Have a great half term, get the balance right between; supporting your education by catching up, completing work or revising; as well as looking after yourself and relaxing. 

Year 13, your balance should be skewed towards preparing for your trial exams that start on November 27 (you will be on study leave during this period – vocational / art based subjects – please speak to your teachers for their expectations).

Year 12, it’s never too early to start preparing for your exams. It’s one half term down and 9 to go before your first possible exams (even earlier if you do BTEC / modular courses).

We return to lessons at 8.50am on Monday 6 November. 

Stay safe, 

Mr Mumford
Head of School – The Island VI Form

Tuesday this week was World Mental Health day. Ant & Dec were supporting this and encouraging us all to look after ourselves and talk about what is worrying us or things that are on our minds. Take a look at this short video from them: Ant and Dec Get Talking

I have a careful balancing act to perform in terms of putting pressure on students to achieve their full potential; by attending every day, working hard and studying independently and also being aware that some people may be having a bad day.

The poster displays around school will be changing to offer some simple advice:

Try to:
Get moving
Learn a new skill
Share how you are feeling
Switch off from distractions

Try and avoid:
Overdoing it
Overworking
Too much screen time
Chasing perfection
Bottling up your feelings

Remember we are here to help and support if you are having a bad day; step one is talking to us.

Finally, some of our students are travelling to Vietnam on Monday morning as part of the Federative History trip with Carisbrooke College and Medina College. We wish them a safe journey and an enjoyable trip. Keep an eye on our social media channels for updates from them! 

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

We are conducting Learning walks over the last two weeks of this half term, focusing on marking, feedback and you knowing what you need to do to improve your outcomes (grades). Attendance is the easiest and has possibly the biggest impact on your outcomes. Try and be here every day and use google classrooms to catch up if you are away.

After half term, Year 13 has a parents’ evening (Thursday 9 November) followed by trial exams at the end of the month. The UCAS deadline is also fast approaching, 1 December (internal deadline).

The following is a useful guide to University, for Y12 or Y13 parents: University Guide 2023/2024

We look forward to welcoming Year 11 students to our Open Evening on Thursday 16 November and we will also be offering taster lessons for a day during the Year 13 trial exams week. Please make everyone feel welcome, you were in their position a year or two ago.

Parents will have received a letter today about the parent governor vacancy that we are currently looking to fill. Please see our website for more details of this.

Finally, take a look at what has been going on in STEM Club here. Why not join next week – all students welcome!

Enjoy the warm weekend.

Mr Mumford
Head of School – The Island VI Form

It has been a busy week this week with Young Enterprise, Year 7/8 Readers meetings and Open Evenings at Medina and Carisbrooke. Thank you, if you have supported at any of these events.

Time goes very fast at The Island VI Form and we are already only three weeks away from our October half term (two week break from Monday 23 October – Friday 3 November). Therefore, Year 13 students only have three half terms left before creative arts exams start or four half terms until written subject exams start! Year 12, despite just starting, have only nine more half terms before they sit their exams in 2025 (sooner for some vocational subjects!). Therefore, make sure you are getting the basics right:
– Be here every day

– Phone or email if you are absent
– Be on time
– Wear your lanyard
– Look after your mental health (plan ahead, eat well, exercise & relax)
– Plan driving lessons / appointments after school
– Study in study periods
– Attend after school revision
– Build career capital (DoE, Young Enterprise, Y7/8 reading mentor…)
– Ask for help

Parents often ask me how they can help and support; getting these basics right is one of the best and easiest things you can do.

Have a nice weekend.

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

Lessons are now in full swing and all students should now be supporting their studies by doing additional work in their study periods. This needs to be your regular routine that starts now. I keep saying that hard work pays off (HWPO) and it’s true. The other key is to be here every day.

In your study periods, you should be reviewing prior learning, making revision notes from day one, looking at which topics are coming up next, completing homework, looking at past exam papers and examiner reports. If you are not sure what to do, ask your teachers. Support will also be on Google Classroom.

Study periods are also for building ‘Career Capital’ or transferable skills (leadership, team work, resilience, for example). You should be taking part in extra curricular activities in or outside of school.

For example, here are some upcoming opportunities:

• Young Enterprise – First meeting 9.30am Monday 25 September in M1
• Support Year 7/8 reading – Introductory meeting at 12.40pm Monday 25 September in A5
• UCAS hub – M2 Tuesdays during morning break
• Talking shop – every Thursday in A5 during morning break
• Duke of Edinburgh – after school on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in the Upper Common Room
• Gym Inductions – sign up in Student Services
• LGBT+ club – Fridays in S5 at 12.40pm
• Mock legal trial – TBC (just before Christmas)

Have a lovely weekend. 

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

I hope your first week has gone well.

The clear message from me is that students who have good attendance and put the work in, get good results. You need to use your study periods to support your learning, not just do the homework set. You need to review your lessons, start making revision notes now, read up about next week’s work and review old lessons / revision notes so that you burn the knowledge gained into your long term memory. Hard work pays off (HWPO), the posters around school are true.

Thank you to the MHST team for putting on an advice and guidance session to new Year 12 students about settling into VI Form life. It was a great event and both students and staff have learned lots from it. If you missed it and feel like you might be struggling, please speak to Student Services, as we should be able to repeat the event in a few weeks time, if needed.

School photographs for new Year 12 students will be on Monday from 9.00 am. Student Services will collect students and take them down to the hall. If Year 13 would like a new photo, they can have one taken during break time.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

Welcome back to Year 13 students and congratulations and welcome to our new Year 12 students.

It has been great to see so many new students come and join us this week. I hope you have a great time with us over the coming 2 years. The key to your success is your attitude and work ethic. HWPO – hard work pays off.

We will be holding assemblies on Monday 11 September for both year groups. Year 12 at 9.50 am and Year 13 at 10.40 am. You all need to attend please.

On Thursday 14 September at 4.00 pm, we are hosting a ‘worries and wobbles’ session run by the Mental Health Support Team. This session will support Year 12 students with anxiety and any concerns about starting Post-16 education. Please click here for more details. 

Finally, just to remind Oxbridge and medical students that they need to sign up for the entrance test next week if they are needed for their course.

Keep safe in the sun and enjoy your weekend.

Mr Mumford

Head of School – The Island VI Form

There will be a Year 12 assembly on Tuesday 18 July in the hall at 9.50 am and all students need to attend. I will be sharing important information about the last few days, the beginning of next term and also details of changes to the bursary scheme.

We have had a busy week with Year 7 students from Medina and Carisbrooke College joining us as part of an Arts and Science project: Wavelength. Thank you to staff from Independent Arts who delivered the workshops, the artwork will be on display soon. Year 9 students from both Colleges joined us as part of our PEP project and were trained as Mental health ambassadors. Finally, on Monday we welcomed all of Carisbrooke Year 10 students to their Introduction Day, as they start to plan for their post 16 education.

Next week is a bit quieter, but we look forward to hosting the Federation Summer Concert on Thursday 20, from 7.00 pm, which I’m sure will be a lovely evening.

Enjoy your weekend – despite the weather forecast.

The Year 13 Prom was a huge success at Landguard Manor last week, over 150 of you enjoyed the evening and photographs are available on the link shared with you via email and on the Student Services Hub. Enjoy your summer and see you on results day – 17th August. (Bring your ID!).

Congratulations to Year 12 on finishing your trial exams. We have 2 weeks to go and will be starting Year 13 content straight away, you need to attend all of your lessons. We will be having an assembly next week which you all need to attend, I will advertise the date and time through the Student Services Hub.

We had over 450 new students on site this week. It was a pleasure to meet 300 of our next Year 12, who picked up their timetable / blocking information as well as having the opportunity to meet staff and explore the building. If you couldn’t make it we have posted all of the information.

We have also had 150 Medina College Year 10 students join us for their Introduction to VI Form, part of their post 16 planning. They had a great experience exploring what we have to offer from each of the 6 faculties, as well as discovering the building itself. We look forward to welcoming Carisbrooke College students on Monday.

We will be offering VI Form taster lessons during November for both Medina and Carisbrooke students and more information will follow in the new term.

Finally, our congratulations to Mia Stillwell and Maisey Kent who are members of the Island Games Swimming and Athletics squads, representing the Isle of Wight in Guernsey next week. We are very proud that you have been selected to compete and hope you both have a fantastic experience. Wishing you the very best of luck in your events.

Best wishes for the Year 12 Trial exams that have now started. Just a reminder that when exams are finished, lessons will continue (from Thursday 6 July up until Friday 21 July) and you need to attend, as many subjects will be starting on Year 13 content. These trial exam grades will be used; alongside classwork, homework and other assessed pieces of work, by teachers to inform our UCAS predicted grades.

We had two great trips to Portsmouth University and Southampton University this week, with students seeing the impressive facilities that all Universities have to offer.  All students should be planning for the next steps beyond VI Form.  You should be signed up on the UCAS website (thank you if you have done this already), researching future courses or job opportunities and / or creating a CV and letter of application.

Our Art Foundation students presented their final pieces this week at an exhibition hosted by Independent Arts (https://independentarts.org. uk/). There was a fantastic display of creative talent on show, with a huge variety of pieces presented. We are extremely proud of all that they have achieved and know that they will go on to do even more amazing things. 

If you feel you have gaps in your ‘Career Capital’ (leadership, resilience, teamwork etc.) now is the time to start doing something about it. “Working towards DoE and work experience”… is a better expression than “I haven’t started”.

Enjoy your weekend.