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.

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.

Students from the Foundation Diploma in Art & Design course recently showcased their hard work in an end of year exhibition show at the Independent Arts Creative Hub in Newport. 

A private view was held on the evening of Saturday 11 June where staff, parents, governors and members of the local arts community were invited to have a first look at the finished pieces. The exhibition then remained in place and open to the public for the next week. 

This was the first time that a show of this kind has been able to go ahead since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, so both staff and students were very excited to finally be able to showcase their hard work again. 

This year, students approached subjects such as spirituality, female control, movement of dance, split personality disorder, and other intriguing concepts.  The students created interesting and artistic responses to their research, working across the disciplines of sculpture, painting, photography, digital art, textiles and illustration. We also exhibited some beautiful examples of miniature kimonos from our year 13 Fashion students’ final project.

Course Leader for the Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Hannah Woodford said “I have been so impressed by the commitment and professionalism shown by the students this year. It is clear to see the dedication and effort that they have put into their final projects and it was amazing to be able to show everyone the standard of work that has been produced. We can’t wait to see where these talented students progress to next and will be following their exciting journeys ahead.”

Year 12 VI Form Student, Josh Sunnucks took part in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant, dressed as one of 20 unicorns.  Josh, one of about 200 performers for this section, was part of the Queen’s Fantastical Beasts performance arranged by Shademakers from Ryde. 

Josh regularly performs with Dance Vibez from Shanklin and Ryde and rehearsed for his role since February.  As it was not possible to have a full dress rehearsal, part of this was using webinars arranged by the pageant organisers.   Josh said that it was a long day, leaving their hotel in Wembley at 7.30pm and not getting back to the Island until gone 11pm;  he had to wear his 30kg costume, made from aluminium and plastic for about 3 hours.   Josh said that the cheering crowds were the best part of the day.

Josh, who joined us from The Bay Academy at Sandown, is studying mathematics, physics and business studies for A-Level, plans to go to university and sees his future in financial management.   Josh is already on the road to celebrity status having been interviewed by Hello magazine.  In the magazine he is quoted, “Being able to say I’ve puppeteered a unicorn will look great on my university application.”

Josh and his fellow puppeteers will be performing in some of the Island’s carnivals this summer. Well done Josh, what a fantastic experience! 

Congratulations to Frankie, one of Travel and Tourism students who has managed to secure an internship with Tourism Teacher, an online organisation that shares the principles and practice of tourism management from both an academic and practical perspective. Mrs McCarthy introduced Frankie to the intern programme and she is so proud of what she has already achieved as a result of it. 

Frankie has published a couple of articles on the website now and has been commissioned to write more. 

Here is a link to her article on the Isle of Wight: https://tourismteacher.com/tourism-in-the-isle-of-wight/

Here is a link to her article on Cornwall: https://tourismteacher.com/tourism-in-cornwall-things-to-do-in-cornwall/

We are so proud of the research and writing skills that Frankie is demonstrating. Well done!