After a great start to the academic year at Carisbrooke College for our sports programme during Autumn Term 1, our students have followed it up with another fantastic half term. 

Curriculum PE
This term, students have continued to take part in a wide range of activities and have rose to the challenge of our health and fitness lessons which have included completing the Carisbrooke College Cross Country course in preparation for the Isle of Wight Schools competition in November and our younger students have also tested themselves both physically and mentally by doing their best in the Multi-Stage Fitness test (Bleep Test). A special shout out goes to Jenson W, Joshua P and Nora J who gained the highest level in year 7 when completing the test.  Students are also halfway through completing Indoor Rowing House competitions in preparation for the Isle of Wight Championships next term.

Next term will see Hockey, Rugby, Handball, Pickleball and a few more house competitions come into the curriculum.

BTEC Sport and Leadership
Our BTEC Sport year 11 students have now completed all their practical and coursework elements of the course and will be focusing on preparing for their exam in the summer term.  Well done to all of them for getting their video evidence in on time and working hard throughout their moderations to do the best they can.  

Year 10s have been putting in the foundations in the lead up to Christmas to ensure that when they come back in January they are ready to start putting together their own practical evidence linked to the scenarios they have now been given. A reminder to all year 10 BTEC students and parents/guardians that if they perform in sport outside of school, the more video evidence they get of themselves playing in competitive environments and during training the more this will benefit them when they move into year 11.

The Sports Leadership Academy has continued to offer opportunities to our students which in turn has supported over 200 primary students to engage in sport and develop their own abilities and passion for sport.  So far this year they have supported primary students take part in Tag Rugby and Indoor Athletics and also took part in both Rugby and Handball coaching courses.  Next term students will continue to grow their coaching skills and support further school based and primary events.

Extra-Curricular
Throughout the Autumn term, we’ve recorded over 2,258 student appearances at both clubs and fixtures within the sports department.  A further 93 students this half term have joined the clubs and fixtures offered bringing the total to 313 individual participants across lunchtime and after-school clubs - a fantastic achievement and one we hope continues to increase as the year progresses.

As our football seasons come to an end, our year 7s finished with 7 points (4th overall) in their league.  Well done to our freshman athletes who turned a difficult start to a campaign into a successful and promising season to very much build on next year.  Year 8 finished 5th overall which, considering they never quite managed to field a full strength team on any occasion, does highlight that there is more potential to come.  Our year 10s who went unbeaten until the last day of the season when they unfortunately slipped to 4th after being in first with only one game left to play.  This shows how competitive year 10 were this year across the island which made for a great competition.  Our girls sides have continued their impressive start to the season with 2 wins from 2 for our u13s and 1 win and 1 draw from our u15s which sees them both top of their respective leagues moving into the Christmas break.  Our year 7s also tied for first in a recent indoor competition for the girls which they just missed out on representing the Isle of Wight at the next stage of the competition due to goal difference.  As a result of the girls football success and, most importantly engagement throughout the term, 36 students were treated by Miss Dewey to a trip to St Mary’s to watch our Lionesses in action against Ghana in December.  All of the students loved the game and Mr Peake loved seeing his favourite Russo come on and blast in a penalty.  Thank you to Mr Lyle and Ms Jones for coming along to support the girls and a massive thank you to Miss Dewey for organising this fantastic opportunity. 

Well done also goes to all our netball teams who have been competing in the Isle of Wight Championships at Cowes Enterprise College.  Whilst all our teams have found the level of competition challenging at times, they have all represented the school with pride and done their best. 

In our cross-country outings this term, not only did we have several teams place in the top three at the team events, we also had a number of runners do very well at the more recent individual competition.  William C was the standout performer with his 1st place in the U14 category which will now see him progress to the Hampshire round of the English Schools competitions. 

We also took part in a couple of firsts for the school this term.  Firstly we entered a recent climbing competition which saw 7 of our students compete in three disciplines.  Despite it being their first time taking part in anything like this, they came away with two 1st places and one 3rd place in the three separate events which eventually led to them taking 1st overall!

In the second of these new events, Carisbrooke entered both the U13 and U16 team Table Tennis competitions and, again, despite it being the first time any of them had played a competitive game, both boys teams won their respective age groups and went on to be the only schools representing the Isle of Wight at the Hampshire competition.  Our U16 team eventually making the semi-finals was simply outstanding.  Then to follow this up, Joseph P in the individual competition more recently came second overall and will also go on to represent the Isle of Wight Schools at the Hampshire round in January.

Collectively, our PE staff have continued to volunteer their time for all the additional sports activities put on offer and have so far this year clocked up a massive 234 hours of additional time this term.  This has allowed for students to attend 36 separate events which included a total of 108 competitive fixtures. 

Lunchtime clubs have continued to include badminton, table tennis, basketball, netball, indoor cricket, and Tech Deck Club, while after-school activities have focused on football, basketball, and netball - all supported by our dedicated PE team.  Next term there will be a change to our timetable for sports being offered so please keep a look out for this and for the change to how students sign up to them.  More information will follow in the new year. 

House Competitions
Following on from our launch of the Sports-Based House Competitions, where students earn points through participation, fixtures, and end-of-term contests, this half term students have been carrying on gaining points for their respective houses.  Students have competed in our Inter-House Cross Country championships, Ladies World Cup Cricket competition and are part of the way through their indoor rowing and fitness challenges, both of which will finish next half term. 

At the time of writing this, students will still be finishing their badminton competitions in lessons and so these points will be added on to the totals next half term.

Final Cross Country Standings:
7D - 551
7B - 543
9C - 492
8C - 445
8D - 432
9A - 428
9B - 405
9D - 375
8A - 374
10B - 333
10C - 331
7A - 314
10D - 306
7C - 282
8B - 255
10A - 242

Current Leaders by Year Group:
Year 7: 7D – 1210 points
Year 8: 8C - 711 points
Year 9: 9D - 905 points
Year 10: 10B - 602 points
Year 11: 11D - 198 points

Overall House Standings:
1) D House – 3428 pts
2) B House – 2585 pts
3) A House – 2530 pts
4) C House – 2406 pts

Santa Dash
The last day of term saw 250 students take part in our fifth instalment of the annual Santa Dash, which raises money for the Island-based charity 'The Wight Brainy Bunch'.  This is a fabulous event organised by Mrs Peake which really demonstrates the community spirit of our students and staff. Thank you to all those who took part and/or raised money for this special cause.  You should be proud of the medals you gained, and we hope you enjoyed your Hot Chocolates.

Outstanding Performers
In our individual performances across all year groups, those below have achieved the most appearances.  Well done to you all for your dedication and commitment to the sports department and leading a healthy lifestyle:

Year 7: Joshua P (71), Joseph P (48), Harry G (46), Owen M (45) and Jack M (42)
Year 8: Mason B-S (15), Matthew B (14), Amy W (13), Iris L (10) and  William M (10)
Year 9: Dylan M (62), Logan M (62), Ted M (60), Harry M (48) and Noah K (43)
Year 10: Amelia C (26), Warrick C (21), Summer D-C (20), Cooper W (20) and Elana K (19)
Year 11: River S (16), Josh C (12), Joseph G (12), Lillie A (11) and Cerese B (11)

Looking Ahead
Next half term will see the beginning of the basketball season, badminton and Indoor Cricket tournaments along with a few more events, hopefully to be organised.