Our Students had a fantastic time at Briddlesford Farm last week, on what was their first visit as part of the IGCSE Agriculture course. It was torrential rain for the majority of the morning, so it was the perfect opportunity for Students to test out their waterproofs!

The students (and staff) had a wonderful time feeding the calves and halter training them. They then had a informative session with the farm vet finding out how to care for cows and calves. The students also loved seeing the new farm kittens!

We were very proud of how well our students represented the school on this visit!

On Wednesday Key Stage 4 Music and Drama students from both Carisbrooke College and Medina College travelled to London, to see the musical ‘Wicked’ at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London!

The show features one of our GCSE Music set works ‘Defying Gravity’ so provided valuable context and experience to those students studying this piece, and more broadly offered a fantastic opportunity for all our students to see a professional live stage production.

Our students behaviour was impeccable and we had lovely comments from members of the public.

A group of students from years 8 and 9 recently attended the inaugural Isle of Wight meeting of the Equality and Rights Advocates (EARA)  group at Christ the King College.  EARA was created by a school on the mainland to “Challenge the way both students and teachers think and view our world and our fellow inhabitants and aspire to reduce the discrimination that students of different groups face at school, whether it be down to their race, sexuality, appearance or lifestyle”.

The EARA group addresses many of the nine characteristics protected under the Equalities Act of 2010. They consider how prejudicial attitudes and behaviours towards those who share those characteristics impact on their school community. The group decides which aspects to focus on and discuss ways in which to advocate within their school.

The EARA Group’s aims are to:
Promote the Equality Act
Enhance pupil voice
Challenge discrimination and prejudice
Advocate for the rights of the child (UNCRC)
Encourage positive attitudes towards difference
Develop pupil confidence and life skills
Support vulnerable students
Increase participation and engagement

Our students were wonderful ambassadors for the school during their visit to Christ the King College. The group found the meeting very useful with Amelia stating, “I think the session was very inclusive and covered lots of challenging topics related to school. There needs to be change to make schools safer environments to be in”.

Keep a lookout for updates about our group’s project!

Over the summer, the Library ran a Summer Reading Challenge. The challenge was designed to get students reading a wide variety of materials in a variety of places and to try something new.

Students read poems from Ted Hughes and Beatrice Garland; books from authors such as Michael Morpurgo, Kieran Larwwod, Stephanie Meyer, Onjali Q. Rauf and Chris Colfer to name a few. They also enjoyed reading non-fiction books on weather and climate to dinosaurs and cats training humans.

PRIZES AND REWARDS

There were over one hundred entries into the draw for an Amazon Fire Tablet. The lucky winner was Mylea from Year 8. Congratulations to you Mylea!

All participants received a certificate, achievement points and a book. Well done to everyone that took part!

Keep reading, Ms Ryan and Mrs O’Callaghan.

On Thursday 20 October the year 7 boys played their final game of the Island Schools League, going into the game unbeaten this year. Their opponents this week were Ryde Academy, another strong looking team. However, goals from Logan, Bobby (2), Owen, and Blayze (2) took us to a 6-2 lead with less than 2 minutes to go. Right at the end of the match a penalty was awarded to us and super goalkeeper Austin scored a cracker of a goal making it 7-2!

A very happy end to an unbeaten season. The team now await their medals. A huge well done to the whole team and all our supporters! Bring on the upcoming indoor events!

On Wednesday 19 October, the girls played their fourth league match of this season. After three wins they were feeling confident. The match was very even against Cowes but eventually Lyla and Imogen found the net in the windy conditions. Cowes put up a good fight but were no match for our girls on this occasion. Great squad performance and a well deserved win. Excellent work girls!

We are very grateful to Natasha and Colin from The Garlic Farm, who paid a visit to our Farm Garden last week. They spent time with our agricultural students, showing them how to grow garlic and discussing the different techniques to improve results.

Students were very interested to learn about garlic and how to grow it successfully. They have now planted lots in the polytunnel and in the outdoor beds to compare results. We can’t wait until we harvest them to see which works best!

We also had a wonderful visit from Charles Dowding last Friday. Charles is a well known horticulturalist and author who came in to show us his no dig method of gardening.

Charles gave us a demonstration of his method and some wonderful tips on how to get the most out of our garden. It was a very informative lesson and the students will now be able to start putting the no dig method into practice!

Watch this space, we have more exciting Farm Garden news coming very soon!

Our year 11 geographers had an informative and interesting visit to Yaverland and Sandown on Monday. The purpose of their visit was to explore the impact that sea defences have on an area. They looked at the do nothing approach at Yaverland and the hold the line approach at Sandown.

The students looked at the differing management strategies in place and the reasons behind the different approaches. They then collected primary data using techniques such as beach profiles, groyne drops, land use maps and environmental quality surveys.

We were very lucky to have great weather on the day and it was lovely to see how friendly and polite students were with members of the public.

Students at Medina enjoyed a fantastic morning at our Brass ‘taster session’ workshop on Wednesday with Martyn Stroud (Brass teacher from Wight Music Tuition). The students had an opportunity to learn about the Brass family and play some of the trumpets, French horns and trombones that Mr Stroud had brought with him, even putting together a short performance at the end.

If your child would like to sign up for Brass lessons, Mr Stroud is offering group lessons (in pairs) for £80 a term; as we are already halfway through this term, this means there would be £40 to pay for November to December.  There is also the option of paying in monthly instalments, if this is something you would prefer, to help spread the cost of the lessons. Lessons will take place during school hours.

If you would like to sign up for these lessons please email beth.peckham@iwef.org.uk to register your interest, you will also need to complete an application form on the Wight Music Tuition website https://iwmt.org.uk/apply-online/, indicating which instrument and selecting ’20 minute in-person group lessons’. You do not need to select ‘yes’ for hiring an instrument as Mr Stroud can arrange this for you once lessons have started.