Head’s Letters

Thursday 13 March 2025

Dear Parents

The drop in temperature this week came as rather a shock after the beautiful sunshine of last week, but it has not stopped our children from throwing themselves into another busy week of school.

It is Science Week this week and on Monday our Year 7 and 8 pupils were involved in forensic science workshops at school. They had to process a series of crime scene details, from fingerprints to blood smears and then take their findings to present in a court prosecution. They had a great time doing this and learnt a huge amount about both CSI and the law. Reception started off Science Week by creating their own animal adaptations suited to different environments, whilst Year 1 were outside in the woods on the trail of caterpillars. Today, Year 2 are working with our Year 8s in a joint experiment to see what materials can, or cannot, be flushed into the sewers, and how each of the different materials breaks up.

Tuesday saw our U8s and U9s perform strongly in their football tournament at Oratory Prep and it was lovely to see such happy children when they returned, eager to tell me about their exciting matches and how well they had played. Three U11 teams and one senior team played in some equally exciting matches on Wednesday, coming away with 2 wins and 2 losses, with some impressive football on display from all the teams.

On Wednesday, our Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils took part in a workshop on road safety. It was wonderful to see how much they already knew about this but there were some really important points raised which will hopefully stay with them for life, to help keep themselves and others safe when using the road as pedestrian, cyclist or one day, driver!

Today, our Year 6s are at Hill End Outdoor Education centre for their Maps and Trails day. They will be undertaking a series of tasks, using their Ordnance Survey map skills developed in class, to navigate their way around the trails, strengthening not only their geographical skills but also their ability to work as a team.

We also had a brilliant assembly this morning looking at the theme of scientific and technological change and seeing pictures of the very earliest toasters, dishwashers and microwaves, which were unrecognisable from what we know them as today.

A real highlight this week was listening to the joint foundation choir performing in Abingdon School’s Chapel. It was a lovely service of thanksgiving with our APS pupils singing alongside the AS pupils. It was also great to welcome so many parents to the service too.

I have linked a podcast from Mr Windsor about co-education in case you would like to listen to it.

Good luck to our U8 footballers for their tournament on Saturday morning and I hope you all have a good weekend ahead.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 6 March 2025

Dear Parents

It was lovely to welcome so many parents and pupils to the Young Art Abingdon exhibition held in the Pavilion at Abingdon School yesterday evening. There were over 70 pieces of the children’s work on display, on the theme of Community. The quality of the children’s art, from Reception to Year 8, never ceases to amaze me.

I was delighted to witness the hugely mature and impressive contributions from the children involved in our respectful language workshops this week, led brilliantly by the Foundation’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator, Natalie Hunt. They discussed a number of issues and absorbed key messages about the importance of always using respectful language.

We welcomed five of our Abingdon Foundation Governors into school on Wednesday for the second of our Governor visit days. They thoroughly enjoyed observing the children in lessons and were even asked to take part in some of the activities as well. I know they really enjoyed seeing our children and teachers in action.

There were some fantastic football fixtures this week against Moulsford, with all of our Year 5 to 8 pupils again representing the school. Highlights were our 2nd XI victory, scoring 6 goals in the process, alongside a pulsating 4-4 draw for our 4th XI and a 3-3 draw for our Colts A team. It was great to see the children from both schools playing the matches in such a great spirit.

I must also mention the fantastic effort from our cross-country runners last weekend, with our senior team coming 14th in the whole country on Saturday at the English Schools National finals and then, just a day later, competing in the Prep Schools National Championships at Malvern, where they secured a quite brilliant 2nd place, with Monkton in 1st and Millfield in 3rd. They should be incredibly proud of their efforts, as should our U11 team who competed admirably at Malvern as well. Good luck also to our swimmers who are competing in the regional IAPS qualifiers this afternoon. A busy week of sport!

A brilliant set of Earth Sciences workshops took place this week for our Year 3 to 5 pupils. They were enormously enjoyable, with the children studying different rock types and learning a huge amount on how the Earth works and the unbelievable forces required to create such an amazing planet.

Our Year 5 pupils are on an educational visit tomorrow at the Oxford Museums, participating in workshops about the Mayan Civilisation, and then moving on to look at evolution and the work of Charles Darwin. Trips and workshops play a huge part in supporting the children’s learning and further enhancing their understanding of the material they are studying by truly bringing it to life.

A group of Year 7 and 8 pupils took part in a geography quiz at Magdalen College School on Tuesday after school. The questions were particularly tricky but the children acquitted themselves extremely well, even winning one of the rounds, showing off some impressive geographical knowledge.

Our Year 8 academic scholarship group completed their week of exams and we are very proud of all of their efforts in the lead up to these extremely taxing exams.

Finally, a huge thank you to all of you who helped put together your children’s World Book Day costumes. They looked terrific and it was great to spend so much time discussing books with them and why they had chosen those particular characters. Reading is so integral to a child’s learning and development and it is refreshing to see how much our children love spending time with a good book. Our Year 7 and 8 pupils had an inspiring talk from author Nathanael Lessore across at The Amey Theatre, alongside their Abingdon School counterparts. His books include ‘Steady For This’, a heartwarming and very funny book about a wannabe rapper MC Growls.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend ahead.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 27 February 2025

Dear Parents

I hope that you all enjoyed a good half term break. I have very much enjoyed chatting to the children about their adventures last week.

On Monday our parental webinar on Relationships and Sex Education took place. It was good to be able to share with you details of the work we do with the children of different age groups. I hope that those who were able to attend found it useful.

Our parental webinars continue tonight with our presentation on the vital topic of internet safety. We have had a good number of responses to the questionnaire that was sent out which is greatly appreciated as it helps us to tailor the content for the session.

Today, Natalie Hunt, Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator at Abingdon School, led workshops on respectful language for children across a wide range of year groups. It was great to see the children so engaged with the topic and showing real understanding of the importance of using respectful language in their daily lives.

Year 2 pupils this week have been learning about all the Kings and Queens of England. They have been working on linking pictures of them to eras and dates and deciding which fashion styles would have been part of which era. This morning they joined forty two other Year 2s from local primary schools for a hockey training session at Tilsley Park which was hugely enjoyed by all.

We are looking forward to our World Book Day events next week. Our younger children will be dressing up in their usual brilliant array of character costumes and attending a special assembly. Meanwhile an exciting author visit to Abingdon School has been lined up for Years 7 and 8. (Please see the separate mailing from Stefan for further details of this.)

On the sports fields this week, the weather has been rather inclement and great credit must go to the children in the Wednesday matches playing through intense hailstorms! Our U10 and U11 football teams worked hard to secure some high scoring victories against The Manor whilst the high scoring games continued at U12 and U13 level against Cokethorpe and Beachborough. Our U8s also take on The Manor this afternoon and will once again enjoy the opportunity to further improve and develop their match skills.

Finally, I want to wish our senior cross country runners the best of luck as they compete in the English Schools’ National Cross Country Finals taking place in Leeds on Saturday. They have done brilliantly to qualify for these national finals and will also enjoy a stop off at the Loughborough University, centre for sporting excellence on their way to Yorkshire. The U11 & U13s are also running on Sunday at the National Prep School cross country championship at Malvern College and I know they will do their absolute best.

Good luck too to those Year 8s who are sitting their Abingdon Academic scholarships next week. They have worked incredibly hard in the lead up to these and we are very proud of their efforts.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 13 February 2025

Dear Parents

There has been much excitement this week in our middle section with our Year 3 and 4 pupils preparing for their performance of ‘Peter Pan’ this evening. The rehearsals have sounded great and I am really looking forward to watching them in action this evening.

Tomorrow, our Reception children are off to visit Sutton Courtenay’s Environmental Centre where they will be learning about the four things that animals need to survive: food, air, water and shelter. They will be creating animal footprints from clay, hunting for hidden teddies and creating collages from any natural resources they can find. It will be a great way for them to further develop their geographical, scientific and artistic skills.

Our U8s performed very well in the football matches this week against The Manor, playing some lovely passing football with both our teams scoring some impressive goals. Our senior teams took on Hatherop Castle and came away with a clean sweep of wins from what proved to be closely contested matches in most cases, whilst our U10s and U11s also played some lovely football to come away with a strong set of results too. On the hockey pitch our U12s played some super hockey at the county championships early in the week and our senior teams managed two victories over Cothill, both by a single goal.

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some staff changes for next term. At the end of this term we will say goodbye to Elizabeth Slater. Elizabeth has been with us for 12 years and undertaken a broad range of roles at APS. She will be one of the few staff who has taught every child in school over the past few years. She has most recently been responsible for our brilliant productions. We wish her all the best with her next steps and thank her sincerely for all the work she has done at APS.

Following on from her surgery last term, Emma Penfold, our Director of Music, will be undergoing a course of chemotherapy after half term and so will be intermittently in and out of school. To ensure consistency in the Music department for the children, I am delighted to be able to welcome back Mike Stinton, who covered Emma’s absence last term. He will be taking on all of Emma’s classes and wider responsibilities. Mike is here with us this week to get back into the routines of APS and it is lovely to be able to welcome him back.

I am also delighted to let you know that Danielle Campbell is expecting her first child in the summer. Danielle will be with us for the remainder of this academic year and we will look to appoint her replacement for September in due course.

A date for your diaries. We will be holding an Easter Eggstravaganza here at school on 22 March. It is an event that will be open to the whole school community as well as the wider local community, so do ask friends, family and neighbours if they would like to come. There will be a trail, crafts and of course the famous Easter Bunny will be making an appearance. The event is ticketed and you can buy those here. All proceeds will go to our school charity, Down’s Syndrome Oxford.

Mr Windsor and I were chatting about co-education today in our weekly meeting. Here at APS there has been a good level of interest from families and we have toured a number of girls around school. It is great that we are starting to confirm places for some of them across a range of year groups.

It does not seem all that long ago that we began this term at the start of January but we have now reached half term. I hope that the children and yourselves will enjoy a good break, whether going away somewhere locally or further afield, or just spending time relaxing at home.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 6 February 2025

Dear Parents

On Tuesday we welcomed a representative from the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, who are Phoenix’s house charity, to give a talk on the restoration of the wetland area of Chimney Meadows. It was fascinating to hear and see pictures of this successful project and find out about the number of species that have returned to the area since the project started in 2019.

This afternoon there is much anticipation for Griffin’s bake sale. I have seen some very impressive bakes and I will definitely be sampling some! Thank you to all of the parents, and children, who have helped bake such great treats for this event. We even had some cakes in APS colours!

Year 2 are very excited to continue their study of space with a visit to the planetarium at Abingdon School tomorrow. They have recently been learning about the Moon and other celestial bodies and seeing the solar system at the planetarium will bring it all to life even more clearly for them.

In the classroom this week I was very impressed with our whole Year 6 class ukulele group. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the children playing in unison and they really seemed to be enjoying learning how to play a new instrument.

In English lessons, Year 4 have been building on their class reader, ‘How to train a Dragon’ by creating their own dragon with special characteristics, with the aim of producing detailed reports on their skills and abilities, presented as an illustrated poster. Their descriptions of the dragons were hugely impressive and imaginative throughout.

In Science our Year 7s have been studying the reactivity of alkaline metals with water and there was great excitement when the sodium decided to produce a larger reaction than anticipated. The slight singe mark on the ceiling will rub off!

Hockey has taken centre stage on the sports field this week for many of the children, with matches for the U8s, U9s, U10s and U11s. Our U8s performed extremely strongly in their first ever hockey matches with a raft of impressive wins whilst the U10A team fought really hard to secure a well deserved draw. Our U13 team produced some fantastic performances at the regional IAPS hockey tournament at Charterhouse on Monday, finishing 11th out of the 20 schools attending, beating Cothill, Aldwickbury and Lambrook along the way. Our U11s are competing in their IAPS hockey tournament today at Tilsley Park and we wish them good luck for this. Our U12 and U13 footballers continued their impressive starts to the season with a thrilling 2-2 draw for the U12B team being the closest game of the week.

I am very much looking forward to the JPA Quiz night tomorrow and look forward to welcoming a number of you to the event, along with some of our Year 7 and 8 pupils. The staff team are hoping to repeat the closely fought victory they managed last year, although I think that may be a tall order! Huge thanks to our JPA team for organising it again. It will undoubtedly be a very enjoyable event.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 30 January 2025

Dear Parents

It seems to have been a week of downpours and storms, with a particularly sharp hailstorm on Monday! However, it was lovely to see the snowdrops starting to emerge in our forest school area.

The children were all involved in our termly ‘Big Think’ this week. The subject was music and the children had to think carefully and respond in a variety of ways to a broad selection of songs. It was so lovely to see the children, especially our Pre-Prep, dancing, drawing musical images and writing about how the music made them feel. These events offer a great opportunity for reflection and thinking about topics that may not always be at the forefront of the childrens’ thoughts.

On Monday and Tuesday twelve of our pupils undertook Lamda exams in a range of speaking categories including monologues and duologues. I know they have worked incredibly hard in the lead up to these and will have acquitted themselves very well with their performances. Two of our Year 8 pupils performed pieces for their music scholarships on Wednesday and we are very proud of their musical development over the past few years.

This morning was an opportunity for the four Houses to gather together for the much anticipated and enjoyable paper aeroplane competition. There were some different designs trialled this year which I had not come across before, with some more successful than others! However, we now have the winner from each house decided and they will compete in a fly off at the end of term assembly.

On the football pitch this week our senior teams took on their counterparts at Abingdon School. The games were hugely competitive and played at a high standard, with APS coming away with 3 wins out of 4. Our U8s and U9s competed as mixed age groups teams against Moulsford this week and it was great to see the smiling faces of our children after their enjoyable matches on Tuesday.

The pupils involved in our art workshop last weekend produced some fantastic ocean inspired clay coil pots which they should be very proud of. I know they thoroughly enjoyed learning a new skill whilst producing such impressive pieces.

We are looking forward to welcoming prospective families to our Open Morning tomorrow, and I know that our Year 7 pupils will do a brilliant job touring them around, answering their questions and sharing their experiences of life at APS with them.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend when it arrives.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 23 January 2025

Dear Parents

I hope that you have all had a good week. It has been a very enjoyable week at school with lots going on as always.

Tuesday saw 13 children from Years 4 to 8 travel to Abingdon School for their musical ‘Make a Noise’ day. This involved 107 children from six schools coming together to learn a number of orchestral pieces and perform them at the end of day in a concert. The children enjoyed themselves immensely and benefited from some excellent tuition, performing beautifully alongside their peers from other schools in the concert. There won’t be too many occasions where you get to play in an orchestra 107 people strong!

Our assemblies this week focused on the topics of democracy, linking in to the inauguration of the new American president, and volunteering. It was great to hear from 6R about their views on volunteering and what impact that giving your time to something can have, both on those being supported and also those who give their time.

On Wednesday morning it was lovely to be joined by a number of pupils from Years 2 to 6 to take part in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch. Whilst enjoying a hot chocolate and croissant, the children spotted nine different species of bird with crows, wood pigeons and blue tits topping the list. It was a terrific way to start the day listening to the dawn chorus as the sun came up and contributing to the recording of important data to track the numbers and different species of birds across the country.

Year 4 are busy at Ufton Manor today further developing and bringing to life their study of Tudor Times. It is a hugely impressive Tudor manor house which they will be exploring with secret passageways, previously used to hide Catholic priests, and they will be trying on Tudor costumes, finding out more about life in Tudor England and even playing detective trying to solve a Tudor mystery. I know they will have learnt a huge amount from bringing their history topic to life.

On the sports pitch this week our U8 and U9s got their football seasons underway and showed some excellent skills and tenacity, with lots of goals and competitive fixtures being enjoyed. Our U10s and U11s all played as well this week and came away with a fairly even split of wins and losses. We also had five hockey matches for our Year 7 and 8 groups, their first of the season, which were hugely enjoyable and resulted in 2 wins, 2 losses and a draw.

Good luck to our U11 Hockey team playing in the county championship tournament tomorrow, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the sea themed coil clay bowls that the pupils attending our Saturday Art workshop will be creating.

I hope you all have a good weekend ahead and stay safe during Storm Éowyn.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 16 January 2025

Dear Parents

Another action packed week is drawing to a close and it has been great to see the children working hard both in and out of the classroom.

The focus in our assemblies this week has been on resilience and acts of courage. It was very interesting to hear the children’s thoughts on what courage looks like and how children and adults can show courage both in school and more widely in life. They also saw a very moving video about Olympic athlete, Asha Philip, and how she had to recover from a career ending trampoline knee injury aged 17 to go on to become an Olympic medallist, showing unbelievable resilience on her journey to recovery, before changing sports to become a world class athlete.

In the classroom it was great to see Year 3 making adjectival agreements in their study of family trees, alongside learning a range of vocabulary for close family members. This week Year 6 have been carrying out investigations using separation techniques to produce pure salt from rock salt. They needed to grind, dissolve, filter and heat to evaporate the solution before producing pure salt, something they were clearly very much enjoying. Year 8 geographers are currently working on a unit about conflict geography, and I was treated to a discussion about Sudan’s ongoing conflict and why this is not nearly as visible in UK and world news as other conflicts that are currently taking place around the globe. I was hugely impressed with their contributions about the role played by oil, political aid, government overseas policies and the consideration of what being allies means in this context.

On Wednesday our Year 1s thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Story Museum in Oxford where they were immersed in a range of stories, hearing about mythical creatures, whispering forests, and then they had to work as a group to create their own story. Armed with these new skills and ideas, they will be putting together their own version of Little Red Riding Hood in the coming days. A busy week for Pre-Prep concludes with a drama workshop for them all tomorrow and I know they are very much looking forward to this.

On the football pitch, matches started in earnest this week and all the pupils in Year 3-8 were involved. It was an especially impressive start for our U12A and U13A teams who managed to secure very impressive wins against extremely strong opposition in Caldicott. Our U8 and U9 children were hugely excited earlier about their first matches taking place this afternoon. Good luck too to our U13 hockey team who are playing the county tournament tomorrow.

On Wednesday next week, we are participating in the RSPB Big Birdwatch, so if any of your children would like to join me between 7.30-8am down in Forest School, we will be counting the different species seen in our forest school area before reporting our findings to the RSPB. There may even be a cup of hot chocolate for those attending to help stay warm!

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 9 January 2025

Dear Parents

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week and hear all about their exciting Christmas holidays. I have especially enjoyed finding out what some of the children’s favourite presents were. It was the first return to school I can recall with snow falling as everyone made their way in on the first day!

In the classroom, Year 5 started the term in French with the ‘Galette des Rois’, a French tradition derived from Roman times where the Romans would choose a slave to be King for the day. A cake was baked with a lucky charm inside. During the banquet, the cake would be divided into the number of people present and the person receiving the lucky charm would be the king. One lucky Year 5 pupil found the charm in our cake and got to make some very important decisions throughout the day. They really enjoyed this and also got to eat some delicious cake as well!

8R have been working incredibly hard in the lead up to their mock scholarship exams, and we wish them all the best when they sit these next week. As Mr Windsor and I walked round school this morning popping into lessons, it was great to see how focused the children were in all the classrooms, working hard and undoubtedly learning much about the topics at hand.

Our first class pairings took place this morning, with shared reading being undertaken by the children across year groups. This is one of my favourite activities as it is lovely to hear the children talk so enthusiastically about the books they are reading and enjoying and for our older children to read to the younger ones, and hear them read as well.

Over forty Year 5, 6, 7 and 8 children attended our pre-season football training on Friday last week to prepare for the season ahead. Football is a very strong sporting discipline for Abingdon Prep and there was much skill and endeavour on show, both at pre-season and in our first games lessons across all year groups. I know the children and their coaches are very much looking forward to the first matches next week.

Reception and Year 1 started their term of PE with a brilliant snowball lesson, mirroring the weather outside, by using white balloons to improve their hand eye coordination with keepy uppies and alternate shots, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend ahead and that it doesn’t get too much colder!

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head

Thursday 12 December 2024

Dear Parents

It has been a lovely week in school with so many Christmas celebrations and events taking place. Today has seen Christmas come to life with our amazing Gifts for Grown Ups taking place. The children thoroughly enjoyed choosing presents for their family and who knows what you might have under the tree this year?! I cannot thank our amazing JPA volunteers enough for their efforts to prepare for and run this event. It is a huge logistical undertaking and enormously appreciated by the whole APS community.

I must also take this opportunity to thank our fantastic catering team. They produced a wonderful Christmas lunch today, turkey with all the trimmings, which was very much enjoyed and appreciated by the children and the staff.

I was enormously impressed with the selection of Christmas jumpers on display today, and the children enjoyed their section parties as well. Even more impressive were the brilliant Year 7 tycoon stalls, selling all sorts of wares from their stalls, after planning their business enterprises from scratch. All the money raised by them will then be donated to charity. It is a great opportunity for the children to learn some entrepreneurial skills and I am sure that many of them will one day run their own businesses after starting off so successfully today.

The week started with a great trip to Cogges Farm for Reception and a wonderful senior section carol concert. The children performed as year group choirs, ensembles, readers and soloists, and it was lovely to see them perform in front of so many parents and family members.

If you get the opportunity tomorrow, please do check out the ‘Term in pictures’ on our website. I will be sharing this with the children in our end of term assembly. It is a great way to remind ourselves of all the amazing things that the children have been involved with since September.

Finally, I want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and I hope you enjoy spending time with friends and family in the coming weeks. I also want to thank you for your ongoing support of Abingdon Prep.

Best wishes

Craig Williams
Head