Welcome to the final newsletter of this first autumn half term.

I would like to start by thanking all parents/carers for your support this half term. The students have settled in very well and are focusing on their learning.

We have started this year with an excellent mix of learning opportunities. Our classroom learning is more focused and the expectation on making progress in every single lesson is evident. We have had many opportunities for delivery of the curriculum outside of the classroom on trips, including The Globe in London, beach visits on the Island for Geography fieldwork, visits to a local farm for the Agriculture iGCSE , and there are many more to come in the next half term. We also have our extra-curricular offer which is now extensive and has included our Year 7 boys football team winning the Island Schools League, many many other sporting events and competitions, rehearsals for Dance Live, rehearsals for our federation production nearer the end of next term, ‘Wendy and Peter’, D of E, cypher club, astronomy club, to name a few. Next half term will bring more experiences and possibilities.

The Island VI Form, our federated VI Form provision based in the the centre of Newport has its Open Evening on Thursday 3 November. This is an opportunity for Year 11 students to have a look at the facilities, talk to staff and students about the subjects on offer and begin to explore what is on offer to them for when they move on to the next part of the educational journey. Please have a look at the website for more details, and also set between 5.00 pm and 8.00 pm aside to visit us.

I will be leading assemblies on the ‘Equality’ part of our ASPIRE values during the first week back after half term. I will update you regarding the key message that the students receive in the next newsletter.

Please remember that next week is half term and that we have a development day on Monday 31 October, so we expect to see students back at school, on time, in full uniform and ready to learn on Tuesday 1 November.

Welcome to my newsletter for this week.

Students have settled in well to the new term and are applying themselves to their learning.

Year 7 parents/carers will have received notification of the in person Year 7 Tutor Evening on Wednesday 12 October. If you have not yet done so, please book your appointment so that you can discuss how your child is settling into secondary school life.

If there are any Year 6 students and parents/carers who were not able to attend our recent Open Evening, please do contact us for a separate after school tour. The deadline for applications is 31 October, so we welcome any visits before that date to help you make an informed decision about this very important next step.

We have had many extra-curricular activities and competitions this week after school. I am very proud of all of the students for their interest and dedication to take part in these events (and of course the winning, if appropriate, too!).
As a reminder, half term is approaching, which is w/c 24 October. We have a staff development day on Monday 31 October, meaning we are closed to students (except for those students sitting an exam at The Island VI Form). This is one of our five days that all schools allocate at some point throughout. We will be expecting students to return on time, in full uniform and ready to learn on Tuesday 1 November.

Next week I will be bringing attention to the next word in our ASPIRE core value, ‘Success’.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Welcome to the penultimate newsletter for this half term.

This morning Year 11 had an assembly delivered by one of four members of staff. These were to provide some early messages about the time they have between now and their summer exams, looking at their current levels of attainment and their SLP (Student Learning Profile) codes. The main message is that it is not too late. If all students reflect (honestly) on how they are applying themselves, where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are and where any gaps in knowledge are, then all of this can be addressed as there is still a good amount of time to make a difference. Some students have already found good ways of working for them and just need to continue to apply these techniques, other students may need to look at what they can change to support an improved outcome. The most important thing at this stage is to be positive, reflective and make any changes that are needed now. There will be work in school to support students too but if it is possible for students to have an area at home that they can use for quiet study then this is a great start.

Thank you to all of our Year 7 parents/carers for coming to see their child’s tutor this week. It was very well attended and we hope that you found the experience useful and reassuring.

Our Year 10 Agriculture group had an outside speaker in school to talk to them this week. The course is going extremely well and we are very proud of how the students are engaging with this exciting opportunity.

I said that this week I would cover the ‘Success’ element of our ASPIRE values. ‘We celebrate our successes’ is our message and finding the positives wherever we can is not only important to all students and staff but it is also motivational. We have introduced a reward system this year that is linked to ASPIRE and students will be receiving points in lessons or activities which directly correlate with this value – in this instance ‘xx has shown success by mastering new skills’.

Although I covered this in my newsletter last week, I am repeating it again to ensure that the message is clear. Half term is approaching, which is w/c 24 October. We have a staff development day on Monday 31 October, meaning we are closed to students (except for those students sitting an exam at The Island VI Form). This is one of our five days that all schools allocate at some point throughout the school year. We will be expecting students to return on time, in full uniform and ready to learn on Tuesday 1 November.

Welcome to my update for this week.

Some of our Year 7 students have had the opportunity to take part in our ‘Literacy week’ activity. They have been learning about Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ in an immersive, innovative and interactive way. Activities have included trips to the beach and local woodlands. They have created artwork, musical responses and physical performances based on The Tempest whilst also gaining an appreciation of the text. The project has encouraged the students to enjoy a text that they may have otherwise found daunting.

As mentioned last week, I will be covering aspects of our Vision and Values in future updates.

‘ASPIRE and Achieve’ is integral to us as a school and a Federation. As our vision explains, ‘We are a learning community which embraces opportunities for our learners by securing high quality learning and teaching. We aim for our students to achieve their potential both as students at our schools and as global citizens’

Ambition is the first aspect of ASPIRE and this explores that ‘we are ambitious for ourselves and our futures’. Having ambition is so important. This can involve short, medium and long term goals, but the key is to always have something that you would like to achieve or experience. When you achieve one of your short term ambitions, keep working hard towards achieving your longer term ones. We can all have knock backs or challenges along the way, but determination and self belief will create resilience, which will mean ambitions do not need to change, they just need to be worked for

Next week, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday our Year 7 students will be sitting CATs (Cognitive Abilities Tests). This involves three tests over the three days. There is nothing to worry about. No revision or prior learning is required. They are tests that help us to understand learning styles and highlight potential difficulties that students may be facing.

Year 7 parents will shortly be receiving an invite to Year 7 Tutor Evening. This will give parents’/carers the opportunity to discuss how their child is settling into secondary school life.

Our extra curricular activities for all year groups have been shared on our social media platforms this week, so please do follow us on one of these to keep up to date with all of the wonderful opportunities we have on offer.

Please see my separate update in relation to the IWEF/HISP consultation that ran prior to the summer break.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Thank you for your support and understanding during the first two weeks, where our newsletter needed to reflect the period of National Mourning. 

I am pleased to welcome you properly to this academic year.

This week we had the pleasure of inviting Year 6 students and their parents/carers to our Open Evening. It was a fantastic event which was very well attended. Our visitors had the opportunity to hear about our Medina learning community, experience first hand some learning activities and also speak to our amazing students about their experience of our school. I was delighted to welcome everyone who attended and felt extremely proud of all of the students and staff for the opportunities and information they provided. Applications need to be made by 31 October to provide the best chance of having a place with us in September. If anyone was unable to attend, please contact reception to arrange an alternative opportunity.

We have a plethora of extra-curricular activities available this year. A timetable is being put together and will be available for all to see via our social media and website. If you do not already follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, please do, as there are regular updates and good news stories shared in this way. Information will also be shared about Google Classroom and our parent portal over the coming weeks. 

During the first couple of days, I delivered assemblies welcoming the students back and revisiting our expectations. As a reminder, we do expect students to be on time at the start of the day and in full school uniform. Students need to use their break times appropriately and make sure they do not need to leave the classroom during lessons. They also need to remain focussed, have good manners and behave appropriately by following the rules. We will apply the rules consistently and our expectations will not drop as time goes on.

Next Thursday we will be having our school photos, so it will be especially important that all uniform is spot on. If you do have any concerns about the start of term, please contact your child’s tutor in the first instance.

Next week I will be starting to cover our core ASPIRE values which are Ambition, Success, Progress, Inspiration, Respect and Equality, as these are integral to us as a school and as a Federation. 

Best wishes

Message from Mr Parr-Burman, Executive Headteacher

We would like to start this week by thanking the students and school communities for the respect that they have shown over the past week. We have had Books of Condolence on each of the Federation sites which students and staff have been able to add messages to. Some of the messages have been clearly thought about. 

As communicated this week, we will be observing the National Holiday on Monday for the State Funeral, so as this is considered a Bank Holiday, work will not be set for the students. We will be open as usual on Tuesday 20 September. 

We do have upcoming Open Evenings as Year 6 and Year 11 parents look to the next academic year. These evenings are
Tuesday 20 September 5.00 pm – 8.00 pm – Medina College
Tuesday 27 September 5.00 pm – 8.00 pm – Carisbrooke College
Thursday 3 November 5.00 pm – 8.00 pm – The Island VI Form

We will be returning to our usual newsletters next week, but for this week, we will continue to show our respect to The Royal Family by keeping our update short. 

9 September 2022

Message from Mr Parr-Burman, Executive Headteacher

We start this term with a very different first message.

Following the extremely sad news yesterday evening from Buckingham Palace that Queen Elizabeth II has died, we have now entered a period of national mourning that will continue until the end of the State Funeral. 

It is especially important during this time that we do not speculate about timelines, events and closures. We will, as we have always done, follow officially shared Government guidance and information. Please be assured that as soon as we are able to update you with information, we will. The initial guidance from the Department for Education issued yesterday evening was that schools should remain open.

This is a momentous time for our nation, and in fact many nations around the world. It is very unlikely that a reign of 70 years will happen for many many generations to come. The Royal Family website is being updated with articles and a Book of Condolence if people feel they would like to contribute. This can be found here: www.royal.uk.

We are not going to add lots of other details to the letter this week as it is important that we show the respect that The Queen deserves.

Further school updates and information will be shared directly and via our social media accounts over the coming days.

Welcome to my penultimate newsletter for this half term. 

We were delighted to host our new Year 6 into Year 7 students this week for their transition days. They had two packed days of activities, the first involved an assembly and a tour, as well as some taster lessons in subjects across the curriculum. The second was a sports activity morning and an arts based afternoon. We very much enjoyed welcoming them into our learning community and the feedback we have received indicates that they very much enjoyed their time too. Thank you to everyone who made these days a success. 

Thank you to all of the current Year 7 parents who took part in the Parents’ Evening on Wednesday, we hope that you found the feedback from the teachers helpful. 

We had the final day of our Federation Games on Monday, which saw Medina College students taking part in activities at Carisbrooke College. All three days have been great examples of Federative working at its best. 

The formal consultation period ends at 3.30pm today. Thank you to all those who have provided feedback. We will update you further once the Governors have had time to look at the representations made. We are also in a period of due diligence which means there are many other avenues of questioning and conversations taking place to ensure that once we have all of the information collated, a full picture can be reviewed. 

The weather has been exceptional this week and I would like to thank the students, parents/carers and staff for their ongoing support during this period. Please can I remind you that we have given the students the option of wearing their PE kit until the end of term. There are two clear choices, their normal school uniform (tie and blazer are optional, for this period only) or their school PE kit (Green Medina College logo t-shirt and black shorts). Other forms of clothing are not permitted and we will contact parents/carers if they are worn. Please remember to make sure your child is applying suncream, bringing drinks/water bottles to school and wearing a hat if they are out in the sun for a long period of time (hats are not permitted indoors). Thank you in advance for your support next week. 

I will be sending all parents/carers across the federation a letter next week covering reminders of details for September. 

I hope you enjoy the weekend and take appropriate action to remain as cool and hydrated as possible. 

Welcome to my update for this week.

Yesterday evening saw our Year 11 students reuniting for their Prom. It was a fantastic event with Year 11 looking very much less like students and more like the young adults that they are becoming. They took full advantage of the celebratory event, but were impeccably behaved and I am very proud of them for representing Medina College in such a positive and exemplary way. We look forward to welcoming them back in August for their results. 

The Year 7 and 8 students have been part of the Federation at its best this week, as the Federation Games has returned to the school calendar. Yesterday, all Year 7 students, and today, all Year 8 students, from both Medina and Carisbrooke College have had a day of friendly competition, based here at Medina College.. The students have enjoyed and fully engaged with the activities, giving them a fantastic opportunity to be outside of the classroom for a day, using different skills and providing many students with opportunities to excel. Monday sees the same opportunity for the two groups of Year 9 students, but this time will be hosted at Carisbrooke College. Thank you to the staff who have made this high participation event possible and we look forward to additional reports about these next week.

Thank you to all of the year 7 parents/carers that have booked appointments already for the Parents’ Evening next Wednesday. If you have not yet done so, please make sure you take advantage of this opportunity as it is important to know the progress that your child has made this year. 

As a reminder, the consultation process is open until next Friday 15 July. An update from our Governors about questions regarding Governance and a little more detail about the process so far will be shared early next week. The consultation information can be found on our website here. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming our new Year 6 into 7 students next Tuesday and Wednesday. 

This week we have had the pleasure of welcoming our new Year 6 into 7 students to their Transition Evening. It was exceptionally well attended and gave the students and parents the opportunity to hear brief details about what they can look forward to on their Transition days and at the start of term in September. Thank you to everyone who attended. As a reminder, Transition Days are Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 July.

The majority of Year 10 students sat their final trial exam for this period today. There are a few creative arts sessions next week. Overall, the students have been very well behaved and approached each exam as we would expect. We hope this has given them an insight into the logistics and practicalities of the process that they will be going through in less than a year’s time. Results of these will be fed back to them over the coming weeks and the main message is, there is still time to make a difference.

Next week sees the return of our Federation Games. This is a great event and epitomises the Federation at its best. The sporting activities see Medina College and Carisbrooke College come together for round robin tournaments, followed by ‘finals’ in the afternoon. As we have been unable to run this for the last couple of years, we are giving Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 a separate day each to enjoy this great opportunity, as usually this is a Year 7 only event.

Next week our Year 11 students will be reconvening for their Prom, which I know is the highlight of the year for many of them. We look forward to welcoming them to Cowes Yacht Haven for this celebratory event.

Year 7 Parents’ Evening information has been shared with parents/carers this week, which is booked for Wednesday 13 July. Please take this opportunity to book virtual appointments and discuss how your child has settled in and been progressing in each of their subjects this year.

Please remember that we will be holding a consultation meeting for parents/carers next Tuesday, 5 July starting at 6pm in the Theatre. There will be a brief presentation if you wish to attend. There will be staff available to also either answer questions or make notes of questions which we can feed back to.

I hope you have a good weekend.