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