d’Overbroeck’s hosts its first September Garden Party

24th September 2019

On Saturday the sun was shining as we hosted our Garden Party at our Sixth Form site on Banbury Road to mark the start of the new academic year. We couldn’t have wished for better weather and the event was well-attended by students, parents and staff.

We hosted the event to both celebrate the appointment of our new Principal, Jonathan Cuff as well as providing an occasion where the d’Overbroeck’s community could come together. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to see old friends as we well as get to know those who have joined us this academic year.

The event itself was family-oriented with a range of fun activities for all ages including circus skills workshops, face-painting and karaoke in our drama studio. Our catering team put on a wonderful afternoon tea-themed buffet and guests enjoyed tucking into delicious sandwiches, scones and cakes throughout the event.

Our Garden Party was an excellent way for us to start the new school year and we’re looking forward to another successful year for all our students. As Jonathan said: “The school is in good health and we continue to attract a lovely mix of both local and international students. We are delighted that demand for places at d’Overbroeck’s continues to grow and we had the highest number of applications to join us ever this year. Our Garden Party was a chance to celebrate what we have achieved as a school but also bring people together for the next stage of our journey. We are in a position to innovate and continue to look for ways in which we can move the school forward and provide a distinctive and outstanding education.”

This was the first time we have held an event at the start of the year and it looks set to become an annual event.

d’Overbroeck’s partners in Scandinavian concert

8th September 2019

“The Oxford Chamber Music Festival (OCMF) is an inspirational concert series that takes place in Oxford at the beginning of October every year and which features international performers from the world of classical music.

d’Overbroeck’s is delighted to be working as Partner School with the Oxford Chamber Music Festival again this year. Our commitment to making music as approachable and enjoyable as possible for all of our students is mirrored in the OCMF’s educational vision: they too seek to introduce music in all of its glorious complexity and life-affirming richness to as wide an audience as possible. There is no sense of being patronising; programmes are not dumbed-down; but the energy, enthusiasm and desire to communicate that their wonderful musicians bring to each performance break down the barriers of exclusivity that deter so many from classical music.

This year’s Children’s Concert in the Sheldonian Theatre is an amazing opportunity for students from all over Oxfordshire to experience fantastic music with world class musicians in a fabulous, local setting. This year’s theme showcases the power of music to tell tales and convey landscape and the concert will feature Scandinavian folk music (including a massed folk singing session with all of the assembled schools) and Norse readings as well as Grieg’s beautiful Holberg Suite. Personally, I can’t wait to take our Year 7 and 8 students and the musicians from the d’Overbroeck’s International School to be part of the action on 9 October.”

Richard Poyser Director of Music at d’Overbroeck’s

Oxford Chamber Music Festival 2019

8-12 October

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2019 OCMF FESTIVAL PROGRAMME IN FULL

Oxford Chamber Music Festival with d’Overbroeck’s presents

CHILDREN’S CONCERT

Wednesday 9 October 2019

Sheldonian Theatre, 2.00pm

As part of this year’s OCMF, the annual Schools/Children’s’ Concert will be held at the Sheldonian Theatre on 9 October. It is entirely free for pupils to attend and teachers can book tickets via THIS LINK.

The concert, created in participation with d’Overbroeck’s specifically for school children around Oxfordshire, will showcase a selection of our festival performers, offering a varied programme that will be fun, inspiring and interactive. The programme will consist of a mixture of informative examples from Scandinavian folk music and some Norse readings, which will involve the children participating in folk singing, led by one of our own leading Scandavian musicians. The programme will also showcase music from the festival programme, which will include movements from Grieg’s Holberg Suite.

As with last year’s event, this concert will be very student friendly. The pieces will be introduced in detail before they are performed and there will be opportunity for audience participation. The concert will expose students to music and instruments they wouldn’t ordinarily hear whilst offering a unique opportunity to hear some of the country’s leading musicians perform live.

d’Overbroeck’ – as recommended by Tatler Schools

5th September 2019

We are delighted to announce that d’Overbroeck’s is amongst the top schools in the country featured in the 2020 edition of the Tatler Schools Guide, which goes on sale today as a supplement to Tatler magazine. The online version of the guide which will include more detail and photos will be updated in the next few weeks.

d’Overbroeck’s is described in the guide as offering “a modern, vibrant and thriving education for 11 to 18 year olds”. Particular mention is also made of last year’s “dazzling” whole school production of Legally Blonde, the musical.

As well as submitting comprehensive information on the school and our ethos, we were invited to send questionnaires to current and past students and parents who all replied anonymously to Tatler Schools. So, thank you to all who replied as your positive feedback on your experiences at d’Overbroeck’s will undoubtedly have influenced those selecting schools to be included in this prestigious list.

Resting very briefly on laurels………… Now – on with the work of delivering a modern, vibrant and thriving education!

Ten years of EPQs and what results!

27th August 2019

It is ten years since the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) was launched and d’Overbroeck’s has offered EPQ as an option to A level students since the beginning. Which means that this year we submitted our tenth year of projects, with a record number of students choosing to research, write up and present an EPQ.

You can read more about what an EPQ involves and the subjects our students have chosen to cover over the years HERE as well as hearing from some of this year’s students on the skills they gained whilst preparing their project, lessons learned and why they would recommend the EPQ to other students.

How do we compare with other schools?

This year, 82% of our EPQ entries gained an A or A* grade, compared with 43.9% nationally. 41% of our EPQs gained an A*, compared with 18.7% nationally. It is not only the grades but the skills and self-discipline that students gain from undertaking an EPQ. In some cases, their final project may be quite a way from the subject they set out to study but they have learned a huge amount along the way!

The marking moderator made several very gratifying comments on our EPQ submissions this year, one of which was, ‘A range of projects truly in the spirit of the Extended Project’.

Intrigued?

You can read excerpts or the full reports from previous years HERE.

GCSE results 2019 – our best ever!

22nd August 2019

Huge congratulations to our GCSE students and their teachers on this year’s results which are our best ever, with 60% of grades at 9-7 (equivalent to A* or A under the old grading system).

HIGHLIGHTS:
• 60% of grades at 9-7
• 37% of all results at grades 9-8 (of which 19% at 9)
• 100% pass rate in Maths and English at grade 4 or above

Mark Olejnik, Head of Years 7-11, says, “Once again our young people at d’Overbroeck’s have done us proud. Our students have shown real commitment and determination and have universally worked their socks off to achieve some stunning outcomes. So congratulations to them and to their tireless, dedicated teachers who have once again proved that encouragement and inspiration trump pressure and stress every time. Very well done!”

d’Overbroeck’s Principal Jonathan Cuff adds, “A huge well done to our amazing students for these record results. This is a reflection of the fantastic work of the staff at – and leadership in – our Years 7-11 who continue to raise the standards of academic and pastoral care year on year. We are very proud of these results which reinforce our ethos that happy and motivated students have a real chance of success. At d’Overbroeck’s we work hard to continue to excel in creating an environment where each individual can thrive. Well done and congratulations to everyone.”

Welcome back Eloise!

20th August 2019

We are delighted to welcome former Sixth Form student Eloise Broadway back to to d’Overbroeck’s this week – and she’s here to stay! Eloise has been appointed PA to the Principal, taking over from Tracy Roslyn who is moving into a strategic planning role.

Following a Business Management degree at Liverpool University, Eloise worked as a Senior Allocation Analyst with an international sales team. We’re pleased that Eloise has such fond memories of d’Overbroeck’s that she has chosen to re-join us as a member of staff.

2019 A level results

15th August 2019

Once again, we are celebrating another year of high achievement in our students’ A level results:

50% of grades were awarded at A*/A and, of these, 19% were A*. In addition, 82% of the 51 students who submitted an EPQ were awarded an A* or A grade.

Principal Jonathan Cuff says, “Once again we have a large cohort of students achieving excellence in a multitude of different academic subjects. Whilst we will celebrate these results with our students today, and reflect on all their hard work, we will also take time to recognise those achievements that aren’t represented on exam results day; the musicians, sportsmen and women, artists and actors who have competed in national competitions, completed research projects or volunteered for extraordinarily selfless causes throughout the year. In addition, the impressive grades many of our students have been awarded for their Extended Projects demonstrates just one of the ways in which we work with our students to help them develop skills beyond the curriculum.”

Dom’s Formula for Speed

6th August 2019

Formula Student is an annual competition in which teams from universities around the world design and build their very own single-seater racing cars. The UK competition alone attracts nearly 150 teams each year from most of Europe and one of our former students, Dominykas Vaitkus, who is now studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, is currently part of the Leeds Formula Race Team. He writes here about his passion for motor-racing and involvement with the team.

“I first heard about Formula Student a few years ago. As a life-long petrolhead, I immediately knew I would aim to be part of a Formula Student team as soon as I start university. At the beginning of this academic year I entered the Vehicle Dynamics sub-team of Leeds Formula Race Team, where I was responsible for designing and manufacturing of a new steering system for our 2019 Formula Student Team car F19. This was perhaps the toughest, but also the most rewarding challenge I ever faced, as it pushed me to first of all research, and then apply very high-level technical knowledge. Following this, I became heavily involved in the manufacturing of chassis, suspension and a few other subsystems of a car, often having to re-think design of some parts without compromising performance of a car, as problems that came up during car’s manufacturing phase made some initial design unfeasible.

“Designing and manufacturing a car is just a part of Formula Student competition. Another extremely important part is taking care of different reports, like design review or cost report. I was first involved in helping to complete these reports as a team member, but a couple of months ago I was honoured to being promoted to the position of Team Leader, which gave me additional organisational and team management responsibilities. I also led a team in the UK Formula Student competition in July, in which despite having a few problems with our car we still more than doubled our points score compared to last year. This competition was followed by our team taking part in Italian Formula Student contest. It the first time that a team from University of Leeds had taken part in any other than UK competition, so a very exciting event for us all. In this event we finished 24th place overall, 3rd amongst the British teams and scored over 264 points – the best result for our team in over a decade!

“The experience I have already gained by being involved in the Leeds team is simply invaluable. Apart from just being an interesting hobby (and often a good laugh) it has taught me how to apply engineering science in practice, exposed how manufacturing can limit available design options, how to organise teamwork and communicate within a team. We now know what to improve in our car and I can’t wait for new challenges designing next year’s car!”

Here at d’Overbroeck’s we love seeing students take their passions into future studies and careers and we’ll look forward to more updates from Dom in the months and years ahead.

Year 10 REP field trip

1st August 2019

Earlier on in the Summer term, our Year 10 REP (Religion, Ethic, Philosophy) class went to visit various paces in Oxford related to our course.

We began the day visiting the synagogue in Jericho. We were able to sit in the main room of the synagogue where the services take place which was very interesting to see. We got to ask questions of one of the members of the congregation and learnt very interesting facts about Judaism. He taught us about Jewish holidays and the importance and meaning behind them. He also taught us about how the synagogue runs and the different services that take place there. For example, he talked to us about the Shabbat service and the bat/bar mitzvah and the context of its name. Later on, he told us about his own experiences, some of which were very moving, in the synagogue and how friendly the community is. This was extremely educational because it showed us the inside perspective of a synagogue and Judaism which will help us in our REP GCSE.

Before lunch, we went to the Crown Court in Oxford, where the most serious court cases are dealt with. We observed three cases varying in significance from a low level public indecency case to a high priority drug dealing case. We listened to the defence attorneys and prosecutors present their arguments to the judge while the criminal listened in (all three had pleaded guilty to their crimes) in a separate room that was connected by cameras. It was really engaging to listen to what they were saying and how they presented evidence to the judge. Once everything had been said, it was evaluated by the judge and they decided on a sentence for the criminal, mainly depending on the severity of the crime. We thoroughly enjoyed it and many of us would love to go back there to sit in on more cases. It was interesting to see what we had learnt about crime, punishment prisons, deterrents and rehabilitation, etc. and how it is applied in real life situations.

We then made our way to Christ Church in Oxford which we enjoyed very much as the guides were very informative. We were taken round the key rooms including the Grand Hall filled with many historical portraits of previous students and teachers, as well as the traditional religious cathedral in all its glory. This part of the trip was really useful in teaching us about the practices and teachings of Christianity as well as the deep history behind it. Lastly. we were able to ‘grill’ a priest, asking whatever questions we wanted. For example, what his beliefs on same-sex marriage; whether war was ever justified; whether ghosts were real; his view on abortion; whether evil people could ever be forgiven..

Overall, it was a very interesting day and thank you to Natasha Wertheim for organising it.

Maya, Helena and Romany, Year 10

On the Spanish murder mystery trail

31st July 2019

Last term, Year 8 students took part in our annual Murder Mystery walk around Oxford, organised by the Spanish language department.

Isaac writes: We left school in the morning and walked to the Ashmolean to solve a series of Spanish clues in a challenging Murder Mystery. The three teams raced to the solution to collect points and win the task. Then, we answered questions in Spanish about the Martyr’s Memorial and then went to the Covered Market. After a tricky crossword puzzle in Spanish, we went to Christ Church Meadow, where we had lunch. We finished the day with activities in Bonn Square and Oxford Castle. We learned lots of Spanish and had a very fun day.

Ollie agreed, adding: I think that the trip was very informative as we learned a lot of new vocabulary. Also, it was enjoyable as we worked in teams and figured out the hard challenges, which were made easier with teamwork. I enjoyed going to the Covered Market and walking around trying to find answers in Spanish.

Here’s a photo of the winning team, Team 3, who won with a final score of 131 points. Well done!