e17c4da@11f187f2-a328-4d92-a1f2-a711ff09055d