Love Languages Competition

Year 8 students of French and Spanish travelled to Surrey, back in February, to take part in the 'Love Languages' competition held by the City of London Freemen's School. Students performed a five minute piece in their chosen foreign language, in front of audience and judges.

Below is a short account by year 8 student Genevieve Reeves:

We had an amazing time at the Love Languages Competition. It took place at City of London Freemen's School in Surrey so the build-up was really exciting.



It was really fun making up our own script but it was hard to translate it into Spanish and French. The food we were given was great, particularly the huge doughnuts!



It was really nice to see other schools perform and listen to conversations in different languages.



Overall I think that the experience was fantastic and I can't wait until next year!

Charismatic Public Speakers

Back in January, two teams represented Leckford Place at the Rotary ‘Youth Speaks’ public speaking competition. This was the local area competition Intermediate Section hosted by Cherwell School.

Team A (Year 8) consisted of Jesse Weeks (Proposer), James Lambert (Speaker) and Hovnan Eayrs (Chairman). James gave an animated and amusing talk entitled ‘Why do the Goodies Always Win?’



Year 7 was represented by Team B (above) comprising Sophia Saban (Speaker), William Nicholson (Chairman) and Jack Valentine (Proposer). Sophia entertained us with tales of her family Christmas spent with an eccentric relative.

Against some strong competition, Leckford Place stood out as having two equally impressive teams. Our speakers and supporters presented their own well prepared material in a confident and natural style.

Although they did not bring home one of the two prizes — and that must have been by the narrowest of margins — Sophia and James were given well-deserved praise by the judges for their confident presence on stage. They also won the spontaneous praise of several members of the audience.

— Writeup kindly provided by Lesley Lambert, parent

From classroom to glacier

This winter, year 8 skier Alex White will be training alongside many national teams. He has his sights set on winning a place in the British team: competition is intense, but Alex has some impressive awards under his belt.

Last season, he was placed third in the Giant Slalom of the Anglo-Scottish Cup; third in the Slalom and 4th in the Giant Slalom of the British Schoolboys International Race; 4th in the Giant Slalom of the English Alpine Championships and 4th in the Super G of the British Land National Ski Championships – amongst numerous other impressive placings.

We wish Alex all the best in his training.

Sports Day 2010 - in words and photos

25 June 2010 saw the annual Leckford Place Athletics Sports Day, held at Tilsley Park in Abingdon.


It was a glorious day for a fun-packed festival of sporting talent – appreciated by a sizeable crowd of spectators. The morning focused on field events, with competitors taking part in the javelin, shot putt, discus, high and long jump. There were many outstanding performances; special mentions must go to Sam Gillingham with a throw of 37.5m in the Year 8 Javelin, and Ben Elwell throwing 11.21m in the discus.


The track events took place in the afternoon and saw some very competitive races at each distance.


Outstanding students of the day were Tess O’Shea receiving 4 gold medals, Cassandra Pearce receiving 5 gold medals, and Sam Gillingham receiving 5 gold medals. The victorious House, meanwhile, was Windrush.

Congratulations to all who took part in the competition, and thanks to all staff who helped officiate and to parents for coming to spectate.

View a slideshow of more photographs from Sports Day

— Words by Martin Procter; photos by Oliver Stone and Tom Parnell

Maths Challenge success for Year 7 & 8 students

Congratulations to Javier Gadea in Year 8 (photographed above) who won Best In School in this year's Junior UKMT Maths Challenge – along with a Silver Certificate.

Joseph Anderson, Andrew Small and Eve Martin also won Silver Certificates, while Jackson Poindexter, Cassie Pearce, Chloe Townsend, Ethan Clay and Gabriel O'Toole gained Bronze.

The Maths Challenge is about more than winning certificates, though – it is a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time puzzling over intriguing problems. So well done to all those in Year 7 and Year 8 who took part.

Next year we plan to start a UKMT Maths Challenge mentoring scheme, continuing to look out for opportunities to enjoy challenging maths.

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.

Taking up the Maths Challenge

Last term Leckford Place competed for the second time in the prestigious Regional Team Maths Challenge, held at the Oxford University Exam Schools on the High Street.

Forty-three schools, from the independent and state sectors, took part in a day of challenging and interesting maths tasks. There is a strong emphasis on team work, each team comprising two year 8 and two year 9 students. Junhui Li and Edith Scott, from year 8, along with Charlie Baskerville and Ben Elwell from year 9, represented Leckford Place.

Throughout the day there were four different rounds, concluding with the frenetic Relay Race, in which the teams split apart across the large hall, alternately answering questions then running with the next question for the opposite pair. There was an atmosphere of fun throughout, but with some serious maths being done, and emotions running high!

Our team competed well in all four rounds, never giving up when things became difficult – their confidence bolstered by plenty of training done throughout the year at our Tuesday lunchtime Maths Challenge Club. In the end, Leckford Place finished a respectable 37th. Well done to Junhui, Edith, Charlie and Ben!

Words by Graham Hope, Maths teacher

Prize-winning Steampunk artist

Year 7 pupil Hovnan Eayrs has won the runner-up prize in an art and design competition run by the History of Science Museum -- a superb achievement. The theme of the contest was 'Steampunk', and it was open to secondary school pupils throughout Oxford.

Here's a photo of Hovnan alongside his winning project, 'The Time Traveller's Toolbox'.


Leckford Place pupils Harry Bridge, Laura Bossom, Joseph Anderson and James Lambert all received certificates for their entries to the competition. Congratulations to them all!

School Science Prize awarded to Elinor Farrell

Congratulations to Year 10 student Elinor Farrell, above, who was recently presented with a School Science Prize at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory – for 'outstanding effort and achievement in Year 9 Science'.

Around 30 schools from across the country were represented at the award ceremony, which was organised by the Oxfordshire Independent and State School Partnership (OISSP).

Elinor described the event as follows:

'I was pleased when I was nominated for the award. We went to the Rutherford Appleton Labs where we listened to some very interesting lectures. The first speaker talked about laser research and fusion energy. The second talked about space exploration and how in trying to reach their ultimate aims, they often come across discoveries such as the hole in the ozone layer. I then received my award and the group had several photos taken before we left. I am very grateful for the opportunity to visit this fascinating and pioneering research centre and I found the whole experience unforgettable.'

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