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Isle of Wight Festival Performance

Isle of Wight Festival Performance

32 students from Carisbrooke College, Medina College and The Island VI Form had the amazing opportunity of performing at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival!

Our students have rehearsed endlessly and shown incredible effort and enthusiasm in putting these performances together and gathering the confidence needed to stand up in front of a field full of people cheering them on. Students performed on the stage in the busy KidZone on Sunday afternoon and had the unique opportunity to see first hand how stage managers and sound technicians operate; learning all about set logistics, scheduling, soundchecks and life backstage.


Students from Carisbrooke College’s ‘School of Rock’ group opened our set with hits from 3 of this year’s festival headliners: George Ezra, Pulp and Blondie. Following this, The Island VI Form’s Olivia McC performed her own catchy original song ‘Take a Hint’, supported by fellow VI Form musicians. Our IWEF Stage Band (comprising students from all three sites) then wowed the crowd with REM’s ‘Shiny Happy People’ followed by Medina and Carisbrooke’s ‘Sing’ choirs uniting to perform ‘Royals’ by Lorde. The set was finished with a rousing rendition of Sunday headliner Robbie Williams’ iconic hit song ‘Angels’.

We are incredibly proud of our students. The time and energy invested into preparing for this event is highly commendable. We look forward to seeing our musical project at the IOW Festival go from strength to strength in the coming years.

If you would like to get involved in any of these musical activities please speak to your Music teacher – all students are welcome!

Mrs. Peckham, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Wiseman, Mrs. Brear and Mr. Turner




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The Royal Coronation Prom at Osborne House

The Royal Coronation Prom at Osborne House

On Tuesday 16 May 15 students from Carisbrooke College and Medina College came together to sing as a federated choir at a Royal Coronation Prom at Osborne House. The federated choir performed alongside various other schools from across the Island.

The sun shone on what was a lovely celebration of local musical talent and community spirit. Our choir performed at the very end of the concert, closing the evening with 3 ‘Royal’ themed pieces, Lorde’s ‘Royals’, Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ and the ‘Circle of Life’ from the Lion King.

We received many positive comments from the concert organisers and various audience members about the high standard of our students’ performance and also their overall behaviour and conduct throughout the event. Well done to all who took part!

If you would like to join our school choirs and take part in other amazing performance opportunities like this come along to our lunchtime clubs. Please speak to your Music teacher for further information.

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Year 7 Federation Games

Year 7 Federation Games

On Wednesday, Medina College hosted this year’s Federation Games event. This is an annual event within the federation where all of the year 7 students from Carisbrooke take on all of the year 7’s from Medina in 5 different sports. This year’s sports were Basketball, Cricket, Boys Football, Girls Football and Handball.

The day started with an opening ceremony in the theatre, where we discussed good teamwork and sportsmanship. After moving to their sports areas, the competition got started with a bang. It was amazing, yet again, to see so many young people getting fully involved and working hard. Many of the students have never experienced a full sized sports event and it was great to see them get fully stuck into their events! With the lunch break approaching, it was clear that students were still willing to work hard and some teams had started to show themselves as potential winners of their sports.

fter the lunch it was the finals, where the winning teams in each sport would be crowned. The closest two sports were the Football events, where, in both the boys and girls finals, there was a team from each school. The top place rested on these games.They would prove to be spectacular, with all of the teams involved showing great skills and endurance after a long day.

The final results:
Basketball – Winner Medina College.
Cricket – Winner Medina College.
Boys Football – Winner Medina College.
Girls Football – Winner Medina College.
Handball – Winner Medina College.

Therefore the overall winner of the 2023 Federation Games was Medina College.

Congratulations to all of the students from year 7 who took part, you were fantastic representatives for the federation! A special thank you to the year 9-10 leaders from both schools, who officiated the event – you are a huge credit to the federation. A final thanks to all of the PE team for their hard work and to the members of teaching and support staff, who came out to support the event!

A great day had by all. Roll on next year’s event where Carisbrooke will be looking to take the top spot!

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The Young Enterprise IOW Grand Final

The Young Enterprise IOW Grand Final

The Young Enterprise Company Programme Isle of Wight Grand Final took place at Quay Arts on Tuesday 9 May. Both Medina College and Carisbrooke College teams have been working hard towards the big day alongside five other Island School teams.

The event kicked off with each team preparing a trade stand where they showcased their business ideas. Carisbrooke College Wicks of Wight students: Mia G, Sophie B and Jo M produced a variety of handmade products made from soya wax and essential oils, while the team from Medina College: Ruby H and Elsie-May P displayed the physical sample of their online app – Open up, to demonstrate how their mental health game worked.

Both teams experienced the power of business networking when they met and spoke with a range of people from the world of business. After the table top display, each company team presented their business Dragon’s Den style to the eagerly awaiting audience.

Once they had heard all of the speeches, the judges retired to make their decisions.

Carisbrooke College came joint Third alongside St Catherine’s School and will now attend the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Grand Final in Southampton on Monday 15 May.

Well done to all our students involved, they received some wonderful, positive comments about their business ideas!

The Medina College Young Enterprise Company Programme team are pictured below with Chris Court (Chris Court Associates) and Sandra Knowles (Hillbans).

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BAE Systems STEM Roadshow

BAE Systems STEM Roadshow

This week students in Year 7 and 8 were taken on a journey from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space when the BAE STEM Roadshow came to Medina College! The team who represent BAE Systems, The Royal Navy and The Royal Air Force, put on an exciting and informative show. The students were given lots of information and facts about how engineering allows us to explore unchartered areas such as space and under water and the science and technology needed to survive in these extreme environments.


Students were able to participate in a variety of challenges, where their communication and team work skills were put to the test. At the end of the show a five meter diameter model of the Sun was inflated next to a marble. This allowed students to see a scale representation of the Earth, to show just how huge the solar system is.

It was great to see our students so engaged as they learnt and interacted with the show. We hope the roadshow has inspired our students to consider the fantastic career opportunities in STEM!

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Thai Students visit Medina College

Thai Students visit Medina College

Over the last three weeks we have been lucky enough to host nine Thai students at the school. The students are all in year 9 and are part of a group of fifteen students aged between 13-17, the older students have been on a placement at the Isle of Wight College. The students come from all over Thailand and most of them only met each other once before flying out to the UK.

The students have come to the UK for seven weeks, the aim of the trip is so the students can work on their English, gain an understanding of UK culture and to tell us about Thailand. During their first week they made an exhibition about Thailand and rice, which is currently on display at the Isle of Wight College. The students then had a couple of weeks of English lessons to help prepare them for their school or college placement. During the evenings and weekends the students have visited various places such as London, Portsmouth, Robin Hill, Alum Bay, Osborne House.

During their time with us, the Thai students have amazed us with their fantastic grasp of the English language. They have been a joy to host and we hope they’ve got lots out of their time on the Isle of Wight and at Medina College.

We asked the Thai students how they have found their trip, here’s what they had to say…

“I enjoy every moment here, even though it’s just a short time of being here. The teachers and most of the students here are really nice which makes me enjoy it. My favourite class here is Geography, the teacher was really kind and the things he taught me were really easy to understand and it was really fun.” Kannaphat (Grand)

“From the day that I started to study, I felt that all the teachers were very loving and all of my friends were very friendly. The society at school is very good. The curriculum here and Thailand are not that similar, for example, in Thailand we don’t have to walk to go to other classes, but here we have to go to another class. Overall, I really like this place.” Suchanan (Namwan)

“I am from Phitsanulok Province. At first when I came to Medina College I felt strange but time went by and I don’t feel like that anymore. People in this school are so friendly and they are kind. I love to come here.” Tinn (Justin)

“It’s good that we have this opportunity to be in England and on the island called the Isle of Wight, to be learning languages with local people. I really love the weather here, it’s not too cold and too hot, Thailand is very hot. My buddy is very kind and helpful. We like to have conversations because it helps my accent to get better.” Sasinat (Bonus)

“I come from Phetchaburi Province. I had to take an exam to exchange. In my school there are many monkeys because it is next to the mountain so they come down to find food at my school. When I arrived in England I was excited to meet my buddy, host family and other friends. I studied at Isle of Wight College for three weeks and at Medina College for three weeks. I study with my buddy at Medina College, she’s very sweet and kind to me. Her friends are very kind and friendly.” Torfun 

We asked our students how they got on being buddies…

Holly said “I don’t want my buddy to leave, I’ve really enjoyed having them here!”

Kayla told us “I’ve really enjoyed having my buddy here. She taught me some Thai words, I can now say hello in Thai.”

Fergus had this to say “It’s be a great! My buddy has taught my a lot about Thailand, including some of the language.”

Thank you to the Medina students who were buddies with our Thai students. They have all been fantastic ambassadors for Medina College and taken great care of their buddies.

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Year 10 Peer Educators

Year 10 Peer Educators

Following training, a group of Year 10 students recently took on the role of Peer Educators for year 7, which saw them deliver six lessons focusing on mental health and wellbeing as part of The Peer Education Project, a programme devised by The Mental Health Foundation. This secondary school-based educational programme aims to give young people the skills and knowledge they need to safeguard their mental health and that of their peers.

The programme supports the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework adopted by the federation which promotes and encourages a healthy mindset for students and staff. It is the first time that the federation has taken part in the programme and it was a big success with peer educators and year 7 students gaining knowledge of how to protect and improve their mental health in order to lead fulfilling and happy lives.

Year 10 Peer Educators Keira and Lacey-May gave us an overview of the project and told us what they had learnt from it. “Last year, in June, a selection of students volunteered in a project to help younger students with their mental health, this was the Mental Health Peer Educator Project. We did training at The Island VI Form with Carisbrooke College, from this training we planned out the lessons we would present to our given year 7 tutor groups. This project not only allowed us to help students, it also allowed us to view learning from a teacher’s perspective. Through this experience we learnt a lot about mental health ourselves and are extremely grateful to have the opportunity to engage with a class about such an important topic in our lives”.

We are already looking ahead to next year and are asking current year 9 students to consider becoming Peer Educators for our new year 7’s. All interested students should see Mrs Guy.

Our Peer Educators are pictured below with the certificates that they received for completing their training and undertaking the role of Mental Health Peer Educators for year 7.

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NatWest – Next Big Thing Challenge

Natwest – The Next Big Thing Challenge

Last Tuesday Year 9 were given the opportunity to participate in the NatWest – Next Big Thing Challenge. The event was delivered by The Inspirational Learning Group.

The day began with a personality quiz where students discovered their ‘personality animal’. The quiz posed questions such as: Do you think before you speak or do you think out loud? Do you work better in a team or are you more comfortable working alone? Apparently if you get ‘Black Bear’ you’re a natural leader! The quiz helped the students decide who would take on which role within the team; who would lead, who would delegate tasks and who would motivate their team.

You can find out your own animal personality here: https://launchyourcareer.com/p/quiz

The students were then invited to think about what might be ‘the next best thing’ for their peers. Students were given lots of advice on marketing, money management, forecasting, choosing an ambassador, designing logos and coming up with slogans. Towards the end of the day students were able to present their business idea and act out the advert they had devised to promote it. Presented were a wide variety of unique ideas, such as: SOLVIT – a foldable shoe to save space; SWEETS 4 U – custom made sweets to order and SIMPLI FOOD – a lunch box that keeps your food warm!

Mrs Southwell and Mrs Clarke were given the difficult job of judging the fantastic ideas! TEAM were announced the overall winners with their business idea of a social media app focused on current issues where students are able to discuss and share their views, while being able to shop for ethical clothing and products. Well done to August, Oliver, Mason, Chloe, Ella and Eleanor form TEAM! 

The students engaged well with the challenge and came up with some very exciting, innovative ideas. Well done Year 9! 

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DofE Bronze Expedition

DofE Bronze Expedition

On the Thursday and Friday before Easter, 45 brave students from Carisbrooke College and Medina College set off on their Duke of Edinburgh bronze expedition. The expedition was a two day adventure that required the students to navigate their way around the Isle of Wight using only a map and compass. Despite the rainy weather and strong winds, the students persevered and completed the expedition successfully.

On the first day, the students set off from the Island VI Form and headed out into the wilderness. They were immediately faced with strong winds and rain, but they remained determined and focused. The students used their navigational skills to find their way to the first checkpoint and were pleased to discover that they were having a good time. However,as they continued on their journey, the weather became even more challenging, and the students had to work harder to stay on course.

As the day progressed, the students faced several difficult obstacles. At one point, they even got a little lost, but they quickly regrouped and found their way back on track. Finally, after a long day, the students arrived at the camping site where they would spend the night. Despite the challenging conditions, the students were in high spirits, and they enjoyed a well deserved rest.

The second day of the expedition was no less challenging than the first. The students set off early in the morning and continued their journey around the island. The weather had improved slightly, but the students were once again battling strong winds. Even with the tricky weather conditions they were able to navigate their way to the finish line successfully.

Overall, the Duke of Edinburgh expedition was a fantastic experience for all involved. The students learned valuable skills such as navigation, teamwork, and perseverance. They also had the opportunity to challenge themselves physically and mentally and to experience the beauty and wonder of the great outdoors. We are incredibly proud of all the students who participated in this expedition, and we look forward to more adventures in the future.

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Welcome to our new Parent Governor

Welcome to our new Parent Governor

Following the invitation to parents to make nominations for the Governing Board, we are pleased to let you know that Shaun Arnold has been appointed to the post of Parent Governor. There was one nomination made for the two vacancies, so a ballot was not required.

Shaun has been a member of the IWEF Governing Board for almost four years as a Co-opted Governor.

Shaun says ‘I have been a governor for nearly 8 years and have been a member of many committees, from finance to quality of education. I was also an active member of the Isle of Wight Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel for 4 years. Being a school governor is a truly rewarding experience. As a school governor, I give back and make a difference to the young people in the school. I have a unique outlook being a person with Aspergers (ASD) and having children with ASD. I believe that every student should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, and that this can be achieved through high-quality teaching, a supportive environment, and a focus on the individual needs of each student.’

The Governing Board will continue to try to fill the remaining Parent Governor vacancy.

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