Month: February 2023

KPMG Apprenticeship and Work Experience programmes

Written by Lora Shephard on February 8, 2023. Posted in VI Form Careers.

KPMG Apprenticeship and Work Experience programmes

KPMG have exciting and rewarding Apprenticeship opportunities in Audit, Consulting, KPMG Business Services, Tax & Law and Technology.

KPMG’s nationwide apprenticeships offer the chance to do work that makes a positive difference for organisations, people and communities.

Apprentices gain qualifications – including degrees – and work experience that gives them the opportunity to grow, feed their curiosity and gain skills that will last them a lifetime.

To find out more please visit KPMG’s Careers portal at kpmgcareers.co.uk/apprentice

Success Beyond School – Careers Evening for Parents

Written by Lora Shephard on February 8, 2023. Posted in Careers, VI Form Careers.

Success Beyond School – Careers Evening for Parents

INVESTIN have announced the first events in their Success Beyond School series for 2023.

1 February 2023: Communicating With Confidence – how to develop children to become strong communicators.

15 March 2023: Engineer Your Future – how to help your child launch a career in Engineering.

To register your place on a course please visit the parents events section of the INVESTIN website, click here to go to this page.

Head of School’s Blog – 3 February 2023

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in HoS Blog - VI, The Island VI Form.

3 February 2023

Dear Students, Parents & Carers

Attendance at schools post-pandemic across the country is well below the pre-pandemic levels. The VI Form is no exception to this,our attendance is lower than it should be. Statistics prove that for every 10% absence your grade falls by a grade, so if your attendance is 78%, you will probably perform 2 grades lower than your full potential. Try to be in school as often as possible, every little bit helps and if you are feeling better as the day goes on, get in for your afternoon lessons.

Thank you for getting better at informing us about any absences, but we are not perfect yet. If you don’t let us know, it creates additional work for Student Services. In the adult world of work you can’t just not turn up, you have to inform your employer and in my case, provide cover work and then have a return to work interview on the first day back. All we are asking you to do is call or email in.

Safer internet day is next week. Try and apply the basic information we have shared over the last few weeks, we are available to offer help and support. https://www.internetmatters.org/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/Internet-Matters-Age-Guide-14plus-Jan23.pdf

I have started the interview process with current Year 11’s from across the Island. Just to remind future students that we make decisions about how many sets are needed, which mix of subjects will be offered etc at Easter. Please submit your applications to us as soon as possible so that we can make decisions based on the correct data. You will still be able to change your mind about subject choices till September. Once we fix our option combinations after Easter, you have to fit in around them, rather than us changing the options to make them work for you. You can apply all year, but it helps us if you can apply before Easter. Thank you in advance.

Have a safe weekend.

Head of School’s Blog – 3 February 2023

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in HoS Blog - MC, Medina College.

3 February 2023

Welcome to the penultimate newsletter of this half term.

I am pleased to start this week by letting you know that we have successfully appointed a new Head of School. This new role will mean Medina College has a dedicated Head of School focussed purely on improving outcomes for the students who attend this site. However, please be assured that I will be remaining as Executive Headteacher when the new postholder starts. By having a dedicated Head of School, it will enable me to have more time to monitor our progress as a Federation and ensure that we are doing all we can to maximise the life chances for all of our young people. Until then, I will remain as Head of School at Medina, as well as my role as Executive Headteacher. Further details will be shared in the Summer term.

Year 11 had their trial results assembly this morning. This created some mixed emotions. For students who are pleased with their trial results, this is an indication that what they are doing is working, and to keep up the pace and dedication. For those students who are disappointed with their trial results, there is still time to make a difference. It is not a time to feel despondent or to lose faith, it is a time to talk to teachers about where the gaps in their learning are. Look at whether they need to refine a technique, for example structuring the high mark long essay style questions better. It could be that they need to talk through anxieties they have about the logistics of the exam venue. Students will start meeting senior leaders after half term to look at all of these types of questions. The most important thing is to see these results as an opportunity. Progress can still be made. Parents/carers have an opportunity to discuss any worries with the subject teachers next week, so please ensure that you do book appointments using the link that was shared in the letter last week. A letter is also going to be sent on Monday regarding revision sessions that are being offered over half term. Please encourage your child to attend as many of these as possible.

Year 9 parents/carers will be receiving a letter on Monday about the Keystage 4 Pathways process. Please ensure that you look out for this as it contains important information and dates.

We will be holding celebration assemblies next week for all year groups, providing an opportunity to acknowledge the students successes from this half term. We very much enjoy this, and we know they do too.

Have a good weekend.

Head of School’s Blog – 3 February 2023

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in Carisbrooke College, HoS Blog - CC.

3 February 2023

Welcome to the penultimate newsletter for this half term.

I want to start by reminding you that we are relaunching Parent Voice at Carisbrooke. The first meeting is Tuesday 7 February at 6.00 pm. Many thanks to Mrs Peckham for taking on the role of being the staff link for the meetings. I am very much looking forward to meeting you all and getting some ideas on how we can improve parental engagement which is very important if we are to successfully support all our students.

On Thursday we had our second Pathways Assembly for year 9 students delivered by the Creative Arts Faculty. They gained valuable information on Fine Art, Graphic Communication, Drama and Music. Next week we will have our final assembly covering the subjects offered in the Technology Faculty. There will be a letter sent out to parents/carers on Monday with information on the Pathway process. We will be holding an in person Pathways Evening on Tuesday 28 February between 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm. This will give you and your child the opportunity to visit subject areas, talk to subject specific staff and look at displays illustrating what the subject involves.

An email was sent out to all parents of year 9 yesterday with links to book in for the virtual parents’ evening on Wednesday 22 February. If you haven’t already made your appointments, please do so as this is an excellent opportunity for parents/carers to discuss their child’s progress with their individual subject teachers. If you have any problems logging onto the booking system, please telephone the school reception.

Year 11 received the results of the trial exams this morning. These results were met with mixed emotions but they allow the students to see how their work is progressing and any gaps in their learning. For those who were disappointed, there is still plenty of time to turn things around and lots of support on offer. After half term, students will meet with members of the Senior Leadership Team to look at their individual results and set some targets for the upcoming months so that they achieve the results they deserve in August. Parents/carers have the opportunity to discuss their child’s progress with their subject teachers next week at the year 11 parents’ evening. A letter will be coming out about the revision sessions being held over the February half term break

On Monday the school nurses will be at Carisbrooke to see a group of year 7 students as part of the ‘MapMe’ studies. On Thursday the School Immunisation Team will be administering the year 9 Teen Boosters. For both of these sessions, the nursing team have contacted parents/carers directly for consent.

Have a lovely weekend.

Island Schools Badminton Finals

Written by Donna Keogh on February 3, 2023. Posted in Medina College, News - MC.

Island Schools Badminton Finals

In the badminton finals, our players, who had qualified, by finishing in the top two pairs in their age group heats, met the other top pairs from the other pool of Island secondary schools. Our Year 11 girls pair, Ellie and Sherine, lost their first game, before gaining some revenge in their next game, by beating Carisbrooke, who had beaten them last week.

They went into their final game against the Free School looking to build on that success but narrowly missed out on the win. However, their progress in a week has been excellent and they made Medina proud!

The Year 8/9 girls pair of Kaitlyn and Mylea were also unlucky, winning two games and only losing one, meaning they were tied for first place with Ryde Academy as the Ryde team went into their last game against The Free School. Unfortunately the Ryde team won that game and took first place but our girls, who had played really well, finished a highly credible second.

Our final pair in the tournament was our Year 9 boys pair of Aaron and Fergus. They went unbeaten all evening, playing superbly, winning the event as clear winners! Congratulations to them. They now move onto the Hampshire round, representing the island in February.

The whole team were outstanding throughout and a real reminder of the amazing students we have at Medina!

Indoor Rowing Championships

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in Carisbrooke College, News - CC.

Indoor Rowing Championships

On Thursday 2 February the Isle of Wight Indoor Rowing Championship took place. Carisbrooke entered a group of students who were mostly new to the sport, however this did not prevent them from putting in a good team effort with some spectacular individual performances.

In the Year 11 competition Ashton put in a great performance to come second in the endurance event whilst also beating a national rowing athlete in the process! Ashton was supported by Tom who gave everything he had and Jacob who put in a good sprint event.

The Year 10 performance of the day went to Aaliyah who came first in the sprint event in style. Aaliyah was supported consistently by Kian, Arthur, Harry, Grace, Delia and Chloe.

The Year 9 athlete of the day not just for Carisbrooke but for the whole event went to Bethan who destroyed the field in the endurance race and then backed it up by taking first in the sprint. Lucy, Theo and Lewis completed the rest of the year 9 races and did so with pride.

In Year 8 Rosie won the sprint race to give a timely boost to the Year 8 team also consisting of Lincoln, Rowan and Daisy.

The top performing team of the day for Carisbrooke went to Year 7 led by Summer won both the endurance and sprint races with such ease. Miley put in two very good performances to back Summer up and Jack, who won his endurance event led Harvey, Archie and Toby in the boy races to consistent outings.

Overall, Carisbrooke came 4th out of 8 schools with the potential to build into a very strong team over the next few years.

Well done to all the students for representing Carisbrooke with such pride!

Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Update!

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in Medina College, News - MC.

Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Update!

We are pleased to share the continuing success that our Year 10 mentors have achieved this term promoting and spreading the word for the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) project.

Following their first successful MVP session with Year 7 tutor groups last term, the Year 10 mentors had their second planning session last week. They then joined the Year 7 tutor groups during their PSHE lesson on Monday morning and delivered informative and thought-provoking sessions around the theme of recognising different types of abuse, with a key focus on highlighting the best ways to demonstrate respect to others.

For both the planning session and Year 7 lesson, we welcomed visitors from Paragon who are supporting the development of the MVP programme across IWEF. They are a specialist team, part of The YOU Trust, their mission is to empower change for individuals, families, and our communities. The Year 10 mentors have embraced the opportunity to meet the representatives from Paragon and talk to them about MVP and its values.

As we approach the end of this half term we are excited to be approaching the part of the year when Year 9 students will have the opportunity to take part in training as MVP mentors. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the community across IWEF ensuring an environment that is safe, promotes healthy social norms and a culture which is known to prevent violence. Details of how to get involved will be released in due course.

Well done to all of the Year 10 MVP mentors!

Agriculture Students Make TV Debut

Written by Lora Shephard on February 3, 2023. Posted in Medina College, News - MC.

Agriculture Students Make TV Debut

Last Sunday our school was featured on BBC’s Countryfile. During the show, Adam Henson and the Countryfile team spent time with our agriculture students to find out about the GCSE course in Agriculture that we run.

Our students had a fantastic time filming with the team when they visited us back in November. The first day of filming was spent at the school, where the production team took some wonderful drone footage of the school grounds, including our farm garden. Mrs Lloyd, Science Teacher and Course Lead for Agriculture, Dr Clarkson, Head of Science & PE and Matthew Parr-Burman, Executive Headteacher were interviewed by Adam Henson and the students were asked questions about the course and the experiment they were carrying out on the PH balance of soil in the farm garden. The filming continued later on in the day, in the science classroom where students carried out tests on the soil samples they collected.

On the second day of filming our agriculture students visited Briddlesford Farm, who we have been working with for some time as part of our Agriculture GCSE. During this visit to the farm, students had an informative session with the farm vet Hannah Kenway who taught them how to care for cows and calves. The students were then given the opportunity to feed and halter train the calves. It was an amazing experience!

We are very proud of our agriculture students; they did a fantastic job of representing the school. We must also say a big thank you to the staff involved in our Farm Club and GCSE in Agriculture, particularly Mrs Lloyd, who has been the driving force for getting this off the ground!

You can watch the show on iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/m001hrww

STEM Workshop

Written by Lora Shephard on February 2, 2023. Posted in Careers, Carisbrooke College, News - CC.

STEM Workshop

Last Monday our Year 7 students attended Marine Engineering STEM workshops. These workshops are designed to inspire young people to consider a career in the Marine industry. Delivered by the Marine Society and Sea Cadets organisation, the workshops were hands-on from start to finish.

If you’re wondering what STEM stands for, it’s: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Students encountered all four aspects of STEM as they engaged in practical activities and experiments which taught them about buoyancy, displacement, density and Newton’s 3rd Law.

The Year 7’s enjoyed listening to Suzy, the Workshop Leader, as she explained Archimedes Principle whilst demonstrating the principle itself, showing how the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. Following this, in teams of three, students worked together to turn a small piece of card and tin foil into a ship of their own. Each team then filled their ship with marbles, one at a time, until their ship sank!

There were some great results but the winning team’s boat held an amazing 340g worth of marbles. Well done to our Year 7’s for being a credit to the school.