Our new 'Reading for Pleasure' library

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

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

Old uniform put to good use

Something a little different, today. Above is a photograph of children at Mfuwe Secondary School in Zambia — now decked out in old Leckford Place uniform.

We donated surplus uniforms to the school via the charity Chipembele, with help from clothing shop Shepherd & Woodward.

The children 'were thrilled beyond words', according to Anna Tolan, director of Chipembele. 'They said "Proper" (meaning not second-hand which is what they usually get handed out), "Very brilliant" and "Now I'm HAPPY".'

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!

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

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