As part of a 'Wider Reading Drive', the English Department have invested in a new range of fiction books aimed specifically at reading for pleasure. Such books include the Cherub Series, Elizabeth Laird and Mal Peet for younger readers, with the latest Orange Prize shortlist and a range of Booker winners alongside some classics for the more advanced.
Students are encouraged to take time selecting books for themselves and to discuss their choices both with their teachers and peers. To facilitate this, we have started a reading blog on Moodle called 'What's Worth Reading?'. This works as an interactive reading list — students can add books or comment on existing suggestions; this allows students to use the opinions of their peers to inform their private reading rather than those of parents and teachers who sadly rarely seem to have quite the same influence!
This has already raised the profile of 'reading for fun' around the school and it's been great to see girls and boys alike discussing fantastic fiction books as well as movies and computer games!
— Words and photo by Joanne Williams, English teacher
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
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!
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
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.
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)
Here's a report from our recent, hard-fought Under 13 Netball match against the Cherwell School.
In the first quarter, Cherwell got the first point – but Leckford Place quickly came back to equalise, with Christina Zamura (GS) scoring, set up by Genevieve Reeves. This set the tone for an extremely well-matched game.
Quick plays from Martha Carrdus (WA) and Cassie Senn (C) through the center third meant that we were in Cherwell's third for most of the first quarter. In the second quarter, we took the lead thanks to a goal from Jessie Weeks (GA) – but Cherwell was determined to equalise, and had some quick plays up the court resulting in 2 more points.
Our third quarter was our best, with two more points set up by Jessie for Christina to score. Emily Rudaz (WA) made some great movements on the court (her opposition could not keep up!); meanwhile, Sophia Saban and Sulma Ali (WD) put up an excellent defence.
Early on in the fourth quarter, Cherwell had scored two points; we had taken one more. Our defence held up brilliantly as both Helene Asbjornsen and Morgan Lee battled to keep the ball out of the D. Thanks to their efforts, the score ended on 5-4 to Cherwell.
Player of the match went to Morgan Lee for her outstanding defending.
Comment from Sophia Saban: 'Although we didn't win, I really enjoyed it. It was my first netball match and it was great to put the skills we learn in PE into practice. I also really enjoyed the competition.'
Team: Jessie Weeks (Capt), Genevieve Reeves, Sophia Saban, Emily Rudaz, Cassie Senn, Helene Asbjornsen, Martha Carrdus, Morgan Lee, Cristina Zamura, Sulma Ali
– Words by Jo Kalies (Sport & Activities Coordinator)
This term’s imaginative and daring reimagination of The Tempest saw Shakespeare’s last, great play relocated to a technological scrapheap in the Pacific.
The Tempest is, famously, a play that sits uncomfortably within its ‘comedy’ genre: falsehood, betrayal, absolute power and impending death are woven into its fabric. Fittingly, the d’Overbroeck’s production (directed by Drama teacher Joe Swarbrick) accentuated the text’s unsettling ambivalence.
There were moments of huge dramatic impact – as harpies writhed and shrieked, and ships were torn apart in raging seas – but also times of quiet introspection.
Lydia Hassan dominated the play with an extraordinarily nuanced rendition of Prospera, veering from rage to exhultation to troubled introspection. The resulting performance was powerfully compelling – all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that this is a role typically wrestled with by professional actors as they near the end of their career.
Tal Fineman and Will Cronk’s treacherous plotting was suitably distasteful, Felicity Hughes’ Miranda and Joe Wolfensohn’s Ferdinand enacted a haltingly tender courtship, and a troupe of shimmering Ariels were in turn impish and cacophanous.
Meanwhile, the drunken ramblings of Stephano (Sam Rigal) and Trinculo (Daisy Jordan) were hilarious – offset by the disturbing presence of Sixth Former Emma Gonnella’s brilliantly played Caliban.
Tuesday 29 June saw friends and family flocking to the school hall for the annual Leckford Place Summer Soiree. In what is now the Soiree’s fourth year, the audience was treated to an incredibly diverse range of items. From beginners to experienced performers, the night was an excellent chance for students to showcase their musical talents and gain valuable performing experience.
Solo items – ranging from piano, violin, recorder and drum items to vocal performances – were presented by Charlie Baskerville, Edith-Rose Scott, Hamza Khan, Lucy Arque, Gabriel O’Toole, Tal Fineman, Tim Howard, Sam Rigal, Meelie Smith, Joseph Kenyon-Gewirtz, James Lambert, Felix Clarke, Cole Thornicroft, Eve Martin, Felicity Hughes, and Clifford Carr.
Jazz Club (above) strutted their stuff with renditions of Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’ and ‘My Funny Valentine’ by Rogers & Hart, and Vocal Group showed off their talents, following up a performance of a Latin hymn with ‘Rhythm of Life’ from the musical Sweet Charity, by Cy Coleman. The strength of Leckford young composers was also on show, with original pieces performed by Caleb Pakeman, Will Finnerty and Lydia Hassan. GCSE Music students’ composition coursework also provided incidental music before the concert.
A Year 10 band including Will Gildea, Will Finnerty and Olivia Frazer-Smith performed pieces by Muse and AC/DC, whilst the concert concluded with strains of Motorhead from Tal Fineman, Harry Bridge and Will Goodfellow.
Well done to all performers! We look forward to seeing you at the Winter Concert in December.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Why do we need money? What are the hidden dangers of storecards? Why is it smart to start saving for your retirement as soon as you get your first job? These were just a few of the questions raised in today's assembly – in which Simon Harrison (Head of Economics at the Sixth Form) gave a whistlestop tour of some fundamental economic issues and how they affect us all.
In the short video clip below, you can watch Simon giving an illustration of the principle of compound interest – explaining how much benefit there is in starting to save from the earliest possible age.
Simon's assembly was the latest in a series given by teachers from the Sixth Form – which offer Leckford Place students an insight into subjects they might decide to study when they come to choose their own A levels.
These were the familiar words that introduced Tuesday evening's performance of Cupid's Labyrinth at Leckford Place – an evening overflowing with musical ardour.
We were treated to a programme of solos, duets, trios and quartets that brought together songs by Purcell and Handel, operatic arias by Verdi and Mozart and extracts from the more modern operettas of Offenbach and Gilbert & Sullivan – all unified by the theme of love.
So we witnessed seduction …
… silent adoration …
… amorous competition …
… illicit liaison …
… and more. The quality of the singing was unfailingly excellent, with a talented cast of performers – from Year 7 to Sixth Form – proving themselves more than equal to some extremely demanding classical repertoire.
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.
In celebration of National Book Week, pupils and staff came into school on Tuesday 6 October dressed as characters from fiction.
The costumes were impressive, and at break time all of the characters assembled for photographs in the Hall – with prizes awarded to some of the most imaginative creations.
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.’
Another year; another Drama competition. This annual event, where each English group selects and performs part of a text that they have studied during the year, was a celebration of enthusiasm and team effort. The presentations included excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Animal Farm, Much Ado about Nothing, Pygmalion, The Importance of being Earnest, A View from the Bridge and a play called Orphans, which started with a speech by Pip from Great Expectations.
As you can see, we were treated to a wide range of material. The pupils rose to the occasion.
With only two weeks of English lessons devoted to perfecting their performances, the students worked hard, deciding on their roles, learning lines and creating props. We were lucky to secure the services of two members of the Creation Theatre Company: Connor McReynolds came to give valuable advice on performance, during the dress rehearsals, and Jessica Bridge judged the competition, giving detailed and most encouraging comments in her adjudication.
The winners were a year 10 group, who performed a couple of extracts from Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge – a text they studied for GCSE coursework. Particularly memorable were the performances of Will Cronk as Eddie, the troubled Brooklyn longshoreman; his almost too realistic fight with Rodolpho (aka Humza); Vinay Bahl’s demonstration of physical dominance as he lifted a chair with one hand, from the base of one leg (try it – it’s far more difficult than it seems) and really convincing performances from the rest of the cast.
The winner of the contemporary presentation was a year 8 group, who performed their own version of Animal Farm. Although based largely on the novel, they added a contemporary touch of dance, music and humour. The overall effect, however, was extremely chilling and gave a real insight into the dangers of the abuse of political power.
Both year 7 groups won the Shakespeare award for their lovely interpretations of different sections of The Dream. The judge was very impressed by the understanding which under-pinned the delivery of quite difficult lines. They also conveyed the humour of the play.
There were many other individual commendations and prizes, but the biggest reward was a day of real entertainment and enrichment.
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.
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