A custom designed and built 12ft x 20ft glasshouse has been donated by Isle of Wight businesses APS Produce Group and P3P Partners, and constructed on the site at Medina College by Cambridge HOK, ahead of the launch of the IGCSE in Agriculture this September. 

The specialist and impressive structure allows students at the school to grow plants in a protected area where specific conditions can be maintained to ensure the highest efficiency. Students will be able to grow plants in the glasshouse all year round, which will hugely support them throughout the GCSE course and potentially future further education studies. 

The structure has been constructed on a piece of land on the school site which has been specifically developed as a farming plot. Students are already working on this land and have been so excited to start using the glasshouse. They are currently growing a variety of tomatoes, peppers, squashes and herbs in it. 

The glasshouse was donated to the school collaboratively by national companies with a large Isle of Wight presence,  P3P Partners, specialists in sustainable energy and vertical farming and APS Produce Group, the UK’s leading tomato and salad crop horticulture specialist, and was built by Cambridge HOK, a leading glasshouse construction specialist. Using their expertise and the latest technology, the glasshouse has been purpose-built to the needs of the students and the new course that they will be following from September.

Medina College is one of just three providers in the country to be offering the Cambridge IGCSE in Agriculture. 

APS Produce Group are the UK’s  largest supplier of British tomatoes to the high street, responsible for approximately 40% of total UK production. Specialising in the production and supply of top quality tomatoes grown in the most sustainable way possible, APS is a genuinely innovative and forward thinking business. They have 26.3 hectares of glasshouses on the Isle of Wight and 70 hectares in total across the UK. 

P3P Partners are one of the UK’s leading distributed heat and power specialists, with extensive operations in combined heat-and-power installations for horticulture, industry and hospitality applications, as well as development portfolios spanning anaerobic digestion, solar power and battery energy storage systems. P3P also invests in the specialist waste and vertical farming sectors.  P3P operates several sites locally in the Arreton Valley.

Cambridge HOK are vertical farming, glasshouses and energy specialists. Their glasshouses are designed and built to meet a growers exact needs. From large commercial glasshouses, research or leisure glasshouses, they create the optimum environment with the latest technology. 

Thank you the Isle of Wight Cricket Board for running the ‘Be the Spark’ programme for a group of students this week.

Our new cricket leaders in Years 7, 8 and 9 can’t wait to help out at primary school cricket events across the Island this summer!

Thursday 30 March saw our long awaited performances of Treasure Island finally go ahead and, wow, it was worth the wait!

In this wonderful pantomime, the famous Long John Silver, his parrot Polly, and a gang of pirates set sail in search of buried treasure in the Caribbean. Jim Hawkins and Jenny Trelawney strive to outwit the wily seadogs with the help of Jim’s mum and her friends from the local Women’s Institute.

The whole cast worked so well together to bring the show to life and kept the audience engaged and entertained throughout. Their delivery was described as ‘hilarious’ and everyone in attendance would agree that it was a roaring success.

Covid has certainly thrown a few spanners in the works along the way as enhanced lockdown restrictions meant that the original performance dates at Christmas had to be postponed. Previous to that, restrictions within schools meant that no live performances could take place, so this was the first time that students had performed live on stage in at least two years. Year group bubbles also meant that students had not worked with anyone outside of their own year group for two years.

The cast worked very closely with the Carisbrooke College cast and supported each others’ performances by taking on the ensemble role for each other.

Huge thanks to the following:

• Mr Lyle, Mrs Peckham, Mrs Shorrock and Miss Elkin for their expert leadership, direction and choreography
• Mr Winsor for supporting and playing in the band
• Ex-student Harry for his expert help with lighting and sound
• The Art Department for their help with props and set
• The Food Tech Department for providing the interval refreshments
• The Bushell family for all of their help with costumes
• Blackgang Chine for the loan of some of the set and props
• Our Year 10 Stage Crew for being amazing and working hard throughout
• Our Year 9 hair and make up artists

On wednesday 30 March, our 9 chosen students from Year 11 competed in a series of matches for a basketball tournament. These students were Louis, Will, Luke, Alfie, Issac, Josh, Adam, Korbin and Corey.

Their first match of the tournament was against Christ the King and, despite losing 7-0, their morale was kept high and their drive for victory was still strong.

Their second match proved that they were still determined to win by having a close and nail biting victory over Ryde with a score of 8-6. Our scorers were Korbin, Corey, Adam and Alfie all scoring 2 points each.

After a short break, the team went head on against Carisbrooke for their third match. Once again the team shone as a group and won an 8-4 game which boosted them up to second place. Our scorers for match three were Will, Issac, Korbin and Corey each, once again, scoring 2 points each.

After two victories, their fourth game was unfortunately a loss to Sandown. The team tried their very best but only scored 2 points against the opposing team leaving them with a 6-2 defeat. Our only scorer for that match was Luke.

The team tried their very best to win the competition. After valiant attempts at going for gold, they unfortunately came 3rd. Nevertheless, they were an outstanding team and made the school proud. They showed great communication and team work and, despite being under huge amounts of pressure, they kept their cool and made the top 3. Well done boys!

Last Wednesday, the Year 7 girls played their rearranged indoor tournament. Due to a clash of fixtures with a basketball tournament, there were not many other teams there unfortunately. We played and won in true Medina fashion though! The girls improved with every game and played some lovely football. They enjoyed bringing home their medals and trophy. Great work girls! 

Miss Caddick