Staff vs students debate the wisdom of age over youth

Spring Term ended on a rather confrontational note today with the first of what we hope will become an annual event - the Staff vs Students debating contest!

The motion tabled by the House was that today's youth is wiser than the older generation, and this was vigorously defended by a panel of Year 11 students. However they faced fierce opposition from four of the finest minds from d'Overbroeck's teaching staff in Sarah, Aoife, Joe and JP.

The introductory vote held by Chairperson Jo Humphries found a majority of the House voting against the motion. Despite some impressively witty and reasoned debate by the students, the staff eventually triumphed in the final vote, winning by a convincing margin.

Congratulations to the staff on their victory but also to their Year 11 counterparts, who nobly defended the motion against older, some might even say wiser, opposition.

Students took part in debates throughout the morning. Teams awarded prizes at the end of the session were; representing Year 10 - Eve Martin, James Lambert and Wilfred Scott, who opposed the motion, 'this House would ban gossip magazines'; the Year 8 winners, who opposed the motion, 'this House believes that short days and long holidays damage children's education' were Henry Frend, Jack Turner, Beatrice King and Victor Smith. Special awards were also given to Jamie Jackson-Jessel and Jake Rose.

Well done to all those who competed. We hereby table the motion that we hope you all have a very Happy Easter!

Bruno's stunning fossilised find!

We were excited to see a familar face featured in the news this week. Bruno Debattista, who will be joining Year 7 at d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place in September, recently came across an amazing piece of history whilst on holiday in Cornwall.

Bruno, who is currently a pupil at Windmill Primary School in Headington, discovered a piece of shale containing what he thought might be a fossilised footprint. He shared this with the after-school club at Oxford University's Museum of Natural History and his hunch proved correct. Museum experts have confirmed that Bruno's shale appears to show footprints left by a horseshoe crab 320 million years ago!

The story has been featured in both the local and national press this week - here's a link to an article from the Daily Mail: http://bit.ly/ZgYJjT

We look forward to welcoming Bruno joining d'Overbroeck's in September, along with his keen eye for history!

d’Overbroeck’s students leave ‘Carbon footprints’ in the snow!

In freezing conditions, d’Overbroeck’s College students & staff bravely ventured off into the frozen wilderness of Cumnor Hill to engage in a spot of tree planting on Sunday 24th March.

The group of 27 students and staff - who will be taking part in a 5 day trek across the true wilderness of Iceland’s Landmannalaugar National Park in July, spent the afternoon at the Cumnor Hurst Community Woodland planting a variety of native trees as an attempt to offset the CO2 emissions resulting from the return flights they will take.

Jon-Paul Davies (trip leader) said:

“As a geographer I was concerned about the obvious double standards expressed in teaching about climate change issues and then flying 27 people to Iceland and back. Whilst the science and politics of carbon credits, trading and offsetting is much debated, we want our students to be informed and conscious of their actions and hoped that by planting a few trees we might go some small way towards offsetting the impact of the flights. It’s very likely we will have to return to plant many more trees over the years”

On the day, the students & staff were hosted by Timbmet who provided much needed tea and cakes. Nigel Fisher, keeper of Wytham Woods led the training on the day and gave information about planting, carbon offsetting and more.

During their Iceland visit, the students and staff will be raising money via a sponsored 5 day trek. All money raised will be donated to CARE – an International charity with a focus on disaster relief.

Rotary Youth Speaks team crowned South East Regional Champions!

Congratulations are once again due to Jamie, Sophia and Laurel (pictured above) who have progressed to the national final of the Rotary Youth Speaks Public Speaking Competition!

The trio's triumphant run began with the Oxford Club stage of the competition, followed by victory in the District Final, then the Regional Championships last week. The group will now travel to Hull for the National Final on Sunday 28th April, where they will be up against seven teams of young speakers from around the country.

We'll all be rooting for you come the end of next month!

You can find out more about the Rotary Youth Speaks competion here: www.ribi.org/youth/competitions/ribi-youth-speaks
 

Cake sale raises over £150 for Red Nose Day!

 

Cupcakes, cookies, iced sponges, biscuits and assorted chocolatey/crispy/marshmallowy things raised over £150 for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day this morning. Staff, students and parents donated ingredients, time and, perhaps most importantly, love - and then baked up a storm!

As you can see from our photos, the wide range of treats went down extremely well - and tasted all the sweeter for knowing that they were benefiting such a good cause.

GCSE Art students enjoy Lichtenstein retrospective

GCSE Art students from both d'Overbroeck's Leckford Place and our International Study Centre were fortunate enough to visit the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern in London last week.

The day began bright and early with a walk to Oxford railway satation on a very cold but thankfully dry and sunny morning. Students negotiated the London Underground and many early lunches were consumed - mainly by the boys!

Once in the gallery the students were treated to a collection which Wendy Rawding, the Head of Art, described as being 'one of the best I have seen for many years'. The work spanned Lichtenstein's early interest in Abstract Expressionism to cartoon-inspired canvases on a large scale through to his eventual return artistic experimentation. There were ceramic sculptures, large pop art pieces in two and three dimensions and some later works that were an interesting and accomplished synthesis of his painting style over the span of his career.

After lunch the group had a brief look at other floors in the gallery. Students entered lively debates over some of the more 'abstract' pieces - Carl Andre's 'bricks' caused much discussion over what exactly 'makes' art.

Overall this was a fun and stimulating day out and it is always valuable to see artwork first-hand as so much more can be gained from standing in front of a piece than looking on the internet or in a book.

Year 9 students will visit next week - hopefully they will be just as impressed!