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

The school nurses will be in on Tuesday 1 February. They will be administering the second round of covid vaccinations as well as the first for those who were unable to have it last time. Please can consent forms be handed to their tutors or heads of year.

I am really looking forward to going over to watch our federated Dance Live! team competing at the Portsmouth Guildhall. They have been working really hard practicing their routines at Carisbrooke during lunch times and then going over to Medina every week to work with the Medina students. I have no doubts that they will be amazing!

On Thursday, year 11’s will have a trial results day. This will be part of an assembly that will inform them on how they need to use their trial results to prepare for the summer exams. They will receive an envelope with their trial results grades. This is a grade that their teacher is giving them based on their trial exam and work in class. This is not a final predicted grade. Tutors, subject staff, and senior leaders will all be supporting this process. The clock is ticking but there is still sufficient time for students to improve on these grades.

There is a Year 11 Parents’ Evening on Thursday 17 February, where you will have the opportunity to discuss any concerns that you have with the subject staff. This will be done virtually.

As you will be aware the Government officially changed their guidance relating to face coverings and has eased restrictions. We are encouraging students and staff to be supportive of each other and if they wish to wear a face covering, they should carry on doing so. Please be assured that we do monitor the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in school and we do have the ability under contingency planning to re-introduce measures if we need to. It is really important that we continue to hand

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 River S, Year 8 Freddie H, Year 9 Olivia S, Year 10 Trev F and Year 11 Ruby H.

Have a lovely weekend

We have had a couple of really nice messages about Carisbrooke students from external organisations which I would like to share with you. Ben M and Tom L in year 11 have been involved in the Police and Crime Commissioner round table event as cyber ambassadors. Their input has been highly praised and we received an email asking us to pass on a big thank you from all who attended.
“Please send them our thanks, it was good to hear their views and having them there really helped all present to focus”.

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of going to see our students at the Independent Arts HUB in Newport. We were offered an exhibition space for work that had been produced in some of our students’ most recent workshops. It was fantastic to receive the following message:
“Your pupils are a credit to your school and we very much enjoyed meeting them yesterday and were very impressed with their confidence in taking a strong lead in creating their beautiful displays”

As you will be aware the Government updated their guidance this week to say that face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in classrooms. From 27 January, face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in communal areas. From 27 January, staff and pupils should follow wider advice on face coverings outside of school, including on transport to and from school. We obviously leave it at the discretion of the students, staff and visitors if they wish to continue wearing a face covering beyond the date of the change in guidance. Please be assured that we do monitor the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in school and we do have the ability under contingency planning to re-introduce measures if we need to.

In a couple of weeks, year 11’s will have a trial results day. This will be part of an assembly that will inform them on how they need to use their trial results to prepare for the summer exams.

Congratulations to our top achievement point winners for last week. Year 7 Taylan R and Oscar S, Year 8 Brooke S, Year 9 Blake C, Mackenzie S and Tom W, Year 10 Devon S and Year 11 Amy P.

Have a lovely weekend