Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to another exciting academic year at Carisbrooke College. We hope your families had a restful and safe summer break. As we open our doors and settle into our routines, I wanted to write to you about our shared vision, our high standards, and some vital policy updates that help us protect your children’s education.
A Great Moment This Week: Our Inspiring Staff Development Day!
The highlight of our week was, without a doubt, our Staff Development Day on Tuesday 1 September, which set a truly inspiring, relational, and unified tone for the entire academic year ahead.
Here are some of the "best bits" and key themes our staff highlighted from the day:
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A Continued Shift to a Relational and Trauma-Informed Approach: Our staff expressed immense enthusiasm for our philosophical shift from punitive consequences, to trauma-informed, relational behaviour practices. As our team strongly agreed, "relationships are at the heart of everything we do" and strong connections directly improve student outcomes. Staff also gave fantastic feedback on our Choice, Chance, Consequence (CCC) behaviour framework and our Entry Routine, noting that they will encourage smoother starts to lessons, provide clear expectations, and minimise classroom disruption. Furthermore, there was widespread agreement that we move away from traditional detentions, focusing instead on restorative conversations and structured interventions.
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Inclusivity, Value, and Whole-School Unity: The training fostered a deep sense of community, with our Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) and office staff sharing how valued, equal, and included they felt in the school's vision. We are truly on a unified, trust-wide "Pupil-First" journey, working as "one great team" with a responsive Senior Leadership Team (SLT) that actively listens to concerns and courageously tries new ideas to benefit our students.
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High-Impact Safeguarding and Results Celebrations: The mandatory safeguarding training was praised as highly relevant and valuable. Additionally, reviewing our 2026 GCSE results was incredibly motivating for our team, giving us a proud moment to celebrate our successes while recognising that we all care deeply, work exceptionally hard, and are constantly learning together.
A Thought from the Head: Meeting the "Island Challenge" Together
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-island-challenge-tackling-poor-outcomes-on-the-isle-of-wight/
Recently, educational circles have highlighted the unique regional challenges faced by schools on the Isle of Wight. In a widely discussed article in Schools Week, we addressed "The Island Challenge", pointing out the historic geographic and economic barriers to academic outcomes in our coastal region. The Schools Week article candidly discusses the island's recruitment landscape, noting that finding specialised staff is "doubly difficult". It is therefore, with immense pride and creative determination that we welcome our outstanding new appointments to key roles:
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Charlotte Turner - Exams Officer
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Catherine Killeen - HR Administrator
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James Smith - Caretaker
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Carolyne Onsongo - Teacher of Science
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Femi Adegbulugbe - Teacher of Science
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Jewels Sandercock - Teacher of English
Looking Ahead: Key Messages from Our Policies
To ensure our academic castle remains secure, safe, and transparent, we have recently published and updated several essential policies. As our key partners, please note these crucial messages and upcoming actions:
I. Digital Integrity: IT Acceptable Use Agreement & AI Policy
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IT Acceptable Use Agreement (v1.1): Updated to include new AI policy. All students will sign it next week.
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4-Level Student AI Usage Framework: Our new AI Policy sets out clear standards for generative AI. We will be working on implementing this with staff and students.
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Data Protection & Privacy: To protect your child’s privacy, students and staff must never upload personal details, sensitive information, or photos of others into AI tools
II. Safety First: HISP Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy (2026/27)
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Staff Wellbeing Boundaries: Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) and staff are not expected to monitor emails, phone lines, or CPOMS outside working hours.
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Modern Digital Risks (AI & Deepfakes): We explicitly address the risk of deepfakes and AI-manipulated hoaxes. Staff will never dismiss a safeguarding concern simply because the material was AI-generated; all reports are assessed solely on the real-world impact on the child.
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Parent Partnerships & Restorative Support: Except in rare cases where doing so would put a child at further risk, we will always discuss disclosures with parents early. In serious allegations such as child-on-child abuse, the DSL will meet separately with the victim's parents to outline support, and with the alleged perpetrator's parents to discuss necessary safety and educational adjustments, such as class moves.
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Early Intervention ("Family Help"): We monitor attendance, severe absence, and repeated lateness as key indicators of wider welfare needs, partnering with families early to provide support before issues escalate.
III. Partnership & Transparency: HISP Complaints Policy (2026-2028)
Should you ever have a concern, we are committed to resolving it fairly and transparently, guided by our core value of "Pupils First". We have published a clear Parents' Guide to Resolving Concerns detailing our three-stage process. The full Complaints Policy, Parents' Guide are permanently and openly available on the school website for your convenience and a visual copy is below.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support as we build our educational castle together.
Warmest regards,
Natalie Sheppard
Headteacher, Carisbrooke College
