Month: January 2024

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 26, 2024. Posted in HoS Blog - MC, Medina College.

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

We are now nearly at the end of January and it is hard to believe that we are already a month into 2024, time seems to be flying by. This week has been another busy week with Year 9 having the second presentation on their subjects for GCSE. Their final presentation will take place on Wednesday 31 January during period one where Mr Krista will give more information about the next stage of the process.

Thank you to the Year 11 parents who attended the Help Your Child to Revise Evening yesterday. If you missed this, all of the resources shared can be found on our website here. Please take a look and discuss revision plans with your child to ensure they make the most of the time they have between now and the summer exams.

We had some excellent news from the Resilience Challenge competition run by EDWise this week, where Medina students won the award for the most innovative response. Island schools and colleges had to respond to an emergency situation and put relief plans in place. They all demonstrated great career capital skills of: public speaking, teamwork, creative thinking, leadership and creative problem solving. Well done to: Archie, Imogen, Lily, Connor, Isaac and Charlotte.

I also hosted our Hot Chocolate Friday winners for either top attendance or achievement points in their year for the last week. Well done to: Bobby, Joseph, Lexi, Jaiden, Liam, Harleigh, Daisy, Frankie, George and Maiya; it was lovely to celebrate your success!

Next week we have the Year 7 disco to look forward to on Thursday 1 February from 4.30-5.45pm. Remember tickets can be purchased through Arbor.

Next Friday, 2 February is a staff development day, so students will not be in school that day.

Have a lovely, restful and safe weekend and I look forward to welcoming students back on Monday.

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College

Measles

There has been a rise in cases of measles in London and the West Midlands recently. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has now declared a national incident in order to focus actions to limit the spread. To support this, the Department for Education has published What to do if you think your child has measles and when to keep them off school. Please take a look at this link. Measles can spread very easily and for some people can cause extremely serious problems, so it is important to be aware of the symptoms.

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 26, 2024. Posted in Carisbrooke College, HoS Blog - CC.

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

Welcome to this week’s newsletter.

It was lovely to welcome parents to our “Help your Child Revise” evening on Thursday. Many thanks to Miss Jones and Mrs Clarke for their time in supporting our year 11. This was an opportunity for parents/carers of year 11 students to see how they can help and support their child with the revision leading up to their exams in the summer. If you couldn’t attend, all of the resources that we shared are on our website here.

We had a group from the Army in to deliver an Insight Presentation to our year 10 students this week. The afternoon was a great success and even included live music! This gave a lot of food for thought to a number of students with regards to a career in the army.

Congratulations to our year 10’s (Leo, Deacon, Gabe, Amelia, Isaac and Chloe) who took part in the Resilience Challenge run by EDWise, where Island schools and colleges had to respond to an emergency situation and put relief plans in place. They all demonstrated great career capital skills of: public speaking, teamwork, creative thinking, leadership and creative problem solving.

Please can I remind you to support your child by encouraging them to complete their homework. Maths homework is set weekly on sparks for all year groups. For English all students in years 7, 8 and 9 should now be completing their weekly Bedrock homework. Years 10 and 11 should be doing the daily Tassomai challenges in the core subjects as well as their subject provided homework on google classroom.

I have mentioned attendance in previous newsletters. Attendance figures for a number of students this week have been well below our expectations. We will be reviewing individual students’ attendance at the end of this term. I appreciate there are coughs and colds as it is January, but it is really important that students are in school. Attendance in school is crucial as absence disrupts the education of the individual student. Lower attendance clearly has an effect upon the academic progress of students. Studies show that a student with 92% attendance or lower will on average achieve GCSE results that are one grade lower than their peers. In addition to this, absence from school can cause pastoral issues such as feeling lonely or isolated at school.

On Tuesday, we had the second of our Pathways Assemblies for year 9 students covering the Creative subjects. Thank you to Mr Wiseman, Mrs Wesby and Mr Lyle for presenting their courses.

A reminder that next Friday, 2 February is a staff training day and so students will not be in school.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Stanley and Shayna, Year 8 Ryan, Year 9 Alice and Brooke-Lynn, Year 10 Sid and Year 11 Hollie.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Measles

Year 7 CPR Training

Written by Gemma Long on January 26, 2024. Posted in Carisbrooke College, News - CC.

Year 7 CPR Training

Our Year 7 students have just finished their British Heart Foundation CPR Training and passed with flying colours!

They all engaged well and worked hard to practice the necessary life saving skills involved in performing CPR on a casualty. We would like to thank Dana Edkins-Wherry and Steve Read who are volunteers with The British Heart Foundation and were kind enough to give up their time to teach our students these valuable life saving skills.

Steve Read is also the founder of IOW Defibrillators and is responsible for ensuring we have defibrillators on site to save lives in the event of an emergency. We are truly grateful for their support.

Both Dana and Steve were very impressed by the effort of all students. The students asked interesting questions and fully engaged in the sessions. Well done Year 7, we are very proud of you!

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 26, 2024. Posted in HoS Blog - VI, The Island VI Form.

Head of School’s Blog – 26 January 2024

Dear Students, Parents & Carers

Safer internet day is Tuesday 6 February this year. I would like to think that VI Form students are fully aware of the following:

– Don’t share your password with anybody
– Have a strong password
– Don’t share private information e.g. mum’s maiden name, first pet name etc.
– Be aware that future employers may check your social media posts
– Don’t share personal photos that can be used to bully you later
– Be careful opening attachments in emails
– Don’t use links in emails, go to the company site directly
– Check the source / validity of internet information. Is TikTok / Facebook / X a valid source?

Useful links for online safety advice:

Childline: Staying Safe Online

NSPCC: Keeping Children Safe Online

Finally, on a much happier note, The Island VI Form team (D Maggs, O Metcalf, S Radham, A Rogers, R Shambrook & J Weyman) won the Resilience Challenge organised by EDWise this week. This is a competition where Island schools and colleges are challenged to respond to an emergency situation and put relief plans in place. Students showed great career capital skills including: public speaking; teamwork; creative thinking; leadership and creative problem solving. Congratulations to the Medina College and Carisbrooke College teams as they also worked on some great life skills and Medina students won the award for the most innovative response.

Have a safe weekend.

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

Measles

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 19, 2024. Posted in HoS Blog - MC, Medina College.

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

We are now officially half way through this half term and the weeks certainly seem to be flying by. I would like to thank about 99% of our students who are getting their uniform right day in and day out, it is very much appreciated. We will be starting to focus on ties from next week so please support us in ensuring that students attend looking their best.

We are also continuing to monitor and review attendance at school. As you may be aware, nationally school attendance is a major concern with it being at one of its lowest points. As of today our average attendance at Medina College is 87.1% compared to nationally of 91.4%. Today we have been particularly hard hit with only 82.8% of students attending. We have put together some helpful guidance on our school website which can help advise you as to when a child should attend school. Attendance Guidance for Parents/Carers

This week saw the first of our presentations to Year 9 on subjects they may wish to choose at GCSE. The next set is on Tuesday 23 January during period 1. We also had a parent voice meeting this week and it was lovely to meet some of the wider community.

In sporting news, well done to our students who competed in the Badminton competition at Christ the King College.

Finally, I would like to say well done to our Hot Chocolate Friday winners: Abigail. Amelie, Sophie, Ella, Tanisha, Matthew, Logan, Oliver, Lexi and Deegan. It was lovely to meet with you all and hear about your week and your views on the school.

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 19, 2024. Posted in Carisbrooke College, HoS Blog - CC.

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

Welcome to the third newsletter for this term. It does not seem possible that we are halfway through this half term!

Year 9 students had their first Pathways assembly this week. It is time for them to start thinking about what subjects they would like to study at GCSE level in KS4. A Pathways Evening will take place after half term for parents to join their child in school and speak to the teachers of each subject available.

Thank you to those parents/carers who attended the Parent Voice meeting yesterday. Your opinions and comments are always welcome and valued.

Next week we have our Help Your Child to Revise Evening in school on Thursday 25 January at 4.30 pm. This is an opportunity for parents/carers of Year 11 students to see how they can help and support their child with their revision leading up to their exams in the summer. We will share with you links to useful resources and share tips to assist your child at a very important, and sometimes stressful time in their school life. There are also extra revision sessions taking place at lunchtimes and afterschool. Please see the list here.

A reminder that Friday 2 February is a staff training day and so students will not be in school.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Shayna, Year 8 Daisy, Year 9 Mia, Year 10 Molly-Nora and Year 11 joint winners Charlotte and Bethany.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Isle of Wight County Press Co-Editor Inspires Media Students

Written by Gemma Long on January 19, 2024. Posted in News - VI, The Island VI Form.

Isle of Wight County Press Co-Editor Inspires Media Students

Lucy Morgan, Co-Editor of the Isle of Wight County Press, visited aspiring Journalists at The Island VI Form today (19.01.2024) to share some insider info about how to get a good story. Huge thanks to Lucy for giving her time to our students.

There are more opportunities than ever this year for students to get writing experience, including interviewing speakers at February’s Isle of Wight Story Festival and taking part in the Young Reporters scheme. Those who take part can see their stories in print and build a professional portfolio towards their future plans.

GKN Apprenticeships

Written by Gemma Long on January 19, 2024. Posted in Careers.

GKN Apprenticeships

Applications for 2024 Apprenticeships at GKN Aerospace are now open, with opportunities available at East Cowes. Applications to be received before 11 February. Positions available in Advanced Operations, Advanced Technical and Programme Management. See link below for more information!

Apply Here – GKN Website

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

Written by Gemma Long on January 18, 2024. Posted in HoS Blog - VI, The Island VI Form.

Head of School’s Blog – 19 January 2024

Dear Students, Parents & Carers,

We are completing exam entries for Year 13 students this week: another sure sign that time is flying. This only leaves 9 school weeks for arts-based subjects and 15 school weeks for other subjects until the exams start. I know this will start to put pressure on students and I’m encouraging staff to ramp up their expectations over the coming weeks. I’m also challenging students by focusing attention on attendance. Unauthorised absence is unacceptable at The Island VI Form.

We are always here to help and support if you are struggling. Come in and talk to your Mentor, Teachers or Student Services.

Be prepared and make sure that revision resources are created well in advance. Make time for the hard work of burning those resources into your long term memory by going over them and over them. We recommend that this is done by the end of the Easter break. Materials to create your revision resources (flash cards/pens/highlighters etc) are available for all students from Main Reception.

Create a revision schedule: plans and systems always outperform good intentions. We are running sessions after school to help with this and we will also be running subject revision sessions over the Easter term break.

Students who receive Bursary will be given textbooks and resources over the coming week. Make sure that you are reading your emails and collect your books from Main Reception.

Finally, look after yourself with: regular breaks, hobbies, exercise and eating well.

Have a nice weekend – hopefully a little warmer in the coming days.

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

‘A Christmas Carol’ Trip

Written by Gemma Long on January 15, 2024. Posted in Carisbrooke College, News - CC.

‘A Christmas Carol’ Trip

45 year 10 students from Carisbrooke College, along with Mrs A. Smith, Ms Ryan, Mr Lyle, Mrs Croad and Mr Matthias, travelled to London to watch Christopher Ecclestone in A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic and what a treat they had!

The group travelled by coach, arriving in London in time for a spot of lunch in the park and a walk to the nearby Leake Street Arches – a legal graffiti area under Waterloo Station. Here they discovered an original Banksy and saw some incredible artwork being produced.

It was then time to enter the theatre and settle in for the show. The group were met by theatre ushers offering complimentary mince pies and satsumas whilst members of the cast interacted with the audience.

The show began only to be halted very quickly due to a ‘technical issue’ which, in itself, caused quite a buzz. Half an hour later the show was on again and the students were spellbound by Christopher Ecclestone in the role of Scrooge. He played a sincere and dynamic role where they were rooting for him on his journey of redemption. They rejoiced in the second half when the realisation that he does love Christmas was shown in abundance. When potatoes and vegetables were parachuted from the Gods, a turkey was zip wired onto the stage and it started to snow, there was a collective feeling of joy that was undeniable.

On the return journey the group were delighted to make the early ferry and were all home and tucked up in bed by 9pm!

The students were an absolute credit to the school and behaviour was impeccable.

Thank you, Year 10, for a wonderful trip.

Some student feedback from the trip:

Flynn’s favourite part of the performance was the snow falling and he was surprised by how old Christopher Eccleston looked!

Mimi loved the ending of the play and how much the audience were involved.

Cody’s favourite part of the day was seeing the graffiti tunnel, in particular, the Banksy!