Letter to all parents

Friday 7 March 2014 Dear Parents,

This week School really has been a hive of activity over the past few days. The week began with a Lenten theme, marking Shrove Tuesday with pancake races for the Pre-prep while boys in Year 8 developed their culinary skills cooking pancakes stuffed with an imaginative variety of fillings. Meanwhile on the sports field there was little sign of anything being given up as the Year 5 and 6 boys scored a hatful of goals in their football fixtures against Christ Church Cathedral School. There were also strong performances from the senior boys in Years 7 and 8, as our 3rd XI won a well- deserved victory over Bruern Abbey, while our 2nd XI fought back to earn a very creditable 3-3 draw against the same school.

World Book Day Here at Abingdon Prep it wouldn’t have escaped your notice that yesterday was World Book Day and in celebration of this annual event, boys and Staff transformed themselves into their favourite literary characters. Our morning assembly was a feast for the eyes with a colourful array of costumes displaying both the familiar and the more obscure. Judging such an imaginative projection of personalities was no easy task, but in the end prizes were awarded to Thomas Wright who came dressed as Michael Morpurgo’s “Private Peaceful”, Gabriel Dobson for his daring display of “Cruella de Ville” and Ben Desmond as a fantastic “Iron Man”, inspired by Ted Hughes’ novel and current class reader. Representing the Staff effort, Lynne Hough’s Cleopatra was immediately a stand out winner, although every year John Herrington produces a passable Lawrence of Arabia! I should particularly like to thank Phillipa Parry for her expertise and enthusiasm in organising the event and of course our team of voluntary library helpers who do so much to inspire reading among our boys. Please can you ensure that your boys have made their £1 donation so we can raise as much money as possible to send books to Africa.

Inter-School Business Challenge In other news this week, we celebrated the success of Louis Harvey-Wood, Cameron McCaig, Freddie Smith, Alex Petrou, Ted Smethurst and Alisdair Emmett, who between them formed a Year 5 and 6 Middle Section team in an Inter-School Business Challenge. The boys were tasked to produce a new drink and marketing map and our budding entrepreneurs came a commendable 3rd overall in a competition which involved nine prep schools. I should like to thank Rob Shaw for

overseeing our entry and look forward to our own Middle Section Business Challenge scheduled for the summer term.

Mathematical Association Challenge On an altogether larger scale the Mathematical Association Challenge was taken by 77,000 pupils from across the country. Ashwin Tennant and Benjamin Wright both from Year 6 were two of only 500 participants who were invited to take the bonus paper. As you might expect, this was an extremely challenging set of questions and Ashwin Tennant was awarded a gold medal by scoring 24 out of a possible 25. I should like to congratulate both Ashwin and Benjamin on their fine achievements in this prestigious national competition.

13+ Scholarship success As you will be aware, over the past few days many of our Year 8 boys have been engaged with a variety of scholarship applications to a number of senior schools. It gives me great pleasure to share with you our latest news that Harry Day has been awarded a “Governors’ Presentation Award” Scholarship to Magdalen College School, Oxford. Harry performed most impressively in a series of exams across the curriculum and displayed exceptional levels of ability in Maths and Science especially. I am delighted for Harry, his parents and also for his subject teachers, who over the many years have facilitated this outstanding level of progression. We wish all our Scholarship candidates well and whatever the final outcome, most importantly for the boys, I am sure for them it will have been a positive learning experience.

Staff news I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that Michèle Kitto, our Head of Art, has this week been appointed Deputy Head at Exeter Cathedral School, to take up the position in September 2014 for the start of the new academic year. This is a very exciting promotion for Michèle and a wonderful opportunity for her family who already have connections with the area. Naturally we will be extremely sorry to see Michèle leave as she has been a truly inspiring Head of Art, encouraging the boys to produce a rich array of drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures. However I am confident that Michèle will help us find a suitably talented successor and we all wish Michèle and her family every success and happiness for the future.

Next week Staying with the theme of Art, we wish all our boys trying for Art Scholarships at Abingdon School tomorrow the very best of luck in their assessments.

There are also football fixtures against Cokethorpe School and a Year 3 Under 8 football tournament at St Hugh’s Prep, all taking place tomorrow morning. On Monday there are Year 5 hockey matches away at Magdalen College School, while boys in Years 7 and 8 will be taking part in the Cothill Prep Swimming gala. On Tuesday the Pre-prep make an intrepid visit to the crocodile farm at Witney. There are also hockey matches for boys in Year 6 against New College School and a Year 5 Parents evening later the same day. On Wednesday we have a number of football matches against the Dragon School and then on Thursday a team of boys in Years 6 and 7 compete in the Oratory School Greyhound run - for whom we have high hopes! There are Sports photographs on Friday, a Reception class assembly and also a Year 5 concert in the evening. Lastly on Saturday 15 March there are football fixtures for boys in Years 7 and 8 against the Oratory School. As always please consult the school calendar for exact times and venues of these various events.

Cross Country competition Finally, at the time of writing the boys are limbering up for our annual whole school inter-House cross country competition. Looking out onto the field we have certainly booked better weather for it this year compared to last time. Ahead of the running today, Johnny James in Year 4 is to be warmly congratulated in coming 1st overall in the Oxford Mail cross country league – a tremendous achievement. No doubt he, along with a number of other keen runners will be looking for competitive timings again today.

As a week of pancake-making, fancy dress, scholarships and cross-country running draws to a close, I was reminded by one boy at lunch time today, it really is the taking part that counts!

With all best wishes Crispin