Sixth Form Chivalry

Sixth Form student Rory Cleaver happened to be walking down Turl Street in Oxford city centre when an elderly lady fell from her wheelchair. As luck would have it, he'd just – minutes earlier – been buying bandages for his injured knee. So he immediately rushed over.

After helping with the bandaging (he later found that the lady, Mrs Jose O'Leary, had broken her nose) and offering his coat, he ran to get help and arrange for an ambulance to be called – before returning to wait until the paramedics arrived.

... All was well, in the end – and, shortly afterwards, the Oxford Times printed a letter from Mrs O'Leary, commending Rory's chivalry:

'We often read or hear of the bad things that young people are said to do, but I witnessed some of the wonderful things that young people do and I would like to say a big thank you'

Profile of Rory on the Sixth Form website

Nurture, lead or analyse?

Last week, as part of the ongoing d'Overbroeck's Speaker Series, we were visited by Simon Williams, Managing Director of Tangent Team Development (photo above).

Simon's topic was emotional intelligence (or 'EI') – a quality increasingly recognised and cherished as a counterbalance to raw IQ.

Leading a variety of workshops, Simon introduced sixth form Business Studies students to new ways of thinking about communicating and interacting with others. As part of the exercise, students discovered whether they were instinctive nurturers, leaders or analysers – and what impact this had on their working style.

Basketball triumph

The Sixth Form basketball team clinched their second league win in a row during a close-fought encounter with Kingham Hill.

In a low scoring game, d'Overbroeck's led from the 1st period to the final buzzer, but never managed to pull away from a tenacious opposition. A battling Kingham Hill came back into the match in the final period and had a chance to tie the game with the last shot of the match – but narrowly missed to leave victory in the hands of our team.

Well done to the team on a superb performance – and in particular to man of the match and highly effective defender Josh Oyeyinka.

Hitchhiking to Morocco -- for charity

Two of last year's Upper Sixth – Alastair Mitchell (who's recently been offered a place at Balliol College Oxford) and William Richards (now in his first year at Keble College Oxford) – are setting off on a fundraising expedition in an effort to raise money for development in Africa.

Their journey will begin later this month and, by the end, they plan to have hitchhiked all the way to Morocco. Currently, they are seeking sponsors (if you would like to support their efforts, here's a link to Ali's online sponsorship form).

They're raising money on behalf of Link Community Development – a charity that aims to offer disadvantaged people in Africa access to education and training. The charity carries out its work directly, rather than by simply supplying funding, to ensure that donations are spent wisely and effectively.

New website launched

Today sees the launch of a new d'Overbroeck's Sixth Form website. If you visit (which we hope you will), you'll see that we've entirely revamped both the appearance and the content of the Sixth Form pages.


We felt it was important that a new site captured the buzz of student life at d'Overbroeck's – that it not only contained information about curricula, facilities, admissions and so on, but also that it gave an impression of the vibrant, eclectic array of people, activities, achievements and performances that make Sixth Form life so exciting.


As well as essential information about Sixth Form, then, you'll also find student stories and profiles, photographs, videos and more ...


We'd love to receive your feedback on the new look – so please do contact us with your thoughts, or comment at the bottom of this post.

The Run-up to a Show ... Guys & Dolls 1

A dedicated band of Sixth Form and Leckford Place students have been hard at work rehearsing for this year's major d'Overbroeck's College performance: the classic musical comedy Guys & Dolls.

Yesterday, we sat in on a rehearsal and watched choreography being tweaked, songs rehearsed and lines polished ... It looks as if it's going to be a fantastic production.

To whet your appetite, here are a few more rehearsal photos ... Scroll down for details on how to book tickets.






When and where will the performances take place?
Shows will be at Keble College's O'Reilly Theatre, at the following times:

• Wednesday 11 March, 2.30pm (matinee)
• Wednesday 11 March, 7.30pm
• Thursday 12 March, 7.30pm
• Friday 13 March, 7.30pm

How to reserve your tickets
If you'd like to book tickets, please contact Po Yung or Jess Beale at the Sixth Form Office: email or telephone 01865 310000. Tickets are £10 (£6 for under-14s and other concessions) and are allocated on a first come, first served basis, and may sell out quickly – so please book as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment.

Snowy Sixth Form