IWEF Summer Music Concert

Written by Gemma Long on July 22, 2022. Posted in News - CC, News - MC, News - VI, Uncategorized.

IWEF Summer Music Concert

This Wednesday we held our first live IWEF concert since 2019, and our first ever federated concert at Carisbrooke College!

The sun shone as audience members gathered outside in our canopied area to enjoy ice creams from Plaza Ices and refreshments served by our School Pastors. The concert began at 7.00pm and featured a variety of musical performances from over 40 of our students from across the Federation.

Students from Carisbrooke College’s School of Rock club joined together to perform alongside Key Stage 4 Music students from Medina College and A level students from Island VI Form. There were also appearances from Carisbrooke College’s choir ‘Sing’ and our Staff & VI Form choir.

Olivia (Medina College Year 11) delivered the first ever live performance of her song ‘Take Me Dancing’, a piece she wrote as part of her GCSE Music coursework; clearly inspiring our younger aspiring musicians. All of our performers then joined together to perform a concert finale of The Beatles’ ‘With a little help from my friends’ having learnt and workshopped the song earlier in the day.

The concert raised £138.50 for the Creative Arts Faculty and will be going towards some new microphones for future musical events.

Thank you to all the students, staff, parents and governors who came along to support this lovely evening, and to our Creative Arts Faculty for organising this fantastic event. We are thrilled to see our students performing at live music events again and look forward to all the exciting opportunities 2022/2023 will bring! All students are warmly encouraged to take part in our musical clubs and activities. Please see your music teacher for more details about how you can get involved next year.

DofE – Brecons Bash 2022

Written by Gemma Long on July 22, 2022. Posted in Duke of Edinburgh, News - VI, The Island VI Form.

DofE – Brecons Bash 2022

Two intrepid groups of VI Form students set off for Wales early Monday morning. For one group their aim was to revise and practice navigation skills in a wild country environment and then complete a 3 day final silver expedition. The other group embarked on their Gold practice expedition; a prerequisite for next year’s final test.

The weather was particularly kind to us during the day. We didn’t suffer too badly from intense heat, just the strong gusty winds on the exposed ridges could catch you out and awareness of intense UV levels was always a consideration. All groups were up early, some before the sun had risen, so that we avoided the heat of the day. Although during the night it was exceptionally cold in the valley and there was an assortment of thermals, wooly hats and rain jackets that were doubled up as pyjamas.

Day one exercise was to reach a high ridge accessed through a steep and windy waterfall gully. Then each team had to navigate to find a WW2 memorial site. The remains of a wellington bomber flown by a young Canadian crew are still scattered across the mountain here. The aircraft came down in July 1945, just before the end of the war. It was truly a poignant scene for us all at the memorial. The realisation that the aircrew who sadly perished were really not much older than our students. We paid our respects and moved on down the ridge.

The week continued with early morning starts up onto the hills and resulted in breathtaking views of the Brecon Beacons. On day four, everyone reached the summit of Pen Y Fan via the back door route and some even bagged other notable peaks on the way round.

The students’ culinary skills improved as the week progressed, as did their navigation and fitness. Congratulations to everyone on the team and thanks to the staff; Mr Saunders and Miss Windsor for their brilliant support.

Mr Bridle

VI Form Activity Day

Written by Gemma Long on July 21, 2022. Posted in News - VI, Student Voice, The Island VI Form.

VI Form Activity Day

By Nicole Mostyn

Monday 18 July was our Student Voice Activity day that was put together by our team of year 12 students, alongside some keen teachers who organised their own activities to run from breaktime up until lunchtime.

Free ice lollies were collected from the hall whilst teams signed up and there was music playing by our fabulous musicians Tilly, Rufus, Esther and Cleo. They had the opportunity to perform on the stage which sounded amazing and really added to the liveliness of the event and enticed more people to join in.

The activities in the science department included blindfolded surgery, Wii sports and the Die Hard challenge. The challenges sounded easier than they were and these activities were a great way to test your teamwork and communication skills in a chilled environment whilst also channelling competitive sides and problem-thinking skills.

In the courtyard there was tennis, football and netball shooting. Despite the very hot weather, several teams took part and looked like they were enjoying themselves which was great to see.

In film and media, banner painting took place to go on the walls which brought out the creativity of our students and was quite a relaxing activity for a hot Monday morning. There were also news reports being filmed based around silly statements for people to share their ideas on which was very interactive and got people thinking on their feet. In film, there was also the ‘Magnificent Seven’ challenge, run by Mr Cronin, where students had to think of seven films for each of the seven main film genres. Mr Cronin was very impressed with the wide range of film knowledge students had so well done to everyone who took part.

In English the challenge was to perform a dramatic presentation on the Bard in which there were various costumes to choose from as well as scripts to read out as theatrically as you could. This really challenged the ability to think outside of the box, try something new and a bit out of your comfort zone which is a great exercise to build confidence. I spoke to a student who took part in this activity and she said “the teacher running it was very enthusiastic and encouraging which created a comfortable atmosphere”.

Lastly, Humanities organised a QR code scavenger hunt which started in B5 and carried on throughout the building. The questions definitely required the knowledge of a team so it was very fitting and many people enjoyed hunting for each code.

Teams who participated were able to claim a free hotdog from Mr Mumford’s BBQ which was a rewarding way to finish the day. The winners of the activity day were team Ollie, Emily, Nate, Jake and Callum. Very well done to this team and a much deserved prize of an Amazon voucher will be given for your great efforts of completing all the activities!

Overall, it was a gratifying way to start our final week of year 12 after the exam period. It was great to see students having a good time with their teams as this was exactly our aim for this activity day – to get as many people involved as possible and having a good time. Thank you to all of the teachers who got involved and created challenges as there was such a variety of activities that made this day enjoyable and unique.

Student Voice is very satisfied with the turnout and will continue to plan more interactive activities for students and teachers to maintain our high community morale.

Update from Cambodia

Written by Gemma Long on July 21, 2022. Posted in News - MC, News - VI, Uncategorized.

Update from Cambodia

After the first week of the Cambodia expedition, staff have sent us a short update on what they have been up to and the fantastic photos below. It looks like they are having the most wonderful experience and embracing every moment.

“Students are doing well and engrossing themselves in the local culture. At the start, the students explored the capital visiting S21 and the killing fields which was an extremely sombre experience. The last few days they have been constructing a chicken coop for a local family, making tiles and planting 15 banana trees. They managed to find approximately 30 scorpions which the students enjoyed and one of the team held a tarantula!”

Mrs Shorrock and Mr Norman.

Rythmtree Festival Performance

Written by Gemma Long on July 20, 2022. Posted in News - CC, News - MC, News - VI, Uncategorized.

Rythmtree Festival Performance

48 students from across the IWEF performed an hour’s set of music in basking heat on the Friday afternoon of the Rhythmtree Festival.

Ensembles from Carisbrooke College’s ‘School of Rock’ club performed hits by Oasis, The White Stripes, Vance Joy and various others. Carisbrooke College’s KS3 choir ‘Sing’ performed ‘Don’t worry be happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. Students from Medina College’s Years 10 and 11 also performed hits by UB40, The Beatles and Bob Marley, supported by Tilly Grimshaw from the Island VI Form.

The performances took place on the colourful ‘Carnevale’ stage and formed part of the IOW Music Hub’s lineup of local schools.

Our musical students have had a very busy term with many events and we are extremely proud of them and the effort and enthusiasm they have shown in preparing for these. It has been wonderful to see their performance skills and confidence growing more and more with each performance.

Mrs Peckham

Join us this September!

Written by Gemma Long on July 18, 2022. Posted in News - VI, The Island VI Form.

Join us this September!

It is not too late to join us this September. The courses below have been fully confirmed to run and staff are in place to help you begin your VI Form journey. We have the widest range of A level courses and a proven track record of success. Our students progress to top universities and career opportunities.

Take a look at the Apply 2022 page to see the prospectus, course entry requirements and application form. Alternatively, get in contact by emailing viform@iwef.org.uk if you would like an informal chat about your options.

Aspire and achieve at The Island VI Form.

Year 13 Prom 2022

Written by Gemma Long on July 7, 2022. Posted in News - VI, The Island VI Form.

Year 13 Prom 2022

Bowing out in style!

On Thursday 30th June, our outgoing Year 13s held their Prom at Landguard Manor. The magnificence of the venue, however, was utterly surpassed by the elegance and style of the students, each and every one of whom had really gone to town to recreate that Old Hollywood glamour.

The Prom committee’s tireless work over the last 6 months really paid off, as the evening, blessed by fabulous weather, was the perfect ending to their time with us.

As a year group they are, as they have proved so often over the last two years through their hard work and resilience, a huge credit to the Federation and we wish them every success in the future.

Many thanks to Adam Pearson of APV Services for the wonderful images below.

A Level Geographers visit the IW Festival

Written by Gemma Long on June 30, 2022. Posted in News - VI, The Island VI Form.

A Level Geographers visit the IW Festival

How smelly is the Isle of Wight Festival?

This important question and others were investigated by Geography A-level students when they visited the Isle of Wight Festival during their lesson on Friday 17 June.

As part of an investigation into the importance of arts led regeneration on the Isle of Wight, students tried out sound scaping, emotional and smelly mapping and conducting an urban drift through the festival site. Students learnt how to use sampling strategies to choose their sites and created environmental quality indexes that suited a festival. These skills will in turn support them in their own coursework investigations for the remainder of the term.

We had fun, we learnt some new skills and we found out that the IW Festival is a very noisy, smelly place indeed!

Mrs Allen.

Students perform on the Kidzone Stage at the IW Festival!

Written by Gemma Long on June 30, 2022. Posted in News - CC, News - MC, News - VI, Uncategorized.

Students perform on the Kidzone Stage at the IW Festival!

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

Music has been very hard hit by the impact of covid, with singing and ensembles only this year being allowed to form, but 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 Kidzone stage at various times over the weekend, 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.

Carisbrooke’s Key Stage 3 choir ‘Sing’ performed hits by Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. Various bands and ensembles from Carisbrooke College’s popular ‘School of Rock’ club performed a variety of songs they had all chosen themselves, ranging from Queen to Green Day. Medina College’s year 10 group ‘The Antiband’ performed hits by The Beatles and year 11s from Medina joined with students from The Island VI Form to lead a lively closing set on Saturday afternoon.

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

If you would like to get involved in similar musical activities, please speak to your Music teacher – all welcome!

Mrs. Peckham, Mr. Turner, Mr. Winsor and Mr. Wiseman

Skyborne at Gloucester Airport Visit

Written by Gemma Long on June 24, 2022. Posted in News - VI, The Island VI Form.

Skyborne at Gloucester Airport Visit

A group of Year 12 travel and tourism students recently visited Skybourne at Gloucester airport. Skyborne is an innovative airline training academy.

Students enjoyed workshops, presentations and demonstrations about roles within the airline industry.

Representatives from British Airways and Easyjet were on hand to answer any questions regarding recruitment and roles within the sector. It was an informative event that the students found interesting and useful.