2022 Northeastern University London Essay Competition Awards

Essay writing is one of the academic competitions OIC encourages students to participate in to build their Supercurricular portfolios.

Isaac won First Place in the Creative Writing sector at the 2022 Northeastern University London Essay Competition. This year’s topic was ‘What role can fiction serve when the nature of ‘fact’ is continually called into question?’ Read his winning essay here.

Some of our Year 13 students were selected as finalists (top 10% amongst 6,000 entries across the Globe) in the Competition, and they are:

Year 13 Biology Field Trip before Autumn Term 2022

Right before the Autumn term started, 66 of our Year 13 Biologists went on a 3-day Biology Field Trip at FSC Juniper Hall with their Biology teachers – Su, Rob and Wendy, Physics teacher – Gavin and Maths teacher – Richard.

✍ Reports by Erfan and Juliana

ERFAN

Overall, the biology trip to Juniper Hall was a valuable experience and a much-welcome change from traditional classroom learning. The range of sites we visited was interesting, with engaging teachers and many opportunities to ask questions. A particular standout was the river site, where we put class learning into action with kick-sampling, which I found to be the most interesting due to the multitude of invertebrates living in the river. I would recommend all students to take part in the trip, especially for the exposure to UK woodlands which many of us were unfamiliar with before.

JULIANA

Thank you for an excellent and successful Biology Field Trip this year! I have learnt a lot and gained unforgettable memories from these three days.

I really enjoyed throughout the trip, courtesy of the great planning for each day. The tutors (I was in Laura’s group) are knowledgeable and friendly, and taught me greatly about ecology and sampling. From day 1, studying the effects of coppicing and forming our own hypotheses gave us great background knowledge before we hiked up to the mountain. Although the walk was tiring, we were awarded with great scenery along the way, and given clear instructions to collect our data. It was enlightening to then learn about the ruins of a tower we saw at the bottom of the hill as we crowded around it, listening to Daniel’s engaging tales. Not only had I deepened my knowledge about Biology, but I also learned more about Dorking and its history.

Being one with nature is another highlight of our experience–days 2 and 3 are most exciting, as we tread up trails to Mickleham Downs and a freshwater stream. For the former, we immersed ourselves into the “forest” with seeds clinging eagerly to our clothing; in the river, we were nearly knee-deep in the churning waters. While taking great joy in setting up quadrants and doing kick sampling, we also had a hands-on experience in sampling, something we had only learnt from our textbooks and could only fathom in real life. This consolidated our knowledge, but more importantly, stretched what we knew to whole new levels–I could never imagine the difficulty of setting a level quadrant on bushes of bramble, nor the strength needed to deliver equal kicks to the riverbed. These factors are commonly overlooked when learning from a 2D textbook.

Moreover, many thanks to the catering team for their delicious meals after every exhausting day, which energised us and welcomed us back into Juniper Hall with warm smiles. I can still taste the brownie ice cream dessert from my memories!

Last but not least, thank you to the wonderful housecleaning team for their behind-the-scenes efforts in providing us with clean sheets and a tidy room.

It has been a joy to go on the Biology trip, and it has no wonder been one of the highlights of my summer. Leaving with my newfound knowledge and amazing memories, I wish everyone all the best!

ISA Awards 2022 Finalist for Excellence in Pupil Personal Development

OIC has once again been shortlisted as a finalist for Excellence in Pupil Personal Development of this year’s ISA Award for our continuously impressive work in the college!

Moment of Reflection｜Pay Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A special assembly for everyone at OIC to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was held yesterday. Our Chief Education Officer, Yasmin Sarwar, and Managing Director & Principal, Kim Terrar, shared things they take away from the greatest-ever monarch. Being relevant to people in time and being a role model for women are the two things they both talked about. One of our tutors, Vijay Chhaya, advised our students to look no further than the Queen of providing lifelong services and caring for people at the highest level. Some students also paid tribute by sharing pictures and words.

At the end of the assembly, Yasmin urged students to join the National Moment of Reflection on Sunday 18th September at 8pm and “to take this period of reflection and join in with the country to mourn a great loss to the world.”

There is a condolence book at the Threeways House Teaching Site for everyone at OIC to sign. And the book will then be sent to Buckingham Palace.

Celebrating 2022 A-Levels results

Students at Oxford International College (OIC), part of the global Nord Anglia Education family of schools, are celebrating after receiving their A-Levels results today.

OIC students, once again, achieved incredible results in this year’s A-Levels exams.

Of all our results, 92.47% were A*-A, and 99.56% were A*-B grades.

Twenty-eight students were awarded straight A*s:
• 3 achieved six straight A*s;
• 15 achieved five straight A*s;
• 7 achieved four straight A*s; and
• 3 achieved three straight A*s

On top of this, 75.9% of this year’s leavers at OIC were awarded at least three A grades or higher.

We are proud of their achievements, in particular, their grades were purely awarded on the basis of linear, standardised, public exams without including any Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) from last year.

Yasmin Sarwar, Chief Education Officer at Oxford International College, said:
As we’ve read in the media, this year’s university admissions round has been “the hardest in living memory”, and our students have therefore had to compete at an unprecedented level caused by the pandemic’s domino effect. With the reintroduction of exams this summer which, for most students, is their first-ever public exam, these students have met these challenges with a positive mindset and inner strength, and have not only produced stellar A-Level results, but phenomenal university destinations as well. I’m genuinely proud of every Oxford International College (OIC) student for beating the odds against them. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the College for their dedication and hard work in helping our students through these hurdles in both their academic and personal journeys. These are outstanding results, and we’re proud of the OIC community.

Jenny, from Hong Kong, is celebrating with five straight A*s and will be going on to the University of Cambridge to read Medicine. She said:
Studying here at OIC has enabled me to realise my long-held aspiration of studying Medicine at Cambridge as an international student.
OIC has a really good personal statement support, which was provided by teachers, as well as external tutors who are studying at medical schools right now and which they really did guide me through my own personal statement writing process, as well as giving a lot of advice in terms of how I could improve.

Mountain, also from Hong Kong, celebrates with four straight A*s, securing his place at the University of Oxford to read Mathematics. Mountain said:
I came to OIC hoping to develop my interests and abilities, and I have grown a lot as a person in the short time I’ve been here. Living with brilliant and supportive peers has encouraged me to strive for excellence in academic competitions and my A-Level studies, which were guided by suggestions from my insightful and helpful teachers.

2022 University Offers

2022 University Offers

Updated 5 July 2022

TOP-RANKED UNIVERSITIES WORLDWIDE

This year, we helped our students receive 406 offers from 66 universities to study 96 subjects. These offers are primarily competitive courses at the top-ranked universities across the world, including:

• Cornell University
• University of California, Berkeley
• The University of Chicago
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• University of Toronto
• University of Cambridge
• University of Oxford
• The University of Hong Kong
• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• National University of Ireland, Galway

OXBRIDGE AND G5 UNIVERSITIES SUCCESSES

By now, we have received 12 offers from Oxbridge and 75 offers from the G5 universities, with the subjects including:

We are delighted to highlight that OIC received 4 offers for Medicine at the University of Cambridge this year, which is approximately 40% of the total offers made available to international students.*

2022 University Admission Report

* Source:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics
https://www.internationalstudents.cam.ac.uk/applying/global-community/international-student-data

Interviewing a healthcare practitioner

Last year was still relatively complex for students to gain job experience in medicine. Therefore, we encouraged our students who aim to study Healthcare and Biological Science to interview healthcare practitioners in preparation for their university applications. Evelyn, who is going to progress to Year 13, interviewed an experienced orthodontist.

Read the article

Polydemia, from Peers to Peers

Founded by five sixth form students in 2019, Polydemia is a student-initiated charity aimed at providing quality revision guidance for underprivileged students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are six departments which work together to ensure the day-to-day operation within the charity, specifically Service, the Video Creators, Academics, Promotion, IT and Fundraising. Offering such a wide scope of positions, our volunteers have a range of opportunities to contribute and showcase their different talents.

“When I was a tutor, I helped four GCSE students – two in biology and two in chemistry. I had one-to-one lessons with my students once every week.” – Beatrice, quoted from our newly-released promotion video detailing the behind-the-scenes of Polydemia.

TUITION SERVICE

We offer volunteering opportunities to A-level students who achieved top GCSE grades and want to encourage academic excellence by helping others in their learning. Polydemia has a rigorous training process and quality assurance policy that ensures that all our tutors are not only knowledgeable but also engaging and passionate teachers. All tutors undergo regular evaluations to ensure that their teaching skills are up to standards. Feedback is provided regularly to them in order to promote continuous improvement and provide the best revision help we can.

ORIENTEERING CAMP

At the start of this academic year, around 100 of our volunteers participated in our first Orientation Camp, where we organised lots of team building activities and ice-breaking challenges such as Mafia and Black Magic. During the induction, we introduced the roles and responsibilities of each department. This helped volunteers decide on which positions to take on depending on their passions and strengths. Having spent an enjoyable day together, existing and new volunteers had chances to bond with each other to establish good communication in professional but friendly and supportive working relationships. The Board of Directors oversaw the event by sorting out logistics (e.g., organising the schedule, recruiting volunteers) and testing the feasibility of each game prior to the Ocamp.

FUNDRAISING

To raise funds to cover the charity’s operational costs, the Fundraising Department organises charity bake sales at the College. This year, we successfully ran the tiramisu sale, the Valentine’s Day cupcake sale and the maid café themed pancake and waffle sale.

In our previous fundraising, we received positive responses from our audience and raised over £100 of revenue. Apart from raising money and extending our influence, our fundraising team better recognised the importance of event planning and teamwork.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Polydemia expanded from a small organisation to over a hundred volunteers in two years. Having provided over seven hundred tutoring hours and the production of more than a hundred revision videos, all available on our YouTube and Instagram, we are proud to see the difference we have made to the community.

QUALITY CHECKS

Throughout the years, Polydemia has made many adaptations to improve the quality of our services as the number of volunteers and students has grown. A distinct leadership structure with divided departmental roles maximises productivity and efficiency, with each of our six departments being led by a member of the Board of Directors and all supervised by the Chair. Weekly meetings are held in each department to discuss new developments, implement new ideas and respond to feedback. The service management team has expanded greatly in response to the surge in volunteering applications and continues to perform robust quality checks in lessons to secure the confidence of our students in the educational services we provide. The video creators’ sector has made plans to diversify the style of revision videos we design by producing longer videos that walk viewers through exam-style questions, a style optimal for explaining complex concepts in greater depth.

As a popular charity among students in OIC, Polydemia provides volunteers with valuable experience to develop and reinforce a plethora of skills such as leadership, time management and communication. These skills will help our volunteers in their future endeavours at university and beyond and are an invaluable opportunity to start doing charity work early. By supplementing A-level courses with this valuable commitment, our volunteers’ student lives are enriched with a strong extra-curricular element, allowing them to become more well-rounded individuals. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we would be delighted to invite you to apply next year!

To learn more about Polydemia, please visit our website and our socials.

✍  Article by Gabriella, Stephanie and Michelle, Polydemia’s Committee Members
📄 Edited by Terence, Polydemia’s Committee Member

A NEW CHAPTER for OIC

We are delighted to present to you a new visual identity for Oxford International College.

Since it was established in 2002, OIC has grown from a small, Oxford-based tutorial college to a global player in university admissions. We catapulted ourselves to prominence in 2019 when we secured our place as the UK’s No. 1 A-Level college – an accolade we still hold today – and our bespoke, three-pillared curriculum continues to enable our students to progress to some of the world’s top universities, breaking our own OxBridge admissions records year after year.

Joining the Nord Anglia Education family of schools has opened doors to a new, global network of opportunities for our students, which perfectly complements the innovation and quality in our teaching.

The strength and ambition of OIC reaches far beyond our academic Oxford location; our new visual identity represents our ability to stand on our own merit and is a celebration of the continued success of each and every one of our students, as well as the college itself. We are a beacon for education and we continue to set the standard for an exceptional learning experience; from our roots in Oxford to the world beyond.

We are PROUD to be OIC.

First inter-school Model United Nations Conference

On Sunday 13^th February, students from Oxford International College (OIC), d’Overbroeck’s (DVB), and Oxford Sixth Form College(OxSFC) came together in hosting our first ever inter-school Model United Nations Conference.

The conference lasted the whole day with non-stop productivity and discussion, as delegates aimed to write and pass resolutions addressing the topic of: “Tackling the Exploitation and Mistreatment of Refugees”, a very topical issue with many stakeholders in the modern era.

After delegates presented their well-crafted opening speeches declaring their stances on the issue, we promptly formed three blocs, some with more ‘extremist’ agendas than others.

Resolution writing was very productive, with nations coming together to formulate solutions to various aspects of the problem. How do we welcome refugees while maintaining national security? How can we express sorrow for refugees when first world nations directly fund some wars that lead to their suffering? What international standards should be set for refugee camps? All critical yet complex questions to address.

Elegantly hosted by the chair and co-chair Alexandra Cheung and Daniel Chan, the debating phase revealed many creative solutions to these problems, and the delegates attacked and defended each point well, identifying issues within these well-crafted resolutions. For example, the delegate of Germany’s bloc pledged to raise the standards of food provided, the delegate of Spain’s bloc called for university programs encouraging refugees to take on superior studies, and the delegate of Venezuela’s bloc aimed for a total withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Syrian civil war.

We also have more comedic moments, as delegates tried to defend clauses blanket banning all Afghans and North Koreans, solving racial discrimination by sorting refugees into camps segregated by race, and forcing all refugees everywhere to learn English.

Conflicts of interest were identified within these resolutions, and delegates argued for and against passing amendments and resolutions. Overall, two of the three resolutions passed with an overwhelming majority.

Every delegate thoroughly impressed Alexandra, Daniel and me, and having to choose just four delegates to win awards was very difficult. In the end, the prizes were awarded as follows:

Best Delegate: Sara Romero Banfalvi (Spain) of OxSFC
Highly Commended: Ariel Mo and Esther Tam (Bangladesh) of DVB, and Anson Ho (Venezuela) of OIC
Best Opening Speech: Estel Dulaku (Mexico) of DVB

Overall we all had a great time and made many new friends. Alexandra, Daniel and I were delighted that everyone went out of their comfort zones to speak, especially considering this was a first for many. Public speaking is a valuable and versatile skill to develop from a young age and is helpful in any career path. This conference aimed to be a beginner-friendly introduction into the MUN format, and in that regard, I believe it was a very successful event.

I once again thank Naomi Richards (DVB), Kathryn Aveyard (OxSFC), Alexandra Cheung (OIC), Daniel Chan (OIC), and every delegate who participated in the event for making it a truly remarkable experience.

✍ Terence, President of the MUN Society

Anson Ho, Delegate of Venezuela, who was Highly Commended, shared his experience, “In the OOOMUN interschool event, I collaborated with fellow students from different schools to create viable resolutions. Each of these students offered their unique views on the problems at hand, which widened my perspective and taught me the importance of evaluating multiple viewpoints before making a decision. It also allowed me to create comprehensive solutions to the current refugee crisis, which was the main topic for the conference.

All in all, it was a great experience to be able to interact with these enthusiastic students, and I look forward to having another conference with them.”