Annual 10k Race

On Sunday 11th December, the d’Overbroeck’s Sixth Form running team headed to Bicester Sports Ground for the annual 10k race.  For several of the d'Overbroeck's team it was their first 10k competition and thanks are due to George Vlachonikolis who has been busy training the runners. Amazingly, George  also ran the race despite having had an appendix operation just 10 days before!

Annie Hutt was the first of the team to finish, coming 32nd in the ladies competition. The rest of the results are as follows:

	Gender Position	Overall Position	Time
Annabelle Hutt	32	225	47:40
Joe More	247	316	52:20
George Vlachonikolis	253	326	52:52
Vendula Dohnalava	80	354	54:35

Unfortunately, Vladimir Milic's chip failed to record both his time and place, but we can confirm he was seen crossing the line with a big smile on his face somewhere in the lower 50+ minutes!

Well done to all who took part.

In the Spotlight: Andis Cekuls

Congratulations to one of our first year sixth students, Andis Cekuls, who recently performed at the Albert Hall with the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra. Andis is an extremely talented musician who previously studied in Riga where he was a member of two orchestras: the Jazeps Medins Riga 1st Music School Symphony Orchestra (conductor Laura Staša) and the Kazanovas Orķestris (conductor Toms Rēķis).

Since coming to Oxford this year Andis has joined the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra playing the double bass. This orchestra, along with a mass choir and the brass section of the Oxford Schools Symphony Orchestra, recently performed a new work called "Oxonia" by Dr John Traill at the last night of the Music for Youth Schools Prom at the Albert Hall. Dr Traill is the Director of Music at St Anne’s College and Lecturer at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Oxonia explores the many facets of Oxfordshire’s history, starting with a geographical journey along the River ISIS/Thames, then answering the question – that appears on so many Oxfordshire postcards – ‘The more we study, the more we learn, the more we learn, the more we forget, the more we forget, the less we know, so why study?’, with verses dedicated to Oxford politicians, world leaders, Olympic medal winners, scientists, literary figures, musicians, and more.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream - tickets now available!

This is an exciting, vibrant and edgy reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays.  After setting The Tempest in the distant future on a floating wreck of computer parts, d’Overbroeck’s Drama department is relocating A Midsummer Night’s Dream to 1960s America, where the preppy, ordered world of Athens will be rocked to its core by a merry band of freaks and lunatics living on the edge of society.  Featuring a range of classic rock and pop songs of the period, this promises to be a dream that no one will ever forget.

Where and when will the shows take place?
The production will be held at Wychwood School Hall, 72 – 74 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6JR.
Shows will take place at the following times:

Wednesday 7 December: 7.30 pm
Thursday 8 December: 7.30 pm
Friday 9 December: 7.30 pm

How do I reserve my tickets?
To reserve your place for one of the performances, please contact me, email hannah.johnson@doverbroecks.com, or telephone 01865 888938.  We’ll allocate tickets on a first come, first served basis.

Tickets are £10 each for adults and £6 for under 14s and other concessions.

The Cast
Egeus: Alex Mincks
Theseus: Donald Craigie
Hippolyta: Elle Seville
Nick Bottom: Sophia Saban
Peter Quince: Katie Stoner
Francis Flute: Will Nicolson
Starveling: Morgan Lee
Tim Snout: Inigo Townsend

Tom Snout: Jack Valentine
Hermia: Olivia Johnson
Lysander: Dominic Crisp
Helena: Flora McGivan
Philostrate: Mark McCleary
Oberon: James Gemmill
Titania: Lydia Hassan
Puck: Sam Rigal
Snug: Hovnan Eayrs
Starveling: Morgan Lee
Chorus 1: Sophia Peters, Tom Penman, Benji Godley, Jake Rose, Ben Miller, Clemmie Jackson, Audrey Monteith, Yuna Lee, Jack Turner       
Simran Kamal, Robert Spence, Felicity Hughes, Ellen Kay, Hugh Nicolson, Ethan Clay
Chorus 2: Anastasia Yakovlev, Annika Heinrich, Oria Hallward, Michelle Lindner, Bella Martin, Izzy Nicolson, Lina Sarma, Elle Seville   

The Band
Sam George: Lead guitar
Jack Neil: Rhythm guitar
Paddy Hoban: Bass
Kit Harris: Drums
Ned Williams: Trumpet
David Child: Trumpet
Jane Cockerill - Clarinet
Anna Maria Grill: Violin
Anne-Marie Jones: Cello
Andis Cekuls: Double Bass
Maria Rybina: Keyboard
Ed Yeo: Piano
Rob Dixon: Tenor Saxophone

Mathematical Trust Team Challenge

On the evening of 21 November, four of our students participated in the Regional round of the United Kingdom Mathematical Trust Team Challenge. Our team was wonderfully represented by Clifford Carr, Carey Chen, Ken Wei and Charles Wu. The competition took place at Wheatley Park School where our team matched wits against 24 other teams from the Oxford area.

There were three stages to the competition: a group competition (answering 10 questions in 40 minutes), a cross number round and a mathematical relay race. Our team finished in a very strong 6th position.

Further to this Carey has also been invited to participate in the first round of the British Mathematics Olympiad. 

Winter Concert 2011

This year’s Sixth Form Winter Concert will take place at the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Oxford on Tuesday, 29th November at 7.00pm.  One of the highlights of the Sixth Form calendar, the concert will feature a wide range of performances, from classical music to rock & pop, drama and dance, not only from those students studying A level Music and Drama, but also those who participate in the performing arts outside their academic programme.

Please do come and support our performers at what promises to be a very enjoyable evening.

To reserve seats please telephone Hannah Johnson on 01865 888938 or email hannah.johnson@doverbroecks.com.

Please note there is limited parking at the venue and around Cowley Place, but St. Clements car park is just a short walk away (next to the Angel and Greyhound pub shown on the map - please click the link below the map to view larger version).


View Larger Map

Oxfordshire School Biologist of the Year Awards

Congratulations to d'Overbroeck's student Francesca Baillieu (pictured above) who was winner at the Oxfordshire School Biololgist of the Year Awards 2011.

Award winners from secondary schools throughout the county received prizes in a ceremony at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Oxford.

26 state and independent schools were represented at the event, hosted by the Oxfordshire Independent and State School Partnership (OISPP) and the University of Oxford. Students were given a tour of the museum before joining parents and teachers for a lecture given by Timothy Walker, Director of Oxford University Botanic Gardens.

Mr Walker talked about the positive changes that Biologists can make to reduce the extinction of a wide range of plants across the world. The award winners were then presented with certificates and book tokens.

OISSP Project Director Tom Kempton said: "This event is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the outstanding effort being made by students and their teachers in all schools across Oxfordshire. We are particularly short of students opting to take sciences at A level and this award recognises the efforts being put in by high achieving students. We hope that by recognising their efforts, they will be encouraged to continue biology-related courses at university."

Congratulations Francesca from all at d'Overbroeck's!

Fright Night

Almost 90 students from the upper and lower sixth dressed up last week to celebrate Halloween. Attired in various costumes, from the usual witches and vampires to a chilli pepper and Barney the purple dinosaur they watched scary movies, ate, danced and apple-bobbed in the ghoulishly bedecked Common Room.

Best fancy dress went to Marko Stupar who spent over two hours wrapping himself in bandages!

It was a great opportunity for students to get to know each other and, more importantly, have a lot of fun.