CREATING OPPORTUNITY AT CHELTENHAM BOURNSIDE SCHOOL

For parents and students looking to join a school with excellent teaching, compassionate pastoral care and a vast programme of extra-curricular activities, Cheltenham Bournside School is ready to welcome you to our upcoming open evening on Thursday 15th September, to show you what makes our school special. There is no strict catchment area, so wherever you live, you are welcome to apply for a place here.

2022 is our 50th Anniversary year on this site; a landmark we are immensely proud of.that sense of history, of pride, of ‘being a Bournsider’ is what gives us that sense of community. A community that is driven by our school values of ambition, curiosity, pride, purpose, respect, and support.

Bournside’s school crest contains our historic motto:‘usque ad finem’. It means, ‘until the end’. That is as true today as when it was first written. It means we will be with you every step of the way. It means to go to the utmost extreme in pursuit of excellence: to give your all, to travel as far as can be travelled, to do as much as can be done.that is what we promise to our learners and that is what we expect from each member of our community.

Our extensive grounds and facilities, coupled with a highly developed house system, means that we offer students and their families both amazing opportunity and outstanding support.

Our scale and space mean that students benefit from specialised facilities across all subject areas. Students learn in engaging teaching spaces; experiment in numerous science labs; study music and drama in our purpose-built studios; get active on our new Astroturf, on our sports fields, and in our three sports halls and new fitness suite; and relax, read, and collaborate in our popular modern library. We continually develop and invest in outstanding facilities and resources to enable our students to be the best they can be. We were delighted to open the Alan Turing Maths Hub, a state-of-theart building set to inspire many future mathematicians, and we have more ambitious plans, including the opening of our new Anniversary garden space this September.

We prioritise community. Each student belongs to one of six houses, bringing together students of all ages in a house community of just 300 pupils overseen by a Head of House and a dedicated pastoral team. We use plentiful praise in the form of house points to reinforce positive behaviour and to encourage students to use their skills, talent, and perseverance to contribute to the success of their house. Students are known personally, enabling us to provide individually tailored support whether that be additional help with literacy, numeracy, or study skills, or simply a calming walk around the school with our school dog, Lottie.

We have a clear focus on the academic progress of all learners and offer the widest range of subjects available locally at GCSE; ranging from traditional subjects such as Geography and History, to specialised subjects like Computing Science, Sociology and Textiles.

A unique aspect of our curriculum is the opportunity for Year 7 students to experience four languages in their first year; French, German, Mandarin, and Spanish.

Many of our students stay with us to join our successful Sixth Form in Year 12 which offers over 30 A level and BTEC subjects ranging from Further Maths, Film Studies, and Physics, to Photography, English and Economics. Our A level results are consistently above average, and we are proud of our alumni who have gone on to success and reached their goals.

Alongside all of this, it is our ambition to offer the biggest and brightest extra-curricular in the county. We are pleased to be able to offer a vast and ever-growing range of clubs, trips and activities, with high quality opportunities across many areas, including art, music, drama, sport, and travel.

It has been a privilege to be part of the Bournside journey since

I joined the school in 2020. We have already achieved so much, and I look forward to continuing to work with Bournside’s talented teaching team who are modelling excellence, inspiring discussion, debate, independent learning, creativity, and expression for our students every day.

I look forward to welcoming you to our school.