d'Overbroeck's Sixth Form News

Duke of Edinburgh Award

2013-07-29T04:08:00.002-07:00

Gold News

Congratulations to Florence Shekleton, Emelia MacDonald, Zoe MacIntyre, Rebecca Joyce and Rachel Wilson who have completed and passed their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award with d’Overbroeck’s College.

The girls were described as a model group while completing their expedition in Snowdonia in June. They excelled in camp craft and, with their different strengths, worked exceptionally well as a team. The girls carried with them the equipment needed to gauge different physiological measures as well as their trangias, sleeping bags, tents and anything else needed to survive for the 4 days hiking and camping. Well done!

In other Gold news, Joanna Brown of 11/12 is off to St James's Palace on 12^th September to receive her Gold award from HRH The Duke of Wessex. Congratulations to Joanna for representing d’Overbroeck’s on the day.

Silver News

Congratulations to the Duke of Edinburgh Silver group who passed their Silver practice expedition in Wantage/Abingdon area.

Their assessed expedition will take place on Saturday 14^th September to Monday 16^th September in the New Forest – wish them luck!

In other Silver news, well done to Toby Sun who has now completed his Silver Award after finishing his volunteering with Oxfam alongside working for his A levels! We are now awaiting his certificate. Good luck with University, Toby!

Bronze News

Congratulations to Patrick Hoban and Finlay Currie who have both completed their Bronze Awards before going off to start their A levels. Well done for your hard work!

Flight to the edge of space!

2013-06-26T09:34:00.002-07:00

On Friday 21st June 2013, a team of d'Overbroeck's staff and A level chemistry students, led by teacher Stephen Belding, launched a weather balloon as part of an ambitious experiment to record and analyse atmospheric data.

The helium-filled latex balloon carried a small polystyrene payload (see photos below) containing a camera (programmed to take photographs every 30 seconds for a period of 3 hours), a GPS tracker (to determine the location of the fallen balloon after the flight), a data logger (to record the temperature, pressure and humidity every 10 seconds) and two intrepid lego figures belonging to teacher Max Parsonage's grandson.

With the appropriate authorities informed and weather patterns checked, the balloon was released. Two and a half hours later it returned safely to Earth, along with some quite spectacular photos, such as those below.

Congratulations to Stephen and the team (in particular student Joe Wolfensohn who had the idea) for a very successful experiment!

Some interesting facts about the experiment

At the earth's surface, the balloon was 1.8 metres in diameter, becoming bigger until, having reached its highest altitude, it burst. Just before it burst, its diameter would have grown to about 10 metres.
During the flight, the temperature was expected to drop to around -60^oC. At this temperature everyday electronic equipment (like the camera) stops working. Stephen and his team therefore had to use special chemicals to heat the inside of the payload during the flight.
The balloon took 2 hours 20 minutes to reach its maximum altitude (travelling at 6.54 mph) and 50 minutes to descend (travelling at 11.2mph).
The GPS trail below shows how it travelled throughout its journey, taking off from Wolvercote (north of Oxford) and landing near Brize Norton.

Young Enterprise goes from strength to strength

2013-06-24T02:10:00.001-07:00

Last month saw the conclusion of Macaroon Bracelets Young Enterprise journey as they attended the Central Oxford Company Program Regional finals at the prestigious European Headquarters of probably the most famous motorcycle brand in the world...Harley Davidson!

The standard of this year's competiton was exceptionally high as all the entrants showcased impressive stands, products and presentations. Macaroon Bracelets more than matched their competitors with a well thought out stand and very narrowly missed out on the "Best Presentation Award" as they wowed the audience with their humorous interactive media presentation. Whilst away from the competition students loved the opportunity to ride on a real Harley Davidson!

This years Young Enterprise company has really developed throughout the year following their mantra of the 3 Ps; PLAN, PRACTICE and then PERFECT, always looking to improve and add value to their product. Congratulations to Managing Director Malika Abdykalykova for successfully leading the team through this development and Fatmir Qylafi for winning an award for 'outstanding individual contribution' at the awards ceremony. Finally a big shout out to the rest of the team: Xiaoli Huang, Yeelee Ngai, Bao Anti Tsan, Chris Read, Sai Chananifhitham and Josh McNight without whom this year's success would not have been possible.

Commonwealth Games hopes for d'Overbroeck's star

2013-06-19T03:26:00.000-07:00

As reported earlier this month in the Oxford Mail, d'Overbroeck's student Jack Antoniou (pictured below) is hoping to compete at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after becoming the youngest player to represent Cyprus at Rugby Sevens.

Jack, an Upper Sixth student studying P.E., Business Studies and Geography made his debut for Cyprus in Dubai last December and most recently featured at the European Sevens Cup in Tel Aviv, Israel. Jack, who also plays club rugby for Henley Hawks, helped Cyprus reached the plate final where they lost to Denmark.

We wish Jack every success for the future and look forward - hopefully - to seeing him at next year's Games!

Highly commended entry in Words for the Wounded Writing Competiton: Cassie Cooper Bagnall

2013-06-14T07:35:00.002-07:00

Congratulation to Cassie Cooper Bagnall for being Highly Commended in a recent Words for the Wounded national competition. This competition helps raise funds for wounded service men and women. For more details visit http://www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk/index.html

Cassies’s piece is as follows:

“Warming sunlight poured in through the open window, pooling gently around a sleeping female form. Lucy sunk into its comforting embrace, rolling softly onto her side hands placed protectively over her ‘bump’. A new dawn. Promising great things with its limitless sky of blue. Poppies stood tall outside the window, cursed with an ugly bud, blessed with a beautiful bloom; a fog of emotion clouded her vision as tears sparkled, yet unshed.

Three months. Six days. Nine hours.

The space beside her was painfully vacant, pillows undisturbed by an exhausted head instead occupied by a crumpled piece of paper, words flowing across the page in an achingly familiar hand. His last letter. She’d read it so many times it was carved into her heart.

“Come on Luce.” she smiled, listening to the faint echo of the voice she’d fallen in love with . “Up and at ‘em.”

“Alright, give me a minute. Go make some coffee and stop nagging me.”

“It was just a love-nag,”

“Go ‘love-nag’ the coffee pot!”

“I’m going, I’m going...”

She wasn’t a morning person. She had the opinion that there were some hours of the day no normal human being should ever see.

Three months. Six days. Twelve hours.

Then it happened. His photo was packed with care and Lucy bustled into the back seat, parents arguing all the way. The engine kicked in with a hacking cough, prompting another argument over when they were going to replace this ‘good for nothing...’

“That doctor has a serious honker!”

Three months. Six days. Nineteen hours.

“We’re going to take you down to the delivery room.”

Three months. Six days. Twenty hours.

Lucy held her baby girl in her arms awestruck, marvelling at creation.

“Who do you think she looks more like?” she asked.

“She’s gorgeous. She’s all you.”

She looked up and saw her soul-mate; he was as she had seen him last, now a figment of her imagination - handsome, with dark hair, and melting chocolate coloured eyes. His uniform fit him proudly, though his boots were up on the bed. Again! She raised an eyebrow and mysteriously his feet slid back to the floor.

A father, a soldier, a hero...her Jerri.

“I miss you.”

“You can always find me. I never really left.”

Lucy looked down at her baby girl, awake and smiling, her father’s eyes brimming with curiosity.

He was right. He was still here.”

Thinking of Medicine as a career?

2013-06-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Amongst the many parents coming to talk at our Careers Event next Wednesday we are fortunate to have Peter Ratcliffe and Hilary Kirk.

Peter Ratcliffe

Peter was appointed to the Nuffield Professorship of Clinical Medicine in January 2004. Educated at Cambridge University and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, Professor Ratcliffe worked at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, the National Heart and Chest Hospitals and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases before joining Oxford University as Registrar in Renal and General Medicine in 1981. Most recently Peter was Professor of Renal Medicine and Senior Research fellow of Jesus College. He is an Honorary Consultant Physician at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust and a Fellow of Magdalen College.

Hilary Kirk

Hilary studied for a Biology BSc, and then pharmacology MSc before realising that medicine was the way forward on her personal journey. Hilary believes that she is a living representation of one of the best things about medicine which is there is something in it for everyone. Hilary is now a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist and has been at the John Radcliffe for 13 years. She has managed to combine study, living abroad, a family, and a career. Hilary feels that Anaesthetics is the practical enactment of everything she loves doing and says she never has a dull day at work!

We are delighted that students will have the opportunity of meeting and talking to Peter and Hilary about a career in Medicine.

Wayne Yip coming to our Careers Event

2013-06-13T03:54:00.002-07:00

Recent blogs will have told you a bit more about parents who are coming to speak at our Careers event. We are also delighted to welcome once again one of our past students, Wayne Yip who has been very successful in the film industry.

Wayne finished in the the sixth form in 1999 and went on to graduate from Oxford & Cherwell College in 2004 with a degree in Graphic Design. His first foray into film was a music video for Quasi - 'Peace & Love' which won the Domino Records and Audience Award at the Radar Festival 2007.

Wayne's first short film Happy Birthday Granddad won the BAFTA '60 Seconds of Fame’ 2007 award and since then he has directed Secret Diary of a Call Girl -Season 4, Misfits - Season 3 and this year's UTOPIA for Channel 4. He is currently directing the last ever episode of Misfit.

Pictured below is Wayne talking to students at last year's event.

More speakers for our Careers Event

2013-06-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

If you have been following our blog you will know that this year's Careers Event is on Wednesday 19th June. We are delighted that so many parents have offered to come and talk to students about their industries and careers. We have already introduced some of them in earlier blogs and here are two more profiles of people who will be attending:

Susie Brooks-Smith Susie began her career producing adverts with directors such as Bruce Beresford and Peter Weir. She then moved into journalism which included working across all the Vogue titles until she moved to England. Here she continued to contribute to international magazines such as Tatler, House & Garden and Homes & Gardens. She also wrote her first book "Cotswold Gardens" and wrote and produced documentaries for the BBC and C4 including "The Spirit Of Pushkin" (BBC) and "Mummy Doesn't Live Here" (BBC). The first film she produced was " Tooth" starring Harry Enfield, Richard E. Grant, Vinnie Jones, Stephen Fry and Jerry Hall; this won the 2004 Giffoni International award for Best Children's film and Best Child Actor. "Locked In" starring Ben Barnes and Eliza Dushku will be released internationally in 2012. Susie is now co-producing the Booker Prize shorted listed book "The Riders" starring Academy Award winners, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush.

Saskia Ozinga Saskia worked for nearly ten years for Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands, working closely with many other environmental and human rights NGOs. Saskia’s main focus was tropical rainforests but she was also involved in other campaigns and has a good overview of the NGO community involved in forests and human rights issues specifically as well as how to campaign. When Saskia moved to the UK in 1995 she set up FERN, an organisation doing advocacy work at EU level around forests and human rights issues. FERN networks with many EU based NGOs and also works closely with partners in West and Central Africa and Asia to ensure their voice is heard in EU aid and trade policies. Issues they work on include illegal logging, carbon trading, forests and climate, export credit agency financing and biomass. FERN have 12 staff and two offices, one in the UK and one in Brussels.

This should be a tremendously useful event for students and we are grateful to everyone for giving up their time to help.

Who else is coming to speak?

2013-06-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Not long now until our Careers evening on Wednesday June 19th. We are extremely grateful to all the parents who are giving up their time to come and advise students. Amongst those coming are:

Adrian Hallmark.
Adrian is the Global Brand Director at Jaguar. Adrian joined Jaguar Land Rover as Global Brand Director, Jaguar on December 1st 2010. Adrian is a member of Jaguar Land Rover's Executive Committee and reports directly to Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ralf Speth. With more than 27 years of experience in the automotive industry, Adrian has held a number of Directorships and Board positions at Porsche Great Britain, Bentley, Volkswagen USA, and Asia, in CEO and Board Level roles on the Commercial and Brand Functions, and with National, Regional and Global responsibilities.

David Rose.
David is an award winning journalist. In 1984, he joined The Guardian, where he did ground breaking work on the Guilford Four and Birmingham Six I.R.A. bombing cases. He became a contributing editor for Vanity Fair in 2002 and is a special-investigations writer for the Mail on Sunday. David’s awards include a One World-European Union award for journalism in the service of human rights (1997) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs David Watt Memorial Prize (1993). He is the author of six books, including “Guantanamo: The War on Human Rights” and “The Big Eddy Club”, which was shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger.

Who's coming to talk?

2013-06-06T13:14:00.002-07:00

This year’s Careers Evening is on Wednesday June 19th and we are very fortunate to have an amazing array of parents coming to share their experiences and insights with students. In the next few days we will be highlighting some of the many parents who have kindly offered to come and help students' with their careers choices.

We start with:

Dr Ed Wood who has been Chief Designer at Williams F1 since 2006.

Ed has a broad range of engineering experience in both motorsport and aerospace and therefore has knowledge in both engineering and physical sciences. He has degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester and Doctorate from the University of Oxford where he undertook research for Rolls Royce plc. Prior to Williams he has worked as a Development Engineer at the Ferrari and & Renault Formula 1 teams and was Chief Designer for the Subaru World Rally Team.

Edi Smockum

Edi has had a career in television & radio as a producer/presenter and now runs a company that manages entry-level training schemes for Channel 4, training reporters and presenters. Edi was responsible for training the disabled reporters and presenters for Channel 4's Bafta-winning coverage of the Paralympics. Edi also does consulting work for the National Film & Television School which is considered one of the top 10 film schools in the world.

We are looking forward to a very useful and interesting event.

Steph Croft-Simon launches her own organic bars

2013-06-03T05:24:00.001-07:00

As well as running her own catering business (which includes supplying lunch for the sixth form) past student Steph Croft Simon has beenbusy 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!

AQA Baccalaureate Projects

2013-05-23T02:47:00.001-07:00

As you know we were one of the pioneers of the AQA Baccalaureate in the UK believing that it provides an excellent preparation for the demands of university. One important element of the AQA Bacc is the extended project which develops valuable research skills and enables students to explore areas of interest in depth. Most of the projects this year were dissertations but they also included a dance performance, a piece of film work and a piece of creative writing.

The areas of study included:

Carey Chen: 'Carey’s happiness index; to what extent has unprecedented economic growth contributed to the improvement of living standards in China?'

Emily Smith: 'Dance for Life – a dance production in support of the charity Interact’.

Duncan Churcher: 'Pegasus Bridge – a historical novella.'

Julius Gard: 'How has radio physics improved the practice of medicine?'

Isaac Guard: 'Options for sustainable future energy development.'

Olivia Johnson: 'Shelley – a short film.'

Alex Latcham-Ford: 'Why is the evangelical movement so influential in contemporary American politics?'

Ben Ryde: 'A brief history of Andalucía’s recent demographic change, the effects this has on the physical geography of the region, and the potential future sustainability of the area.'

Flo Shekleton: 'Depression; a biological, environmental or social construct?'

Julian Solomon: 'Jobs v. Cook; leadership theory and practice.'

Toby Sun: 'Why is China’s economic structure so distinctive?'

Congratulations to all those who have submitted projects and for their interesting and engaging presentations.

Our Icelandic adventurers need your support

2013-05-23T02:31:00.001-07:00

This July, a group of 27 d’Overbroeck’s College students and staff will embark on the trip of a lifetime into Iceland’s unique landscape.

Their visit will include a sponsored trek into the wilderness of the Landmannalaugar National Park, with funds going to CARE International. They will be scaling the heights of ice mountains with crampons and axes, descending into the depths of volcanic lava tubes, swimming in natural geothermal lakes, driving in snowmobiles across glaciers, passing under waterfalls, whale watching and much more.

If you would like to sponsor the group please visit www.justgiving.com/doverbroecksicelandtrek.

Alternatively you can text ICED 50 followed by the amount (i.e. £10) to 70070.

To find out more about Care International go to www.careinternational.org.uk

Góða ferð! (Bon Voyage!)

Running Club News

2013-05-14T03:01:00.003-07:00

The Running Club closed the season with a final race on Monday 6 May. Eight runners completed the 10k course, which looped around the villages of Chalgrove and Ewelme in South-East Oxfordshire; the hot weather making for a very enjoyable (if slightly sweaty) run.

Notable mentions go to Graham Hope (Maths teacher) who finished with a time of 38.38 mins and placed 8th overall, whilst Felix Ogden (Lower Sixth) just missed the sub 40min mark with a time of 40.10 mins.

Felix Ogden just missing the sub 40 minute mark

Maths teacher, Graham Hope

In addition, George Vlachonikolis (Economics and Business) made the Winners' podium as the fastest runner actually from the village of Chalgrove.

George Vlachonikolis

Vendula Dohnalova (Upper Sixth) signed off from 2 years with the Running Club in some style, posting a time of 53.10 mins and placing 27th in the ladies' category.

Vendula Dohnalova

Basketball Team Finish Runners-up

2013-05-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

d’Overbroeck’s fantastic cup run ended in defeat in the Basketball County U19 final. The team came up against an extremely talented and experienced Cherwell side who played an outstanding match on the day. It was always going to be a tough encounter when you consider that many of their players from Yr11, who were last year’s national champions, were unable to get in their side!

Nevertheless, d’Overbroeck’s played valiantly and gave 100% commitment throughout the match. In the first half d’Overbroeck’s kept the scoreboard ticking over with Fong Wu coming up with some excellent shooting. However, as the game got away from the d’Overbroeck’s instead of retaining possession and playing as a team they went chasing the game, and this lead into the hands of the opposition who were clinical throughout.

Special mention must be given to Marko Stupar who has led this team brilliantly as captain, his enthusiasm and encouragement has rubbed off on many of the other senior players who have also been a pleasure to coach. To think at the start of the year we had three players that hadn’t played basketball before, making the final was a real achievement. Congratulations!

Final Score: d’Overbroeck’s: 26, Cherwell: 77

Storming into the final!

2013-04-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Basketball U19 County Cup Semi-Final

A fantastic team display by d’Overbroeck’s saw them beat Bartholomew 52-40 in a well contested semi-final play-off. Excellent team defence saw d’Overbroeck’s edge a close, but low scoring first period 10-6. In the second period d’Overbroeck’s started to find their range with some superb shooting and driving from the outstanding Fong Wu. This was aided by a much improved offensive performance by Duncan Churcher who converted several rebounds, whilst the introduction of Tianhan Tan lead to some important points from open play and the free throw line. At half time the score was 20-10 to d’Overbroeck’s.

In the second half Bartholomew came out hard playing a full court press, putting the defence under a lot of pressure. Thankfully Vlad Baranchikov and Marko Stupar were coming up with the big defensive rebounds and in an even quarter the lead was kept to 10 points. Bartholomew were desperate for possession in the last quarter and that led to them giving away lots of fouls. Eventually d’Overbroeck’s were able to seal the game from the free throw line and never looked like losing their lead.

The team consisted of players form all three parts of the college, including a debut for year 10 student Kwame Sellick.

Congratulations to the team on making our first final: Marko Stupar (Captain), Duncan Churcher, Juan Churcher, Toby Sun, Tom New, Vladimir Baranchikov, Fon Wu, Tianhan Tan, Edison Fai and Kwame Sellick.

Player of the match: Fong Wu, who scored 32 of our points.

Judo (student and staff success)

2013-04-25T02:49:00.001-07:00

Two members of d'Overbroeck's College have taken part in the annual Oxford & Cambridge Universities, Judo Varsity match.The two Universities have a non-student event in which Dmitry Zharkov and Henry Winney competed for the Oxford Team. They didn't let the college down, between them winning three fights with no losses.

Dmitry was first up, showing some dogged determination to defeat his much older opponent in a tough contest by throwing him over his shoulder for the maximum score. After such a strong performance Dmitry was invited to compete in an exhibition fight, against the ex-President of Cambridge University Judo. Dmitry didn't disappoint. With speed and stunning technique he threw his opponent twice, the first a large lift and the second sweeping his opponent's feet away to secure his second win. This was fantastic from Dmitry, competing against men several years older than himself.

Henry was pitted against an experienced black belt, more than 10kilos bigger than himself. Undaunted, he set about breaking down his opponent over the first two minutes of the fight and was able to nimbly avoid the attacks that were thrown his way using spectacular aerial spins. He was forthright in attack and dogged in defence, looking dangerous whenever the fight went into the groundwork stages. After just two-thirds of the allotted time Henry pinned his opponent to the floor in a vice-like hold. Henry's opponent was so firmly tied by the strong and technical pin that he couldn't even struggle and the fight was awarded to Henry.

Duke of Edinburgh Award - Practice Expedition

2013-03-28T08:49:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the Sixth Form Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award group who have just completed their practice expedition to the Brecon Beacons.

It was completed in every weather condition; fierce wind, snow, rain, and the occasional ray of sunshine. The students did fantastically well, coming together as a group to support each other and overcome different individual challenges. They also demonstrated and expanded on their navigational and camp craft skill sets.

They now know what they need to work on for the qualifying expedition in Snowdonia this June. Good luck!

Russia Trip, Photography Competition

2013-03-19T03:58:00.001-07:00

Following the recent trip to Russia, students were invited to submit their photographs in a competition judged by photography teacher Mark Pennington. The results, along with his comments, are displayed below. Congratulations to the winner and runner up, and well done to all those who submitted their work.

The winner: Jess Middleton-Heath

"Brilliant image, pairs, dark and light, mystery, cinematic, structured."

Runner up: Alex Ramos (two photographs)

"Magic, fantasy, fairy-tale, colour."

"Looks like a Lowry painting."

Mathemagicians!

2013-03-14T02:58:00.002-07:00

We were recently visited by two 'mathemagicians' associated with Marcus' Marvellous Mathemagicians - a group of current maths students at the University of Oxford championed by Marcus du Sautoy, presenter of numerous TV programmes and the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. Our mathemagicians (Dan Martin, an undergraduate in Physics at Hertford College, Oxford and Thomas Woolley, Research Associate at the Maths Institute, Oxford) spent an hour entertaining the students with their unique brand of humour and mathematical insights into winning games of all sorts. They convinced most of us that playing the lottery is a waste of time and money, and introduced us to an unsolved mathematics problem that could be worth at least one million US dollars to anyone who can solve it.

Geography Field Trip

2013-03-08T01:34:00.000-08:00

A review by Lower Sixth student, Jake de Buriatte

On the 4^th March 24 AS Geography students headed up to Preston Montford with their three teachers, Kate, Louise and JP for a 3 day field work trip. When we arrived, we spent the day doing experiments about infiltration and hydrography in different areas – urbanized, cultivated and vegetated locations, as well as settling into our dorms for the next couple of nights.

On the second day, we went to the Carding Mill valley, where we carried out experiments on the rivers. We were gifted clear blue skies and warm weather - all in a picture perfect landscape.

We worked our way down the river, from the source, measuring velocity, width, efficiency and discharge at several different points.

On our third and final day at the center, we went in to the county town of Shrewsbury to look at flooding. We split of into several small groups, and went to collect data from different zones within the town, carrying out a risk assessment of flooding with in the different zones. We spent the last part of our day looking at the multi-million pound flood defenses that were put in place after the devastating floods of 2003.

All-in-all this was a really interesting trip and great to see the theories that we had learnt in the classroom in the real world. I can't wait for the next one!

Young Enterprise

2013-03-05T01:57:00.003-08:00

A review by Jonathan Young

This term has seen our 2012/13 Young Enterprise company "Macaroon Bracelets" focus on sourcing sale opportunities for our internationally sourced boutique bracelets.

This year's team (comprising Managing Director Malika Abdykalykova, Finance Director Fatmir Qylafi, Marketing Managers Chris Read & Josh McKnight, Sales Manager, Xiaoli Huang, Operations Managers Yeelee Ngai, Bao Anh Tran and Secretary Kornkan Chananithitham) highlighted a series of trade fairs organised by Young Enterprise to form the back bone of their sales strategy.

Firstly, the Central Oxford Trade Fair at the Templar’s Square shopping centre in January saw our company make record sales – posting their best results in a day's trading to date as the passing trade from the shopping centre brought a steady stream of interested customers.

After the success of the Central Oxford Trade Fair, our company chose to attend another, this time the North Oxford Trade Fair at Castle Quay, Banbury. Another day of strong sales followed and an award from the Mayor of Banbury for our high standard of customer service.

What does the future hold? The company is striving for more sales opportunities and with this is mind we have decided to compete nationally at the National Trade Fair in Stratford on Saturday March 16th. Let the sales continue….

Allen Associates Business Workshop

2013-03-05T01:33:00.002-08:00

A review by Jonathan Young

“Put yourself in your customers place…”

The Business Department’s ‘Workshop Wednesdays’ continued with Kate and Rob Allen from Oxford recruitment specialists Allen Associates kindly offering their time and insights to this year's A2 and AS Business Studies students with a talk titled Running a Successful Business - Peaks, Troughs and Everything in Between.

The charismatic duo highlighted the importance of putting your customers needs at the forefront of your business planning with a customer focus essential as a base for both their differentiation strategy and their continued competitiveness in the recruitment market. Listening to your customers is key - their needs and wants - in order for your company to meet these successfully, especially in recruitment as your clients expect the very best candidate selection possible, tailored to their requirements”.

In this regard Kate and Rob highlighted the importance of highly skilled, knowledgeable and dedicated employees in a people business such as recruitment. “Find good people and once you have found them keep them as they are integral to you continued success”. As such Kate and Rob outlined their beliefs – a customer focus, the right staff, a strong brand known for high quality service will ensure competitiveness in the future.

A trip to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

2013-03-05T00:58:00.005-08:00

A summary by physics student, Jack Brett

Picture from the Science and Technology Facilities Council

"Last week around twenty of us who are taking physics A level took a trip to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Abingdon. We spent the day there and it was very interesting. I learnt about many complex theories concerning particle physics, including the famous Higgs Boson particle. There were many fun activities in which we took part, such as a tour of the laboratory as well as fascinating lectures from people who wok there. It was a very pleasant day out overall and was very useful for learning more about particle physics. I would strongly encourage anyone taking physics for A level to come along."

A life in football

2013-02-28T07:11:00.003-08:00

A summary from Boris Turkin

Picture from The Oxford Mail

"On Thursday we were given opportunity to both listen and put questions to the former captain of Arsenal Football Club Martin Keown who kindly came to d'Overbroecks to share his experience as a professional football player. Mr Keown spoke about his life in general and specifically about his football career, telling us that the best football player he ever played with was Thierry Henry and the best coach he worked under was Arsene Wenger (which was not much of a surprise for the most Arsenal fans).

He also talked about his character and how he used to deal with the psychological pressure of today's professional football. It revealed many realities about this side of the Premiership, which contradicted the media stereotype of overpaid arrogant footballers.

I found this talk truly fascinating as there were many lessons for life - not just football."