Last week, 44 students from Carisbrooke College, along with Mrs A. Smith, Ms Ryan, Mr Burnett, Miss Begley and Mr Matthias, travelled to London to visit The Houses of Parliament and The Supreme Court. The group travelled by coach, leaving school at the ungodly hour of 5.15am and arrived in London for a walk down Whitehall to see the Cenotaph, The Women of War World War II Memorial and Downing Street. They then walked through Horse Guards Parade to St. James’s Park before returning to Parliament Square where the group split into two. Half went to The Houses of Parliament whilst the other group visited The Supreme Court.

At The Supreme Court students learned all about what The Supreme Court is, how it works and who works there before having a mock trial in a courtroom. After this, the groups went to watch an actual case live in action where barristers and lawyers explained their case in front of the Justices’.

In the Houses of Parliament the students were given a tour of the building including Westminster Hall – where Queen Elizabeth II lay in state last year. They were able to then go and see the House of Lords in full swing and watch the Lords debate funding for the upcoming general election. After this they were led to the gallery for the House of Commons to watch the MP’s debating cyber security policies. Our local MP, Bob Seely, made a surprise appearance and came to meet the students where they had the opportunity to ask him questions about the price of ferries, how he became an MP and sea pollution around the Isle of Wight.

The students also had the chance walk through Parliament Square where there were people protesting against Climate Change and Brexit. They were fascinated by this right to protest! They then crossed over Westminster Bridge and walked along the banks of the River Thames to look at the Covid Memorial Wall where they were blown away by just how many names there were. Some students had the opportunity to walk through St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace where they saw the changing of the guard and explored the surrounding area.

One student said that their favourite part was meeting our MP, Bob Seely; another enjoyed touring the Houses of Parliament best whilst another said seeing Buckingham Palace was the most memorable part.

Miley said that the most surprising part was discovering, ‘how the Houses of Parliament had dents in it from people trying to bomb it during World War II’.

Lara said that she enjoyed, ‘being split up into smaller groups as we got more stuff done.’

The students had an excellent day and were an absolute credit to Carisbrooke College. Thank you for a fantastic trip.

A Kindness Breakfast was held last week for 30 students in year 7 with Mrs Lythgoe and Miss Bracegirdle. These students completed the kindness bingo which saw them carrying out tasks such as volunteering, helping others in class and offering to help with chores.

They were served croissants, pan au chocolate, fresh fruit, pancakes, toast, crumpets, and fruit juices. It was great to recognise the efforts of these students and celebrate how wonderful it is to show kindness to each other.

Well done to all of you that were invited and we will continue to look out for acts of kindness in the coming term. Year 7 have created a lovely, caring and kind community and we are very proud to lead your year group.

Mrs Lythgoe and Miss Bracegirdle

Yáosers!

Mandarin lessons at Carisbrooke have recently been given an enthusiastic boost this year with the arrival from China of Miss Yao – our new Chinese Language Assistant.

So far this term she has already helped to engage students and bring the language to life for learners across the year groups.

She said: “I can see that Carisbrooke is a friendly and warm environment. The students approach their work with positivity. I am glad to work with Mr Briscoe in Mandarin lessons and I’ve found that all the students here are very hardworking and brilliant! The teachers at Carisbrooke all smile a lot and I hope we will continue to get along well with each other.”

“In year 10 classes I have worked on the topic of countries and nationalities with the students and in year 9 lessons I have taught some new words on the topic of food and drink. I have also introduced new vocabulary to the year 11 students to help them write extended paragraphs in Chinese about their daily lives.”

Miss Yao will also be helping to run China club on Thursdays after school, giving both GCSE students and those lower down the school the chance to improve their language skills.

She said: “My aim is for all the students to continue to make great progress over the course of the year with my help.”

Today we held our Remembrance Service in school. Unfortunately, due to the wet weather, it was held indoors this year, but we received a beautifully played Last Post by Mary Teague and readings from Eleanor C which were heard over the tannoy system. It was very sombre and the respect shown by the school community was outstanding. We are so proud of them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

To celebrate a very successful first half term at Carisbrooke College, Year 7 had a School Disco on 16 October.

It was so lovely to see all students (and staff!) getting involved and having a great time. We saw some fantastic dancing and, even more impressive, was seeing students who were gently encouraging others who were worried to give dancing a go.

AJ, who put on our Disco commented on how lovely our year 7 students were and that they are a credit to the School. I am a very proud Head of Year 7! As always, thank you for being awesome!

Mrs Lythgoe