Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Thank you to the students for all of your help and support with the Open Evening this week. All areas were busy and it was lovely to see so many students talking so passionately about their subjects. The building looked fabulous with the continued painting, decorating and upgrades, with more planned over the coming year.

We welcomed hundreds of potential students and parents and many of them commented about how helpful and supportive the current students were. We have already had our first applications!

On Friday 11 November, as a whole school, we will be paying our respects at the Newport war memorial in St Thomas’ Square. We will be meeting in the hall as a student and staff body at 10.35 am, before walking silently into town. Remember to dress for cold and wet conditions.

Please can I remind parents and carers of students in Year 13 that we will be holding a virtual Parents’ evening on Thursday 10 November, with appointments available between 4.00 pm and 7.00 pm. Details of how to book via the online School Cloud system have been emailed to parents today.

Best wishes
Dave Mumford

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

Year 13 students will have received a copy of the Trial Exams timetable this week. Students will be on study leave during this period, with the exception of vocational & arts based subjects, who need to check individual arrangements for lessons with their teachers.

Preparation for these exams is vital, so the 1/2 term break needs to have revision planned in and these plans should then run upto the end of your exams.

Year 12 students: congratulations on completing your first 1/2 term, there are only 10 more until you complete your exams in 2024. Time flies at VI Form!

The internal deadline for UCAS applications is Friday 9th December, please don’t wait for this deadline. Students are already receiving offers from Universities, why are you waiting? Student services and your teachers are available for support and advice if needed.
Another deadline is for the ordering of school photographs (Year 12 only). Please place your orders online with Fraser portraits before Friday 28th October.

Have a great break!

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Supporting and encouraging good mental health is in all of our interests. I know that school and exams can sometimes be the cause of anxiety and for some students, hearing me pushing revision in the weeks prior to our Trial Exam season doesn’t seem to help.

I try to get the balance right with simple advice and giving you plenty of time to prepare.

Other things to consider are:
Try
Get moving – exercise
Setting aside time – downtime / fun
Learning a new skill – not related to school
Share how you are feeling – friends, home, school, online support

Avoid
Overdoing it – not too much fun
Overworking – stick to your revision plan
Chasing perfection – we learn from our mistakes
Bottling up your feelings – speak to someone
To help with the exercise part we will be offering Gym inductions after 1/2 term. Sign up with Student Services.

I would also like to share a message from our VI Form Student Voice: Student Voice is looking for Year 12 students to join the team.

We are the VI Form section of the Federation Student Council – we work together to feed back comments from other students about the college and to come up with ideas and improvements for our VI Form, to help make a collective difference for our federation.

We meet every Friday breaktime in classroom B2 to discuss, plan and work on a range of projects. This year we have:
Planned and run the Year 13 Leavers Prom
Planned and run a summer Activity Day
Raised money for these events and other charities through face-painting, raffles and car-washing,
Liaised with Student Council at Medina and Carisbrooke

Everyone is welcome to join and have their voice heard,whilst building leadership and communication skills – vital skills for your UCAS applications and personal statements.

Have a safe weekend.

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Although there is no deadline for applying for the Bursary, students can apply throughout the year if home circumstances change, we are about to make the awards to those who have already applied and start processing the first payment for the October half term. We are not able to back date payments, so please make sure that you have applied before Tuesday 11 October. If you are waiting for supporting evidence of household income or for bank accounts to be opened, please let us know as we can take this into consideration. Application forms are available from Reception, Student Services or on our website.

On Thursday 3 November we are holding our Open Evening. If current students are able to volunteer and support their subject areas and future students, it would be much appreciated. Please speak to your teachers about how you can help.

I will be assigning Mentors to all new students over the coming weeks. Your Mentor will be someone who teaches you and once a fortnight/every three weeks, they will meet with you to discuss progress in all of your subjects, attendance, help you to set targets and talk about your destination plans post VI Form. Any students wanting to change subjects from now on, will need to discuss with Student Services and paperwork will need to be signed by a parent / carer to support the change.

We will be finishing for the half term break on Friday 21 October and returning to lessons on Tuesday 1 November. Monday 31 October is a staff development day and students are not expected to attend (unless sitting an English GCSE retake examination). Year 13 students should plan to use this half term break to revise and prepare for their upcoming Trial exams which start on Monday 21 November.

Dear Parents/Students

Year 13 students need to start planning their revision for the Trial exams that are taking place from Monday 21 November. I have asked staff to ensure that students know which parts of the syllabus will be examined during these exams, if you don’t know please ask your teachers. There will be study leave for the duration of the exam period (except vocational/art subjects – please ask your teacher what their expectations are regarding attendance to lessons).

The Year 12 focus this week is starting to think about building your ‘Career Capital’. What examples do you have of: problem solving, work ethic, entrepreneurial thinking, verbal / written communication, resilience, leadership and teamwork?

In Friday’s assembly we advertised opportunities to improve your experiences by participating in:

Young Enterprise – https://www.young- enterprise.org.uk/
Mock Legal Trial – http://smartlaw.org.uk/ mock-trials/bar-mock-trials- teachers-2/
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – https://iwef.org.uk/ iwef/duke-of-edinburghs-award/

You get back what you put into your VI Form. Part of us treating you like an adult is giving you opportunities, but you have to show leadership in yourself and take them up.

Welcome back! It has been a very busy couple of weeks and we have enrolled a large number of students taking the number of students on site to approximately 600.

I have recorded my welcome assembly for Year 12, which you can see by clicking here.

Key messages: 

• HWPO: hard work pays off!
• Communication: keep us informed if away or unwell etc. 
• Ask if you want to know something. 
• Join the Student Services Hub on Google Classroom (invite sent out to students)
• Finally, 16 – 19 Bursary forms are now available from reception.  You need to apply or re-apply, awards will not automatically roll over from last year.

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.

It’s been a busy week at VI Form.

Thank you to all of the students who helped with the Year 10 Introduction to VI Form days for Medina and Carisbrooke students. We have also hosted the Year 9 Peer Mentoring training program for Medina and Carisbrooke students and Domestic Abuse Support training for staff.  Finally, BTEC sport and A level PE students did an amazing job supporting the Federation games over a number of days.

Our Silver DofE group are currently experiencing some amazing landscapes in the Brecon Beacons. It is very warm weather to be out in everyday, but they are coping well. We also have a number of VI Form students participating in the Camps International trip that left for Cambodia this week. They will be there for a month taking part in various projects and hopefully having some amazing experiences. Safe travels to them all. 
 
Next week is the last week of term and, on Monday, our Student Voice are running a range of activities. It would be lovely to see as many of you as possible taking part during break, periods 2 & 3 and lunch. Lessons will then continue as normal up to 3.15pm on Friday 22nd.  

It is predicted to be very hot on Monday and Tuesday. Please make sure that you protect yourself with suncream, suitable clothing, a hat and that you have a water bottle that can be refilled from one of the three fountains on site. (canteen, upper common room and playground corridor).

Enjoy a lovely weekend, and stay safe in the sun.

Thank you to all students for helping safeguard everyone on site by wearing your lanyards more consistently this week. There has been a big improvement and this needs to continue please. I will not be giving out temporary lanyards at the student entrance next week, you will need to request one from reception. I will still be meeting and greeting you and doing spot checks on lanyards in lessons.

A reminder of some of the other changes for next year: the student entrance/exit will be the only way that students can access the building; walking across the staff car park needs to stop (we aren’t just being awkward, it’s about safety) and some of the internal doors will be having lanyard mag locks fitted (again, this is for safety reasons and why you need to wear your lanyard all the time).

Finally, a reminder that attending paid work is no excuse to miss lessons. By being here you have signed up for full time education and your home is able to claim child benefits based on this fact. If finance is an issue for you, we do have a bursary scheme that students can apply for (new applications are welcomed in September), as well as other potential sources such as the Newport grammar school charity. Please come and speak to us if support is needed.

Enjoy the sunny weekend.