It has been such a busy term at Cotham Post 16 and we have to start this round-up by congratulating our incredible Year 12 students on an exceptional first term at NBP16. The step up from GCSE learning is not an easy one, but this cohort has given their all to embracing the independence and ambition of our community and is feeling very much at home already. 

The big excitement of the term was the recruitment of our fantastic new student leadership team. As ever, we were blown away by both the quality and integrity of applications. A large number of students put themselves forward for positions, working through a rigorous process of applications, references, interviews, campaigning, hustings speeches and the final day of balloting. More than 70% of the student population cast their votes and we were thrilled to announce Mariama as our new Student President, ably supported by her new VP Lola. Congratulations also go to Lak (Lead Respect Ambassador), Mawa (Leader of Equity and Diversity), Bailey (Leader of Learning and Wellbeing), Mohamed and Zack (Co-Leaders of Events and Charity) and Orsi (Leader of Environment and Sustainability). The students are looking forward to recruiting their committees next term and starting to make their impact on the NBP16 community. They already have detailed planning underway for Culture Day next term.

And the student achievement doesn’t end there. Our brilliant young people continue to dazzle us. In particular, a huge well done to Mariama and Djanu for your exemplary performances at the regional Youth Talks final. Exploring fascinating topics around ‘Flow State’ and the youth pandemic of being ‘Chronically Online, our students not only impressed us, but the TEDx youth scout who was in the audience. To hear more about the project, you can listen to Mariama and Djanu talking about their experience on BBC radio HERE (Go to 49:23)

Congratulations also go to our 16 Year 13 students who submitted their university applications by the UCAS early admissions date this term, with hopes of studying at Oxford or Cambridge University, and/or pursuing pathways in medicine, veterinary or dentistry. We are now seeing a flurry of further applications coming through for the remainder of our university applicants from Year 13. A reminder that students should remain connected with their tutors to develop their personal statements and that Ms Beaver and Mx Sciubba are running regular lunchtime drop-ins for anyone who would value a bit of extra support. 

This term we also saw the launch of our enrichment programme with a HUGE range of opportunities open for students to pursue this year. We have our broadest ever offer, including a large number of student-run enrichment courses. Really exciting to see our Respect Project relaunched, a budding new cohort of First Aiders and a large number of students engaging with mentoring roles in connection with the lower school. Particularly excited to have our Gardening Club off the ground, with the first batch of crops looking sensational (and delicious - special thanks to Leo for the best chocolate and courgette cake we’ve ever tasted!)

We have had an exciting month of Black History Month celebrations. Our theme at Cotham this year has been ‘Reclaiming Narratives’ which has been woven through classroom learning. Teachers have been working hard to review the taught curriculum for this month, embedding a wide range of learning around black history which students have experienced in all courses and all year groups. A huge thank you to everyone who turned out for our African Caribbean Celebration Evening at the end of term - an evening of great music, great food and the excellence of our young people! In particular, we want to acknowledge those brilliant young people in our cohort who were nominated as Future Black History Makers - we are exceptionally proud of what you have already achieved and excited for what the future holds for you.

 A huge thank you to the number of students who turned up on one or both cold October evenings to support our Open Events for prospective students. The events were a huge success and this was in no small part down to our Post 16 students who came to greet our visitors, guide them through the site and share their learning experiences. The NBP16 community is completely unique and it is our incredible students who make it this way; in fact, we had so much engagement from students that we ran out of ambassador t-shirts!

All that remains is to wish our students a well deserved half term break. We look forward to our Futures Launch with Y12 next term and would encourage students to make sure they keep an eye out for the weekly Post 16 Futures Bulletin, which is emailed to them directly but can also be accessed here at any time. This break will be an important opportunity for our students to get some rest and take time for self care. We encourage them to have a look through the ideas and resources in our end of term Wellbeing Bulletin, which will be emailed to them today and you can preview it here.