Festival for Science teachers

Members of staff from Leckford Place science department enjoyed an evening out in the University of Oxford Museum of Natural History. The event was a science teachers’ festival and there were tours, talks and displays on offer.

Deborah Hankins (our Science Technician) demonstrated 'Microscale Chemistry' alongside the likes of Oxford University Physics Department, the Association of Science Education and Science Oxford. She was able to show how chemical reactions can be carried out on a micro-scale and how to make a micro conductivity meter. There was lots of interest, especially in the latter as a fun piece of equipment to make in schools.

The festival was organised by the Oxfordshire Independent State Schools Partnership. It was great to meet up with some old friends, make new contacts and be inspired by science.

— Words by Anne-Marie Jones, Head of Science
Image is Creative Commons licensed by Mike Cugley

A private showing of A Comedy of Errors

The Oxford Shakespeare Company, fresh from performing their A Comedy of Errors in London, happily agreed to open their Oxford summer season a day early especially for Leckford students and parents!

Reviewed by The Guardian as 'an exuberant outdoor production — faultless performances, a toe-tapping, heart-warming hoot', a wonderful summer’s afternoon was enjoyed by all! Against the beautiful backdrop of the Wadham College gardens, we were treated to a musical and modern interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known comedies.

The performance retained the puns and slapstick style typical of Shakespeare’s comedies with more modern twists and audience interaction making the play more engaging and easy to follow than is often the case with Shakespeare productions. A huge thank you to those parents who came along to share the day!

— Words and photo by Joanne Williams, English teacher

GCSE Geographers study Somerset river

We visited Nettlecombe court in North West Somerset to complete a river study for the students’ GCSE Geography Controlled Assessment.

Nettlecombe court is a long established FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) centre with considerable local field work expertise, helping us to collect data and learn to process that data with the most up to date methods available. GE Graph was one amazing tool that I learnt about for the first time!


Nettlecombe court is situated in a steep-sided, lush green valley with the considerable advantage of a limited cell phone network. Students were able to maintain their focus on the demands of the field trip without too much disturbance. As is normal on Geography fieldtrips, behaviour was excellent and much successful work was completed — even with the distractions offered to some of our boys by the presence of a local independent girls’ school…

Sadly for them, there was not too much time available for relaxation and socialising!

— Report by Paul Wheeler, Head of Geography

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!

Interacting with Science at @Bristol

At the end of September the year 7s and 8s set off for their annual trip to the interactive science museum, @Bristol.


The two hour coach trip was justified by the fantastic experience of the huge range of activities on offer. Pupils ran on the hamster wheel to power a complex system of water ways, froze their own shadows, made stop frame animations and ran their own TV studio.


The shows on offer were equally impressive, with exploding hydrogen balloons and fizzy pop-rockets made from old film canisters. We relaxed for a while looking up at the autumn night sky in the planetarium and listening to ancient Greek tales. All agreed it was a great day of learning and fun and the year 7s are looking forward to their next trip.

– Words and photos by Natalie Vlachakis (Science teacher)

Year 9 sent down the mine ...

Have you ever wondered what an explosion feels like in the pitch dark, below ground in a coal mine? Our year 9 can now tell you having visited the Black Country Museum last Thursday. We were kitted out with helmets and lamps, and headed off into the mine, watching our heads on the very low beams. Our guide explained to us the true horrors of working down there from the age of about 6 or 7 for many hours a day.

Glad to return to the sunshine and daylight we then 'went to school'. Perhaps the mines would have been preferable to life in the school room, chanting tables, writing on squeaky slates and trying to avoid the wrath of our cane waving teacher. Mark's group were late arriving at their lesson so their leader deservedly got the cane.



Margaret shouldn't have laughed so much, though, as she was then caned for wearing nail varnish; Flo, Sophie and Lucy were also summoned to the front of the class for this vanity and referred to as 'Jezebels' and 'circus girls'. Flo's scream when caned could have won her an Oscar!

Thoroughly chastened, we were keen to leave the class when Robbie rang the bell, and hurried off for a lunch of first rate fish and chips – 'succulent', as Felicity called it. The traditional sweet shop provided more to eat in the form of gob stoppers and boiled sweets with wonderful flavours like 'rhubarb and custard'.

Then it was into more mines but this time by canal boat. Despite drips of water falling on our heads, many reckoned this was the highlight of the trip; “it was fun and interesting” (Peter), “it was relaxing and they explained how the rocks were formed” (Laura).

Our final activity was a trip to the Victorian fairground. For Jacob, this was the best bit of the day, especially the carousel. As it gathered speed, Leckford students could be seen hanging on for dear life as they whirled round and round and up and down. If that was a little too energetic for some the swing boats and helter skelter offered more sedate options. A number of students also left the rifle range clutching prizes!



All in all, it was a great day out and a wonderful, interactive way to learn about work and life around Dudley at the turn of the last century.

Writeup by Margaret Horton

Zambian school under construction - with our help

Today, a quick update from Zambia. Last summer, a group of d'Overbroeck's College students (from both Leckford Place and the Sixth Form) travelled to the country and – as well as scaling mountains and swimming under waterfalls – they engaged in charitable work, teaching at a village school and visiting victims of AIDS, malaria and TB.

We recently received an update from one of the Zambian charities to which we donated at the end of the trip, letting us know that some of the funds had gone towards the construction of a new school for children affected by (or themselves suffering from) AIDS.

The building is still unfinished – but they sent the photograph above to show us the progress so far.

Was Hitler guilty of starting World War 2?

Not according to year 11 History students from Leckford Place.

Last term, all the History students attended a ‘courtroom drama’ performed by professional actors in which Hitler was put on trial on the charge of having started World War II. After hearing the statements of many witnesses including Mussolini, Stalin, Roosevelt and others, our students were asked to be the jury and decide if they thought Hitler was innocent or guilty of the charge. They decided that the proof was not irrefutable and therefore he must be found innocent.

Hitler did not escape, however, as an enraged victim of the war then leapt onto the stage and shot him dead!

It was an entertaining and thought provoking performance, helping our students to have a more rounded perspective on the causes of World War II. Combined with a valuable exam workshop on how to answer source based exam questions it made for a worthwhile afternoon. The students gained a lot from the workshop and, as ever, were a pleasure to take out.

Here’s hoping that what they learned will pay off in their exams!

Words by Margaret Horton, Head of History

Go-karting, fencing, orienteering ... Isle of Wight trip 09

Our recent Year 7 and 8 trip to the Isle of Wight provided an opportunity for students to experience and enjoy a wide range of outdoor activities, while staying at the Kingswood Centre.

One of the main functions of the trip is to help new Year 7 students to get to know one another and cement their membership of the Leckford 'family' – as well as creating new relationships between Year 7 and Year 8 pupils. A residential trip helps pupils to move out of their comfort zone and fully embrace all aspects of being away from home whilst trying new activities.


... and these activities were numerous – including quad biking, climbing, fencing, nightline, orienteering, balance beam, caving, go-karting and archery. Pupils also took part in evening activities: the 'Scrap heap challenge'; a task to design and build a container that would protect a water balloon when dropped; and a Murder Mystery evening.

The trip was a huge success and all the students enjoyed themselves and were a credit to the school.




View a full-screen slideshow of the Isle of Wight trip photos

Trip to @Bristol: getting hands-on with Science

On September 23, years 7 and 8 visited the hands-on science centre @Bristol. They explored and interacted with numerous science exhibits, as well as visiting the planaterium. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the visit, which was characterised by the concept of learning through ‘play’: @Bristol is a very special place, and really brings Science to life. Here are some of the comments made by the students:

Cole reports that ‘the journey was long, but luckily she had her friends to joke around with.’

Meelie says that ‘as soon as she walked into the building, she heard people already going wow.’ She would definitely go again and thought it was an amazing trip.

Anand was excited as he arrived at Bristol and ‘was rushing to get inside and use the amazing scientific equipment.’

James found that ‘the first thing most people went to was the water works. Here there were a series of handles, levers, cogs and tanks which played a vital part in keeping the water moving. If you didn’t, the big tank at the top overflowed. This was one of my favourite parts.’

Jesse says she really enjoyed it and particularly ‘liked the TV studio where you did some filming. Someone acted and other people were on the stage changing the background, adding music and writing captions. I also liked the mini tornado. You could walk through a tornado without getting blown away.’

Cassandra can recommend the ‘comfy seats in the Planetarium.’

Joseph thought that ‘the only problem was time. It would have been perfect if we were there for another 48 hours.’

And – neatly summing up a most successful trip – Katie simply tells us that she ‘had a fantastic time.’

End of term Lasertag

On the last Monday of term Oliver and Anne organised for the male staff to take 67 boys up to the woods in Culham to play Lasertag. As you can imagine, this trip was taken very seriously indeed by both staff and pupils alike!

Split into two teams, we crawled through the woods with our laser rifles and snipers, trying to pick off members of the opposing team. Unfortunately the Camou team proved much more proficient at this than the Desert team, ably assisted by Paul and Martin, and a terrible massacre ensued in a range of different missions.

Clearly some of the boys had considerable experience under their belts already!

Fortunately there were no lasting injuries and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Mark. We even found time to do some useful team building exercises and no doubt we will be back...

Conquering Warwick Castle

Earlier this term, all year 7 and 8 Leckford Place students launched an attack on Warwick Castle. We stormed the barbican, overcame the garrison and occupied the castle. Some of us ended up in the dungeons but most of us had a really good time! Here's what some of the students had to say:

“When we got there, the castle looked huge. We went in and went up each tower and walked along the wall walk” (Michael)

“We learned about the amazing scale and architecture of the castle and walls. We learned about why they made circular and octagonal turrets” (Truman)

“Firstly we visited the prison which has an ‘oubliette’, French for ‘forgotten’. This is a very small stone prison with no windows that they chuck you in and forget about you until you starve to death” (Tim)

“Next was the scary dungeon tour round dark rooms with the possibility that someone could jump out and frighten you” (Laura)

“It was the scariest, most frightening and thrilling thing I have ever done, but I won’t tell you what’s there because it will spoil the surprise when you go” (Charlie C)

“The dungeon was really fun and scary at the same time. It showed us that the doctors ripped out the guts and other things of a person who died from plague” (Will)

“We encountered …an executioner who cut off a fellow classmate’s ear (although … it had grown back by the end of the tour)” (Olaf)

“After lunch we headed for the trebuchet which fired a stone ball which we then chased after; we picked it up….and it felt quite heavy which surprised us because it flew so far and looked lighter” (Charlie)

… and that’s just a small flavour of what we were up to. Eagles, baby ducklings, tree clambering and archery all featured in an action packed, fun filled day.