Welcome to the final newsletter for this half term.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all the students involved in the Dance Live! competition. They have been rehearsing regularly and have worked so hard. I was a very proud Head on Wednesday evening at the Guildhall in Portsmouth, watching them perform. Thank you also to the staff involved who have given up so much of their own time. You were all an absolute credit to Carisbrooke College! We didn’t get placed but won the Technical award (for lighting, LED content and backstage efforts) and Soundtrack award, which is the next best thing.

I have thoroughly enjoyed attending our Celebration assemblies this week. Students were rewarded for their behaviour, engagement, progress, attitude and attendance throughout this half term with ASPIRE Awards (achievement points). It was a pleasure to read, sign and give out so many Headteacher Awards. A number of students received certificates for 100% attendance. Congratulations to all of the students who received a reward – keep up the good work!

Attendance is still an issue at the moment. We understand that students get ill and need to take time off school occasionally but it is really important that they return as soon as they are well enough and catch up with any work missed. This week letters were posted out to the parents/carers of those students whose attendance is below 95% so far this academic year. Please support the school in encouraging your child to attend school every day.

Expression of interest forms went out to our year 9 students last Friday and they have taken the first step to choosing which subjects they would like to study in Key Stage 4. Thank you to parents for supporting students with this. Year 9 Parents’ Evening is Wednesday 21 February. If you haven’t already booked your appointments, please do so using the Arbor App. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their individual teachers and any concerns around the Pathways process. The Pathways Evening for both parents/carers and students will take place in March and further details will be sent out after half term.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Mario, Year 8 Olive, Year 9 Kyle, Year 10 Khalisha and Year 11 Luca.

Have a lovely half term break and we look forward to students returning to school on Monday 19 February at 8.45 am in full uniform and ready to learn.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. February already! It does not seem possible that we have just one more week of the half term left!

Year 9 had the last of their option assemblies on Wednesday. They will have received an expression of interest form that needs to be filled in by Monday morning. There will be a Pathways Evening on Thursday 7 March. The year 9 Parents’ Evening is the first week back after half term – Wednesday 21 February. Please use the Arbor App to book your appointments. This is a great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress in school with their individual teachers. If you have any problems booking the appointments, please contact donna.keogh@iwef.org.uk.

The year 9 students also had an assembly on Thursday led by the School Immunisation Team who spoke to them about the Teen Booster coming up. If you would like your child to have the immunisation but haven’t yet completed the consent form that was sent out, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any problems, please contact the school.

Next Wednesday we have the Dance Live! competition at Portsmouth. I am really looking forward to watching their performance. The students have been working very hard in rehearsals for this and we wish them all the best for the evening.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Riley, Year 8 Tobi, Year 9 Lucas and Daisy, Year 10 Cameron and Year 11 Bethany.

Don’t forget that tomorrow is a development day so students are not expected into school. We break up for the half term on Friday 9 February at 3.15 pm and return to school Monday 19 February at 8.45 am.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley
Head of School – Carisbrooke College

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

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.