From its earliest years, Medina was about more than academic learning alone.

One of Medina High School’s earliest known mottos was “Knowledge & Friendship”, a phrase remembered by students from the early 1980s. It captured two ideas that have remained important throughout Medina’s history: the importance of learning and the importance of relationships.

Those themes still feel familiar today. Knowledge connects strongly with our value of Ambition - encouraging young people to learn, achieve and discover what they are capable of. Friendship can be seen in Kindness - in the relationships, belonging and care for others that help make a school a community.

The language may have changed over time, but many of the principles at the heart of Medina have endured.

The school has changed considerably since 1976, reflecting changes in education and in the community it serves.

In later years, Medina High School used the phrase “Building a learning community”, continuing the emphasis on learning, relationships and being part of something together.

A major milestone came in 2011, when education on the Isle of Wight was reorganised and Medina College opened as the successor to Medina High School.

The change brought younger students onto the site and marked a new chapter for Medina, but the school remained rooted in the same community and on the same Fairlee Road site.

As Medina College developed, the phrase “Aspire and Achieve” became part of the school’s identity. Once again, the language reflected an idea that remains important today: encouraging young people to aim high and believe that they can succeed.

Post-16 education has also remained an important part of Medina’s story and today Medina College includes The Island VI Form, providing young people with a range of academic and vocational pathways beyond Year 11.

Medina’s history is about much more than buildings, structures or school names.

It is the history of the students, staff and families who have made the school what it is.

Former students can be found across the Island, across the UK and much further afield. Many families have seen more than one generation attend Medina, while former students have returned as parents, members of staff and members of the wider school community.

For many people, Medina is associated not just with lessons and qualifications, but with friendships, performances, sporting fixtures, school trips, celebrations and the everyday experiences that become part of growing up.

Our extensive site has also played an important role beyond the school day, hosting sporting, cultural and community activities and giving Medina a distinctive place within Newport and the wider Island.

If you are an Alumni that would like to support our students in celebrating pathways from school life at Medina then please email anna.mursell@iow.hispmat.org. We would be very excited to hear from you.

On 1 July 2024, Medina College, including The Island VI Form, became part of HISP Multi Academy Trust.

This marked another important chapter in the school’s development while retaining Medina’s own identity, history and connection with the community it serves.

Like every stage of Medina’s history, it represents both continuity and change: building on what has gone before while looking ahead to what the school can become.

2026 marks 50 years since Medina first opened.

Our anniversary year is an opportunity to celebrate the people and experiences that have shaped the school.

Former students and members of staff have returned to Fairlee Road to revisit familiar places, reconnect with friends and colleagues and see how Medina has developed. Our anniversary celebrations have also allowed current students to recognise that they are part of a story that stretches back through generations of Island families.

The world our students are preparing to enter is very different from the world of 1976, but some things have not changed.

We still want young people to learn.

We still want them to form strong relationships and feel that they belong.

We still want them to aspire and achieve.

And we still want them to leave Medina ready for the next stage of their lives

Today, those ambitions are expressed through our four school values:

Ambition. Courage. Confidence. Kindness.

They are part of an evolving story.

Ambition reflects the importance Medina has always placed on learning, aspiration and achievement.

Courage encourages our students to take on challenges, learn from setbacks and keep moving forward.

Confidence is about helping young people recognise their strengths, find their voice and believe in what they can become.

Kindness continues the emphasis on friendship, relationships and community that has been part of Medina since its earliest years.

From “Knowledge & Friendship”, through “Building a learning community” and “Aspire and Achieve”, to our values today, the language has evolved while many of the underlying principles have remained.

Our vision today is simple:

Every young person deserves a path.

Every student’s journey will be different. Our responsibility is to help them discover that path, giving them the knowledge, experiences, confidence and support they need to move forward.

As Medina enters its next chapter, we are proud of where we have come from, ambitious about where we are going and determined that future generations of young people will continue to add their own stories to the history of our school.

50 years of learning.
50 years of friendships.
50 years of students, staff and memories.
And many more chapters still to be written.