Welcome to the third newsletter of this half term.

I want to start by congratulating Freddie in year 7 who has won a prize in the University of Southampton Maths Challenge. This is an amazing achievement and we are all very proud of his success! You can read more about this further down in the newsletter. 

This week saw the start of the written exams for Year 11 with next week being the start of the whole year group exams with maths, English and Biology. I am very proud of Year 11 with how well they have dealt with exams; their behaviour and attitude have been excellent. Please encourage your child to revise well but remember to take regular breaks and have time to relax. We are offering hot and cold breakfasts for those students who have a morning exam. This will be served from 7.45 am and is a good opportunity for students to discuss any concerns or issues they may have prior to their exams, with a member of the teaching staff. Just a reminder that all morning exams start at 9.00 am. And students need to line up at 8.45 am. Students taking an exam in the afternoon will have an early lunch at 12.20 pm. All afternoon exams start at 1.00 pm and students need to be at the student entrance at 12.45 pm. Important and useful information about examinations can be found here.

Thursday 9 June is the Year 8 virtual parents’ evening. This is an opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress with their individual subject teachers. Information on how to book appointments will be sent before the end of term.

On Sunday, a group of students are travelling to London to watch the British Basketball play-off final. It looks to be a very exciting event and I look forward to sharing some photos in our newsletter next week. I hope you all enjoy your day!

You have received a letter regarding Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as we are entitled to an additional bank holiday this school year. As this event falls within our current half term we are taking Monday 20 June as our additional bank holiday. Therefore, Carisbrooke College will not be open to students on this day, the only exception to this is Year 11 students taking exams, in which case, these will be taking place on site as planned.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Lucas, Year 8 Louis, Year 9 Twiggy, Year 10 Lily and Year 11 Matthew.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the second newsletter of the Summer term. I hope you had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. 

Firstly, thank you to those year 10 parents who had meetings with their child’s subject teachers on Wednesday for parents’ evening.  Our year 10 teachers found them very useful and we hope parents did too.

I would like to congratulate Kereena  in year 10 on her achievement so far in the Duke of Edinburgh award. Another outstanding participant in the award. Like Grace who I mentioned last week, she has completed the Bronze Award and is now enrolled on the Silver Award. She has signed up to the ‘Introduction to DofE Young Leaders Programme Session’. Well done Kereena.

Year 11 now have 8 days before they have their first written exam. They have been briefed in assembly this week on routines and expectations. All morning exams are expected to start at 9.00 am. Students need to meet at the school entrance where they currently line up at 8.45 am. Students taking an exam in the afternoon will have an early lunch. This will be at 12.20 pm. All afternoon exams are expected to start at 1.00 pm. Again, students will meet at the student entrance at 12.45 pm. Important and useful information can be found on our website here: Examinations

Just a gentle reminder to parents that there should be no parking or waiting for students in front of the barriers on the bus loop. We have had some issues this week with buses not being able to park up to collect our students safely. 

Finally, I would like to congratulate our amazing Dance Live team for their performance on Tuesday evening at the Portsmouth Guildhall.  Unfortunately they did not make the top three but considering they were up against schools specialising in Performing Arts, they did a fantastic job. I and all the staff there supporting them were so proud. We are already looking forward to next year’s entry!

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Samuel, Year 8 Freddie, Year 9 Olivia, Year 10 Charlie and Year 11 Sam. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend 

We have had a very good start to the term. Students have arrived dressed smartly and settled back into routines well. I have enjoyed leading the assemblies this week on Respect. As you know, our core values are built around ASPIRE which are Ambition, Success, Progress, Inspiration, Respect and Equality.

During the Easter break some of our students went on a Ski trip to Alpendorf, 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.

I would like to congratulate Grace in year 10 on her achievement so far in the Duke of Edinburgh award. Mr Bridle is quoted saying “her evidence portfolio is one of the best submissions I have ever seen”. He feels she has the potential to be one of the youngest participants from our centre to reach Gold. She has signed up to the ‘Introduction to DofE Young Leaders Programme Session’. Well done Grace.

We had the moderator in for the sports BTEC. The examiner was very complimentary about our students. He provided feedback to Mr Phillips on how impressed he was with the exceptional behaviour of our students as they moved around the school. He thought the school felt very calm, welcoming and he found our students to be very polite.

Well done to our year 11’s who have completed their Chinese speaking and listening exams this week. It does not seem possible that the first actual written exam is 13 days away – 9 school days and the first exam that affects all of year 11 is on Tuesday 17 May – 20 days away – 13 school days

Next Wednesday is Year 10 Parents’ Evening. If you have not already booked appointments then please do so. This is an important time for this year group as they will be sitting trial exams at the end of June. Knowing how your child is doing at this point in their GCSE journey is vital to making sure they address any challenges now, rather than delay these conversations until Year 11.

Next Tuesday evening is the Dance Live final at Portsmouth Guildhall. All of the students have worked so hard, and whatever the result, they should all be immensely proud of themselves. I would also like to extend my thanks to all of the staff who have worked tirelessly to support this entry. This is an example of The Isle of Wight Education Federation working as one team, at its best.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for the last week of the Spring term – Year 7 William, Year 8 Louis, Year 9 Isabella, Year 10 Ben and Year 11 Isabelle (for the second week in a row!).

I hope you have a lovely bank holiday weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.

It has been another busy week at Carisbrooke. I have very much enjoyed attending the end of term celebration assemblies. It is lovely to hear about individual success in the year groups. A large number of students have received their Diamond and Platinum awards. A huge well done to our year 7’s Tali and Layla for being the first to achieve the Federation Award for achieving over 500 reward points. 

Year 7 had their disco on Wednesday afternoon. It was great to see them all enjoying themselves. There were some very good moves on the dance floor! A huge thank you to the tutors and other staff who supported the event.

The raffle organised by year 11 to help support their Prom was drawn on Wednesday lunchtime. Well done to all involved, especially Mrs Hookey who worked tirelessly selling tickets and getting prizes. Thank you to everyone who supported by either purchasing tickets or donating prizes.

Thank you so much for supporting the student council initiative in raising money for some of the humanitarian causes set up for the Ukrainians on the Isle of Wight. Payments can still be made via the school gateway. 

There are a number of revision sessions available during the Easter break for year 11. The students need to use their time wisely. A list of all the exams can be found on the website or via this Link. It is important that year 11 get some down time during the Easter break but they do need to make sure that they have a revision timetable in place. It will help them to focus and revise for the appropriate exams at the right time. 

Student council has asked if the lunch breaks can be reversed so Year 9, 10 and 11 can be the first half of lunch with Year 7 and 8 in the second sitting. We are going to trial this after the Easter break as it feels fair to rotate them. It is unfortunate that the canteen is not big enough to cater for all year groups at one time. Whilst talking about the canteen I would like to share some positive comments I have received from the staff. They reintroduced plates and metal cutlery for main meals. They are really impressed with how students have responded in returning plates and cutlery to the station and clearing their plates. The students are very polite and always say please and thank you!

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Tali (third week running!) and Layla, Year 8 Izzy, Year 9 Riley, Year 10 Freddie and Year 11 Isabelle and Teyha.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to welcoming students back on Monday 25 April. Hope you all have a lovely break.

Welcome to my fifth blog post for the second half of the Spring term.

Last Friday our dressage team of Freya, Jessica and Amelia had a successful day at the Inter School Team Dressage competition. They, as a team, finished a creditable 2nd which was excellent as they did not have a discard score. Freya won her test, Amelia was 6th and Jessica 8th overall. They all did incredibly well. The Jumping competition is 20 May. Anyone interested in taking part needs to see Mrs Peake or Mr Phillips.

I was so pleased that we were finally able to hold our Federation pantomime – Treasure Island. I had the privilege of attending both performances. The casts in both were fantastic! The production was witty and very entertaining and the lighting and sound effects added to the performances we amazing. A huge congratulations to the cast and staff (Mr Lyle, Ms Elkin, Mrs Peckham and Mrs Shorrock) and the production crew for making it such enjoyable evenings. There are some pictures later on in the newsletter.

The Pathways form was sent home with year 9 students on Thursday. A link to the information on the website is here. We have used the straw poll feedback to create the four blocks in the timetable for the option subjects. We are anticipating that most students will be able to complete it with their straw poll preferences. If you need further conversations, please contact your child’s tutor in the first instance.

Attendance to the Year 9 parents/carers evening was good and feedback from staff has been very positive about the evening.

Next Friday will be a mufti day for all students. The student council wants to support some of the humanitarian initiatives set up for the Ukrainians. Please can we ask that you support us by encouraging your child to dress appropriately for the school environment.

Year 11 has 6 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.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Tali (second week running!), Year 8 Nathan, Year 9 Isabella, Year 10 Alfie and Year 11 Jenson.

Have a lovely (hopefully not too cold) weekend.

We had some good news this week – Carisbrooke College Cyber Ambassadors have been nominated for an Amazon Web Services Cyber Ambassador School Award. Winners will be announced at a special celebration awards ceremony on Friday 29 April, to recognise the outstanding contribution volunteers and partners make to policing and in keeping the community safer. Well done to Amy, Evie, Ben, Tom, Poppy and Sam.

Last Friday there was a ‘Music Morning’ held at Medina College for all our Year 9 students and KS4 Music groups from the Federation. The morning featured presentations and performances from local musicians JC and Angelina, Strings Venue manager Claydon Connor, Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra members, and a video interview with Radio 1 DJ and Bestival founder Rob Da Bank.

I was privileged to take our cohort of year 7 students involved in the Tempest Literacy Project to Brooke beach on Monday and Parkhurst forest on Wednesday. Their engagement and enthusiasm was excellent. The final project piece that they put together was fantastic. Well done to all involved.

Don’t forget to get tickets for the Federation performance of Treasure Island on Tuesday 29 and Thursday 31 March which is being held at Carisbrooke College. Carisbrooke College students will be starring in the lead roles on Tuesday. Tickets can be bought through the school gateway. It promises to be an excellent evening.

Information about the year 9 parents evening has been sent home. If you have any problems please contact Mrs Smith. This is an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about their chosen pathways

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Tali, Year 8 Izzy, Year 9 Izzy, Year 10 Freddie and Year 11 Olivia.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Begley

It does not seem possible we are halfway through this half term. Year 11’s have eight weeks before the exam season starts. The first exams in the week beginning 9 May are in health and social studies and child development and care. The first big whole year group exam is the following week with the first of the science exams. 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.

It was lovely to see so many year 9 students and parents at the Pathways evening on Tuesday. Thank you to Mr Krista, the Federated Deputy Headteacher, for delivering an insightful presentation on the process. If you were unable to attend, you can find a presentation and the Pathways booklet on our website: Pathways Information. Don’t forget to get your straw poll forms in. Information has been sent out about making appointments for the virtual parents evening on Wednesday 30 March.

I would like to congratulate Lucy C in year 9 who took part in the national trampolining finals in Macclesfield on Saturday and with a score of 54.25 came 11th out of 42 which makes her the 11th best for her age in the whole of the country. What a fantastic Achievement! Well done Lucy

A group of year 9 students went to Southampton University for a careers event. The students competed against 3 other schools in challenges by a company called UNILOC. The challenges were designed to encourage communication and teamwork skills. They had to design an app for future students to use to help guide them through making career choices. They had to identify the main features that would be most useful, design a logo and talk about how the app would function. The challenges concluded with a five minute presentation to some course leaders in a dragons den style format. They stole the show and came first after an amazing animated and confident presentation. We are pleased to say that Medina followed closely in 2nd place. Whilst they were there the students were shown around the university and able to talk to student ambassadors about life at university. It was really useful to be able to ask questions and see what a real university looks like. Most of the students were blown away by how big the campus was but also the range of courses and things to do. A huge thank you to Mrs Young who was the trip leader and Mrs Norris for her support. Well done to George C, Elleanor C, Sophie Byers, Megan B, Joanna M, Harry M, Amy A, Hadley R, Millie T and Apryl H.

We have a Federation performance of Treasure Island on Tuesday 29 and Thursday 31 March which is being held at Carisbrooke College. Carisbrooke College students will be starring in the lead roles on the Tuesday. Tickets can be bought through the school gateway. It promises to be an excellent evening.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week – Year 7 Samuel B, Year 8 Mia P, Year 9 Twiggy E, Year 10 Maisie -Rae H and Benjamin M and Year 11 Sam I.

Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to our first newsletter for the second half of the Spring term. I can’t quite believe a week has passed already.

Over half term some of our students were involved with the Story Festival. In order to write an article for the County Press, they interviewed authors, illustrators and presenters as well as members of the public. They then worked together to combine their efforts which they submitted to the editor on Monday lunchtime. It was a very tight deadline but they completely rose to the challenge. Our students were described as, ‘confident, hardworking and conscientious journalists who were a credit to Carisbrooke College’.

Well done to Lucy C, one of our year 9 students who has come first in her previous two rounds and is now representing the school at the Trampolining National Finals on 12 March in Macclesfield. This is an amazing accomplishment especially considering the time missed due to covid.

Year 9 students and parents will have received a letter inviting them to the options evening on Tuesday 15 March. This is an opportunity to find out from staff more details about the different courses that are on offer. We look forward to seeing you all.

Rehearsals are back up and running for the Dance Live final on Tuesday 3 May and the pantomime cast are earnestly rehearsing in costumes now for their performance on Tuesday 29 March. I am very much looking forward to both.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for the penultimate week of last half term . Year 7 Lucy H, Year 8 Phoebe H, Year 9 Isabella H and Harry M, Year 10 Samuel R and Year 11 Aidan B, Jessica S and Eve W.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for the last week of last half term – Year 7 River S, Year 8 Angel M, Year 9 Olivia S, Year 10 Benjamin M and Year 11 Grace S.

Have a lovely weekend.

It does not seem possible that we have just one more week of the half term left! 

Assemblies and PSHE lessons this week have been themed around Mental Health Awareness week. A huge thank you to the staff who have delivered these. Next week I am looking forward to our celebration assemblies. Our students have worked hard this half term and it is a pleasure to reward them.

We had an artist in school this week working with our students in a “Mark Making” workshop. I was fortunate enough to visit the year 11 group whilst they were working with her. Some of their creations were very interesting and very powerful. You can read more about this in the Biosphere Blog below. 

Pantomime rehearsals are back up and running afterschool. It is lovely to see the students so excited and committed to the performance. I am very much looking forward to the evening performance on Tuesday 29th March.

Don’t forget to get your appointments made for the year 11 parents evening next Thursday.

Although the political message around COVID-19 is beginning to change, it is important that we continue to follow the current guidance. Anyone with symptoms needs to isolate and arrange a PCR test. Anyone who tests positive on an Asymptomatic LFD test also need to isolate and follow the Government guidance. Good hand and respiratory hygiene continue to be important. 

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Tilly S, Year 8 Jack F, Year 9 Izzy B and Harry M, Year 10 Jude M and Year 11 Rhiannon S and Selina W

Have a lovely weekend. 

I am pleased to let you know that our website is now up and running following the cyber attack and we are able to return to publishing e-newsletters. The website once again lets you see our latest news stories and general information more easily. Please take the time to have a look. 

I had the pleasure of going to watch the Isle of Wight Education Federation Dance Live performance at the Portsmouth Guildhall last night. They were amazing and came away runners up. These were the first of the heats so we will have to wait and see if their performance was good enough to make the Final – I believe they deserve it from what I saw (not biased at all!). This was a truly federative entry with students working together from Carisbrooke, Medina and The Island VI Form. A huge thank you to Mrs Tuck, Mr Williams, Mrs Lythgoe, Mrs Hookey and Mrs McCarthy for the support they gave them in making it possible! 

We ran our Year 11 trial results assembly yesterday, and I am sure most of them will have shared their results with you. I had some interesting conversations with a few of our year 11 students. Some were really pleased, others a little disappointed, but as we said to them in assembly, there is still time to improve the results. There will be lots of opportunities in lessons,  after school and during the half term holidays for them to get support. A gentle reminder to year 11 parents – don’t forget to book in for the Parents’ Evening on Thursday 17 February. If you are having any problems please contact Mrs Hookey.

Year 9 basketball team was outstanding, playing against Christ The King this week.  Charlie  seemed to never miss the net, Louie was a mountain in defence, Kian, Toby, Alfie and Ashton never stood still, running the length and width of the court.  These students were ably supported by some of our year 8 superstars.  The final score was an impressive 36 points to Christ the King’s 6 points.  Well done team for dominating throughout. 

Some year 9 students have had the opportunity to take part in a ‘Speak Out’ workshop run by the Speakers Trust this week. This was to support them with building confidence in speaking in front of their peers, groups and public speaking. Talking to them, they found it really helpful. 

COVID-19 is still prevalent with a number of students off at the moment. Can we encourage you to use the lateral flow tests or if your child has symptoms please isolate them and arrange a PCR test. If they do test positive, please keep them at home and follow the Government guidance on isolation. 

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Freddie H, Year 8 Jack A, Year 9 Izzy B, Year 10 Jordan P and Year 11 Sam I.

Have a lovely weekend