Student focus: Ingrid Marin

In the coming weeks we will be featuring some of our GCSE students to give you an insight into life at the International Study Centre. We start with Ingrid Marin.

Ingrid joined us at the age of 15 from Romania. Ingrid chose to study with us because she felt it was ‘a College that would fit my needs and provide a better education and a better future.’ She says that "d'Overbroeck's is an amazing school. The thing I like most is how the teachers make you love the subjects as much as they do and make you study because you want to not because you have to."

Ingrid is currently living at Bensons, our all-girls boarding accommodation and says she especially enjoys the "great food and environment."

 Along with participating in many of the ISC trip and activities, especially Dance Club, Ingrid enjoys spending time with her friends in Oxford, which she describes as a ‘very beautiful city’. She also likes that "it is filled with students just like me, from all over the world."

At GCSE Ingrid is studying Maths, English as a First Language, English as a Second Language, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, German, Citizenship, PSHE and P.E.

Ingrid is thinking of taking Sociology, Economics, Maths and Politics at A level and hopes to go to study at UCL later on.

National costumes on display at assembly

 

 

 Kostya Tropillo, 15 from Russia

 

 

The ISC assembly today was organised by students belonging to King Alfred (one of the student houses at the International Study Centre). It involved students discussing their own countries and comparing national cultures.

 

Kostya delighted us as he came dressed as a Cossack in traditional Russian costume.

Kostya has managed to inspire all the other students to follow suit as they have all said that they will bring examples of their national costumes after they return home from the Christmas holidays.

We are very much looking forward to seeing all their outfits and learning more about different cultures next term at our International Arts Festival.

 

 

Latest photos from the ISC

We have just had some new photos taken of some of this year's ISC students in their lessons and thought you would be interested in seeing some of them.  More on their way soon!

 

Thorpe Park

 The students from the International Study Centre and the Sixth Form recently took part in the annual trip to Thorpe Park.

The total combined number of students reached nearly 80 students including 8 members of staff from across the College.

During the journey our in-coach entertainment consisted of various renditions of Happy Birthday directed at one of our ISC students, Lera, who was celebrating her 15th birthday.

Within seconds of entering the park, our students rushed to be the first ones in the queues for the rides!



The students enjoyed a fun filled 8 hours of adrenalin pumping rollercoasters, head-to-toe drenching water rides, arcades and amusements!

Despite Britain's unpredictable weather in the week leading up, we were blessed with not a single drop of rain and sunshine and clouds - what more could we have asked for?

All the students showed an exceptional punctuality throughout the day and were a credit to the College.

The Italian Job (ISC Style)

At the end of last term, 30 students and five teachers journeyed to the Bay of Naples and Amalfi Coast region of Italy for the International Study Centre's first ever trip abroad. Our base was the tourist Mecca of Sorrento, but unlike the thousands of idle sun-worshippers,  we were there to take part in an academically rigorous study trip. Our itinerary featured daily excursions to an exhausting range of historical and geological sites (and it was entirely incidental that a stunning beach was located only five minutes from the hotel!).

Apart from enjoying a quick dip in the Mediterranean every evening, we also managed to enjoy some incredible scenery, including the bizarre sulphur vents of Solfatara, where our geography teacher Jill Partridge lead us past jets of steam hissing from underground fissures. She also led us to the top of Vesuvius to enjoy an awesome vista of Naples and the archaeological wonders of Pompei and Herculaneum. While taking in the view, we had to keep one eye on the crater behind – Vesuvius is an active volcano and due to erupt again at any time!

Fortunately, we also had the opportunity to see Herculaneum up close the next day. Although smaller than Pompei, it is extremely well preserved and still large enough to keep you busy for hours. We then stopped at the Flavian Amphitheatre.  Although it was closed, we could still get an excellent view from outside - luckily, ISC director Helen Wood was well informed enough to act as an unofficial guide.
Our final excursion was to the island of Capri, where we took a Riva ('the Ferrari of the boat world') trip to the rugged, limestone cliff formations. When the temperature got as high as forty, we were forced to take refuge in the cooling waters of a beautiful, blue cove. Definitely the highlight of the trip. Next year? Well, we never did make it to Pompei, so maybe we should just go back. On the other hand, I've heard that the South of France is pretty nice, too. And what about Spain? Wherever we go, it will be hard to beat the Bay of Naples.

Open doors & cream tea!

On the first trip of this academic year our new students at the ISC took part in the Oxford Open Doors event on Sunday 9th September.


Students had the opportunity to see beyond the doors of some of the most famous University Colleges including Magdalen, Merton, New College, Queen's & All Soul's.

 

A walk around Christchurch College meadow and seeing the geese down by the river was also part of the fun on this sunny Sunday afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After an afternoon of visiting Oxford colleges time for some cream tea at Brown’s where students got to learn the etiquette of how to eat those lovely scones!

Gabby and Julia – a talk with our Lithuanian students at our International Study Centre

"A couple of weeks before they took their GCSE exams, I had a chat with our two Lithuanian students about life in Oxford and studying at d’Overbroeck’s College. Both Gabby and Julia joined the International Study Centre (ISC) in September 2011 and have been fantastic students to have studying with us.

Their choice to come and study in the UK was based on recommendations and an appreciation that Britain is highly regarded in Lithuania and around the world for its great education system. So the next step was to choose a college and with the help of an educational advisor and some online research they decided to apply to d’Overbroeck’s because of its position within the top independent schools in the country and the immense support given to international students.

When asked to compare d’Overbroeck’s to their previous schools in Lithuania, the girls told me that they were impressed with how organized our College is and with the huge amount of information they absorb in the lessons. They love the fact that, here, they are only about 10-12 students in a class compared to 30 or more in Lithuania – and they both agree that this factor contributes a lot to their successful learning. They also love their teachers at the ISC because they are truly interested in the students and give them a lot of support in and outside of the classroom - something they didn’t use to have back at their schools in Lithuania.

Gabby (left) and Julia outside d'Overbroeck's College International Study Centre

Gabby and Julia are both hard-working girls, and very intelligent as well. We spent some time talking about politics in their country and the differences between Lithuania and the UK, and I was pleased to find two teenage girls that are very aware of the world they live in. They also seem to enjoy being in Oxford, and when asked about it they both agreed that it is a great city to study in because it is not too busy and not too big. They like the fact that they can easily meet up with friends for a walk or for lunch in the weekends, or even after doing their homework after dinner. They don’t have to travel far and everybody is within easy reach.

One important question that I was really looking forward to hear the answer to was how they felt about studying in the International Study Centre as opposed to studying with British students. Gabby and Julia confessed that at first they weren’t entirely sure what it would be like but now they cannot imagine having studied anywhere else. They thought that studying with other international students at this stage made their transition easier and a much richer experience in overall.

It was a very good chat, though it had to be quite a short one as they had to head back to class for their exam preparation. However, I am sure I will be seeing them a lot still as they have both been accepted to our Sixth Form. They will be starting their A levels this September, joining in with other successful students from our ISC as well as many new day and boarding British and international students.
Since our meeting, Gabby and Julia have graduated from our ISC with excellent grades all across the board. And, they both joined the ISC’s end-of-year exploration trip to Naples – something we will look to hear more on one of our next blog entries. "

Debora Brand