Trial by Jury!

As part of a Citizenship Studies field trip to the Royal Courts of Justices in London, two students from the ISC were put on mock trial. For the event, students played the parts of defendants, witnesses, barristers, jury and judge - all in a real courtroom.

After the hearing, the jury decided that the two defendants, played by Larry Wang and Dmitry Zharkov, were guilty as charged. Judge William Edwards passed down the maximum sentence possible for the charge: a two year supervision order, with day release for schooling.

The event was organised by the NCCL, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of the law among young people. Johanna Gummel, NCCL Co-ordinator, said of the trial: 'There was definitely a split jury. Although most assumed the defendants were guilty, a few thought the evidence did not suggest that this was beyond reasonable doubt and took a long time to be convinced.'

After the trial, students then went on to a variety of other locations, depending on their subject choices. Art students visited Tate Modern, History students went to the British Museum and Business Studies students checked out the new Museum of Brands.

ISC Bowling Night

Wednesday was our annual bowling trip. 28 students and 3 staff journeyed to the Ozone Centre to take part in this tense, winner takes all tournament.

Unfortunately, some contestants fell at the first obstacle: acquiring shoes. Of course, you can't borrow those silly shoes that you have to wear for bowling unless you are already wearing socks! Fortunately, the bowling alley rents socks just in case of such emergencies.

 
World class athletes require high energy food to maintain muscles and replace energy burned during intense athletic pursuits. And so do lazy, 'couch potato' students. So our first stop was the snack counter, where we were shocked to be told, after ordering our nacho cheese Doritos, that we would have to wait half an hour to collect them. To kill time, we decided to start bowling.

Various interesting  techniques were on display. Some of them were controversial, such as Dmitri Zharkov's 'rolling thunder' approach, whereby the ball is hurled as hard as possible in order to ensure maximum kinetic energy upon impact. Another unconventional technique was Amy Wan's 'dribble bowl', in which the ball is actually bounced down the alley, causing the maximum possible damage to the expensive, polished wooden floor.

Ultimately, 'rolling thunder' proved the most effective approach, as Dmitri won the highest score of the evening – a total of 97 points. Well done, Dima! Coming in second was Sai Chananithitham, with 82 points. Congratulations to Sai for attaining the highest score for a girl on the night.

Unfortunately, there are still some members of the team still in need of further training, as Yuyang Zhang only managed to attain 27 points. Punishment for Yuyang was being forced to wear those silly bowling shoes to school for the rest of the week! Dima, can you teach her 'rolling thunder' next time?

Out and About Club 2

Wildlife Photographer of the Year - a trip to Science Oxford

The 'Out and Abouter’s' all trundled off to St Clements to be inspired by the best of the best in wildlife photography. Science Oxford is currently hosting this year’s exhibition in Oxford - a fantastic display of amazing photography which made us feel as though we had travelled to the ends of the ends of the earth. 

Here is a sample of just a few highlights from the trip, the exhibition continues until the 10th March, and is well worth a visit!

'The Charge'

This charging herd of Muskoxen were captured on Victoria Island, Canada – Highly commended

'Pelican Perspective'

Bence Mate took this in Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece, winning the Eric Hosking portfolio award 2011

'Sleeping Infant'

Chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains national park in Tanzania – Highly commended

Out and About Club

On Thursday afternoons, Annie and a small group of students from the ISC go out and about in Oxford, to discover all of the cultural delights the city has to offer.

Recently they all went to The Ashmoleon Museum to visit the Kabuki Art Exhibition featuring work by Japanese artists Kunisada and Kunichika.

Kabuki is a popular theatre from Japan, which has been captivating audiences since the early 1600s. Kabuki theatre involves singing, dancing and colourful costumes. It has often been considered as being rather ‘bizarre’ and ‘avant-garde’.

Kabuki artists Kunisada and Kunichika have brought the sense of this theatre to life by portraying the famous actors in their elaborate costumes and make-up.  The woodblock prints are brilliantly coloured, and really capture a sense of the main characteristics of each persona. The fine differences between characters are defined by the contrast in the tonality of colours used, as well as the diversity of clothing and especially their facial expressions.

ISC student Jack Hu decided that his favourite print was The Catfish Priest by Kunisada (1852)

Another favourite was 'The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as a fisherman' (below).

ISC Student Dasha Zhukova writes:

"'The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as a fisherman' shows an amazing actor who could play any role whether a villain or brave man or even beautiful heroines. This print expresses all Shikan’s roles, his eyes glow abnormally, and the picture presents us with the actor and helps us to be involved in this play. The print is a half-length portrait, not a traditionally full-length portrait. Its background is black, the artist shows us just the shoulders and the head of the actor. This print shows the best way of expressing the actor’s performances and also these new-format prints brought fans much closer to their favourite stars. "