It is with great pleasure that I write this first newsletter as your new Head of School. My name is Mr Pearce-Jones and it has been an absolute pleasure to take over the day to day running of the school from Mr Parr-Burman. As Mr Parr Burman wrote to you before the summer holidays, he has not left the federation but is focusing primarily on his role of Executive Head of all three schools.

As a little bit of background to myself, I am an islander born and bred but for the past four years I have been part of the leadership team of an inner city school in Southampton. Previous to this, I have worked at both Carisbrooke College and Cowes High School (as it was then).

September is always an exciting part of the new academic year because it gives all our community the opportunity to reset and think about two important questions:

1) What type of person do I want to be this year?
2) Where am I hoping to make progress and experience success?

This is the message that I have been delivering in assemblies throughout the week. Sometimes, change can be difficult and a little overwhelming but as the author of Alice in Wonderland wrote, “everything seems impossible until you believe it is possible.”

As a school community, we believe that every child has the ability to shine, either in or out of the classroom, and we are passionate about making sure that we make this possible. So, if there are any barriers to learning that you feel your child is experiencing, please communicate this to us so that we can, where possible, ensure that these barriers are overcome.

It has been lovely to hear already about some of the successes that our students have been achieving over the summer holiday. As a couple of examples we have a Year 11 student, Summer G, who has produced a fabulous piece of art work which took her 56 hours to complete and Jasmine NC in Year 8, who took part in a hard ball cricket match for Cowes Cricket Club playing for the over 11s team and winning all their matches. Also, I would like to give a special shout out to Year 7 who have finished the week with best attendance of the school!

Although the weather has been hot this week, the uniform has been amazing so thank you. Unless you hear otherwise, students will be expected to be back in blazers from Monday.

Finally, as we end our first week, I am sure your child has been talking about some of the amazing learning they have been experiencing. However, if things have not been going well, please reassure them that every day is a new start and a new opportunity to make things better.

I very much look forward to working with you over the coming year and hope you manage to enjoy the sunshine this weekend.

Mr Pearce-Jones

Head of School – Medina College