Welcome to the first blog for this term.  I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter break.  Thank you to the students who attended the revision sessions during the holiday.  It’s only weeks away now until the year 11 exams begin.  Please encourage your child to revise and remind them that there is a plethora of support available to them should they wish.  If there are any issues, please speak to Mrs Smith, Head of Year or their tutor. 

This week I have enjoyed delivering assemblies to the year groups. Linked to our Aprire and Achieve strap line and the word ASPIRE which focuses on our core values, the theme this time was Respect. Other key messages were around our expectations in terms of attendance and attitude to learning.

During the Easter break, some of our students went on a Ski trip to Austria. It was great to receive positive feedback from the staff on their excellent attitude and behaviour. A huge thank you to the staff – Miss Caddick, Mr Rock, Mrs Mackett and Mr Jones for giving up their time – trips like this broaden our students’ horizons and help them to gain confidence and independence, amongst many other skills. The students made new friendships and memories which will last them a lifetime. 

Well done to our two teams that have made it through to the Young Enterprise Grand Final on Tuesday 30 April. Lissy, Molly-Nora and Morgan who are running ‘Insignia’ – they are designing, manufacturing and selling a range of badges and Sophie, Freya (and Archie from Medina College) who are running ‘Wild Wax Melts’ – they are creating, manufacturing and selling handmade wax melts.

Thank you to all of the parents/carers who came to year 10 Parents’ Evening.  It was a great turnout and feedback was very positive.  We now have year 8 Parents’ Evening open for bookings via Arbor, this will be held on Thursday 2 May in school.  Please do book appointments as this is an excellent opportunity to discuss your child’s progress at school with their individual subject teachers.  If you have any problems with making the bookings, please email donna.keogh@iwef.org.uk.

Next Tuesday, year 8 students who have had consent will receive their HPV vaccinations.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of running the interschool dressage competition and I am very proud to say that Carisbrooke teams came first, second and fourth overall. All of the competitors were excellent and it was a great day.  Thank you to all involved.

Congratulations to our highest achievement point winners from last week of term – Lilly-May and Oliver – year 7, Riley – year 8, Mason – year 9, Sam – year 10 and Tristan – year 11.

Have a good weekend.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Welcome to the final blog for this term. 

We are aware that some fake Tik Tok accounts have been set up. We do our best to investigate these and report them to Tik Tok to be blocked. However, I would like your support with this, so ask that if you come across such an account, can you please also report them so we can shut these down as quickly as possible.

This week I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in our celebration assemblies and giving out Headteacher Awards, Tutor Awards, ASPIRE Awards and 100 Attendance certificates.  Congratulations to all of the students who received certificates.  Your hard work has paid off.

We held a mufti day today in aid of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.  Thank you to all the students and staff that took part.  So far we have raised a fantastic £391 and the money is still coming in.

Please remind students in Year 11 of the revision sessions that are taking place over the Easter holidays and encourage them to take part.  Also, to revise for their exams whilst still enjoying their break and taking time to relax. Hard work pays off – stick to your revision timetable and remember to take time out to relax as well.

Congratulations to our highest achievement point winners from last week – Maxi – Year 7, Hannah Year 8, Mia and Madison Year 9, Brooke Year 10 and Darcy Year 11.

I look forward to seeing students returning to school in full uniform and ready to learn on Monday 15 April.

Have a lovely Easter break.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Welcome to the blog for this week.

I will start by saying how proud I am of the six year 8 students who attended the Faraday Challenge at Christ the King College this week.  The challenge was to create a new device or system to improve road safety.  Inspired by island roads, the team came up with a very impressive idea of a device that alerts cars on blind corners that an on-coming car is coming. They impressed the judges with their prototype, organisational skills and confident presentation.  They won! By beating teams from Island Free School, Ryde School, Priory and two teams from Christ the King, and have a chance at attending the grand finals at Silverstone this summer.  Congratulations to the team and huge thanks to Mr Roux for organising and taking them. 

The Student Council voted last week for a colour themed mufti day on Thursday 28 March. The colours are as follows: Year 11 – Black, Year 10 – Blue, Year 9 – Green, Year 8 – tones of Grey/Brown/Beige and Year 7 – colours of the rainbow. It is £1 and payment can be made via Arbor (school shop) or cash on the day, whichever is preferred. The money raised will go to The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.

Last week we had our monitoring visit by the Hampshire Inspection Advisory Service. Lessons and social times were observed and students and staff invited to discussions. They observed positive behaviour for learning, felt the school was calm and that students were well behaved, polite and able to communicate confidently. We will get a written report in due course.

Parents/carers of Year 10 are now able to book appointments for the face to face Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 17 April using the Arbor App. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss your child’s progress in school and raise any concerns that you may have. If you have any problems with booking appointments, please contact donna.keogh@iwef.org.uk.

As a school, we celebrate the achievements of students in and outside of school. I am delighted to share the success of one of our year 9 students. Summer competed in her first archery competition last weekend, competing in three competitions against juniors from the island and the mainland. She won all three of her competitions achieving personal bests and has achieved a Hampshire County record. She went on to receive the tournament championship trophy over the whole competition which included the adults as well as the juniors. Well done Summer, you should be so proud of yourself, as are your parents and the Carisbrooke community.

Can I please remind parents/carers of the importance of using the Arbor App. This is how we communicate with you and where you can see a breakdown down of your child’s time in school including attendance, behaviour and achievement points, detentions, timetables etc. It is also where you book parents’ evening appointments. If you have not already downloaded the app, please contact donna.keogh@iwef.org.uk for login details.

Congratulations to our top achievement winners from last week. Year 7 joint winners – Evie, Lexi and Shayna, Year 8 – Riley, Year 9 joint winners – Logan and Zach, Year 10 – Deacon and Year 11 – Harriet. Well done to you all.

Finally, information regarding revision sessions that are taking place during the Easter break for Year 11 has been emailed to parents this afternoon and can be found here. Please do encourage students to access this valuable additional support. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Welcome to the blog for this week.

Year 11 has seven weeks until their first written exam. Information will be coming out next week about revision opportunities available over the Easter holidays. They need to make sure that they use their time wisely – the hard work they put in now will be reflected in their final grades.

On Tuesday we had 81 year 10 students on a trip to see a performance of Macbeth in Southsea. The students were a credit to Carisbrooke College and I’d like to thank them and the staff involved – an excellent opportunity for the year 10s to see a play they are studying for their English GCSE. The students’ feedback about the performance was excellent.

Thank you to the year 9 students for submitting their options forms for year 10. During the process the students have been extremely mature and have asked lots of questions to assist them in their decision making. If you have forgotten to hand it in, please do so by Monday 18 March.

Attendance has dropped the last couple of weeks, especially in year 8. 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. If you have concerns about your child’s school attendance or punctuality please contact the school, through your child’s tutor in the first instance. I would like to thank you for your support in this matter and making sure your child is attending school regularly and are therefore benefiting fully from their educational opportunity.

Congratulations to our highest achievement point winners for last week, Riley year 7, Summer and Jack year 8, Maddie year 9, Archie year 10 and Hollie year 11. Well done to you all.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College

Welcome to the blog for this week. It does not seem possible we are halfway through this half term. Year 11s have eight weeks before the exam season starts, including the Easter break. The first exams in the week beginning 6 May are in fashion and health and social studies. The first big whole year group exam is biology on 10 May. The year 11 students need to make the most of the time they have left and a timetable of revision sessions during the Easter break will be sent home shortly.

This week the year 11 students who study Food and Nutrition at GCSE have been doing their practical exam. The standard of cooking and presentation has been phenomenal. I have had the privilege of tasting their hard work! I have been treated to various lasagnes, pies, chicken kievs, paella, curries, wraps, kebabs, and pasta dishes. All students made their own pasta and fresh bread with some making pesto and chutneys. Those who made desserts produced bread and butter puddings, profiteroles (with various flavours of cream inside), rhubarb and apple pies and even some patisserie standard macarons. Their homemade jams and custards were very tasty. I am so proud of them all. Huge thank you to all the staff that have supported them. Thank you to all the parents that have supported the ingredients and tested various versions of their final menus. In my opinion there are a number of them who could become Mitchelin Star rated chefs of the future!

Last weekend a group of students attended a trip to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton for a performance of Blood Brothers.  The students were a credit to Carisbrooke College and I’d like to thank them and the staff involved for taking time out of their weekend to attend an educational trip.

Year 7 had their core subject trial exams on Tuesday and this gave them a taster of what to expect during year 11 when they have their final GCSE exams.  Whilst it is a few years away yet, it sets the scene and shows them what is expected of them and is good practice for the coming years. The students were amazing and took it all in their stride.

It was lovely to see so many year 9 students and parents at the Pathways Evening on Thursday. Thank you to all the parents and students that attended and the staff who made it such an informative event. The deadline for the pathways form is next Friday 15 March.

We are looking to hold a Parent Voice meeting on Thursday 21 March. This is open to all parents/carers and is an opportunity for you to ask questions and/or raise any concerns that you may have regarding Carisbrooke College. Please email donna.keogh@iwef.org.uk to confirm your attendance.

Next Tuesday we have 81 year 10 students on a trip to see a performance of Macbeth in Southsea and a mop up session for year 9 students for the Teen Booster.  Another busy week here in school.

Miss Begley

Head of School – Carisbrooke College