On the 10th of March The Island Free School took up the BBC school report challenge. Schools from all around the country were given the task of creating a professional, well produced news feature.
Our pupils did extraordinarily well, taking a multi-media approach to the challenge. Our pupils not only put together a brilliant live news reading, but also included various interviews, written news stories and a marvellous ‘on location’ weather feature from our very own Ventor beach.
The Island Free School BBC news report
News:
Weather:
R.E Drop Down Day:
News with Cameron:
Behind the scenes with Ellena:
The Island Free School engages in the Music and Drama Festival! Students competed in various categories . Click the link below to hear how the students got on.
Music and Drama Festival
The Weekend Weather Round-up with Isobelle . Please click the link below to hear the weather report.
The Weekend Weather Round-up
Pupils from The Island Free School discuss the EU Referendum with MP Andrew Turner.
EU Referendum
Sporting Round-up Please click the link below to hear the sporting report.
The Weekend Weather Round-up
Our written stories:
Music and Drama Festival
The Music & Drama festival is an annual event partaken with many prestigious schools like Ryde Private, Cowes, and Christ the King. Beau and Elsie cover some of the students who participated in the competition, while also adding in some teacher and pupil interviews. Please click the link below:
The extra curricular mile
A recent government report has urged that schools must go the extracurricular mile. The report goes on to say that no school should be judged outstanding by Ofsted unless it offers excellent extracurricular activities, careers advice and work experience.
A school that has taken this on board is the Island Free School, where students all take part in an enrichment hour at the end of each school day. Each child picks a new programme of extra curricular activities every term. These range from the traditional sports to coding and minecraft.
Mr Boyd the headteacher said “we welcome this report, it fully supports out ethos, we believe all children should be entitled to a full range of opportunities. It’s not just about developing academic subjects, but developing the whole student and finding the talents and interests that will follow them through life.”
Sporting Headlines
Sporting Highlights:
Success for the Island Free School’s under 13 girls rugby team who competed in Hampshire on Thursday 3rd March. They had victory against Toynbee and Kings. Their biggest triumph was winning 7-0 against Perrins.
Further success for the Island Free School’s under 13 boys hockey team who competed at Hampshire on Tuesday 1st March . Beating Kings School, Robert May’s, Thornden and Ditcham Park.
On Monday 29th February, the Island Free School’s under 13 girls competed in the Lady Taverners cricket competition and won all of their matches against Medina.
Indivisual success came for Maisie W when she gained a fantastic 1st place in the IOW cross country championship.
Finally, there was triumph for the year 7 rugby team who won the Hampshire Plate. And that concludes the headlines.
BBC Solent Radio!
On the 10th of march, 2016, me, Harvey and Leah went to BBC Radio Solent, as part of the BBC school report. We woke up early for a 07:45 Red Jet, then got in a taxi from Southampton to the Radio Solent Studio. Once we were their, we hanged around for a bit in the waiting area, and then we were on! First, the presenter Julian asked us why we chose our topic, which waas immigration. Then, the radio package we had pre-recorded in school was played, which included an interview with the Island’s MP Andrew Turner. It was very fun, because it was the first time we had heard it since the editing process. After that, Julian asked us some questions about our school. It was nowhere near as scary as we thought, because even though we knew we were being listened to, it felt like just a casual chat. Once we were off-air, we had a quick tour of the studio, then it was time to go (via Starbucks!). Then we hopped back on the Red Jet and came back to the island.
-Arthur
Latin
Latin is a subject not prioritised by the government with only 27 teacher training places funded, annually. This means that many lessons are taught by non-specialists, if any lessons are taught at all. Many Private schools teach Latin in the UK, 453 compared to 505 Public schools, but only 9% of students attend private schools and 88% attend state schools. This means that many children only learn Latin if they are paying for their education.
However, The Island Free School, In Ventnor, IOW, is hoping to change this by teaching Latin to all students, as an ordinary lesson for two hours every week. Mrs Peace, Head of Latin, for more.
‘It’s a challenge learning Latin and I enjoy teaching the stories It gives me a chance to learn it myself and I enjoy so much.’ Said Mrs Peace
We asked a few students about what they enjoyed-
‘I enjoy playing the Latin games’
‘I like learning new words and phrases’
‘I think that translating is fun’
So the future of Latin lessons is looking bright for The Island Free School. Its definitely certain that pupils here enjoy learning, don’t forget to check our website for more stories.
By Mia, Fay and Ellena
Gigajam success
Gigajam is electrical music equipment which allows you to learn to play different instruments through software applications.
Over the last couple of months, Gigajam has had much success with coming 6th place in the world rankings.
“Personally, I prefer to play the keyboard because it encourages me to try something new and it’s a fun instrument to play.” Quoted by Amanda.
“I like playing the drums because in primary school I did my grade 1 exam for the drums, so I enjoy learning more challenging things.” Quoted by Cassidy.
By Amanda and Cassidy.
Body Image and Photoshop
Women and men who are put in magazines and the news are usually are made to look perfect by photoshopping the image. Is beauty really skin deep? Or is everyone’s image beautiful the way they are? Are people fake? Or is this the way it is? Here are some peoples views on photoshopping.
Please click the link below:
The Island Free School – Music
The Island Free School was set up in September 2014 by a group of dedicated teachers and parents, who had a vision of a fully academic school with a music specialism. The school has free music tuition for two years, so that all students have an instrument within reach.
The school has 12 music scholars, which have been chosen for their musical talent. One of the scholars(Cameron Tarry) said “Being a scholar is very fun. The responsibilities are fun and having contact with you sponsor is cool.” Every year when the school lets in new students, they will select 12 new scholars.
All of the scholars are sponsored by a donor, who pays for their tuition. Some of these are John Buckland, Mark King from level 42, Island Auction rooms and others.
The students have music lessons almost every day. Recently they have been learning a class performance which is ‘Symphony No.5, first movement’ which the keen students enjoy. They play the instrument that they are learning for their enrichment.
The enrichment programme is where the students get to choose an instrument to play. The students have to do an instrument for one of the enrichment hours. There is a choice of brass, strings, percussion, woodwind and choir. Student, Ted Henly commented “I think that its really fun and it really opens pupils eyes to what they can play.”
