Welcome to this week’s newsletter.

There has been an updated letter shared with you this afternoon about the proposed upcoming industrial action on Wednesday 1 February. Please ensure that you read it as unfortunately it is not going to be possible to open to students safely on this day.

On Wednesday we had the first of our Pathways Assemblies for year 9 students. This is where each subject informs students of what they would be studying if they were to choose that subject as an option for years 10 and 11. The next assembly covers the Creative subjects and will be held on Thursday 2 February. Just before half-term, pupils will be asked to express an interest in which subjects they would like to follow. At this point, it is just an expression of interest which helps us understand which courses we ought to offer and whether we have the staffing to do so. After half term there is an online parents evening to discuss your child’s progress and a week later the Year 9 Pathways Evening. At this point our offer is firmed up and subjects are blocked together to meet as many preferences as possible. The Pathways Evening is an opportunity to meet staff, learn more about the courses on offer and the process itself.

An email was sent out to all parents of year 11 with links to book in for the virtual parents’ evening on Wednesday 8 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. Also the results of the recent practice exams whereby subject teachers can inform you of what added support and guidance your child requires to reach their expected grade.

I have mentioned attendance in the last two newsletters. The Local Authority is also working to encourage and support good school attendance and they are running a media campaign across a range of platforms. Further in the newsletter there are tips and advice on how you can support your child with their school attendance.

One of our new weekly features in this newsletter will be #feelgoodfriday, which will actively promote strategies and practical help to support good mental health and wellbeing across our Federation. Launching today with Five Ways to Wellbeing, please see the information in the newsletter.

Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to this week’s newsletter.

On Monday we were fortunate to have a visit from an external music teacher who ran a string instrument taster session for our students. This proved very popular and you can read more about this further in the newsletter. There is also information on how your child can sign up for regular string lessons. Thank you to Mrs Peckham for making this happen.

On Thursday 45 students from years 8 and 9 attended the Mandarin Study Day at the BFI in London. A comment was made by one of the organisers – “your students are lovely”. Mr Briscoe was extremely proud of the way our students followed instructions, behaved safely and conducted themselves for the duration of a long and tiring day. They really engaged and contributed considerably and by far the best behaved school group at the event.

Our Pathways Assemblies for year 9 students start next week. They will have three assemblies in the coming weeks and they are an introduction to the new subjects on offer at key stage 4. On wednesday next week they will be hearing about what it would be like to study business studies, sport BTEC, computer science and BTEC digital information technology.This is a very important time for year 9 as the subject they select are the subjects they will be studying for GCSE and their final exams in year 11. There will be a Pathways information evening for students and parents/carers after half term. This information will be sent out at a later date.

Next week we will be sending out an email with links for parents/carers of students in year 11 to book in for the virtual parents’ evening on Wednesday 8 February. Please look out for this as it’s an opportunity for parents/carers to discuss their child’s progress with their individual subject teachers. We are hoping to hold a ‘How to help your child revise’ evening where we can show you all the opportunities available to support meaningful revision.

Online safety is really important for everyone but especially important for our young people. There are many many resources available online, and we have a page of our website dedicated to digital safety, as well as another page for safeguarding children in general. Please take a look and look at the links resources available as it may help you support your child and help them to be as safe as possible.

I mentioned last week how important good attendance is. Whole school attendance for this year has dropped from 90.7% last week to 90.3% this week. I mentioned in last week’s assembly how impressed I was with attendance in year 11. Unfortunately there has been a drop this week. The average year to date for year 11 is also 90.3%. This equates to them on average having one day off a fortnight. This would not be acceptable attendance in a workplace. Best attendance year to date is in year 9 at 92.1%. We are asking for your help in developing a habit of good attendance in our students. School is our students’ first and most important job. Students are learning how to show up for school on time every day, so that when they leave school and get a job, they will know how to show up for work on time every day.

As you are aware our website has been updated and now has a section on careers where we add all our careers related news. Please take a look at https://iwef.org.uk/iwef/careers/

Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the second newsletter for this term.

I want to start by saying how proud I have been of the behaviour and attitude of year 11 in their trial exams. They have taken them seriously, used time between exams to revise, been polite and courteous to the exam invigilators and there have been no issues at all. As I have said in previous newsletters, these exams are really important as they will enable the teachers to support their students leading up to their GCSEs in the summer. There is plenty of time still to cover any gaps in learning and for targeted revision to be put in place.

Attendance remains a key focus for us. Good attendance helps children to make good progress in school and fulfil their potential in life. Miss school, Miss out – Every day counts – Going to school regularly and being part of the school community gives children and young people a sense of belonging and means that they benefit not only from lessons and learning, but also can see friends and teachers, ask for help, join clubs, go on school trips, have a clear routine and can get mental health support.

We had a significant drop in attendance at the end of last term across all year groups. Whole school attendance for this year is currently 90.7% which is well below where we should be. Year 11 attendance this week has been the highest of all year groups every day (not dropping below 98%). This needs to continue now that exams have finished! Year 10 attendance is a concern as they have the lowest attendance as a cohort.

A child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life. Each day of school missed by a child will reduce their attendance by 0.5%, and that means they miss five lessons. 95% attendance is ten whole days of school that has been missed – that’s 50 lessons. 90% attendance is twenty whole days of school that has been missed. 90% attendance – which is classified as persistently absent means that they have missed 4 weeks of schooling.

As a reminder, we are now offering the opportunity for parents/carers to purchase second hand uniform from the school. If this is of interest to you, please use this link CC Uniform to a form where you can express your interest and a member of staff will contact you.

We have a wide range of items in the lost property box, from prescription glasses to jewellery. If your child is missing an item, please call the school reception and a member of the team will endeavour to reunite your child with their lost articles. If items are not collected within 12 months of them being lost, they will be donated to charity.

In the afternoon of Wednesday 18 January, the School Immunisation Team will be in school delivering the flu inoculation to those students who missed the first session in December. If you would like your child to receive this but haven’t yet completed the consent form, you can do so here using code 136012.

Have a lovely weekend

Welcome to our first newsletter for the Spring term.

I want to start by wishing you all a Happy New Year and I hope you had a relaxing break. It has been a very positive start to the new term.

This week I have enjoyed delivering assemblies to year 8, 9 and 10. Linked to our Aprire and Achieve strap line and the word ASPIRE which focuses on our core values, the themes this time were on Ambition and Success. Other key messages were around our expectations in terms of attendance and attitude to learning.

Next week sees the start of the year 11 trial exams. Students in year 11 should all have received their timetables from their tutors. These exams are very important and are used to plan the support and interventions required leading up to the GCSEs in the summer. Monday morning starts with their Option A exams and in the afternoon it is the first of their English papers.

I appreciate that for some this will be a stressful week. There are a significant number of exams staff on hand to support students through this, as well as their tutors and Mrs King. Morning exams start at 9.00 am, students need to be lined up by 8.45 am. Punctuality to school is very important.

In their assembly today, protocols and expectations during exams were shared. This was a reminder of the things that are considered as malpractice if they occur by the examination boards. They must not have mobile phones or watches on them, only water in clear bottles without labels are allowed in the exam hall, pockets need to be empty and they must remain in silence throughout their exam from the time they walk in the door, to the time they leave. We have a duty to report malpractice in the summer exams, and we will, in order to ensure the integrity of our centre.

Year 9 students will soon be looking to choose their non compulsory GCSE subjects for Year 10. They will attend assemblies during the last three weeks of this half term detailing some of the subjects that will be available that have not been taught at Keystage 3. This is the first stage of the Keystage Pathways process and more information will be communicated to you before half-term.

As a reminder, we are now offering the opportunity for parents/carers to purchase second hand uniform from the school. If this is of interest to you, please use this link CC Uniform to a form where you can express your interest and a member of staff will contact you.

I would like to thank you for your continued support in encouraging your child to be on time for school, in smart school uniform and with equipment ready to learn. These basic expectations enable everyone to have a positive experience in school. It has been lovely welcoming students back this week.

I would like to say well done and thank you to the students, parents/carers and all of our staff for their work and support this term. I had the pleasure of attending the Celebration assemblies this week. We rewarded students for their behaviour, engagement, progress, attitude and attendance throughout this term. I was extremely proud to award over 190 Headteachers awards to students nominated by staff for their outstanding contributions to lessons.

The seasonal festivities certainly began! We had our delicious Christmas lunch on Wednesday from Chartwells – thank you to the catering team for all of their hard work and Mrs Day for help with preparation. Myself, Miss Bracegirdle and Miss Keogh helped serve many many meals and students were full of praise for the tasty feast.

After we’d all eaten our lunch, the staff performed a pantomime of their own. Three performances were held so that every student had a chance to watch. It was fun for the cast to take part and the students enjoyed seeing Carisbrooke staff out of their every day roles!

On Thursday evening we held a Christmas Concert at St John’s Church in Newport. Thank you to all the students and staff who performed and organised such a big event. It was an excellent evening and I was so proud to be head of Carisbrooke.

And then to celebrate the end of term, we had our Santa Dash. 140 staff and students took part in the run from school to the Castle and back and then enjoyed delicious, creamy hot chocolate on their return. Huge thanks to Mrs Peake for organising it and to the staff that ran with the children. Thank you to Mrs Mursell, Mr Lythgoe and Miss Leigh for running with the students and Mrs Smith, Heads of Years and Mrs Day for helping with the arrangements. Also thanks to Miss Peckham for the live music whilst students enjoyed their hot chocolate. We raised in excess of £695 and this will be going to The Wight Brainy Bunch, a small charity that provides a support network and financial assistance to local families affected by Brain Tumours.

I was immensely proud of the contributions made to the IOW Food Bank. The Festive jumpers and Mufti were excellent.

Whilst all of these events were taking place, lessons remained as normal and students were well behaved and worked very hard.

All the staff at Carisbrooke are extremely proud of all our young people and we wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year and we look forward to seeing all our students back in school on Tuesday 3 January, ready for a new term, in full uniform and with a positive attitude to learning.