The Costello School

🧪🌿 Our Year 8 scientists have been investigating ecosystems by studying natural indicator species around our school site.

Lichens are excellent indicators of environmental quality, with different species thriving or disappearing depending on levels of air and water pollution. During a survey of the trees around our field, students identified different types of lichen and discovered evidence of the impact of local car traffic on air quality.

The leafy lichen observed suggested medium levels of air pollution, while the feathery lichen indicated areas of low air pollution. Encouragingly, the overall findings showed that our school site enjoys generally low levels of air pollution.

This is fantastic news for our budding scientists, and even better news for the biodiversity of our school grounds and our Eco-Schools initiative! 🌍🍃

Today marks the final GCSE exam for the Class of 2026!

Congratulations to every student for the determination, resilience and hard work you have shown throughout the last six weeks of GCSE examinations. You have faced every challenge with courage and commitment and should be incredibly proud of all that you have achieved.

Over 6 weeks of exams, countless revision sessions, early mornings and more than a few nervous walks into the exam hall, you've shown resilience, determination and character.

📌 Exam Season Facts & Figures

📚 7.5 hours of English exams
🔢 4.5 hours of Maths exams
⏱️ Longest exam: 2 hours 15 minutes
🌍 Exams taken in 7 different languages
👣 257,467 steps walked by the Exams Officer during the exam season!
🥪 And lunch at 12:50pm became everyone's favourite time of day!
❤️ Countless hours given by our dedicated team of invigilators to ensure every exam ran smoothly.

A huge thank you to our wonderful team of invigilators, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure every exam runs smoothly, fairly and without a hitch. Your professionalism, patience and support throughout the exam season are greatly appreciated.

Year 11, we're incredibly proud of everything you've achieved and wish you the very best of luck for Results Day and whatever comes next. Remember, once a member of our school community, always a member of our school community. 💙

📅 Reminder - GCSE Results Day – Thursday 20 August

🕙 Results can be collected from school between 10:00am and 11:30am. We look forward to welcoming you all back and celebrating your achievements together.

If you are unable to collect your results in person, you have the following options:

✉️ Leave a stamped addressed envelope with the Exams Officer in advance.
👥 Provide a signed letter giving permission for a third party (for example, a family member) to collect your results. The person collecting must bring photographic ID.
📞 Please note that results cannot be issued by email or over the telephone.

Enjoy a well-earned summer – you've earned it! ☀️🎉

Our multilingual students in Years 7, 8 and 9 recently visited Fairfields Primary School to share the joy of reading with younger pupils using dual-language books in their home languages. 🗣️📖✨

This ongoing project celebrates the rich linguistic diversity within our community, promotes literacy in both English and home languages and encourages students to explore the fascinating connections and differences between languages. 🌎💬

The experience was incredibly rewarding for our students, who loved being positive role models and inspiring younger readers through storytelling. 🌟❤️ The younger pupils were equally engaged and excited to hear stories in different languages!

We are proud of the confidence, leadership and cultural awareness shown by everyone involved, and we look forward to continuing this wonderful partnership when we return in September. 🎉📚

🌊📚 Our Year 10 students have been busy preparing for their GCSE Paper 3 Physical Geography fieldwork this week!

They’ve been practising with ranging poles and clinometers to measure changes in beach gradient, as well as learning how to use a throw line as part of their water safety training. 🏖️🦺

A fantastic combination of practical skills, teamwork, and hands-on learning in action! 👏🔍🌍

🌟 Weekend Field Exercise Success 🌟

This weekend, 18 of our cadets and 4 former students took part in an outstanding overnight field exercise alongside LWC CCF.

For many of our Year 9 cadets, this was their first experience spending a night in the field, complete with the responsibility of caring for and operating a cadet rifle throughout the exercise. Over the course of the weekend, cadets developed military skills including reacting to enemy fire, operating as part of a fire team and delivering fire control orders in battle.

Equally important was the leadership shown by our senior cadets. Year 10 and 11 students stepped into section leadership roles, supporting younger cadets and helping them work effectively as a team. Special recognition goes to Sgt Haldane, LCpl Hillan and LCpl Robson, who demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout the exercise.

These experiences provide invaluable opportunities to build confidence, resilience, teamwork and leadership - skills that will be further developed during our summer camps in July.

A huge thank you to Mr Saunders and Mr McLeod for their dedication and support throughout the weekend and to Miss George for assisting with transport on Friday. Their contributions helped make the exercise a great success.

An extra special mention to Mr Page who always forgets to note that without him these opportunities would simply not exist.

📚✨ A huge thank you to all our LitLab participants and mentors! ✨📚

Over the course of our LitLab intervention, our Year 7 and 8 students have enjoyed sharing books and developing their reading skills alongside our fantastic Year 9 and 10 mentors.

We are incredibly proud of the commitment, enthusiasm and support shown by everyone involved. The positive relationships built through reading together have made this programme a real success.

Thank you for helping to create a community that values reading, learning and supporting one another. 🌟

🎶 Grease Lightning Still Has Us Rockin’! 💃🕺

Can you believe it’s already been a week since our incredible production of Grease took to the stage? The costumes may be packed away and the lights may have gone down, but the excitement and memories are still very much alive! ✨

We’re still hearing wonderful feedback, sharing favourite moments, and celebrating the amazing talent, teamwork and dedication that made the show such a success. 🎤👏

And the excitement doesn’t stop there… talks have already begun about next year’s show! 👀🎭

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make Grease such a memorable experience - our performers, backstage crew, staff, families and audiences. We can’t wait to see what comes next!

🎭✨

🔥 Cooking Up a Storm: Year 7’s Fire Cooking Challenge! 🍫🥞

Our Year 7 students have been developing their outdoor cooking skills this term, learning how to prepare and cook food using fire.

Students selected their recipes, brought in their ingredients, and put their skills into practice - all while battling the pouring rain! 🌧️🔥

Using our Dutch ovens and skillets, they cooked up delicious batches of chocolate chip brownies and pancakes. The results look incredible… and we’re sure they tasted even better! 😋

A fantastic effort from everyone involved - well done, Year 7! 👏

What a day at District Athletics! 🌧️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Despite the pouring rain, our athletes competed with determination, enthusiasm and smiles on their faces. We are incredibly proud of their performances and especially of the excellent behaviour, attitude and sportsmanship they displayed throughout the day.

A credit to themselves and the school. Well done all! 👏💙💛

🌊 A fantastic final paddling session at Hawley Lake! 🛶

This week marked the final session of our paddling adventure at Hawley Lake. With a brilliant mix of experienced and novice paddlers, the students developed essential paddling skills before setting off to explore the beautiful surroundings of the lake.

The warm afternoon made for the perfect ending, with everyone cooling off and celebrating their achievements with a refreshing dip! ☀️💦

A special thank you to Mr Page for organising and delivering these sessions, sharing his knowledge and giving the students such a memorable opportunity to learn new skills, build confidence and enjoy the outdoors.

Well done to all our paddlers - what a fantastic way to finish! 👏