Amelia's motte-and-bailey castle cake causes a stir!

At the end of last term Mark Olejnik, who teaches History to Year 7 as well as being Head of d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place, set his students a little summer homework - to build a model of a motte-and-bailey castle over the holidays. 

Amelia Withers, now in Year 8, took up the challenge and with a lot of imagination, care and sugar managed to create this wonderful motte-and-bailey cake! Not only was Mark hugely impressed with Amelia's creativity but, as you can see, her Year 8 classmates were desperate to sample the results...

 

  

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Gold News

Congratulations to Florence Shekleton, Emelia MacDonald, Zoe MacIntyre, Rebecca Joyce and Rachel Wilson who have completed and passed their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award with d’Overbroeck’s College.

The girls were described as a model group while completing their expedition in Snowdonia in June. They excelled in camp craft and, with their different strengths, worked exceptionally well as a team. The girls carried with them the equipment needed to gauge different physiological measures as well as their trangias, sleeping bags, tents and anything else needed to survive for the 4 days hiking and camping. Well done!

In other Gold news, Joanna Brown of 11/12 is off to St James's Palace on 12^th September to receive her Gold award from HRH The Duke of Wessex. Congratulations to Joanna for representing d’Overbroeck’s on the day.

Silver News

Congratulations to the Duke of Edinburgh Silver group who passed their Silver practice expedition in Wantage/Abingdon area.

Their assessed expedition will take place on Saturday 14^th September to Monday 16^th September in the New Forest – wish them luck!

In other Silver news, well done to Toby Sun who has now completed his Silver Award after finishing his volunteering with Oxfam alongside working for his A levels! We are now awaiting his certificate. Good luck with University, Toby!

Bronze News

Congratulations to Patrick Hoban and Finlay Currie who have both completed their Bronze Awards before going off to start their A levels. Well done for your hard work!

Year 11 GCSE Art exhibition

Year 11 Art students exhibited their work earlier this week. Many of the artists were in attendance and the event gave parents a unique opportunity to view the full breadth of our GCSE students' major coursework pieces.

Chloe stands alongside two of her pieces, one a multimedia collage and the other a beautifully drawn triptych of her horse.

Sophie stands between her three artworks.

Lydia's self portrait was a striking highlight of the exhibition.

Ben's display demonstrated his range of artistic talents.

Amelia's statue provided an impressive welcome to the exhibition.

Cole stands alongside two of her pieces, including a Lichtenstein-influenced painting.

 

Unfortunately not at all our artists were able to join us - this eye-catching piece was by created by Cassandra.

Johnny's diptych carried a clear Jackson Pollock influence.

 Another of Chloe's creations, with her visible horses in the background.

Wishing Thame, Evenlode, Windrush and Isis a very happy retirement...

Today marked the end of an era at d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place. Our four houses, Windrush, Thame, Isis and Evenlode (named after rivers flowing in or around Oxford) were formally retired during an all-school assembly hosted by Martin Procter, Head of Sport. However, the mourning must end as all is not lost!

Our Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 students were, upon arrival in the Hall, directed to one of three seating sections. Martin then explained some of the reasons behind the decision to move from a four house system to three newly-formed houses. The main aim is to encourage greater (but still very friendly!) competition between the houses in all aspects of school life and to have a much clearer system of point scoring and recording.

Charity work will form a key part of the new system, with the members of each house voting to nominate two charities at the beginning of the year - one local, one national or international. The house with the greatest number of points at the end of the year will have a donation made to each of their nominated charities.

Which brings us on to the most important part of all - the names of the new houses! They are as follows:

Cooper - Captain Hamza A Khan, Vice-Captain Clare Herring
Morris - Captain Natasha Hackett, Vice-Captain Kester McLennan
Austin - Captain Harry Balkwill, Vice-Captain Genevieve Reeves


Some of more the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted a link between these three seemingly random names. However, the mysterious Martin hinted at possible multiple layers to the naming so it would be wise to keep an open mind!

We all look forward to this exciting new phase in the life of our house system!

Video: Rotary Youth Speaks Public Speaking competition

Having narrowly missed out on winning the National final of the Rotary Youth Speaks Public Speaking competition, we have produced a video of the winning speech.

Congratulations again to all those involved.

'The sun always shines on Sports Day!'

Tilsley Park in Abingdon played host last Friday to a key event in the calendar of d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place - Sports Day! All students from Years 7 to 10 took part in a range of track and field events throughout the day. 

Years of experience have taught staff and parents that reciting the mantra, 'the sun always shines on Sports Day' generally has a positive effect - and this year was no exception! The cold and rainy weather which greeted our athletes as they began the field events gradually made way for bright sunshine. By lunchtime the track, the field and the competitors' socks had all dried out nicely.

With the field events completed, staff and students took part in a 'can you run a mile?' challenge. For all concerned, the answer was a resounding 'yes'! The staff led the way with Nick Haines, Johny Richards, Graham Hope, Henry Winney and James Holburn starting well, along with Year 10's Marnie Wilson. After four gruelling laps of the track, Graham crossed the line first with Johny finishing a very close second.

The afternoon saw the focus switch to track events with some thrilling races taking place in both the boy and girl categories.

Windrush eventually triumphed in the house competition, pipping Isis to the post by just three points! The final standings were:

Windrush - 768

Isis - 765

Evenlode - 511

Thame - 501

Well done to all those who took part; and also to Martin and his team for organising such a successful day; to Angela and Tracey for providing sandwiches, apples and water to the staff and students; and to Jane, Sarah and Gwen, whose seemingly endless supply of Pimms went down very well with parent and teachers alike! 

A selection of photos from the day are below - click on a picture to see a larger version. A professional photographer was also on site throughout the day and a link to his website will be provided to parents in due course, should they wish to order prints!

We all look forward to doing the same again next year. Afterall... the sun ALWAYS shines on Sports Day!

Ellen, Jess, Amelia celebrate

A determined Josh competes in the shot put

Year 9's Lily performed well in the discus

 

Jesse competes in the discus

Head of English Ruth Robinson provided commentary and score updates throughout the day. Special mention goes to her able assistant Graham, whose endless supply of 'jokes' throughout the morning kept everyone in groaningly high spirits

Usain Bolt's famous celebration made an appearance via Eoin, Greg, Pat, Jacob and Reuben

Wan Hee takes flight in the long jump

 

Year 10's Joseph looks the part in the long jump

 

Pat, Greg, Jac, Jacob, Eoin, Reuben and James do the Mobot!

 Piers attempts to Fosbury Flop his way to success in the high jump

 Oscar competes in the javelin

Staff, students and Frankenstein line up at the start of the 'can you run a mile?' challenge

The mile runners move off

Student hares and tortoises alike worked hard in the mile run

Eventual winner Graham (in the foreground in white) competes against Johny and Henry

Mark Olejnik, Head of d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place, ran well - disaster was later to strike during the staff relay when he took a dramatic tumble!

The two Jacks compete in a sprint finish

Katy and Natasha elected to cross the finishing line together

Piers is streets ahead of the competition

Alejandro, Charlie, Jack, James, Rupert, Phillip, Jamie and Jeremy sprint it out in the 100m

Belle, Natasha, Mair and Holly approaching the finish line in the 400m

Jamie romps to victory for Windrush in the relay

Mark presents the house cup to Jesse and Harry of Windrush

Shirts 'n' Shades hit d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place!

Staff and students spent Thursday lunchtime dreaming of tropical climes, with a Shirts 'n' Shades party held to raise money for Oxford Homeless Pathways. The Hall was transformed into a summer paradise with giant parasols, bright paper flowers and delicious BBQ-style food. Well done to everyone who contributed on the day, particularly Angela and Tracey, whose worked hard to make sure that the Hall looked really fantastic.

Oxford Homeless Pathways (previously known as Oxford Night Shelter) provides a range of services for homeless people aged 22 and over. This is a charity with which we have strong links - they ran a Q&A session for our Year 9 students earlier this year and have arranged for guest speakers to come in to speak with our students. You can find out more about the work of this charity at www.oxhop.org.uk

Years 7 & 8 visit to Warwick Castle

From Margaret Horton, Head of History:

Plague, torture, execution, witchcraft, war…. if there’s anything you want to know, ask a member of Year 7 or 8! Following our trip to Warwick Castle last week, they are all now experts in such matters. 

Students could be seen guarding the ramparts, storming the towers, learning how to work the trebuchet, or how to prepare for battle with Richard, Earl of Warwick, the ‘Kingmaker'. Other periods of History were not neglected, with some civil war armour and weaponry on display, and there was even a clock which had belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette. 

But what I suspect will stay longest in their minds (and certainly in mine) was the  Dungeon Experience. Even before we got into the building, the melodrama was building up with one of our students locked in the cage where he would have been left to die if we hadn’t taken pity on him and released him. Next up was the ‘plague room’ where we were told all about the Black Death, its symptoms and the  “cures” tried, before a victim of the disease was disembowelled! 

We moved from there to the torture chamber where all many of nasty things punishments were inflicted on Mark and Rob. The female teachers were not let off, however, as Ruth and Margaret were both executed. Having just about survived the witch’s chamber in one piece it was quite a relief to emerge into 2013 and to have a peaceful picnic whilst watching the birds of prey demonstration. 

Overall, it was an excellent trip; our students behaved impeccably and were responsive and interested in everything we did. Even the weather stayed fine until the moment we got back in the coach. A great day out!

Careers Event next Wednesday

Not long now until our Careers evening on Wednesday June 19th. We are extremely grateful to all the parents who are giving up their time to come and advise students. Amongst those coming are:


Adrian Hallmark.
Adrian is the Global Brand Director at Jaguar. Adrian joined Jaguar Land Rover as Global Brand Director, Jaguar on December 1st 2010. Adrian is a member of Jaguar Land Rover's Executive Committee and reports directly to Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ralf Speth. With more than 27 years of experience in the automotive industry, Adrian has held a number of Directorships and Board positions at Porsche Great Britain, Bentley, Volkswagen USA, and Asia, in CEO and Board Level roles on the Commercial and Brand Functions, and with National, Regional and Global responsibilities.



David Rose.
David is an award winning journalist. In 1984, he joined The Guardian, where he did ground breaking work on the Guilford Four and Birmingham Six I.R.A. bombing cases. He became a contributing editor for Vanity Fair in 2002 and is a special-investigations writer for the Mail on Sunday. David’s awards include a One World-European Union award for journalism in the service of human rights (1997) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs David Watt Memorial Prize (1993). He is the author of six books, including “Guantanamo: The War on Human Rights” and “The Big Eddy Club”, which was shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger.

Who's coming to talk?

This year’s Careers Evening is on Wednesday June 19th and we are very fortunate to have an amazing array of parents coming to share their experiences and insights with students. In the next few days we will be highlighting some of the many parents who have kindly offered to come and help students' with their careers choices.

We start with:

Dr Ed Wood

Ed has been who has been Chief Designer at Williams F1 since 2006. He has a broad range of engineering experience in both motorsport and aerospace and therefore has knowledge in both engineering and physical sciences. He has degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester and Doctorate from the University of Oxford where he undertook research for Rolls Royce plc. Prior to Williams he has worked as a Development Engineer at the Ferrari and & Renault Formula 1 teams and was Chief Designer for the Subaru World Rally Team.

Edi Smockum

Edi has had a career in television & radio as a producer/presenter and now runs a company that manages entry-level training schemes for Channel 4, training reporters and presenters. Edi was responsible for training the disabled reporters and presenters for Channel 4's Bafta-winning coverage of the Paralympics. Edi also does consulting work for the National Film & Television School which is considered one of the top 10 film schools in the world.

We are looking forward to a very useful and interesting event.

Congratulation to Sixth Former Cassie Cooper Bagnall for being Highly Commended in a recent Words for the Wounded national competition. This competition helps raise funds for wounded service men and women. For more details visit http://www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk/index.html

Cassies’s piece is as follows:

 

“Warming sunlight poured in through the open window, pooling gently around a sleeping female form. Lucy sunk into its comforting embrace, rolling softly onto her side hands placed protectively over her ‘bump’. A new dawn. Promising great things with its limitless sky of blue. Poppies stood tall outside the window, cursed with an ugly bud, blessed with a beautiful bloom; a fog of emotion clouded her vision as tears sparkled, yet unshed.

 

Three months. Six days. Nine hours.

 

The space beside her was painfully vacant, pillows undisturbed by an exhausted head instead occupied by a crumpled piece of paper, words flowing across the page in an achingly familiar hand. His last letter. She’d read it so many times it was carved into her heart.

“Come on Luce.” she smiled, listening to the faint echo of the voice she’d fallen in love with . “Up and at ‘em.”

“Alright, give me a minute. Go make some coffee and stop nagging me.”

“It was just a love-nag,”

“Go ‘love-nag’ the coffee pot!”

“I’m going, I’m going...”

She wasn’t a morning person. She had the opinion that there were some hours of the day no normal human being should ever see.

 

Three months. Six days. Twelve hours.

 

Then it happened. His photo was packed with care and Lucy bustled into the back seat, parents arguing all the way. The engine kicked in with a hacking cough, prompting another argument over when they were going to replace this ‘good for nothing...’

“That doctor has a serious honker!”

 

Three months. Six days. Nineteen hours.

 

“We’re going to take you down to the delivery room.”

 

Three months. Six days. Twenty hours.

 

Lucy held her baby girl in her arms awestruck, marvelling at creation.

“Who do you think she looks more like?” she asked.

“She’s gorgeous. She’s all you.”

She looked up and saw her soul-mate; he was as she had seen him last, now a figment of her imagination - handsome, with dark hair, and melting chocolate coloured eyes. His uniform fit him proudly, though his boots were up on the bed. Again! She raised an eyebrow and mysteriously his feet slid back to the floor.

A father, a soldier, a hero...her Jerri.

“I miss you.”

“You can always find me. I never really left.”

Lucy looked down at her baby girl, awake and smiling, her father’s eyes brimming with curiosity.

 

He was right. He was still here.”

 

 

Maths Enrichment Day with Uffington Primary School

 Earlier today we welcomed 18 children and four members of staff from Uffington Primary School to work with Sarah in the Maths department, with assistance very kindly provided by our Year 10 students.

The pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 spent the morning engaged in fun and exciting activities, in the process learning all about the importance of pi. They measured all the circles they could find in the playground - everything from plant pots to minibus wheels had their circumferences and diameters caclulated and recorded, the results charted and analysed for patterns.

A well-deserved break for lunch was followed by a pi recitiation competion - the winning pupil managed to recite pi to 17 decimal places!

Thank you to all concerned but especially Sarah who was described on more than one occasion as ‘an inspirational teacher’! A further selection of photos can be seen on the Uffington Primary School website: www.uffington.oxon.sch.uk/classes/class-3/photo-gallery/