This week has been a busy time in school with Year 11 completing their mock exams. They have still got two more days next week, but their conduct this week has been really impressive, so well done!

Yesterday we hosted another Island Cross Country event, well done to all who participated and thank you to the students who helped to marshall this event.

Last weekend our Warhammer club entered the annual Armies on Parade competition at the Warhammer shop and they gained silver in the Youngblood category with Harry in Year 8 picking up Gold.

This morning I met with our Hot Chocolate golden ticket holders, well done to: Lucas, Owen, Cian, Lou, Tehya, Lacie, Charlotte and Archie. It was lovely to hear about your week and your thoughts on the school.

Next week, on Thursday 30 November, we will have a taster day for some of our Year 11 students at The Island VI form. This is a great opportunity and will assist with making post-16 choices.

Finally, can I take the opportunity to remind everyone in our community that vaping is not allowed in school or whilst in school uniform and could result in a suspension. It is illegal for students to be purchasing vapes and they can be highly damaging to students’ health. Can we please ensure we are re-iterating the dangers of vaping at home.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mr Pearce-Jones
Head of School – Medina College

It is hard to believe that we have already been back two weeks; this term seems to be flying by already!

As I am sure you have noticed, the weather has been very poor and we are heading very much into the winter season, so please can we ensure students are bringing coats to school to keep them warm and dry.

Next week sees the start of our mock exams for Year 11 and we wish them luck as they enter this nervous time. There will be a free breakfast available in the canteen to help set them up for the day. I would also like to remind students to revisit the assembly they had last week about expectations in the exam room.

Congratulations to our Hot Chocolate Friday winners this week: Isabelle, Jess, Harry, Ashleigh, Alex, Eloise, Ryan, Chloe and Skye. This week this was hosted by Mrs Barnes as I was finishing off the last of our Call it Out assemblies. As a reminder, we have a dedicated email address where incidents of prejudicial language can be reported: callitoutMC@iwef.org.uk

Have a lovely weekend!

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College 

Welcome back to a new half term!

I hope all students have had a restful half term and have come back to school refreshed for the weeks ahead. For our Year 11 students in particular, it is a busy half term with mock exams taking place, so please encourage them to access as many after school revision sessions as possible. We also have our VI Form Opening Evening taking place on Thursday 16 November (at The Island VI Form campus) between 5-8pm, please come along and see what we have to offer. 

You will have hopefully seen the letter I sent out about our ‘Call it Out’ campaign this week. This will be launched to students during assemblies next week. We strongly encourage you to continue to have conversations with your children about the power of words and using ones which inspire positivity rather than negativity. 

Congratulations to our boys football team who managed to play a game against Ryde Academy (despite the weather!) and secured a victory of 7-1. We also hosted an excellent cross country running event for all secondary schools on the Island yesterday. Well done to all involved! Remember, we have a host of after school and lunch clubs that students can get involved in, sporting and non-sporting. 

This morning, we held our Act of Remembrance and took part in a two minute silence to honor those who have served and remember their sacrifice. Unfortunately, the weather meant that we were not able to come together as a whole school community as we usually would. My thanks go to Mrs Southwell who organised a virtual alternative where we were able to broadcast the Act of Remembrance into every classroom. Thanks also go to Mr Len Pullinger from Vectis Brass Band who came in to play the Last Post and Reveille. 

Please can I draw your attention to this letter from the Violence Reduction Unit Director for Hampshire and Isle of Wight regarding knife crime awareness.

Lastly, well done to our hot chocolate recipients this week: Jacob, Niall, August, Grace, Jayden, Harrison, Marika, Adam, Millie and Tommy.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College 

We are now at the end of our first half term and I would like to say a big thank you for all your support over the last 7 weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed taking on the role of Head of School and I am very impressed with the young people within our community; the eagerness to learn, the respect, the politeness and the ambition I see on a daily basis is a pleasure to be a part of. 

We have had our final Hot Chocolate Friday of the half term, so well done to Samson, Imogen, Nicholas,  Ellenie, Jake, Erin, Freddie, Ruby, Aiden and Logan. We also continue to have many sporting fixtures occur alongside an excellent variety of clubs that students can be a part of. In terms of extra curricular, some of our students are currently in Vietnam and from the reports we are receiving are having an absolutely amazing and enriching experience. 

Many thanks to parents who are supporting keeping students safe at the beginning and end of the day by parking sensibly. Can I just take this opportunity to remind parents that we only have a staff presence outside the main car park in front of the school. It is therefore important that students cross roads safely, using road crossings that are available and conduct themselves in an orderly manner back home.

After half term we will quite quickly have mock exams for Year 11 students, so please ensure they are using some of their half term holiday to revise and access any revision sessions that they may find useful. These have been shared on arbor and will be on social media for you to access. 

Finally, can I wish you all a safe two weeks and I look forward to welcoming students back to school on Monday 6 November.

Mr Pearce-Jones
Head of School – Medina College 

Today is Friday 13, so I hope today has not brought you any bad luck! We are now approaching our last week of this half term so, with that in mind, it is important students utilise every moment of learning. For our Year 11 students in particular, it is important that they have equipped themselves with everything they need to carry out effective revision over half term, ready for their mock exams in November.

As always, we like to celebrate student success loudly and proudly whether this is in school or outside of it. Many congratulations to Megan M in Year 7 who is now South Regional Floor Champion in Gymnastics and has been invited to train with the Hampshire squad. In terms of school sporting fixtures well done to Year 7 boys who won both games against CTK and Carisbrooke. Well done also to the Year 8 and 10 boys who put up a strong game against CTK and the Bay.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned parking at the beginning and end of the day. Can I please reiterate that there should be no parking on double yellow lines as this stops our buses entering and exiting the bus loop. It also causes a safety hazard for students as they exit the school grounds. We have now contacted the traffic warden to assist with this safety issue.

Our Hot Chocolate Friday winners this week were Carter T, Jaiden D, Alice H, Ralph H, Lacey-May T, Indy M, Jake G, Brooke W, Toby M and Leo H. Well done all of you; it was a pleasure to celebrate your successes and hear your opinions this morning.

Finally, I would like to wish those students who are travelling to Vietnam on Monday morning a very safe journey and an enjoyable trip. This is a Federative trip with Carisbrooke College and The Island VI Form. Please keep an eye on our social media channels for updates from them!

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College 

This week was World Teachers’ Day and I would like to publicly thank all the staff in our community who work very hard to bring about the best for the students within our care. I would also like to thank you all for your ongoing support as we work as a team to be ambitious for our young people. Without such strong parental support it is difficult to build a strong foundation of aspiration.

We have had another busy week with a Year 11 geography field trip and a careers evening for Year 11 as well, both of which were very successful. We have had lots of sporting fixtures and, although our students may not have experienced the success of winning this week, they have shown exceptional pride in our community and in representing Medina College so well.

It has been a pleasure to host our second Hot Chocolate Friday, well done to Rebecca W, Georgia W, Charlie J, Jack H, Gracie-May C, Zack W, Aston H, Jim W and Ruby H.

Next week we have Year 7 tutor evening on Wednesday 11 October between 4-7pm, we look forward to welcoming our new parents into the community.

On the whole, uniform has been very good, but can we remember that hoodies are not allowed in school, shoes should be black and skirts, if worn, should be knee length please. Well done for so many of our students who get this right on a daily basis, you are excellent ambassadors for our college.

You 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.

I would like to finish off by talking about the language students use. Please could discussions be had about the power of words, “your words carry amazing power. So when you speak make sure you uplift someone and never put them down.” It is never acceptable to put some down because of their race, their sexuality, their gender and their disability to name a few. So many of our students have a clear sense of equality when it comes to this and it is upsetting when a few students don’t recognise the harm that it can cause by highlighting negativity in differences rather than celebrating them.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and have a lovely weekend.

Mr Pearce-Jones
Head of School – Medina College