Cottenham Village College

The Venue for the U16 Boys District Football Cup Final on Thursday 24th May 2012 is now at Linton Village College. Kick off at 5.30pm.

In order to show suppliers where there is most demand for broadband, please consider registering for better broadband by clicking on the Register Here button at www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk where you can also find out more about this initiative.

All year groups are welcome to attend the after school sports clubs that will be held from 3:15pm to 4:15pm:

There have been three key events which have happened since I wrote the letter below.

Firstly, the history department had a two-day visit from an HMI. HMI stands for Her Majesty’s Inspector; they are the most senior inspectors from OFSTED. This was a best practice visit, rather than an inspection. The visit was triggered by the many reports OFSTED had received about the excellent work being done here. The visit went extremely well and we look forward to becoming only the fourth secondary school in England to feature as a case study on the OFSTED history best practice website.

I thoroughly enjoyed “Pippin”, my first experience of a production here at Cottenham. The energy, enthusiasm, commitment and sheer talent of so many staff and students were tremendous. My sincere thanks and congratulations to everybody who was involved and thank you also to everybody who came along to watch the show.

It was also atremendous week for our mathematics department. They entered a team for the regional final of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust challenge. They faced some very tough opposition as many of the teams were from highly selective schools. I am very proud to tell you that Cottenham came second. This is an incredible achievement. Well done to the staff and students who flew the Cottenham flag with such success.

S Ellison
Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers

The spring copy of the college newsletter has been sent home. It gives an insight into what has, I believe, been a very enjoyable and fruitful term. As stated in the magazine, our key priorities are teaching, learning and achievement. We are not ignoring behaviour but we believe it to be inextricably linked with these other issues.

I must mention uniform because of the number of rumours I have heard concerning this issue. I was told at a recent parents’ evening that I had allegedly banned the wearing of stripy socks and even the wearing of odd socks! I am also aware that there are rumours about the possible introduction of blazers.

To put an end to such rumours, I can tell you the following:

· We do not intend to change the uniform in the next year. Whilst we may have discussions about it at some stage, the earliest any changes may be made will be September 2013.

· We are changing uniform supplier. We will inform you of the new supplier as soon as possible. We are looking to provide a web-based supplier so that you can order online and have uniform delivered directly to you, if you so wish. We are sensitive to the financial challenges being faced by many families and we are working to obtain the highest quality uniform at the most reasonable price.

· The college uniform policy has not changed for some time. However, the current uniform code is not being adhered to by all students. One feature of this is that a number of students are wearing trainers or shoes which are not plain black. After the Easter holiday we will be enforcing our policy about the wearing of plain black shoes.They may be leather or canvas; they may be shoe or trainer-style, laced or slip-on. They must not, however, have coloured logos or other markings. We do not allow boots except when snow is lying on the ground!

Another issue which we want to clarify is the use of mobile phones and iPods/MP3 players. The misuse of these devices can have a negative effect on learning in the classroom. We are reminding students that they will only be allowed to use such devices in lessons if there is clear educational value and they have been granted permission by the teacher. Please support us in enforcing what are, we believe, very sensible rules and standards. As noted at the start of this letter, we are focusing on the quality of teaching, learning and achievement. We want our students to attain the best qualifications they can, and to be prepared for life after school by learning how to conduct themselves appropriately within a purposeful environment.

Finally, please remember that students return to school on Tuesday 17^th April as Monday 16^th is a staff training day.

I wish you and your family a very enjoyable holiday.

Best wishes

Yours sincerely

S Ellison

Headteacher

We have been informed that some local residents have been asked for sponsorship money in aid of a Sports Relief campaign, run by Cottenham Village College. We are NOT currently running any sponsored events of this type. If you are approached, please try to get an accurate description of the person/people and inform the college, or the police, as soon as possible.

Thank you.