Red Nose Day festivities

Red Nose Day was celebrated in style at Leckford, with staff and pupils alike donning red to raise money for this fantastic cause!


The Year 8s took the lead in organising a brilliant range of events for the day, kicking off with a very popular Cake Sale in the Social Area at break. Lunch was extended, and the hall in Leckford was transformed into a carnival with a great selection of stalls and stands, including a Shooting Gallery, Pin-the-Nose, and a Hot Dog stall — all of which was accompanied by an Open Mic stand. A good number of pupils chose to sing and perform, as well as home-grown talent in the form of staff JP and James Holburn.


All would agree, however, that the highlight (perhaps not for those on the receiving end!) was the Staff Sponging. Head Mark gamely took the lead in the stocks, followed by staff including Maths teacher Frank and the English department's Jo Williams.


At the final fund-count, the grand total came to a fantastic £551.50, a sum that all the school can be very justly proud of. Well done to the Year 8 group that planned the day, and to all who gave so generously throughout!

View a slideshow of more photos

— Words by Ed Yeo, Music Teacher and co-organiser of the event, along with JP Davies

Leckford Place Choir debuts at the Ashmolean

As Oxford celebrated the turning on of the city's Christmas Lights on Friday evening, the newly-formed Leckford Place Choir gave its debut performance – in the magnificent surroundings of the Ashmolean Museum.

To a crowd of onlookers who thronged multiple levels of the Ashmolean's atrium, the choir sang a selection of carols and Christmas songs. The occasion was all the more special as it also marked the 1st birthday of the Ashmolean's new building.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, older students from the Sixth Form and International Study Centre performed in the d'Overbroeck's Dance Club on the main stage on Broad Street.


There will be another chance to see both groups in action: the Dance Club will perform at tonight's Sixth Form Winter Concert (Tuesday 30 November, 7pm at Leckford Place Hall), and the Leckford Place Choir will sing at the Leckford Place Winter Concert, the following week (Monday 13 December, 7pm at Leckford Place Hall). So please do come along!

Fiction becomes reality during National Book Week

Earlier this term, pupils and staff once again dressed up as literary characters to celebrate National Book Week and raise money for charity. There were some really imaginative ideas, and £60 was raised for Helen and Douglas House.

Prizes for the best costumes went to Jesse Weeks, Hamza Khan, Emily Rudaz, Hugh Nicolson and Joe Wolfensohn.

Below is a gallery of photos from the day.



See the Book Day photos on Flickr

Artweeks Exhibition 2010

d'Overbroeck's College doesn't just sponsor Artweeks; we also host our own exhibition. This year's took place over the weekend just passed. As those of you who came along will attest, there was a fantastic array of work: everything from intricately detailed miniatures to gigantic cardboard sculpture; oils to watercolours; sketching to photography.

Here's a slideshow of photos taken at the Private View of our exhibition, on the evening of Friday 14 May.

Student art on show at Museum of Natural History

This Thursday (6 May 2010), artwork by a number of Leckford Place students will be on display at the Natural History Museum in Oxford, as part of the 'Young Art Oxford' exhibition in aid of Cancer Research.

The students listed below had their work chosen from a field of over 1,000 entries, so all have done very well in being selected.

• Joseph Anderson
• Lucy Arqué (highly commended)
• Laura Bossom
• Barney Cremin
• Robbie Dorey
• Hamza Khan
• Flo Rifat
• Aidan Robbins
• Alex Robertson McWillam
• Chloe Townsend
• Peter Wood

The exhibition will feature work from children at 24 Oxfordshire schools, and opens on Thursday 6 May at 3pm. Postcards and the works of art are for sale and all money raised is in aid of Cancer Research UK – specifically, going towards research into the genetic causes of cancer in children.

Beauty and the Beast -- discount tickets for Creation Theatre

As part of the ongoing partnership between d'Overbroeck's College and Creation Theatre, we're delighted to announce that students, parents and staff at the College will receive a 25% discount on tickets for Creation's Christmas show: Beauty and the Beast.


How to book

The first of our special d'Overbroeck's Evenings will be Wednesday 2 December (we'll announce another date in future). So all d'Overbroeck's parents, pupils and staff will receive 25% off Premium and Band A tickets for that night.

To claim your discount, please telephone the Creation Theatre Box Office on 01865 766266 – and when you give your name, remember to say that you are from d'Overbroeck's.

Book early to guarantee a ticket – no later, please, than Friday 6 November.

The Spiegeltent, in which the performance will take place

More about Beauty and the Beast

This Christmas, join Creation for a fresh magical retelling of the timeless fairytale Beauty and the Beast. Forget cartoons, panto and Disney, this Beauty will engage you with magic, music and comedy in the amazing Spiegeltent at Oxford’s MINI Plant. Suitable for ages 6-96 years, you can also enjoy delicious gourmet crepes at your cabaret style table.

“This colourful slice of storytelling should hook both children and adults alike” (Oxford Mail)

“For two heart-melting hours, they banish all cares.” (The Daily Telegraph)

Another successful round of work experience placements

All of year 10 went on work experience placements for a week in May – seemingly with great success. Feedback from employers was most positive with fifteen students achieving 'excellent' grading in every one of the categories assessed.

Several students have been offered holiday jobs and all have certainly benefited from being in an adult environment for a week. Each student was visited by a member of staff, and several employers mentioned that they were impressed with the school contact, as this is not something that they normally experience.

This is the third year that we have operated this scheme and we shall certainly continue with this in the future, as it seems to have a great positive impact on the students.

Come along to our art exhibition

by Emmie van Biervliet

This weekend, Leckford Place School will metamorphose into an art gallery containing an exciting, diverse array of work by Sixth Form and Leckford Place students, as well as parents, staff and local artists.

We'll also be showing the winning entries to our Primary School Art Competition.

Having already seen some of the work that'll be on show, we're eagerly anticipating a superb exhibition. And we'd be delighted if you'd come along.
The show will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May – and entry is, of course, free to all. See location on Google Maps.

We hope to see you there!

by Paul Amey

Artweeks Carnival: Music, Art and Juggling

On Saturday, Summertown in North Oxford was alive with colour and sound – thanks to the street festival organised as part of Artweeks.

The joint d'Overbroeck's Sixth Form and Leckford Place School stand offered younger children the opportunity to contribute to a giant collaborative piece of art:







... Whilst Sixth Former Steve Litherland entertained onlookers with an impressive display of juggling.




Musical accompaniment, meanwhile, was provided by Evie Oswald, Sarah Pearson and Kathryn Poon.



Many thanks to the students and staff who gave up their time to help make the street festival such a great success – and to those friends of the College who came along to visit our stall.

Below, a slideshow of photos from the event:

Pupil art to brighten hospital walls

Year 9 pupils at Leckford Place have been hard at work painting canvases for display at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Drawing inspiration from Action painting, the Colourists and the American Expressionists – principally, artists such as Joan Miro, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Basquiat – each student has created a piece. Photographed reproductions of the finished work will soon be on permanent display at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in conjunction with the Occupational Health Unit.

The students have had the chance to experiment with various media – ink, paint, tissue paper collage, pastels and chalks – and with creating different moods within their work. In the knowledge that the canvases would be exhibited together, the students felt that their work should share common themes and use similar colouring. The finished canvases bear out this approach.

Click the following link to view an interactive gallery of the canvases (click on each image to zoom in and out)

... or browse the work on Flickr

Diving into Artweeks

Detail from 'The Diver' by Flo Amey, Upper Sixth

Oxfordshire's largest visual arts festival, Artweeks consists of around 400 stunning exhibitions. We’re delighted once again to be main sponsors of the festival.

For three weeks each year, Oxfordshire's artists and craftspeople throw open their homes and studios, and a vast array of work in every style and medium imaginable is put on show.

Artweeks enables us to catch a glimpse of the creative process itself: to smell the fresh paint and the drying clay; and to meet the artists in their own space, surrounded by their tools and materials, and often also by their own favourite sources of inspiration.

Preparations are well underway for summer's festival. As well as being main sponsors, we are also hosting our own show, which will feature work by current students, parents and staff alike. As with all Artweeks shows, entry will be free to all.

Our exhibition will be at Leckford Place School on 16-17 May – and we'd love you to come along. Entry is free to all, and the exhibition will be open 10am to 4pm. Please telephone us (01865 302620) for details.

Masked drama inspires younger pupils

Yesterday, Year 10 GCSE Drama students visited Chesterton Church of England Primary School's reception class. They performed a masked piece they had devised, based on overcoming fears about starting school and different ways to make friends.

The students then worked with the younger children, helping them make their own masks to illustrate a variety of feelings.

The visit was a great success: the children were engaged and excited throughout – and the Year 10 students learned a great deal too!