Thursday 29 March 2018 Welcome to our Easter Newsletter. It has been another busy term and no newsletter can adequately do justice to the whole range of different activities with which boys have been involved – but we hope that you will be given a flavour of some of the events that have occurred since January. You can read here about Year 5 trips to the National History Museum and the Science Department at Abingdon School, the artistic and musical endeavours of pupils in Year 6, and about events that have involved pupils across the Section, such as the recent ‘Business Challenge’ and House Cross Country race. Many of the accounts are told by pupils themselves. At the end you will find a list of key dates for the first half-term of the Summer Term, which we hope proves to be useful. The Middle Section team hope that you will have a relaxing and peaceful Easter. Section Assemblies Pupils have attended two Section assemblies this term. In the first on 23 January, led by Stefan, pupils were informed about healthy eating and how eating a nutritious, balanced diet is important in helping them to grow and develop, and how it helps them to be energised and motivated, thus supporting their ability to learn. On Tuesday 6 March we had the benefit of a visit from Dr Pratap, mother of Ollie in Year 5 and Alex in Year 6, who talked about her work as a doctor at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She spoke about her motivation for choosing this profession, what she likes about her job, and also what she sees as some of its downsides. She also mentioned the training that she undertook to become a medic and the assembly was not only of great interest, but also gave some ‘food for thought’ to those pupils who may see medicine and science as a potential vocation. Performing Arts This term saw Year 6 take part in two performances. Recently, they all performed in the Senior Production of ‘Smike’, forming the choir which contributed to a range of different musical numbers. You can read a detailed account of this event on the School website by clicking here. In addition, all boys in Year 6 took part in the performance of a cantata at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. You can read below the account of Freddie in 6S: “On Monday 26 February, Year 6 went to Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford where we were to perform a cantata about the life of St. Frideswide which was composed by Debbie Rose, our Head of Music. 1 | P a g e We set off at 12.50 in high spirits and plenty of chatter on the coach. When we arrived we met a guide who led us to a room with doughnuts and hot cross buns but we weren't allowed to eat them at that point. We had a practice run before the actual performance that went really well. After that we ate the doughnuts and had a drink of squash or water. Then we were ready for the final performance in front of our parents and other relatives. When the moment came we walked up onto the stage and took our places. Debbie introduced the cantata and the performance began with a narration by me. We all sang perfectly and engaged the audience. The fire alarm went off half way through but that did not thwart our enthusiasm! The cantata finished off with Tom’s narration and there was a big round of applause for us all. Feeling good, we collected our belongings and half of us went home with parents and the other half went back on the coach to school. At the end of the day, we all had fun and felt pleased with ourselves for doing such an excellent job.” Next term sees the ‘Music and Drama Soiree’ by Year 5, to which all parents are invited. This will take place on the evening of Thursday 3 May. Year 5 Science Day Here Patrick B from Year 5 tells us about a recent science-themed trip to Abingdon School: “In February, as part of the Abingdon School’s Science Partnership, Abingdon Prep’s Year 5 spent a day at Abingdon School’s Science Department. We travelled by coach to Abingdon, and we were met by the Senior School’s Science teachers and technicians who split us into our classes, 5L and 5S. We did two sessions, one on Chemistry and one on Biology. The Science labs were huge and impressive, and they had so much equipment and models that were new to us and so very interesting to see. In the Chemistry lab we filtered materials to investigate their properties using filter paper and funnels, but our favourite activity by far was melting crystals by using bunsen burners for the very first time! In the Biology lab we studied chlorophyll and starch in leaves. We also used an awesome microscope to look at the particles in algae, which were held together with tiny fibres. Everyone in Year 5 really enjoyed the trip; it was a really good Science lesson.” 2 | P a g e Year 5 trip to The Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museums Here, William K from Year 5 tells us about their trip to the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museums in Oxford: “First, we went to the Pitt Rivers Museum and learned about the Aztecs, which is our topic in History. We had a brief slide show on the Aztecs and then they showed us around the Aztec objects like looms, pots and small statues of their gods. There were weapons, fish hooks and other things on the second floor which they would have used for hunting, farming and fishing. The weapons mostly consisted of spears and bows. I even learned that they believed that sweetcorn was a lucky charm! At the end we had to draw what an Aztec person would look like from the information we gathered. On the same day, we went to the Natural History Museum to find out about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. We were shown into one of the lecture rooms in the museum and had a talk about how life started as microorganisms that evolved into fish-like creatures and then into amphibians and so on and so on. After, we were told that Steve Backshall comes here a lot and had set us a quest on an iPad. It was to find certain exhibits and when we typed in the code next to them, Steve would tell you about which kingdom of animals it came from. The quest ended up turning into a race to find them but I liked the activity and so did my friends.” Year 6 Art Project on Picasso and Personal Identity A number of boys in Year 6 recently had work exhibited at the Aiden Meller Gallery in Oxford. Here Archie W tells us about how this came about: “In November our Art teacher, Sherrey, asked everyone in Year 6 to make a 3D ceramic plate about ourselves and a 2D Picasso picture on sugar paper for a competition and exhibition at the Aidan Meller Gallery. On Friday 2 February we were invited with our parents to a private viewing at the gallery on Turl Street in Oxford where the competition was held. It was jam packed with our work and people! There were three prizes on offer. Aidan gave his speech and announced the winners. First went to me, second to William and third to Henry! Our work was displayed in the Gallery for the following week!” 3 | P a g e Business Challenges The development of entrepreneurial and teamwork skills has been very much on the agenda recently in the Middle Section. On Thursday 22 March, pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 were divided up into eleven teams and were given little longer than an hour to design a new chocolate Easter product that could potentially survive in a crowded Easter egg market. Then, teams had to give a ‘pitch’ of no longer than 2 minutes, where they had to convince a panel of judges of the marketability of their product. The judges on this occasion were Mr Deasy and Mr Hepworth, both teachers at Abingdon School, and Cassandra Cardiff, a representative of the Oxfordshire branch of the Young Enterprise organisation. Well done to the winning team from Phoenix House, who are pictured below with their prizes and the judges. Prior to this event, four pupils from Year 6 and two pupils from Year 5 formed a team to compete in an inter-school ‘business challenge’ held at Abingdon School in which they competed against other schools to design an ice lolly. Many thanks to Nathaniel, Adam, Xavier and Alex from Year 6, and to Toby and Lochie from Year 5 for representing the School at this annual event. Debating and Public Speaking Here, Tommy W from Year 6 tells us about two public speaking events that have involved pupils in the Section: “There have been two important debating events for the Middle Section recently. At the end of the Christmas term, the Middle Section took part in the Public Speaking Competition. This is open to everyone, and those who wanted to take part auditioned by preparing a one-minute speech with the title “Has 2017 been a good year?” The finalists then had to write a five minute speech with the same title to present to the Middle and Senior Sections as well as a panel of judges.