News
Headteacher’s Blog 6th November
I hope you and your family are well and keeping safe. Yesterday saw the start of the new national lockdown and I am sure this will present challenges for many of our families. However, the significant difference this time is that schools remain open. This week the students have been fantastic and I am sure they are pleased to be able to be in school.
Supporting students to stay safe
Our students have been very mature and compliant in wearing their face coverings and following our routines as set out below. Please see Warwickshire Symptoms Update and Warwickshire Public Health England Flowchart, which I would urge you to read please.
Please can I ask you to talk to your child about wearing their face coverings and observing social distancing when travelling to and from school, including when walking home in groups. Students need to take responsibility for their safety and that of others beyond the school gate, to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Remote learning
As we start the new half term can I remind you about what is in place for students who have to work remotely at home, whether this is because they are ill themselves or due to self-isolating. The flow chart over the page is reminder of what to do to access work. The rising number of infections in the region was reflected in the increase in the number of single cases in school at the end of last half term affecting different year groups. We have had significantly less cases this week, with only one student who was in school. Hopefully the new lockdown will reduce cases further. However, where cases do occur your child may have to spend time at home and so it is essential that you understand how our remote learning is accessed, usually through MS TEAMS. If you have any questions about this please e mail us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or if your child has forgotten their password or username please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Remembrance
This year’s period of Remembrance will be different to our normal events, but it is important that we do stop and remember both the fallen and those service men and women who continue to serve, whether that be across the world supporting in war torn regions or at home supporting the fight against coronavirus. I will be broadcasting our usual ceremony on Wednesday 11th and all students will see this in their classroom and observe the 2 minute silence. I will be laying a wreath at the memorial in Coleshill later today and we will be selling poppies, in a Covid secure way in year group bubbles, Monday to Wednesday next week.
It would have been fitting to end the week if we had been able to go ahead with the official opening of the Wilson Building; in memory of Tom Wilson at Remembrance weekend. We hope to do this before the end of 2020 to also commemorate the 500 year anniversary of the school.
Have a good weekend and stay safe.
Ian Smith-Childs, Headteacher
HEADTEACHER’S BLOG 16TH OCTOBER – CELEBRATING SUCCESS
It has been a challenging week, both nationally and regionally, with cases of Covid 19 rising and the introduction of the tiered response system. I am aware that many of our families are living under increased restrictions, which will be bringing its own difficulties. As a school we have had a relatively small number of cases; three cases from three different year groups. I want to reassure you that all schools are facing similar challenges, this morning I was in an online meeting with school leaders from across North Warwickshire and we all shared a similar picture. We remain vigilant in school and along with our robust risk assessments, our enhanced cleaning routines and use of “masks to move”, we continue to make every effort to offer the best education we can for our young people.
At this difficult time, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the success of our amazing school community. Firstly, can I encourage you to take a moment to view the short films on our Virtual Open Event https://www.thecoleshillschool.org/about-us/virtual-open-event which went live yesterday to give prospective families a real flavour of our school.
Send us your child’s success stories!
Next week we will be using our new plasma screens, which are situated in the reception areas, dining room and Wilson café, to celebrate the success of our students. We will be showing photos and videos of students who are doing fantastic things, like Briar in Year 8 whose gymnastics routine wowed us in lockdown or Lauren in Year 8 who shared her stunning art work with us. Whether they be in school or outside of school, please send in your stories with a photo or video to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SPIRIT success!
A huge well done to those students who have achieved 100 SPIRIT points already this term! This is a great achievement and demonstrates how hard students have worked since coming back in September. The top performers from each year group will be enjoying an afternoon film with popcorn.
Celebrating all things Creative
We may not be able to stage a Christmas production this year, but this has not stopped our creative students from demonstrating their talents. Currently on our Twitter and Facebook pages you can watch a compilation of students, now in Year 10 and 11, sharing their music performances. This week 38 talented Year 11 students performed in their actual GCSE Drama performance exam. I am looking forward to being on the panel on Monday for the Year 11 Dance Audition, part of our amazing GCSE Dance students’ actual exam.
I hope you and your family have a good weekend. Stay safe.
Ian Smith-Childs
Headteacher
Headteacher’s Blog 2nd October – Let’s hear from the students
Yesterday we had a film company in school who were shooting for our Virtual Open Evening, which goes live on 15th October. In the films we have a range of students talking about what they love about their school, so with no further ado let’s hear from the students….
Laura on The Coleshill Learner
At our school we develop as Coleshill Learners. We are encouraged to achieve our potential by contributing within lessons and to the school community. We have the opportunity to take part in programmes such as mentoring and leadership, which will help us in later life. We are rewarded when we work hard and push ourselves to be the best that we can be.
Why I love my school - Faye
I feel happy when I am here, we are made to feel welcome and everyone wants us to do well. I’ve found it very easy to make friends and we have the chance to do more than just attend lessons, we can go to clubs, go on trips and earn rewards for going above and beyond. Teachers make our lessons fun and our tutors provide support if we ever need it.
Joe on extra-curricular activities
At the Coleshill there is a huge variety of extra-curricular activities from Actors and Artists workshops, Duke of Edinburgh, Dance, Music live lounge events, STEM, Mathemania and there are also a huge number of sports clubs that you can take part in.
My favourite extra-curricular activity is the drama production I have been involved in like Alice in wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wizard of OZ. We all work together from Year 7’s to 6th form to put on a show and all our friends and families come to watch! Through all the different extra-curricular activities I have gained experience and found my passion for Drama!
James and George on lessons and learning
Every lesson we have a Do it Now for 5 minutes which we do independently so we can recap and we always have three tiered learning intentions which allow us to secure knowledge and skills, further develop them and achieve excellence each lesson. Our teachers support our progress by offering us ‘know it’ ‘grasp it’ and ‘think it’ for our main task. This also helps us to really challenge ourselves and think harder.
Our lessons are engaging – we always have something accessible to do and I have sense of achievement when I get it done.
It’s different from primary school because you get options to choose, starting with the Do It Now activity at the start of the lesson. This means you can really challenge yourself. It’s challenging, but in a good way – you can do it, you’ve just got to put ‘that extra bit of effort in.
Finley and Felicity on the importance of high expectations
High expectations about behaviour are important. I like being in a school where students behave well because it helps me feel safe and calm. You know that you can move around the school and people will be nice to you and respect you. I like that lessons are calm so you can concentrate on learning.
I like that my teachers have high expectations of all of us – because that means that everybody behaves well and works hard so we can all go on to do our best. I think it’s important to be proud of your school – and if your school has high expectations – you have high expectations of yourself.
Taylor on what she likes about the Sixth Form
I am currently studying: English Language, English Literature and History with the aim of going to university to continue my further education in English Literature and History as I wish later to go into teaching. The teachers are extremely supportive allowing me to continue my education and still compete internationally in Taekwondo. They are always willing to give me additional work so that I do not feel as though I am behind and now, with the introduction of Microsoft Teams, I am able to gain help at any time due to this. I have found it easier to manage my time between training and studying my A levels. This has given me the opportunity to complete an EPQ in which i am completing an art portfolio which depicts my personal experience of the national lockdown.
The view of these students is heart-warming and reminds us that children want to be in school, there is always something that will inspire them and they want to do their best. I wrote to staff last week to tell them I was in awe of each and every one of them and the way in which they had enabled school to reopen so smoothly; lessons are happening as normal and children are learning. There remain some things we cannot do yet, such as trips and clubs, but these will return eventually and we are already planning for ways in which we can enrich the curriculum after half term.
I hope you all have a good weekend.
Ian Smith-Childs
Headteacher
