Past student launches own organic bars

As well as running her own catering business (which includes supplying lunch for the sixth form) past student Steph Croft Simon has been busy creating her own healthy, organic bars.

Her "NOM" bars (naturally, organic matters) are organic, free from dairy and refined sugars and a good source of slow release energy. They are also extremely nutritious as they are coconut oil based, and full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Steph's NOM bars are due to go on sale at Planet Organic , the UK's largest organic supermarket, in July. She is also due to meet buyers from Tesco shortly so we'll keep you posted on the progress of her new products.

 

ISC Arts Festival Review

Review by ISC student, David Guo

Last term ended at the ISC with the International Art Festival - lots of different culture art from different countries. The Art Festival of course has an art part. These showed differences between the different countries and different cultures. For example, one student drew a picture which was about the differences between Chinese and German people. He drew in comic form two pictures for each face to show reactions to the same thing, which showed how Chinese and Germans will have different ways to react to something. That was a very clever idea and now students will find out what the difference is between themselves and students from different cultures. It might help them to learn more about integration.

There was also a cooking competition. Some students made or brought their own country's food to the festival. That was also is a good way to integrate as students can get a deep impression about one country because of its food. It could also be a good talking topic for students.

Of course, there were also some performances about from the students' different countries. For example, some Russian students did a traditional Russian dance and some Chinese students sang a traditional Chinese song. There were also two performances from students of different nationalities who did a performance together. This performance showed that now the world is a globalised, people from different places need to and can work together.

In conclusion, the important thing is that in our school students need to communicate with others from different countries and learn about these cultures. That precious experience and knowledge for them, they will be very useful when the go to university and go to work. If they don't learn it now, they will have a big regret. And the International Art festival is already a great chance to learn about integration.

Join the Jig

In the lead-up to St Patrick's Day last weekend (the patron saint of Ireland), the Irish pub chain O'Neill's held an event involving the whole of the UK, including Oxford, to attempt to beat the record of 'The most people Irish Dancing at the same time'.

Since the incorporation of Irish Dancing in our Christmas pantomime, I have been running an Irish Dancing sports club for the student's on Tuesday afternoons.

As soon as i heard about this event, i thought it would be a great opportunity for the students to get involved in something to do with the Oxford community, not just the d'Overbroeck's school community, and they were all equally excited and prepared for the challenge.

At 20:00 on Thursday 14th March, all of the O'Neill's pubs in the UK started the challenge at the same time in the hope of cumulatively beating the current record of 10,036.

We all had to dance a particular step continuously for five minutes, which is longer than you think!

Overall, we did not manage to beat the existing record however the students and myself had a lot of fun attempting.

During the evening there was a reporter from the Oxford Mail present who were particularly interested in our students and who also took a photo for the paper. This added to the experience for the 6 ISC girls as they were able to send an Oxford paper with an article and a photograph of themselves to their parents in their home country.

I am delighted that i have been able to give them this opportunity as they were very excitable and grateful and i have since had an extra two girls sign up for my class.

You can view the online version of the newspaper article by following the link:

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10294217.Pub_hopes_to_jig_its_way_into_the_record_books/

Lisa Gilmore

Administrative Assistance, Activities Coordinator and Irish Dance Teacher

Comic Relief/World Book Day

On Friday 15th March, the students at the ISC got involved in fundraising attempts for British charity - Comic Relief.

Due to another recent UK event, World Book Day, we decided to combine the two as they both seemed causes worth celebrating.

Comic Relief's motto to encourage the fundraiser is 'Do something funny for money' so to try and fit in with this the students all had to come dressed up as a character from their favourite book.

Each student who came dressed up paid a donation towards Comic Relief, with the ones who didn't having to pay a higher 'forfeit' amount.

Students were encouraged to dress as characters from a book from their own country where possible, and during assembly particular students were asked to explain a bit about their character and their chosen book.

Melanie, the ISC administrator, also made cakes to be sold during break and lunch times.

Overall, we managed to raise an amazing £165.31 for Comic Relief!
Take a look at some of the pictures on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/dOverbroecks-International-Study-Centre/53044674775?ref=hl#!/media/set/?set=a.10151516628074776.1073741826.53044674775&type=1

Mathemagicians!

We are fantastically proud of our International Study Centre mathematicians who took their IGCSE Maths exam in January, after just one term of teaching.

Maths teacher, Ursula Boughton, was ecstatic to learn yesterday morning that her 16 students had achieved 82% A*-A Grades and a 100% pass rate!

Amazingly one student, Anna Yamshchikova, who has won a scholarship to our Sixth Form, gained 99%, with Kadence Lu and Xida Li just a couple of marks behind.

"Overall this is an incredible achievement" said Rob Dixon, who also teaches the students. "We are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the students do in the summer" said Ursula, adding that the students who have already taken the exam are now moving on to Further Maths.

International Women's Day

This morning all the female ISC staff were greeted with flowers and cake from two very thoughtful students to celebrate International Women's Day.

Darya Naumchenko and Ingrid Marin generously gave each female staff member an individual box of flowers along with a cake for everyone to share.

International Women's Day is a celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. It is celebrated all over the world especially in countries such as Romania and Russia.

More information about International Women's Day can be found by following the link to a promotion video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaf_X9qSeVY&feature=youtu.be

Jill Partridge, Melanie Johnson, Darya Naumchenko, Ingrid Marin, Helen Wood, Sandra Monger and Lisa Gilmore

Ice Skating Disco

A review from ISC student Cathy Zhang

"Last Friday a group of us went to an ice skating disco which was an amazing experience that we all enjoyed a lot. I was the only one who had never skated before so I started with a really nervous motion. Larisa helped Sherry and I to walk and slide on our skates, teaching us to keep our legs straight to help glide better on the ice. It was quite difficult for us to keep balance at first.

When we dared to leave the edge of the ice skating rink, Lisa helped us to move apart, held our hands and skated with us. I found it was getting easier for me to control where my legs went, and I began to attempt going faster. I even started to be able to control the direction that I wanted to go. Suddenly, all the main lights went off and they were replaced with disco lights that reflected off the ice. Disco music also began playing and soon enough my confidence increased and I started skating as if I was flying. I went around the rink a couple of times increasing my speed and confidence until suddenly I lost my balance and couldn’t control where I was going. I then experienced my first fall on the ice! However, I was not the only one; Li fell over 8 times but still enjoyed himself!

 I really enjoyed the experience and it is an activity I would like to do as I would love to improve on my new skills."

ISC Citizenship Trip - Royal Courts of Justice

"d’Overbroeck’s is an interesting college. The College staff always make sure we make the best of our studies in the UK and that our time is spent usefully. Most of the time we study for our exams in the classrooms on various sites, but the College also organises some educational learning experiences for outside the classroom. Yesterday was one of these experiences.

All the students from the International Study Centre went to London to the Royal Courts of Justice for a mock trial workshop and tour. The whole trip was related to our Citizenship Studies and all four English and Citizenship teachers came with us – Sandra, Nyree, Anna and Dave. The day before the trip, all the students read through the script and got to know the story and their notes. This meant that we were already aware of the case and the characters which made it easier to follow and understand.

The students who had roles within the mock trial took their parts seriously and you could see they were experiencing new feelings and emotions. The students got more confident as the trial progressed, interacting with the other characters and asking questions.

After the mock trial, we were then taken on a tour around the whole building. We were all very excited as this is not an event that happens every day. We got to view the some of the many courtrooms within the building and also see how different Judge’s clothing has changed from centuries ago, to the present date.

 I can honestly say that this was one of the best educational trips so far and in my opinion, d’Overbroeck’s College should continue to organise this activity for students in future years.

-Vivian Decheva. Aged 16 and from Bulgaria

ISC Citizenship Trip to the Royal Courts of Justice

"After getting off the coach we all stood back for a moment to admire the Royal Courts of Justice.  It had a gigantic door with an impressive number of steps leading up to it. We then entered the court, which was incredibly big on the inside. Lamps were hanging on a long chain coming from the high ceiling of the building. At first we had to pass through security and then we all followed the guide that showed us around the place until we arrived in the room in which our mock trial was to take place.

In the mock criminal the suspects (a teenager and a young adult) were played by Alberto and Sarah. The play was interesting and the staff provided costumes and wigs like those worn in a real court case. The room in which we performed was also interesting.

There were a vast number of seats and shelves of books ranging from 18^th century to now. After the mock trial had finished, we had a tour of the court when we had the opportunity to see some real trials taking place and saw judges discussing with each other outside the rooms. "

by Luca from Switzerland

Student Profile: Julia

Julia originally joined us for one year GCSE programme and is now studying A level Biology, Chemisty, Maths, Psychology and preparing for her IELTS exam in the Sixth Form.

“To study abroad has always been my dream and I always knew the UK was the best choice to accomplish it. My adventure started at the International Study Centre at d’Overbroeck’s. I must say, it was the best experience I ever had in my entire life. The pupils and teachers surrounding me were substitutes of my family back home. They helped me to achieve my goals in a friendly, home-like environment. I am eternally grateful to the members of the staff and friends who supported me.

Oxford, in my opinion, is one of the best places to study A-levels or GCSEs. It is a peaceful city where everything is neatly organised around you. As a result, you do not need to struggle to find anything. The family I live with is absolutely great. They are warm and nice people who always help me if I run into any problems, They prepare very tasty food and they try to maintain a balanced healthy diet for me and other students who also share the house.

d’Overbroeck’s is a place where you come to study and work hard to achieve the best you can. A place with a supportive and fun team of teachers. The best thing about being here is actually being here. As you can challenge yourself a lot. “

ISC Bowling Trip

Last week we held our annual Bowling Night for the International Study Centre students.

Twenty plus students along with three staff members made their way down the the Ozone Leisure Park in Oxford for an evening of fun and games.

The students were spread over four bowling lanes, from there they battled it out to find the ISC's top scorer.

This was a totally new experience for some students, who enjoyed finding the most suitable sized and weighted bowling balls and managing to throw the ball down the lane without it getting disqualified for crossing over the foul line or having a ball in the gutter.

For the more experienced bowlers, this was an opportunity to try out new skills and techniques whilst improving their speed and aiming for  'Strikes' and 'Spares'.

The clear winner of all 3 competitions was Iskandar Mammedzada from Azerbaijan who impressed us with super speeding bowling and tricks such as spinning and curving the ball.

After the bowling sessions had finished and the students had eaten, the battle continued in the arcade. From the basketball shootout, to the motorbikes, car rallying and the dance mat the students' had their fair share of fun.  Nothing but smiling faces and energetic discussions on the mini bus drive home - the true sign of a successful evening out!

 

ISC Business Studies students visit Cibo!

As part of their GCSE our Business Studies students have to research a local business and write a report on how to improve its competitiveness. For many international students this is the first time they have produced coursework and so is a very valuable project in terms of building the skills for sixth form and university. At the end of last term our students visited Cibo!, a very popular local Italian restaurant in Summertown, which is the subject of their project. They are pictured here with one of the owners, Antony Di Pinto, after they had been learning about the restaurant trade. Mr Di Pinto talked to the students about all aspects of the business and was kind enough to provide the students with some of Cibo’s excellent wood fired pizzas. Many thanks to him and his partner for their help and cooperation which was much appreciated. The students are now busy working on their reports which include recommendations on new ways the business might promote itself.