Our year 11 geographers had an informative and interesting visit to Yaverland and Sandown on Monday. The purpose of their visit was to explore the impact that sea defences have on an area. They looked at the do nothing approach at Yaverland and the hold the line approach at Sandown.

The students looked at the differing management strategies in place and the reasons behind the different approaches. They then collected primary data using techniques such as beach profiles, groyne drops, land use maps and environmental quality surveys.

We were very lucky to have great weather on the day and it was lovely to see how friendly and polite students were with members of the public.

Students at Medina enjoyed a fantastic morning at our Brass ‘taster session’ workshop on Wednesday with Martyn Stroud (Brass teacher from Wight Music Tuition). The students had an opportunity to learn about the Brass family and play some of the trumpets, French horns and trombones that Mr Stroud had brought with him, even putting together a short performance at the end.

If your child would like to sign up for Brass lessons, Mr Stroud is offering group lessons (in pairs) for £80 a term; as we are already halfway through this term, this means there would be £40 to pay for November to December.  There is also the option of paying in monthly instalments, if this is something you would prefer, to help spread the cost of the lessons. Lessons will take place during school hours.

If you would like to sign up for these lessons please email beth.peckham@iwef.org.uk to register your interest, you will also need to complete an application form on the Wight Music Tuition website https://iwmt.org.uk/apply-online/, indicating which instrument and selecting ’20 minute in-person group lessons’. You do not need to select ‘yes’ for hiring an instrument as Mr Stroud can arrange this for you once lessons have started.

A group of KS3 students from both Carisbrooke and Medina Colleges had the privilege of attending Shakespeare’s Globe in London last week to watch a production of The Tempest which forms part of their English Literature studies.

The in-house Globe Ensemble of actors created an amusing, visually inventive, and fun take on Shakespeare’s final play. Students were entertained by the costuming of characters who were dressed in modern garb rather than more traditional attire. Students were amused by Caliban’s call and response routine at the end of the first half; Prospero’s scheming brother Antonio and his inner-circle’s “feast that wasn’t”; the Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban “washing-line” scene (the “washing line” having been turned into washed ashore lost Amazon packages) to name a few.

Visiting Shakespeare’s Globe adds to the impact of the play and allows students to truly feel immersed in the theatre environment.

Attending as Groundlings (an audience who stands in front of the stage) for the production also helped students further understand the context of Shakespeare’s time and experience the play as he intended. Watching a Shakespeare play on stage allows the students to gain a better understanding of the themes and character development within the text and this helps them to develop their comprehension of the play.

Despite some transport difficulties, it was a lovely, sunny day and was enjoyed by all!

During the last academic year the Isle of Wight Council challenged schools across the Island to take part in a competition to design a trophy for the Tour of Britain cycle race. KS3 students at Medina College took on the challenge in their Design and Technology lessons and hundreds of fantastic designs were submitted. Ella, who is now in year 10, had her design selected and made into a trophy to compete with the other school entries.

Ella’s trophy was then selected as the overall winner and the plan was for it to be presented to the winning team at the end of the Tour of Britain cycle race. However following the death of Queen Elizabeth II the decision was made to cancel the last few legs of the race.

To recognise the efforts of the students, The Isle of Wight Council invited Ella and the runners up to a presentation at Ryde rowing club on Saturday 8th October and Ella was presented with a prize by the Ryde town mayor.

Well done to everyone who took part and a big well done to Ella!

There were some impressive entries for Medina College’s summer geography challenge. The winner was David  who was presented with his prize in assembly last week.

David has now been entered into the National competition. He really embraced the challenge creating maps, going on walks, painting pebbles and completing  many other exciting challenges. Very well done David!

Medina College has been awarded the Partnership for Education, Attainment and Children’s Health (PEACH) bronze award. The award is for the College’s commitment to improving the wellbeing, health and attainment  of students throughout the school.  The award is a self review of 34 criteria which is then assessed by an independent panel.   Carisbrooke and Medina College are the first secondary schools on the Isle of Wight to achieve this award.

The award focuses on four domains:

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.  How the whole curriculum promotes students’ learning on emerging issues, relationships, diversity and health issues across a range of contexts.

Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health – How the school provides and raises awareness of students’ emotional health and mental wellbeing to build confidence, resilience and raise self esteem.

Physical Activity – The importance of physical activity in school during lessons, not just PE lessons, and also extra curricular provision.

Healthy Eating – The importance of nutrition through curriculum subjects, school lunch providers and general reinforcement of healthy eating.

This is a tremendous achievement for all of us at Medina and recognises the great work which we are undertaking to improve wellbeing for everyone in the Medina Community.  A huge thank you to all of the staff, students and governors who have helped us to achieve this award.

The school is now working towards the SILVER award – more details to follow.

Last week a group of year 7 students were involved in a Literacy Project based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The aim of the project was to immerse the students in the plot and themes of the text, to help remove taboos relating to studying Shakespeare and to help them grow in confidence with regards to school and Literacy.

Through a range of creative activities the year 7s explored The Tempest with local artist Glenn Martin, English teacher, Mrs Smith and Librarian, Ms Ryan. 

At the beach the students were able to experience the atmosphere of the sea and understand and appreciate its power. They were able to imagine that they too were castaways washed up on the sand and how frightening that might have been. The beach also allowed the students to create some fantastic art works and talk about the language we could use to describe our environment and emotions.

Throughout the week they worked with clay to recreate characters to help further develop their understanding of the text. They depicted key scenes from the text by creating boxes inspired by Joseph Cornell and used reclaimed items found on the beach to produce a sculpture based on the text.

Back at school, students used their beach experience to compose a musical response with Mrs Peckham and performed Act 1 Scene 1 with Mr Lyle to gain further appreciation of the play.

Students ended the week by producing a fantastic exhibition of their work for parents last Friday afternoon. On Thursday 6 October we travelled up to London in the sunshine to watch The Tempest be performed on the South Bank in the world Famous, Shakespeare’s Globe. The students experienced what it was like to watch a play during the Elizabethan Age. 

Thanks go to Ms Keogh and Ms Begley for driving the minibus and the Weather Wizard for being on our team.