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Year 9 Music Morning

Year 9 Music Morning

Last Friday, 18 March, we held a ‘Music Morning’ at Medina Theatre for all of our Year 9 students and KS4 Music groups from both Carisbrooke College and Medina College. The morning featured presentations and performances from local musicians JC and Angelina, Strings Venue manager Claydon Connor, Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra members, and a video interview with Radio 1 DJ and Bestival founder Rob Da Bank. There were also inspiring video messages from some of our IWEF musical alumni (many of whom are now working as professionals in the Music Industry), and a number of staff also shared some of their musical experiences and talents.

Music has been very hard hit by Covid, with singing and instruments only recently allowed to be used again in curriculum lessons, extra-curricular clubs slowly starting back up and live performances tentatively being scheduled; this ‘Music Morning’ was arranged to enthuse and inspire our students, and show them how far their musical aspirations can take them. It was wonderful to see many of them going forward to sing and play percussion on stage with JC and Angelina, and their insightful questions, conduct and enthusiasm with all our guests throughout the morning was superb.

We have many exciting upcoming musical opportunities for our students at IWEF: please talk to your Music teacher to see how you can get involved!

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Year 7 CPR Training

Year 7 CPR Training

Mrs Lythgoe is so proud of year 7 as they have embraced the CPR Training and worked so hard during the sessions.

Dana Edkins-Wherry, who is training our year 7 students, is so impressed with how mature they are being and how engaged they are. Great questions and discussions are coming out of the sessions. 

A huge thank you to Dana for sharing her knowledge with our students and giving up her valuable time to teach our year 7 students such a valuable skill. 

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Easter Raffle

Easter Raffle

Year 11 have been working really hard to organise an Easter themed raffle to raise funds for their prom. Please support them by buying a ticket! They are £1 per strip and can be purchased on School Gateway.

Prizes include:

  • Wax Melts Kindly donated by Sarah’s Lush Melts
  • 1 Family Swim at Leisure
  • Tapnell Farm park entry for 4
  • £50 Domino’s voucher
  • £25 Castle Inn
  • £25 Valentino’s voucher
  • £10 Mr T’s Voucher
  • Lot of Easter Eggs
  • Easter Egg Hamper
  • Cuddle Easter Rabbit
  • Warm Velvet Throw
  • Sweet Cones
  • Oreo Chocolate Bouquet
  • Bunny Jar full of eggs
  • Easter Egg donations From Asda
  • 2 boxes of cupcakes- Donated by P041
  • 2 tickets for Bar 74 for an evening out
  • A voucher for 4 Ice Creams from The Plaza Ice
  • Cream Van
  • Commodore Cinema- Family voucher

The draw will take place in school at 12.30 pm on Wednesday 6 April 2022. 

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Southampton University Careers Event

Southampton University Careers Event

We were privileged to be able to take a group of year 9 students to Southampton University for a careers event this week. Whilst we were there, the students were shown around the university and able to talk to student ambassadors about life at university. It was really useful to be able to ask questions and see what a real university looks like. Most of the students were blown away by how big the campus was but also the range of courses and things to do.

During the day, the students competed against three other schools in challenges run by a company called UNILOC. These were designed to encourage communication and teamwork skills. In the afternoon the students had to design an app for future students to use to help guide them through making career choices. They had to identify the main features that would be most useful, design a logo and talk about how the app would function. Once they planned this they then had to present a five minute presentation to some course leaders and answer questions in a dragons’ den style format. Carisbrooke stole the show and came first after an amazing, animated and confident presentation. We are pleased to say that Medina followed closely in 2nd place.

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Year 7 Basketball

Year 7 Basketball

On Thursday 17 March 2022 the Isle of Wight Schools Basketball Tournaments were reinstated for the first time in three years.  It was the year 7 tournament that took place first with other year groups taking part over the next few weeks. 

Five teams in total took part and the tournament was played in good spirit and sportsmanship throughout.  Carisbrooke opened their account with a confident win over Medina 8-0 thanks to some excellent shooting from Shai B, Liam G and Charlie W.  In the second game, Christ the King College were our opponents but, again, some excellent shooting from Daniel P, Shai B and Charlie G gave Carisbrooke the win 8-4.  However, it was the firm defence throughout by Lincoln O, Theo N and Liam D that supported the team in preventing Christ the King from getting more opportunities.

In the third game, Carisbrooke put on another quality display to beat Ryde A 8-0 with Liam G and Mason S-T adding to the score sheet and Jack G trying his hardest to prevent Ryde from scoring by tying his shoe lace in the middle of the court.

In the final game of the tournament Carisbrooke were to play the favourites, The Bay, who had so far crushed every team they had played.  However, after the first 6 minutes Carisbrooke were 6-4 up thanks for a fantastic team display both defensively and offensively. Liam G and Shai B again shooting brilliantly throughout.  However, with a few minutes left Carisbrooke started to get tired and The Bay began to find some easier bakets close to the hoop and eventually ran out 18-8 winners leaving Carisbrooke to claim the runners up position. 

Carisbrooke were outstanding throughout and really impressed everyone watching.  Oakley W who helped coach and support the team throughout was a credit to the school due to showing such commitment to the basketball programme at Carisbrooke. 

Well done to all of you, you made a coach very proud.

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Miss Keogh is shaving her head!

Miss Keogh is shaving her head!

Miss Keogh was thinking of ways in which she could raise money for the Disaster Emergency Committee who are helping the people of Ukraine.  

Families fleeing the conflict have left their homes with only the items they were able to carry. The DEC aim to provide food, water, shelter, healthcare and protection.

She has come up with the idea of getting staff, students and parents/carers to sponsor her and she is going to shave off all of her hair at the end of this term!

If you would like to donate to this very worthy cause and support Miss Keogh’s hair loss, you can donate via School Gateway or on her just giving page (below). Any amount that you can spare, no matter how small, will be so very much appreciated. 

– £10 could provide essential hygiene supplies for 1 person for one month 

– £50 could provide blankets for 4 families to keep them warm 

– £100 could provide emergency food for 2 families for one month 

Miss Keogh is thrilled that she has just reached £500 in sponsorship! Can you help her increase this and get closer towards her goal of £2000? Thank you, in advance, for any support you can give. 

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DofE Practice Day Hike

DofE Practice Day Hike

12 Carisbrooke students took part in a practice day hike for their Duke of Edinburgh on Sunday. This entailed them practising navigation, cooking and putting up tents… all to varying degrees of success.

The weather could not have been better for the expedition on a sunny day with a slight chill in the air. Unfortunately, the conditions under foot were not so great with two students getting their shoes stuck in the mud as well as Mr Norman falling into the mud, although this did brighten up the students’ day as well!

All in all, the students thoroughly enjoyed the expedition and made some lasting memories.


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Humanities Taster Day at University of Portsmouth

Humanities Taster Day at University of Portsmouth

Mr Havard-Swan and Mr Harrison took 27 year 8 students (15 from Carisbrooke College/12 from Medina College) to the University of Portsmouth for a Humanities taster day this week. The students were a credit to themselves and the colleges.
They really engaged with the 3 different workshops and the lecturers delivered to them. They were attentive, answered questions, and maturely articulated their own ideas on topics like genocide and humanitarian relief, and how citizens participate in government, including when working in teams with students from another school that they had only just met. 
Their behaviour, including moving around the city between several different university buildings throughout the day, was superb. Overall, this was a great experience for the students which helped to open their eyes to what their future could like, if they choose to study a humanities subject at a higher level. 



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Junior Journos

Junior Journos

A group of year 10 students have been working on a journalism project in partnership with Independent Arts as part of the year-long Creative Biosphere project — a partnership of five cultural organisations, five schools and colleges and five artists have been brought together through the Isle of Wight’s Cultural Education Partnership to inspire creativity in young people through the Island’s UNESCO Biosphere Status.

Grace, Jenson, Oliver, Devon and Lily attended the IW Story Festival at Quay Arts on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th February to interview authors, illustrators and presenters as well as members of the public, before working together to combine their efforts which they then submitted to the Isle of Wight County Press. It was a very tight deadline but they completely rose to the challenge. 

You can read their article here: https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/19960439.isle-wight-story-festival-inspires-young-creatives/

The group are now in the process of pitching their ideas to the editor at Style of Wight magazine where their article will feature in their April edition.

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TED Talks Inspires Young Minds

TED Talks Inspires Young Minds

Mart Drake-Knight

A group of KS4 students had the privilege of attending a TEDx Talks event on Wednesday 2nd March which was hosted at Quay Arts and The Riverside Centre. The students joined other pupils from secondary schools across the island to listen to presenters from a diverse and varied background sharing their ideas on how to boost productivity and become the most successful version of ‘you’ that is possible.

The theme for the talks was, ‘If not now, when?’ and the guests explored how they can connect the island with the wider global audience in ways never conducted before. 

The programme consisted of Isle of Wight based speakers such as Mart Drake-Knight, owner and co-founder of Rapanui Clothing, 

as well as international names such as Kim Davis, who talked about her experiences working with A-list celebrities such as Beyonce, Andre Agassi and Marc Jacobs.

The students were enthralled by the words of wisdom from Tim Sissions and were encouraged to ‘Be on a 10’ by this industry-leading specialist in the design, implementation and delivery of exceptional Motivational Leadership.

The students left feeling revitalised and that anything is possible if you just give it a go.

Kim Davis

Tim Sissons

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