Collecting books for African schools

Video about the work of READ International

This year, our students have been packing old text books up to send to READ International. This is a student run charity which collects disused, high-quality Key Stage 3 and GCSE textbooks from UK secondary schools and delivers them to schools across Tanzania and Uganda.

To date, READ Book Projects have donated over 850,000 textbooks to over 580 Tanzanian secondary schools and twenty three regional libraries. In the summer of 2011 they aim to deliver another 300,000 across to Tanzania and Uganda — and ship their millionth book to East Africa.

“This year, we’ll be contributing to this great project, which promotes volunteering, young social enterprise, recycling and global citizenship,” said Helen Wood, the Director of the International Study Centre and the person who initiated the recycling of old text books at the College.

“It is frustrating to see large numbers of good quality text books going to be recycled at best or to landfill at worst, simply because the syllabus has changed and we can no longer use them. READ International works on a simple but effective principle: it gives these books a second life and helps contribute to the education of children in more deprived areas of the world, where text books are a luxury and one book is often shared between 10 or more students.”

The International Study Centre students are currently completing their Citizenship Studies coursework. They were pleased to be taking part. “It’s great”, said Sasha Sokolova, “because we’re not just recycling the books into new paper, they are going to be put to a really good use, helping poorer students.”

The sight of Toby Sun, Sasha Sokolova and Kira Liao busily taping up boxes and carefully packing piles of books has spurred Maths teacher, Ursula Boughton, into action. “There are lots of really good text books in other parts of the College that we can no longer use, but are collecting in cupboards, so I’ll sort those out and see if we can send them, too.”

If you have disused textbooks that you wish to donate to READ, are interested in fundraising for us, or simply want more information please contact your nearest book project:

To donate books, email books@readinternational.org.uk; for more information, email info@readinternational.org.uk

No Showers; just Glorious Bath

Saturday 12 February dawned misty and cool but the promise was of sunshine to come. The students and three staff assembled on time at the Swan building ready for trip to Bath. It was a good journey there and we arrived by 10.30. The city looked beautiful with the golden colour of the Cotswold stone buildings making a stunning contrast with the blue sky. A short walk took us to the centre of the town and a chance to explore the Roman Baths.

The Baths were built along with a temple to Sulis Minerva at the site of a Celtic sacred spring. This is a place where hot water rises from deep in the earth’s core and gushes out on the surface. The flow of water is enough to fill your bath in 8 seconds. We walked around the Baths and the Temple and were able to listen to a commentary in Chinese, Japanese, German, French and other languages as well as English. It was fascinating to walk around the areas that the Romans had walked around over two thousand years ago. The water was not clear but we could watch the steam rising from it as it bubbled up from the ground.


We then had a break for lunch where all could choose a restaurant. After lunch we reassembled and walked as a group up to the Circus and the Royal Crescent. There was much amusement as we walked past the street called Quiet Street — none of us were sure who could live there! We admired the beautiful houses in the Royal Crescent and dreamed of owning one. All were imagining what life would be like if they lived there in the past.

The group then divided with some wanting to enjoy more free time in the city whilst the remainder enjoyed a visit to the Assembly Rooms and the Museum of Fashion.

— Words by Ursula Boughton, Teacher of Maths

Friday Night Bowling Trip

A collage of bowling photos by talented ISC student Sasha Sokolova

An important part of the GCSE Programme is the programme of social events and activities that offer students a chance to have some fun outside the classroom. Last half-term's bowling trip was one such event.

It also proved to be another great opportunity to display our students' astonishing talent: should their summer exams go poorly, Toby Sun and Sergiy Marchenko clearly have a bright future as professional bowlers — they finished the evening with record scores of 95 and 94. Helen Wood also deserves credit for saving the staff from complete humiliation by equalizing with a score of 95.

But the evening was also a chance to show off just how creative some of our students are. We were witness to some unique bowling techniques, never before seen on the UK mainland. These included throwing the ball so hard and with such inaccuracy that it bounced into the neighbour's lane! (Thank you for that, Atsuko Hashimoto…) And, not to be out done, Nathalie Rimensberger rolled the ball so slowly it did not even reach the pins. Last but not least, Joe Ou went to bowl the ball, forgot to let go of it and promptly fell over.

A night of extreme talent, clumsiness and great fun!

— Writeup by David Wareham, Senior Pastoral Teacher

Interactive science at the Royal Institution in London

A trip was arranged by Dr Tuncel Tack, the chemistry teacher at the ISC to the Royal Institution in London. This included the opportunity to work in their laboratories for half a day and an exploration of the museum for the other half of the day.

The students assembled bright and early and following a coach journey through Henley to London we arrived on time at Albemarle Street. The 38 students from the ISC were then split in to two groups and given their tasks for the day.

The work in the laboratory fascinated all the students. They were able to extract strands of their own DNA. This involved chewing the inside of their cheeks to release some cells and then using the fluid from their mouth. They then had to use very carefully measured amounts of various chemicals to breakdown cells walls and then using heat they were able to finally using very cold water to isolate the tiny strands of DNA on the interface between the two fluids. It was amazing to see our own DNA without a microscope. The students were then able to take home a vial of fluid with their DNA strands. It was a memorable experiment.

Museum Tour


The museum at the Royal Institution has examples of the wok of many of the scientists attached to the Institute. We learned that 10 of the elements on the periodic table were discovered by scientists at the Institute. There was an interactive activity to find these based on the Elements song by Tom Lehrer which is a parody of the Major General's song from Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. There was much to see at the museum and we had a questionnaire to help us to find out as much as we could.

It was a good day for staff and students alike and many thanks to Tuncel for organising it.

Pantomime!

Students at the International Study Centre are excitedly awaiting the release of their very own pantomime DVD which should be available from Friday 14th January. They are looking forward to seeing how their show looked on the night, having worked really hard in the build up, not just rehearsing, but also helping make the costumes and props and designing and painting parts of the set.


Their production of ‘Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins’ – a unique twist on the story of Snow White - transported the tale to Transylvania and turned it into ‘horror panto’. As ever, the audience was wonderfully supportive and the performances completely hilarious.


The cast and crew were delighted to receive rave reviews from avid pantomime fans, including the College Bursar, Peter Talbot, who had this to say: “What a masterpiece of entertainment! It really was a fantastic start to Christmas and a real ‘tour de force’ from all your remarkable students. As always I find it thoroughly humbling to think they are learning all the words in a foreign language after only a few weeks of studying in the UK — and then making it humorous. Awesome!”


The cast wowed other audience members, too. “The kids all did brilliantly! Special big shouts out to Count Von Tusrey, the Dancing Girls, and Blumenthal, but they were all great!” wrote Rebecca Wood in an email to the students. “In my humble opinion, it was the best one yet.”

High praise indeed from someone who has helped produce all the previous ISC pantomimes — and was in the audience for the first time to enjoy it.

— By Helen Wood, Director

Watch a slideshow of photos from the show

Sweet-toothed fund-raising for Amnesty International

Once a year the International Study Centre hosts a fun-filled day of fundraising for a UK or international charity. The teachers and students work hard at preparing the event with the teachers and staff baking biscuits and cakes to sell to students and staff throughout the college with the aim of raising as much money as possible for a good cause. This year, Amnesty International was chosen as the charity that would benefit from all our baking skills at the ISC.


Students are the ISC are currently studying the topic of Human Rights and the role of charities in their citizenship subject, and planning their coursework around this sensitive and challenging topic.

Teachers and students alike feasted on biscuits and cakes in a party-like atmosphere at break times. The cakes and biscuits were delicious with the chocolate brownies and coffee cake in particular going down a storm with all staff and students.


Talal said, “It’s good to help people and see people doing something. Every little thing you do counts.”

Toby found the day’s event very enjoyable. “I liked being involved with a cause that affects society, either locally or globally.” It gave me a good opportunity to improve my English by focusing on wider issues in society that we don’t normally cover in class.

The amount of £71.83 was raised in total.


Everyone was particularly impressed by the tasty treats baked by the ISC staff. Rumour has it that the students will have the task of cooking biscuits and cakes for the next event, and we are sure they will be just as delicious as those eaten on our fund-raising day!

Our school trip to London

We had a fantastic sunny day for our school trip to London. After arriving, we walked around Parliament Square, stopping to take snaps of the bronze statues of Richard the Lion Heart and Oliver Cromwell. We’d just learned about the development of rights in Britain in our Citizenship classes, so it was exciting to see the ‘mother of Parliaments’. We even saw some protesters camped outside and read some of their posters.


Next, we walked up Whitehall Avenue, stopping to see Downing Street (the home of the Prime Minister) and the Cenotaph (the memorial to all who have died in conflicts around the world) on our way. Helen, our head teacher, explained how the Cenotaph is the focus of Remembrance Sunday celebrations in November.

Everyone enjoyed seeing the soldiers in their brightly coloured uniforms at Horse Guards Parade, and the girls all took photos. We’re not sure who they were most interested in – the horses or the soldiers!

Before lunch in Chinatown, we made a detour to Buckingham Palace. The Queen wasn’t at home, but there was a film crew working on Johny English 2. Watch out for us on film when it is released at the cinema! That’s us in the background during the car chase. (Just kidding!)


Our expert guide for lunch was Tian Song, better known to us as Tim. He took us to the ‘best restaurant in Chinatown’, where we ate incredibly spicy Chinese food. The teachers were not brave enough to join us and went to eat Dim Sum instead – but they said it was very tasty.

Last stop: shopping in Covent Garden. Some of us explored the smaller, more interesting shops, while others just wanted to hang out in the Apple Store! There was also a chance to watch some street entertainment. We saw a man pretending to be a hamster in a cage. British people can be pretty strange!

Spinning, plunging and soaring at Thorpe Park

We had an adrenalin-packed day out to Thorpe Park on Sunday. All of us were armed with our waterproof clothes as the weather was really terrible – but we soon realised this was actually a positive thing ... It seems British people don’t like to go to theme parks in the rain, so we didn’t have to queue very long for rides, if at all for some!

For many of us, including our Biology teacher Jill, it was our first time to ride a rollercoaster, so with the support of our friends we gave it a go and we were all very brave!

We experienced many different sensations, like G-Force and speed on the white knuckle rides like Saw: The Ride and Stealth where we reached heights of 205ft and speeds of 80mph in only 1.7 seconds! … and absolute fear in the terrifying Saw:Maze which had real life actors jumping out at us in recreations of scenes from the horror films!

After lots of spinning, plunging and soaring, we treated ourselves to some delicious sweets, like candy floss and the teachers were surprised that we were not sick!

We had so much fun that we think that we should go to Thorpe Park every week!

– By Form Reps: Andrei, Nathalie, Ou Joe, Masha, Toby, Kate

Tour of Oxford Castle Unlocked!

As part of our ‘Out and About’ club we visited Oxford Castle where we were met by a costumed guide who led us around the old building. He told us all about the history of the site and explained its origins in Norman England.

After watching a short video, we walked up the 101 steps to the top of St George’s Tower where we could see out over the roof tops of Oxford and beyond! Our guide told us some stories about people who had lived in the castle like Empress Matilda in the 12th Century and a prisoner named Rowland Jenks in the 16th Century who was thought to have cursed all the officials involved in his case.


We then moved from the highest point to the lowest, below the prison to the remains of the Norman Church or crypt and were alarmed to hear that food and dead bodies were stored there together! They say that their ghosts have not left the vault and people have seen or heard them there…we had a fright when we saw a ‘dead’ monk wandering through the corridors! Daria was so afraid she needed a hug, while the boys tried to take pictures and ran after him!


We then went to the Prison area and were appalled to find out that in one small cell in the 17th Century they would keep 30 prisoners! In more modern times, this became home for one – but even so, we decided we wouldn’t want to live there. We also found out that there was inequality within the prison and that people of a higher social class were allowed to have a servant and even have visitors for tea!

There were many interesting changes made to the prison system over the years and we saw how it developed into a modern successful prison … and then finally a hotel!

We decided even though it is supposed to be a luxurious hotel – we would still be afraid to stay there!

– Report by Carey, Bonnie, Dasha, Masha and Natalia

Out and About with the Pre-Rafaelites

Each week as part of 'Out and About' club, students on the GCSE Programme find out more about Oxford's past and present. Recently they were finding out about The Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood In Oxford – and this is what they wrote about the experience…

First of all we watched a short documentary film about the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood. Then we saw a clip from the BBC television series, Desperate Romantics, which dramatised the lives of three of the founding members of the group, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and Edward Burne-Jones. We learned about the major themes in Pre-Rafaelite painting, life, love, death and nature and the importance of 'real issues' to their art.

Next we went 'Out and About' to Oxford University's world famous Union Society building. In the Old Library at the Union Society there are wall murals depicting scenes from the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. These were painted by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and William Morris (another pre-Rafaelite) between 1857 and 1859.


After our trip to the Union Society, some of us continued on to the Ashmolean Museum where we went to a special exhibition called The Pre-Rafaelites and Italy. The exhibition continues until the 5th of December and is really interesting.

— Report by Helen Zhang, Bonnie Shi, Kristen Li, Kate Markman and Jeremy Feng