Medina Matters - Medina College
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Medina Matters 22nd November 2019
Diary Dates:
Update from the Head
Tuesday 26th November 2019
Karen Begley, Head of School Year 9 Learn with Us taster session
at Southampton University
Dear Parents, Careers and Students
Wednesday 27th November 2019
Year 11 have now finished their rehearsal exams. On Friday 13th Year 9 Sexual Health Awareness
December, they will receive their results on the planned mock Worshops
results day. The mock results day gives students the chance to
experience what to expect in the summer and to give them the Wednesday 4th December 2019
opportunity to reflect on how they feel and what needs to be done 6.10pm in the Library
to improve their grades. From conversations I have had with some Medina College Parent Voice
Year 11s, some of them realise they have not been doing enough Meeting
revision!
Wednesday 11th December 2019
This week we were lucky enough to have Steve Bingham, an IWEF Music Department Winter
eclectic violinist and conductor renowned worldwide for both Concert
his solo concerts and his work with the Bingham String Quartet,
perform and work with our GCSE music groups at both Medina and Wednesday 11th and Thursday
Carisbrooke. The students came out buzzing! 12th December 2019
Year 11 Mock Interviews
Two important areas that need addressing now are attendance and
punctuality. Well done to 7A who had the top attendance of the Friday 13th December 2019
Year 11 Mock Results Day.
school this week with 97.7%. 8G were a close second with 97.1%.
Attendance is crucial – when students improve their attendance
Friday 20th December 2019
rates, they improve their academic prospects. Punctuality is a
Mufti Day (students to pay
wonderful trait in a person, one to be admired and respected.
£1) Money raised will got to
Punctuality displays a person’s respect for people and time. Mountbatten Hospice and Dance
Students need to be in school ready to be lined up for tutor time Live.
at 8.45am.
Monday 23rd December 2019 -
Uniform has definitely been looking better. Thank you for Friday 3rd January 2020
supporting us with this. I would encourage all students to have Christmas Break
coats with them, as the weather is rather unpredictable at the
moment. These do not replace their blazers. Friday 10th January 2020
Carisbrooke and Medina Year 11
The next Parent Voice Meeting is on Tuesday 4th December at taster day at VI Form
6.10pm in the Medina College library. I look forward to meeting
parents then. Don’t forget, everyone is welcome. Wednesday 15th January 2020
Year 11 Parents’/Carers’ Subject
Well done to the top house point achievers this week. In Year 7 Evening
Teigan Sandells, Year 8 Lucas Harding, Year 9 Kayden Anderson,
Year 10 Olivia Salter and Year 11 Tj Groundsell. Saturday 25th January 2020
VI Form Open Day
Have a lovely weekend.
Safeguarding News
It is not uncommon for teenagers to try drugs or drink alcohol in their teenage years. For some they may
experiment and make the positive choice not to participate but, there are also those who become dependent
on drugs or alcohol. Parenting a teenager who is addicted to drugs or is alcohol dependent can be devastating
and you may feel like everything you say is falling on deaf ears. Our section on drugs and alcohol has articles
about spotting the signs and having the conversations to help your child stay healthy and safe. https://www.
familylives.org.uk/advice/teenagers/drugs-alcohol/
Travel Update
On Tuesday 26th. Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th November between 0600-1800 the road will be closed
between the High Street and Trinity Church. We will be unable to serve the stops at Ventnor Library and
Trinity Church. This will affect your 316.
The bus will divert from Mitchell's Ave via Spring Hill, High St, Victoria St to rejoin route at Albert St. In
the morning students who would board at Trinity Church or Ventnor Library will have to make their way to
Central Car Park Bus Stop.
IWEF Music Department Winter Concert
Our IWEF Music Department are presenting their first federated Winter Concert at St. Mary’s Church,
Carisbrooke (PO30 1NN) on the evening of Wednesday 11th December 2019 at 7pm.
The evening will contain performances from students (and staff!) across the IWEF (Carisbrooke College,
Medina College and VI Form). We warmly invite you all to come along and share in the evening's seasonal
offerings: St. Mary’s is a beautiful and historical venue and the students are sounding fantastic in rehearsals
so it promises to be a very enjoyable event! Doors open 6.30pm and there will be festive refreshments of
mulled wine, mince pies, tea/coffee and biscuits available. The concert is free to attend but there will be a
raffle and a retiring collection for our Music Department.
Hot Chocolate
Duke of Edinburgh Award training last
night students enjoyed a hot chocolate
after learning how to use the camp
cookers. Yum!
Year 7 Football Our year 7 boys football team have won the Island League after beating Ryde Academy 4-2. Conratulations!!
At National Online Safety we believe in empowering parents, carers and trusted adults with the information they need to hold an informed conversation about online safety with their children, should they
feel it is needed. This guide focuses on one platform of many which we believe trusted adults should be aware of. Please visit www.nationalonlinesafety.com for further guides, hints and tips for adults.
ESTRICTIO
Call of Duty is undeniably one of the most recognisable video games on the planet. The first ER
game was released for the PC way back in 2003, and the franchise has spawned a whopping 16
AG
18+
N
titles to date, and featured on almost 20 gaming consoles and devices. Despite being one of the
most popular games on the market, CoD has never been a stranger to controversy; themes of
war, terrorism and other adult subjects parents and guardians might feel uncomfortable
exposing their children to, have always been a part of the series. The latest iteration, Call of of a parent or legal
Duty: Modern Warfare, is no different, even doubling down on some of these mature themes. guardian required.
So with that in mind, here’s a helpful guide to aid you in navigating the world of Call of Duty.
CALL OFDUTY
VIOLENCE AND GRAPHIC CONTENT INCREDIBLY RAW CAMPAIGN
Call of Duty has been given an 18+ rating due The single player campaign in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare focuses
to “violence against vulnerable and around a war in the fictitious Middle Eastern country of Urzikstan. It
defenceless characters, motiveless killing of features special forces operations, large open battles, chemical
innocent characters, graphic violence and weapons and torture. Infinity Ward (who developed the game) have
use of strong language.” Despite the rating, gone on record saying this is the most realistic and grounded game
the game is still extremely popular amongst they’ve ever made, so it stands to reason that the campaign has
under 18’s who could be exposed to violent generated a huge amount of controversy, especially in today’s
themes or foul language that parents and heated political climate. While younger players might not fully
carers may not deem suitable or age grasp what’s going on on screen, it’s bound to raise some
appropriate for their children. uncomfortable questions if they’re left to play it unsupervised.
CHATTING TO STRANGERS ADDICTIVE NATURE
By far the biggest pull for players to Call of Duty is the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has promised to be
expansive multiplayer. As well as offering up a wide variety of the best yet. The game features a number of new
competitive game modes, Modern Warfare also includes some game modes and now includes crossplay for the
co-op gameplay modes. Ideally, this means players and first time, whereby players can now play each
children can join a group with their friends and play together other across any device (i.e. Xbox, Playstation or
online. However, players can play against or with anyone in the PC). As always tends to be the case when a new
world and, with no filter, the language used may often be game is released, players spend large amounts of
inappropriate for young children. Due to the competitive time getting to grips with the new features and the
nature of gaming and the fact conversations are not repetitive nature of COD means children can find it
moderated, your child could also be at risk of cyberbullying. difficult to stop playing and realise their limits.
LOOT BOXES SWAPPED FOR BATTLE PASSES
Previous versions of Call of Duty have included ‘loot boxes’, which have been widely discussed in the news and are considered by critics to essentially promote a form gambling.
Players could unlock items as they progress but wouldn’t know what they were purchasing beforehand. Modern Warfare however has swapped loot boxes for ‘battle passes’.
This means a greater level of transparency as players know exactly what they are buying, how they will be unlocked and when they will receive them in the game.
STICK TO THE PEGI RATING BE WARY OF GORE AND VIOLENCE
It really can’t be stressed enough how much this game is not for younger There’s no getting around the fact that this is an
children. While you could argue that most of the horrific scenes are in the single incredibly realistic game, from the themes down
player campaign, and you can just play multiplayer and co-op to avoid them, to the gameplay, and that includes the amount
those modes are not without their shortcomings. For example, one of the of gore in the game. While there is an option to
killstreaks you can attain in multiplayer is white phosphorus - a chemical disable dismemberment of bodies in the game
weapon that can do indescribable things to the human body. This really comes
down to the personal judgement of the adult, and the emotional maturity of the includes a rather visceral amount of violence
child, but if there’s still any doubt, stick to the PEGI rating - it’s there for a reason. that is prevalent throughout.
TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE THEMES
By default, Modern Warfare allows multiplayer in-game lobbies to have an open Modern Warfare at its heart, is a game about good vs bad and the grey areas in
chat feature. This basically means that anybody in the lobby with a mic can hop in between. Morally complex characters and situations are more prevalent in today’s
and say whatever they like. Naturally, this could lead to some profane language or modern age than they’ve ever been before, and it does carry some important political
worth sitting down with them to discuss the themes and why it’s important to approach
that this also disables the mic on your end too, so the safest and best option is them critically. For example, Captain Price is clearly a good character, but he does
always to make sure children are in a party with their friends before they start the questionable things in order to achieve his goals. Does this make him a bad character?
game, then they can still chat to each other without outside interruption. If kids are old enough to see these situations, they’re old enough to question why.
Meet our expert
Mark Foster has worked in the gaming industry for 5
years as a writer, editor and presenter. He is the current
gaming editor of two of the biggest gaming news sites in
the world, UNILAD Gaming and GAMINGbible. Starting
gaming from a young age with his siblings, he has a
passion for understanding how games and tech work,
but more importantly, how to make them safe and fun.
Users of this guide do so at their own discretion. No liability is entered into. Current as of the date of release: 20.11.2019
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