Following on from our Year 12 trip to the national Lit in Colour conference last week, another part of The Island VI Form being a 2023 Lit in Colour pioneer school is the wonderful library we have been given by Edexcel and the programme’s partners, in particular Penguin Books and The Runnymede Trust.

In all the library contains about 300 texts, and it ranges from Key Stage 3 through to A level, covers non-fiction, poetry and prose, and includes current authors like Bernardine Evaristo, Yaa Gyasi, Benjamin Zephaniah and Caleb Azumah Nelson, as well as historical writers of colour, all helping to extend the diversity of the reading experience available to our students. In particular, our A level English Literature students have been able to use the library straightaway to make their own choices for the texts they will study for their coursework project, as well as Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire and Lynn Nottage’s Sweat that they are reading for their exams. There are books from the collection that can be borrowed from the Carisbrooke and Medina College Libraries, and from our A level Literature classrooms at VI Form.

Huge thanks go to Edexcel and the organisers for such an inspiring initiative, and we can’t wait to share the books with as many of our students as possible in the future.

A level English Literature teachers Mrs Carroll and Mr Saunders and their students with the new Lit in Colour library

Last Friday we had a delegate, India Milner, from Victim Care – the IOW and Hampshire branch of Victim Support, come in and deliver a presentation to our VI Form criminology students.

Part of our course is to study the rights of victims and also look at the role of charities and advocacy groups involved in the criminal justice system. India created an informative presentation that detailed what victim care offers its service users; creating safety plans, support for ongoing cases and court preparation, providing security items, liaising with the police and other support agencies and producing supportive guides and resources.

India informed us of the three types of teams that cover the area which include the multi crime team, the domestic abuse team and the children’s and young person team. She took us on a journey of the criminal justice system and discussed in detail what the 12 rights of the Victims Code meant.

For more information what this fantastic group does visit: https://www.hampshireiowvictimcare.co.uk/

You can also find them on social media:
Twitter: @VCS_HantsIOW
Facebook: @Victim Care Service
Instagram: @vcs_hiow

Ten A level English Literature students went with Mrs Carroll and Mr Saunders on a trip to London this week to take part in a diversity conference as part of the nationwide Lit in Colour programme. The event at Friends House included work from Birmingham Young Poet Laureate Iona Mandal, presentations from Jeffrey Boakye, Wendy Lennon and Akiya Henry on issues of identity, ethnicity, Shakespeare and drama, and a poetry slam hosted by Yomi Sode.

Afterwards, they visited Keats House in Hampstead and took in the atmosphere and history of the place that was home to the Romantic poet for two of the most productive years of his short writing life.

Finally, they were able to drop in on the Treasures exhibition at The British Library and see first-hand some of the most significant documents, books and maps collected there. It was a long and lovely day, with lots of literary inspiration for everyone who took part.

On Thursday 29th June, our outgoing Year 13s held their Prom at Landguard Manor. It was a mysterious evening with a huge variety of masks being worn and some fantastic dresses and outfits on display. 

It was a beautiful evening and students enjoyed a fabulous Hog Roast meal in the gardens, before dancing the night away to the DJ set in the main house. Many staff attended to say their farewells and wish students well in their future endeavors. 

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. 

As part of their Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at The Island VI Form, students recently exhibited their work at the Independent Arts Gallery in the centre of Newport. The exhibition was both exciting and thought provoking.

A private view was well-attended by family, friends, tutors, governors and members of the Island’s art community. There was a broad range of disciplines on show including; painting, printing, costume design and film.

The students have rightly been commended for their high quality outcomes, as well as the diversity in their themes.

The show will now travel to the Arch Window Gallery in Ryde where the work will continue to inspire and impress visitors over the summer.

Course leaders and tutors would like to express many thanks to all at Independent Arts for their help in the success of this event, and in advance to the curators of the Arch Window Gallery where the students’ work can be viewed up until 16 August.

This week, 14 science students attended a 3 hour chemistry workshop at Southampton University. Students extracted, purified and analysed Trimyristin from nutmeg. They worked in pairs within the fume hoods to carry out the procedures. Once they had obtained their purified Trimyristin, they checked the purity using thin layer chromatography, melting point and infra-red spectroscopy.

All of our students had hands-on experience of a university laboratory and also got to explore the university campus. All students successfully extracted and purified the Trimyristin and were praised by the university staff for their practical skills. One group was complimented on how good their infra-red spectroscopy was in indicating how pure the sample was. We are very grateful to our local Universities who offer us opportunities such as this, to experience and explore post-18 educational options.