Newsletter - Summer Term - 27.06.18
Sun-drenched days are filling the last full week of the term on both sides of the English Channel, as our pupils head off to a wide variety of learning experiences. Back at school the grandeur of the school building with its backdrop of rolling hills is making our would-be artists reach for their pencils, with the tiniest members of the Pre-prep keen to join in.
Academic News
4th Form French trip to Normandy
An early alarm call followed by a millpond-smooth Channel crossing got the trip off to a cheerful start on Sunday.
From their coastal base at St Pair sur Mer, the group have already visited the D-Day landing beaches at Arromanches, the British cemetery at Bayeux, the cathedral and the tapestry. Another full day saw them visiting a market, armed with worksheets and an opportunity to buy their lunch. In the afternoon there was a mesmerising visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mont St Michel. Situated in the bay where Normandy and Brittany merge, the medieval monastery and steep cobbled streets make for an unforgettable experience. A goat farm at Granville will see our eager pupils involved the making and (and tasting!) of goat’s cheese, with a caramel factory trip high in the popularity stakes.
In the evenings our young learners complete their prep, then a host of leisure activities including beach games and French quizzes keeps them busy until bedtime.
Still to come are a chateau visit, a bread making workshop, a snail tasting evening and the ever-popular hypermarket visit. A fun evening of special activities and entertainment will round off the trip and as ever, the details are shrouded in secrecy.
The Remove
Another successful visit to the Mill on the Brue has been completed and our seniors have learned a great deal about their physical, as well as their soft skills. This Somerset outdoor activity centre has provided a wealth of exhilarating and engaging physical challenges, enhancing both their teamwork and social skills as part of their transition to public school.
On their return they have a number of taster lessons (including Mandarin) as further preparation for all that lies ahead in September. They will be letting off some steam at a paintballing session as well as making plans for the Leavers’ play.
History and Classics Trips
The 2nd form are off to Lullingstone Roman villa and Hever Castle this week; the 3rd form visit Fishbourne Roma Palace and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard; the 1st form travel west to Herstmonceux. We look forward to their news!
Sports Round-Up
Cricket
3rd XI v Hurstpierpoint College
This was to be the final fixture of a very successful season, and with the prospect of an unbeaten season and Mr Ellis’ promise of a KFC stay-up on the cards, the team were eager get started.
Cottesmore won the toss, and Asad chose to bat. The innings got off to a shaky start with both openers falling quickly. However, we soon got back on an even keel thanks to a solid performance from the middle order. The pick of the batsmen was Matt with an excellent 33 and Nick and Pablo both getting into double figures too. Cottesmore ended on 125 after 20 overs.
Asad opened the bowling and got us off to a perfect start, thanks to an excellent diving catch from Nick at silly mid-off, from the first ball of the innings. Other bowlers also contributed well, with Raffety picking up a couple of wickets for his efforts and Pablo giving away just 8 runs from his four overs thanks to some quick and accurate bowling.
However, Hurst were a strong batting team, quick to punish any mistake in the field, and with an unbeaten 51 from their number three provided the backbone of their innings, it was always going to be a struggle to curb their scoring. Unfortunately, it did prove to be too much in the end, with Hurst surpassing Cottesmore’s score with 14 balls in hand. A disappointing end to what has been a fantastic season, but plenty of positives to take from the match.
Rounders
U9/10 v Ashdown: won 16 ½ /11
The team came out ready for a good match and determined to win, having drawn in the last fixture against Ashdown.
They were batting first. All the direction hitting practice was paying off, enabling a good number of full rounders to be scored. Next, they fielded by the use of backstop to second and this really worked, preventing the opposition scoring half rounders. The end of first innings score was 11: 3 ½.
In the second innings Ashdown changed their game play and fielded more deeply, meaning Cottesmore scored 5½. They knew they needed to keep focused and another great fielding innings saw them catching out 6 of the Ashdown team.
“The girls played so well, the game flowed and they should be very pleased with their performance- well done”, commented Mrs Perry.
Sports Day and Athletics
Last week we noted that records had been broken on a superb sporting afternoon; here are a few more highlights from the day.
School Records:
Gesi Junior High Jump 1.39m
Clara A Senior Girls 400m 1:15:46
Trophies:
Victor Ludorum - Minimus - Zachariah P
Victor Ludorum - Junior (joint) - Barnaby R, Gesi S-D
Victrix Ludorum - Senior (joint) - Clara A, Abigail P
Victor Ludorum - Senior - Fursey F
Set Athletics Cup - Clives
Junior Athletics Regional Competition
Well done to William P who qualified in the ball throw - he came 8th throwing 38.60m.
Senior Athletics Regional Competition
Well done to Gleb, who qualified for the triple jump; Gesi qualified for the high jump and 200m; and to Barnaby R, who qualified for the 100m and 200m, subsequently finishing 10th in the 100m and 9th in the 200m.
Gesi won both the U12 high jump and U12 200m; she is on her way to Birmingham for the National IAPS competition and we wish her lots of luck.
Pre-prep news
As ever there’s an excited buzz in the Pre-prep and a new element to that is the invitation from the library services to take part in a reading challenge over the summer holiday. The children showed lots of interest in joining their local library and were very excited about the wide range of books, audiobooks and DVDs available to them.
This Friday is a big date on the Pre-prep calendar when sports day will be held in the afternoon. Let’s hope the sunny weather stays with us at least until then!
Here’s the latest class news for the final full week of the term.
Reception
This week the children will be consolidating their phonic knowledge and working on their letter formation. They will also be writing their weekend news, including their beach trip. In Maths, they will continue learning about 3D shapes. Making the most of this lovely weather, everyone is enjoying spending time outside looking at our beautiful school and having a go at sketching parts of the building. The children will be completing their work on beaches and will also be practising for sports day on Friday.
Year 1
This week in writing Year 1 will be writing about their trip to the beach. They will continue to weigh using non-standard and standard weights, as well as revising the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes. The children will be doing some observational drawings for Art and will be out and about the school grounds as much as possible.
Year 2
The week began writing a recount of the trip to Goring beach, focusing on the use of interesting sentence openers and descriptive language as well as the use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks.
During the rest of the week Year 2 will be continuing work in their booklet entitled ‘My time in Year 2’. They will write about their favourite lessons, their achievements, school trips, their memories, their thoughts about forest school, and of course, what they are looking forward to doing in Year 3! In Maths they will be revising their knowledge of the 2,3,5,9,10 and 11 times tables. We will also be using our understanding of partitioning to add 2-digit numbers that bridge a ten. They too will be practising hard for Sports Day on Friday.
Year 3
During English lessons this week Year 3 will continue to focus on persuasive writing. They will continue to look at The Journey by Aaron Becker and will practise using literacy techniques such as extended sentences, conjunctions, metaphors and similes. Following this they will write a speech, again using The Promise as a stimulus where they persuade people to leave technology and go to a magical world! In Maths their focus turns to capacity, where they will compare and order units of measurement, read scales and solve problems. The children will then collect and sort data by carrying out their own survey. In Topic they continue to locate the countries and oceans that Tudor explorers such as Francis Drake travelled to and discovered. In Art the children will begin self-portraits in the style of Andy Warhol.
Sunday Fundays
As well as some stay-ups for World Cup fixtures, Cottesmorians have had fine times in our beautiful grounds, making the most of the arrival of summer. On Sunday there was a fun-filled day with lots of Aussie Handball being played, watching England thrash Panama and then a giant waterslide session in the sun!