Thank you to all parents/carers who came to the Parent Voice meeting this week. It is great to have your thoughts as a parent body. One of the the topics this time was student reports and this is part of our review of our reporting system.

Next week we will be holding our celebration assemblies, which we all enjoy. Students are constantly working towards the various ASPIRE certificates and badges so it will be great to see the students being rewarded for their achievements. The six areas that are rewarded are Ambition, Success, Progress, Inspiration, Respect and Equality.

Next Wednesday we have our Federation Spring Concert. This is being held at Carisbrooke College in the Hall. Doors open at 6.30 pm, where refreshments will be available, ready for a 7.00 pm start.

I hope you have a good weekend

A very creative based Head’s update from me this week.

Year 11 Food and Nutrition students have been creating culinary delights in their practical exam this week. The quality of their food has been truly outstanding.

Schools across the Island were invited to contribute to an upcoming exhibition, in collaboration with the Partnership for Education, Attainment & Children’s Health (PEACH). Year 8, 9 and 11 students from our schools have entered a number of exciting pieces, ranging from printmaking, wire work, mixed media and photography. This is being displayed in the Clayden Gallery at the Quay Arts, Newport. and will run from Saturday, 18 March to 8 April. Please do go and support our incredibly creative students!

Also celebrating creative activities, as a bit of advanced warning, we have our Federation Spring Concert being held at Carisbrooke College on Wednesday 29 March, 6.30 pm for 7.00 pm start. Please make a note of this in your diaries.

Firstly, thank you to all of our Year 11 parents/carers who attended one of the Year 11 ‘Help your child revise’ sessions this week. It was great to see attendance of Medina College parents at the Carisbrooke College event too – a huge benefit of our Federation. Here is a link to our website page which has a copy of the revision booklet, links to resources for parents and for students, as well as some revision tips. Parental support during Year 11 for students is so important.

You will have received a letter this afternoon about the two days of proposed industrial action by the NEU next Wednesday, 15 and Thursday, 16 March. Please ensure that you read it and you discuss with your child the expectations.

Please keep up to date with our good news stories on our social media pages and website. We love celebrating the great things our students do on them.

Thank you to all of our Year 9 parents/carers that attended our Year 9 Pathways Evening this week. It was great to see so many supporting their child at this event. The choices they make now can be pivotal to their future opportunities. Details can be found on our website.

We will be holding a ‘Help your child revise’ parent information evening on Monday 6 March at Medina College and Tuesday 7 March at Carisbrooke College. Year 11 parents/carers are welcome to attend at either location. The evening will start at 4.30 pm and finish at 6pm. There will be a presentation, opportunities to talk to a couple of senior leaders, over tea/coffee and biscuits, about ways that you can support. They will be talking through a revision booklet, explaining how the learning platforms work and talking about revision techniques.

Please visit our School Clubs webpage to learn about the extra-curricular clubs we are running during this half term. Details of our current GCSE revision clubs can also be found here.

Welcome to the first newsletter of the half term.

I have a message particularly for Year 9 parents/carers this week. Next Wednesday 1 March is our on site Keystage 4 Pathways Evening. The evening will run from 5.00 pm – 7.00 pm. This is a vitally important evening as it gives you and your child the opportunity to talk to the subject staff about the various courses on offer. The whole process will be explained to you by our Federation Deputy Headteacher at 5.00 pm in the Theatre. There will be examples of work on display in the subject areas and you will receive the booklet with all of the relevant information in. Please take advantage of this as it is a key moment in your child’s educational journey.

Well done to our Federation Dance Live team who competed on Monday at Portsmouth Guildhall. They were fantastic and did themselves and the Federation proud! Thank you to all of the students and staff who have worked tirelessly on the amazing performance.

As we are in the final week of the half term, we have had our usual celebration assemblies this week. Well done to all of our award winners. Let’s see who we can reward at the end of the next half term.

Year 11 parents/carers, please remember to encourage your children to attend half term revision sessions and revise at home, as well as enjoying some ‘down time’.

Year 9 parents/carers please ensure that you complete the expression of interest form as the initial step in the KS4 Pathways process by 8am on Monday 20 February.

All students need to return in full school uniform and ready to learn on Monday 20 February.

Have a lovely half term.

Welcome to the penultimate newsletter of this half term.

I am pleased to start this week by letting you know that we have successfully appointed a new Head of School. This new role will mean Medina College has a dedicated Head of School focussed purely on improving outcomes for the students who attend this site. However, please be assured that I will be remaining as Executive Headteacher when the new postholder starts. By having a dedicated Head of School, it will enable me to have more time to monitor our progress as a Federation and ensure that we are doing all we can to maximise the life chances for all of our young people. Until then, I will remain as Head of School at Medina, as well as my role as Executive Headteacher. Further details will be shared in the Summer term.

Year 11 had their trial results assembly this morning. This created some mixed emotions. For students who are pleased with their trial results, this is an indication that what they are doing is working, and to keep up the pace and dedication. For those students who are disappointed with their trial results, there is still time to make a difference. It is not a time to feel despondent or to lose faith, it is a time to talk to teachers about where the gaps in their learning are. Look at whether they need to refine a technique, for example structuring the high mark long essay style questions better. It could be that they need to talk through anxieties they have about the logistics of the exam venue. Students will start meeting senior leaders after half term to look at all of these types of questions. The most important thing is to see these results as an opportunity. Progress can still be made. Parents/carers have an opportunity to discuss any worries with the subject teachers next week, so please ensure that you do book appointments using the link that was shared in the letter last week. A letter is also going to be sent on Monday regarding revision sessions that are being offered over half term. Please encourage your child to attend as many of these as possible.

Year 9 parents/carers will be receiving a letter on Monday about the Keystage 4 Pathways process. Please ensure that you look out for this as it contains important information and dates.

We will be holding celebration assemblies next week for all year groups, providing an opportunity to acknowledge the students successes from this half term. We very much enjoy this, and we know they do too.

Have a good weekend.

Welcome to the last newsletter in January.

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.

This week, 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 next week. Just before half-term, students 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. Further details will follow.

An email was sent to all parents/carers of Year 11 students this week, with a link to book appointments for the virtual Parents’ Evening on Thursday 9 February. If you have not already done so, please do, as this is an excellent opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress with individual subject teachers. Also following the results of the recent trial exams, subject teachers can inform you of what added support and guidance your child requires to achieve their expected grade.

A new weekly feature in our newsletter will be #feelgoodfriday. This will actively promote strategies and practical help to support good mental health and wellbeing across our Federation. We are launching today with ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’, please do have a look.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the newsletter for this week.

You may have seen in the media about the industrial action being taken by the NEU over the coming months. We will be sending you a letter on Monday, sharing details of how we will be managing these days.

This week and next week, has seen and will see a variety of experiences being offered outside of the classroom, from a Marine Engineering Stem workshop for Year 7 to Strings instrumental taster sessions as well as our usual extra-curricular offer. I also enjoyed watching a fantastic Rubik’s cube competition this week between five students. The winning time was an amazing 33 seconds. Truly impressive!

The Careers page on our website provides not only useful information about our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme but also has a ‘Careers News’ section which reviews the many activities and events that the team arrange as well as advertising careers related information, open days and opportunities. The page can be found here. The more the students are aware of the opportunities open to them when they leave school, the more it may help engage them with their learning now.

Next week sees the start of assemblies being delivered to Year 9 regarding the Pathways process and the subjects that may be available to them to study at GCSE level in Year 10 and Year 11. It is important that students and parents/carers engage in the whole process as the decisions they make now, will potentially help them secure further education or employment opportunities in the future. There will be a Year 9 Parents’ Evening, followed by a Pathways Evening. Details will be shared with you in more detail soon.

Year 11 parents/carers will be receiving notification of Parents’ Evening next week, please ensure that you book appointments to speak to subject teachers at this very important time in their academic year.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Welcome to the newsletter for this week.

Year 11 have had their trial exams this week and I can say I am very proud of how they have managed themselves. They have approached them with maturity and their behaviour during them has been commendable. From a logistical point of view, they know exactly what to expect in the summer now and the routines they have been in this week will just be repeated in each and every exam. Their teachers will be going through their papers with them and revisiting any areas where there are gaps in their learning, but they will not be sharing their grades in lessons. We will be holding a trial results day so that students receive their grades in the way that they will in the summer. We have found this has more of an impact and helps the students see easily how they are progressing overall.

Our extra-curricular offer at lunchtime and after school is very popular, with a wide range of opportunities available. It is important that students do take part in some activities outside of the classroom, as more of a personal interest. We are here not only to teach the students the curriculum but also to help them to become rounded individuals. Sharing interests is really important and clubs encourage students who would not necessarily usually work together, to do so. If your child does not take part in any of these, please have a look at our social media sites for details and talk to them about joining one.

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 linked resources available as it may help you support your child and help them to be as safe as possible.

Thank you for your support in encouraging your children to be on time to school, it is appreciated. Attendance at school every day, in every lesson for every student is vital.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.