16 Dec 2016

WEEKLY MAILING

This week's mailing:

Letter from the Headmaster (PDF)

Letters:

Notes:

Term Calendar for Lent Term 2017, Key Dates and Term Dates

As you will be aware the School is not printing a hard-copy calendar so parents should refer to the online calendar which is kept regularly up to date. The School Calendar is accessed from the tab called 'Calendar and Events' at the top of the front page of the website. This is searchable using your web browser. Any amendments to Lent Term 2017 events made after today will be indicated clearly. The Key Dates for 2016/17 are also available on the website “Calendar and Events” page. This page highlights events such as parents' evenings, Head's receptions for current parents, social evenings and evening presentations to parents. Term dates for 2016/17 and 2017/18 are also available on the same page.

School Dress

Parents are asked to provide their growing sons with shirts sufficiently large for them to have their top buttons done up throughout the day.  Boys may wear jumpers under their jackets, but they need to be dark blue, V-necked and without a zip.  The exception, for the sixth form, is that their V-necked jumper may be monochrome and of sober colour. The full uniform list and dress code is at https://www.abingdon.org.uk/school_uniform.

Abingdon Preparatory School announces new Headmaster

On Monday 12 December the Governors announced the appointment of Mr Craig Williams to succeed Mr Crispin Hyde-Dunn as Headmaster of Abingdon Prep School from September 2017. Further information.

End of Term reports

These will be published to the parent portal over the weekend.  If you cannot see the report on the portal by Monday 19 December, please contact [email protected] which is also the contact if you do not currently have a log on to the portal but think that you should have one.

Residential Trips 2017

The trips list has now been updated to include trips planned for the Michaelmas 2017, too.

Holiday Reading

The English Department and the Library would like to encourage the boys to read for pleasure over the Christmas period. The following Christmas Cards suggest books the boys could try according to their age and interests. 

National Theatre Live and RSC Live Screenings

With the completion of the Audio Visual Systems in the Amey Theatre, we are pleased to announce that, in the new year, we will begin broadcasting NT Live and RSC Live performances. The first live screening will be the RSC's production of The Tempest. Tickets will be available shortly and more information can be found here. This programme of events is open not only to the pupils and staff of the Abingdon Foundation, but also the wider local community. For more information about upcoming screenings please click here.

London Road – joint senior school production at Abingdon, 7pm Wednesday 1, Thursday 2, Friday 3 February 2017 in the Amey Theatre

Hailed as a remarkable, ground-breaking work during two sell-out runs at the National Theatre in 2011-12, Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork's critically acclaimed London Road documents the events that shook Suffolk in 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb-crawling on their street. This wonderfully innovative show – the world's first and only 'verbatim musical' – is based on interviews conducted by Alecky Blythe with the real residents of London Road that have been ingeniously set to music by composer Adam Cork to capture the nuances and inflections of each resident's voice. The result is an uplifting story of ordinary people coming together in the darkest of times. An award-winning film version was released in 2015, starring Olivia Coleman and Tom Hardy. Originally performed by a cast of 11, the show has more than 60 different roles. Our production features a joint senior cast of 28. About the same number again make up the band and technical crew. All are drawn from students at Abingdon and St Helen's 4th, 5th, L6th and U6th years. Please be aware the show contains themes of an adult nature that some may find unsuitable. To buy tickets, please follow this link to the Abingdon Box Office site. Please note, the box office is unstaffed from Thursday 22 December to Thursday 5 January, but tickets can still be bought online in this period. To find out more about the show, please see this short video in which the creators talk about the show. Tickets are likely to be in high demand, so early booking is advised.

Next Term

Term begins on Tuesday 10 January 2016 at 8.35am with tutor time, followed by lessons from 9.00am. It will be a week B timetable.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year