Newsletter - Summer Term - Half Term

The first half of the summer term has seen Cottesmorians enjoy success across many areas of school life and after some incredibly hard work in school (and out of it) as well as on the sports field, they now have a well-earned break in their sights. After the hush of exam week this half will culminate in the traditional rousing finale, Sports Day, beginning with our Marching Band and ending with a splendid match tea from our terrific chef and his team.

Academically the summer term is an especially important one for our senior pupils, who will take their Public School Entrance and Common Entrance exams before moving on to public school in September. We are delighted to have a record number of scholarship awards this year and the boards in the hall commemorating these successes are filling rapidly, with additional new boards on order! Destinations for this year’s leavers include Eton, Winchester, Wellington, Marlborough, Benenden, Bryanston, Stowe, Tonbridge, St Edwards (Oxford), Lancing College, Shrewsbury, Eastbourne College and Worth Abbey.

Once the exams are over, the 5th and 6th forms’ traditional trip to the South of England Show at Ardingly provides a welcome breathing space, before concentrating their efforts again for Sports Day on the following day.

Equally importantly, our pupils lower down the school have been preparing for their school exams with their usual diligence and focus. Across the school and in every year group, Cottesmore’s teachers are preparing our pupils rigorously, but at the same time ensuring that their young charges do not become stressed.

Highlights from this half of the term include three Geography field trips: to Goodwood Park, Juniper Hall and Tillingbourne river; the river expedition enabled older pupils to begin their coursework for next year’s CE exams.

Salter’s Chemistry Festival proved to be a challenging and exciting day out for fourth form pupils and the youngest members of our school community in the Pre-prep enjoyed a fabulous day out at Hampton Court Palace. Our tiniest pupils in the Reception Class also enjoyed a trip of their own to nearby Slaugham Park.

In Music and Drama we have entered a large number of exam candidates to the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. We wish them all the very best of luck for their success.

Another very successful Open Morning took place in May, with a large number of families visiting and getting the ‘inside track’ from our pupil guides.

Sports Review

The weather has done its best to disrupt the fixtures list with some particularly wet days (with some torrential downpours!) However the cricket and rounders teams (and their coaches) have worked hard to achieve some great results. Girls’ cricket is featuring more strongly at Cottesmore and their coaches are very pleased with their progress.

The Athletics heats took place in the run-up to Sports Day and our tennis teams have also been successful.
In the swimming pool our teams have been preparing for galas with their customary determined focus.

Our Clay Pigeon Shooting team returned victorious from the IAPS competition, with a Cottesmorian now the U11 UK Champion!

The longer summer evenings mean super opportunities to enjoy out of doors games and activities in our glorious grounds (perfect for a treasure hunt!) and our pupils have also enjoyed Sunday outings to Ultimate Laser on their Sundays ‘in’.

The Pre-Prep

The industry and energy in the Pre-prep are, as ever, at full strength and they too have enjoyed a fantastic half term. As well as preparing for their own concert, they have Sports Day and a swimming gala to look forward to in the second half of term as well as another outing, this time to glorious Goring beach. Royal Wedding fever saw the children enjoy a celebratory lunch and the Book Fair was, as always, popular and well attended.

The second half of term

After Sports Day and the half term break we look forward to an equally packed and purposeful second half of term beginning with Arts Week. This popular annual cross-curricular event offers pupils a diverse range of activities including musical workshops, mosaic and poetry.

There will be field trips in Classics, Geography and History and our athletes will head to Birmingham for the National Athletics Championships as well as competing in regional events. The fixture list remains busy in cricket, rounders and tennis.

The Remove will head to the popular Mill on the Brue activity centre in Somerset for an outward-bound week of adventure, before returning to a comprehensive programme of preparation for their transition to public school.

The 4th Form will undertake a week’s intensive French tuition with a stay at Porte des Iles on the beautiful Normandy coast. A wide range of activities will enhance their language learning in all four key skill areas, while their beachside base provides a great location for leisure time games and activities.

Back in school there will be Set plays to rehearse, Set Cricket and Rounders matches, visiting lecturers, Old Cottesmorians Day and a particularly poignant Leavers’ Service in our chapel.

First of all, of course, there’s a very well–earned half term holiday to enjoy. Our good wishes go to everyone for a happy and relaxed break.