Thank you to those of you who attended our Parent Voice meeting in school this week. It is always good to hear how the parent/carers of our students feel about Carisbrooke College, how their child is progressing, what we are doing well and any improvements that we could make.

Next Wednesday we have our Spring Concert. This is a free event and open to all. Please come along and enjoy performances from students of all years.

Next week is our last day of term before the Easter holidays. We will be having a mufti day on Friday 31 March. All proceeds will go towards a trip to South Korea which some of our students are attending as part of their Scout group.

Next week will be a normal working week in school, Monday to Thursday students are expected to be in full school uniform. School will finish at the normal time on Friday 31 March at 3.10 pm.

Have a lovely weekend

It has been an unusual week in school with having two days of just our year 11 students in the building. They have been an absolute pleasure. Thank you to year 7-10 students who logged onto Google Classroom to access any lessons taking place on these days.

Next Tuesday at 6.00 pm we have our Parent Voice meeting in school. This is open to all parents and is our second one this year. All parents/carers of Carisbrooke students are welcome.

As you will see further in the newsletter, some of our students’ work is being exhibited at Quay Arts in Newport from Saturday 18 March to 8 April. Please go along and view this great work.

Have a lovely weekend

It was lovely to meet parents/carers who attended our ‘Help your child revise’ parent drop in evening this week.  Feedback was very positive.  If you have any concerns regarding your year 11 child, please contact Head of Year, Mrs King. Please visit our website to access the resources available to parents and year 11s.

Well done to the year 11 food technology students who had their practical exams this week.  I had the pleasure of tasting their delicious entries and was bowled over with the quality of the food.

You will have received a letter today regarding the Industrial Action next Wednesday and Thursday 15 and 16 March.  To reiterate, school will be open as normal for year 11 students and years 7 – 10 will be expected to work remotely on Google Classroom.

Have a lovely weekend

Thank you to the parents/carers who attended the Pathways Evening for year 9 on Wednesday. We hope it was useful and assisted in making their option choices for the next stage of their education. Option forms need to be in by Friday 10 March. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs McDowall.  Here is the link to all the information.

We will be holding a ‘Help your child revise’ parent drop in evening on Monday 6 March at Medina College and Tuesday 7 March at Carisbrooke College for year 11 parents/carers (you can attend either college).  The evening at Carisbrooke will start at 4.30 pm and finish at 6.00 pm and aims to look at how you can support and guide your child through the revision/exam process.

As well as revision classes for year 11, we also offer a range of after school clubs and you can find a list of them all here

I have very much enjoyed leading assemblies this week, they have been based on Equality and Rights Advocates and students in all years embraced the subject very well. It has been a pleasure to see the students return in smart uniform, and ready to learn.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the Federation Dance Live team who competed on Monday in Portsmouth. I had the pleasure of watching their performance and although they didn’t get through, the performance was spectacular and they all did the Federation proud!

Thank you to those parents who attended the virtual parents evening for year 9. Next week, Tuesday 28 February, we will be having the Keystage 4 Pathways Evening for year 9 students and their parents/carers from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm in school. This is an opportunity for you and your child to talk to subject staff about the courses that are on offer in the next stage of their education. We look forward to welcoming you.

Welcome to the final newsletter for this half term.

On Thursday we had our second Pathways Assembly for year 9 students. This week was the Technology Faculty. A letter was sent out on Monday with information regarding our Pathways information evening. Please remember to complete the expression of interest form by 8.00 am Monday 20 February. Also, please remember to book your appointments for the upcoming year 9 parents’ evening https://carisbrooke.schoolcloud.co.uk/

We had our celebration assemblies this week and it was excellent to see so many students recognised for their achievements. Well done to them all!

For parents/carers of year 11, please remind your child to attend the revision sessions over the half term and to continue revising at home.

Have a lovely half term.

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.

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