d’Overbroeck’s

A co-educational independent school in Oxford for students aged 11-18

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Sicily Trip Years 9 and 10

Between 10 to 14 March 2018, students Years 9 and 10 went on a trip to Sicily, Italy.

Helena Pryce, Year 9, told us all about the experience: 

“Year 9 and 10 gathered at school on Saturday at 2:30am, being very sleepy students, and eventually got to Gatwick airport an hour or so later. A peaceful plane ride and we were in Sicily with incredible views, even just after we got off the plane we all were greeted with an amazing mountain view. The first day was mostly touring around Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and seeing the main sights within the city. These included the Church created by Walter Ophamil, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo and San Guiseppe dei Teatini, a Cathedral considered to be one of the most outstanding examples of Sicilian Baroque because of its stalactite-style roof carved entirely of wood!

Day two and we were in Selinunte touring amazing ruins of temples which were incredible to see in such a good state of repair! We learned about the structures of temples and how the pillars were created with extreme precision. There was also a fortifying wall for multiple temples that we climbed up and witnessed a breath-taking view at the top despite the wind! During the afternoon was a trip to Agrigento with more temples to carefully observe and sketch that was a nice time to relax and enjoy the experience so far. During lunch we even had karaoke and dancing in the courtyard of the restaurant where we were eating outside, apparently because of the Festival of Almonds that was taking place. It was very funny when Wendy got invited up to dance and even proposed to after! A short visit to Piazza Armerina and we saw a massive ancient Roman house that had an extremely large garden and many mosaics on each floor of every room (of which were at least 30 rooms).

The 3rd and 4th days were definitely the best as the temperature was just right especially in the evenings as we travelled through Syracuse, Orgytia and Taormina. The 3rd evening was amazing as the sun was just setting as we walked through the square of Orgytia seeing many beautiful Cathedrals and skimming stones off the shore as we ventured back to the hotel. Taormina was our final destination and was one to remember! As we drove up the mountain past Mount Etna we saw the coastline stretching far out to the north and again, stunning views of the sea. We sat in a Greek Theatre and enjoyed some downtime sketching objects from the stones and just appreciating the trip as a whole. The final night was a bit of laugh as we relaxed a bit and had some interesting conversations with some French students also staying in the hotel. The morning finally arrived to travel home and we landed safely in Luton later that afternoon. An incredible trip to have been on and I would definitely recommend Sicily to people.”

Clemmie, Dora, Ella and Tavi, Year 10 Artists, also wrote a few words: 

“The trip to Sicily was inspirational and fun. We had an opportunity to visit a variety of sites that gave us all a genuine taste of the historical architecture and culture of the island. The journals that we were given were really useful for on-site sketching, they allowed us to experiment with different media and types of sketching. We got to practice using the ink and water technique, which has inspired some of us for our classwork. When visiting the fantastic temples in Selinunte we drew sections that helped us understand the structure and explore the texture of stone through our sketches. In Palermo we visited two churches which were decorated with Serpotto’s plaster creations. In the Oratorio di Santa Citta we learnt that Serpotto left sculptural signatures of his name; in this church he sculpted a small snake- meaning Serpotto, in a frame. In the Oratorio di San Lorenzo we were told the infamous story of how Caravaggio’s painting was stolen and possibly cut up into pieces by the Mafia!

In Taormina we visited the Greek amphitheatre which is very famous and breathtakingly beautiful, we sat and sketched some panoramic views here whilst listening to a to a tour guide who had body guards with his important group! We learnt about its history and the famous authors and actors that had been there.

On the penultimate day we had a chance to sketch in the Archaeological Museum in Syracuse, here we mostly focused on the statuary, learning that a Kouros was a youth. Dora sketched some votives by the cults of Ortigia, and some of the objects were quite bizarre such as a lady holding pig some funny grotesques and fools. Altogether a great trip, it would have been good to spend more time there as there was lots to see. ”

House Music Competition Years 7-9

Last Tuesday we held our fourth annual Inter-House Music Competition for students in Years 7-9. Each class (solo piano, solo song, solo instrument, ensemble, computer music and house song) was fiercely fought. Any adult who has to get up and perform in front of their peers in any way will know all too well that this experience is especially daunting. Every competitor is therefore to be congratulated on showing Herculean levels of courage and resilience for simply getting up on the stage, let alone managing to pull off some wonderful performances! Our judges were left with the unenviable task of picking one winner for each class which contained one student from each house.

Both Emma-Kate and Sandy commented upon the wonderful musicality, courage and technical ability which was displayed throughout the course of the afternoon. My favourite class is always the House song. It is absolutely brilliant to see every single member of Year 7-9 singing together. This year we entrusted preparation of this class to Year 10 mentors and they didn’t disappoint. Many thanks to them. There are too many other highlights to pick out here but I don’t think I will ever forget seeing our Maths teacher and Morris House leader, Ben, trying to clap along to Yellow Submarine in a rather movement restricting full shark costume!

The winners of each class were as follows:
Solo Piano: Will Turner (Cooper)
Solo Song: Omri Greenwood (Cooper)
Solo Instrument: Bea Arden, violin (Austin)
Small ensemble: Tabby Witter & Emmy Poyser (Austin)
Computer Music: Ollie Brunstrom (Morris)
House Song: Austin

Everyone who competed in the heat stages was awarded a couple of house points. These, along with house points garnered for the quiz that took place in the afternoon and the house points for singing in the song and for competing in the semi-finals and finals were added together in order to crown the winning house. This year, Cooper were victorious with a whopping 146 house points! Very many congratulations to Cooper and thanks to the House Leaders whose enthusiasm and cajoling ensured that the competition was a wonderful success.

Dr Philip Purvis
Director of Music & Music Technology

Spring Concert 7-11

I thought long and hard about the name for this concert at the weekend when we were, once again, surrounded with snow. The bitter cold, the crisp snow on the ground; it hardly felt like spring. Thankfully, the weather cleared and there was no threat of cancellation for this much-anticipated event. A bumper crop of soloists and ensembles (some postponed from our Winter Concert) treated the audience to a wide variety of musical genres from a broad spectrum of composers. It is absolutely fantastic for me as a Head of Department to be able to showcase the many, many talented members of our school community. I am proud of each and every performer (that goes without saying) but, I am particularly proud of those who overcame their own personal challenges to perform or were performing in a school concert for the very first time. I am also particularly proud of our school ensembles who performed with aplomb on Tuesday. Ensemble music making at d’Overbroeck’s is something that has been a focus of development over the past couple of years. We currently boast a number of ensembles which are genuinely ‘whole school’. Bands, string groups, string quartets (x2!), wind bands, flute groups, choirs (three of them across the school) and many more now are regular fixtures at our concerts.

So, very many congratulations to each and every performer and thanks to Rachel, Lianne and other Music Department staff, alongside Jo Kailes and Joe Swarbrick, for making such a concert possible and so very successful.

Dr Philip Purvis
Director of Music & Music Technology

Our first Oxbridge Dinner

This year saw our first Oxbridge dinner. This was an opportunity for some of those with offers for entry in September 2018 to meet a few of our alumni now studying at the University of Oxford or Cambridge. It was also an opportunity to thank some of the members of staff who had been involved in helping prepare students for their Oxbridge applications.

It was a delight to see some of our alumni again and to have the opportunity to congratulate our current students on their success. Next dinner is already in the calendar for the upcoming year.

Videos made by our students

Zosia: First week at d’Overbroeck’s Sixth Form

What is the first week like at d’Overbroeck’s Sixth Form? Zosia, d’Overbroeck’s Sixth Form student, made a video about her first week at d’Overbroeck’s, capturing opinions, moments and the ethos of our school. Well done!

Sophie: Morocco 2018 Trip

d’Overbroeck’s take Morocco 2018 🙂 Five days in the beautiful Morocco, from the souks in Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains. A video of the trip our Geographers took during their half-term trip.

Enrichment: An introduction to the UCAS process

On 16 March our Sixth Form students attended a presentation by Sue Bennett, Director of Student Careers and Skills at the University of Warwick. With a wealth of knowledge of the British higher education system, Sue talked to our students about the process of applying to British universities through the UCAS admissions system. The session provided important and useful information to our students.

Many thanks are in order to Sue Bennet, who has delighted us with her presence!

d’Overbroeck’s students, future active citizens

As part of the volunteering club the lovely Lower Sixth students have been out and about finding themselves volunteer work around Oxford.

Recent voluntary work includes:
Ella – helping with the Brownies every weekend.
Rachel  – volunteering in a charity shop every week.
Linet – helping out in Oxfam every week.
Iris and Hannah  – volunteering at the Museum every week.
Mina and Georgina  – helping out in the Blue Cross charity shop every week.

At the same time, our Year 11 International Section students collected food donations for Asylum Welcome during 12-16 March as part of their Global Citizenship Community Project.
The charity’s aim is to support asylum seekers and refugees suffering in our local community by collecting non-perishable food.  Asylum Welcome relies on local donations to enable them to carry out their good work.

We are very proud and impressed by the initiatives of our students, who assure us each day that a generation of involved citizens and leaders is growing and developing in front of us.

Geography trip to South Wales

Lower Sixth Geographers had a wet and windy trip to South Wales on 8 and 9 March.
Nothing can be better than seeing geography in the real world!
During the first day, students collected field data such as environmental quality in Sandfields, an area of Port Talbot and used derive cards to follow routes at random through the area.
The second day was spent enjoying the delightful Welsh weather at its best on Pwillu beach – data on pebble size shape and beach profiles to investigate the process of longshore drift. The students remained enthusiastic and positive throughout.
Many geographical skills were learnt to help them with their coursework planning and data collection in the upper sixth.
All three teachers who went on the trip were delighted by how delightful the students were all throughout the trip and the hard working they put in, despite the unfriendly weather.
Kate Palmer
Head of Lower Sixth & Head of Geography

Author Francesca Haig visits d’Overbroeck’s

Extra-galactica. The History of Sand.  Delirium.  What if…?
These are the intriguing titles of some of the imaginary novels that students came up with this week during a dystopian fiction workshop with the acclaimed author, Francesca Haig.

Francesca is the author of The Fire Sermon Trilogy, a dystopian fantasy series published in more than twenty languages.

The Fire Sermon trilogy imagines a world 400 years hence in which everyone is born as a twin with a linked destiny.
In the plush and pleasant surroundings of the Sixth Form library at 333 Banbury Road, students came together from The International Section, Years 7 to 11 and the Sixth Form to take part.

Francesca conducted them on a short literary journey around some of the landmark titles of the genre, including 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games, texts that many students have read or studied as part of their English Literature courses. She reminded students that these post-apocalyptic novels, however futuristic, are often rooted in modern realities: the students were therefore asked to think of everyday niggles and then re-imagine them in a stricter or more extreme version of society today.

This produced some very interesting ideas, such as a world in which people are constantly rated via apps and segregated according to their popularity.  Another student imagined a society in which children are treated as commodities – with the crying of infants being used to power machinery. Jonathan Swift himself would have been proud!
After this workshop and a break for refreshments, we welcomed a wider audience to watch Francesca being interviewed by a panel of five of our GCSE and A level students.

Anya, Ed, Anna, Gus and Anna-Maria had formulated some sophisticated and range-ranging questions for her and were calm and confident in their delivery.
Francesca herself provided some good-humoured practical advice, as well as some thoughts on the writing process itself.

This was the first event in what will become a regular literary programme of events in the library.
Many thanks to our Sixth Form librarians, Angela and Maria, for this initiative!

d’Overbroeck’s 6-A-Side Tournament

On Tuesday 13 March d’Overbroeck’s held its annual 6-a-side tournament at Oxford City.
There was keen interest with 13 teams participating from:
•    d’Overbroeck’s (2)
•    Cheney
•    Magdalen (2)
•    King Alfred’s (2)
•    St Gregory the Great
•    Marlborough
•    Bartholomew
•    St Clares
•    Kingham Hill (2)
The afternoon was a great success and it proved to be a highly competitive tournament.
The 13 teams were separated into two groups, playing each group member once.
After all group games, four teams qualified for the semi finals: Bartholomew, Marlborough, St Clares, and King Alfred’s A. A close game emerged between St Clares and Bartholomew, with St Clares going on to be 1-0 winners. The other semi final was won by King Alfred’s on sudden death penalties. The eventual winners were King Alfred’s A, who were consistent throughout, not loosing a single game. They beat the St Clares in the final 1-0 with a late goal to secure the title.As for d’Overbroeck’s, the A team were unlucky not to qualify after a couple of wins and a draw. It was only good enough for 3rd in the group which meant they did not progress. The pick of the games for d’Overbroeck’s was the 2-0 victory over Magdalen.
Ben Martin
PE & Activities d’Overbroeck’s
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