Head’s Letters

Friday 21 June 2019

Dear Parents

The term continues to fly past with lots of exciting activities and events keeping the boys busy, alongside their normal lessons.

Sports Day last Saturday was a resounding success with some fabulous individual performances and a great win for Phoenix House. Thank you to everyone who came along to cheer on the boys who all performed admirably. A couple of school records were broken but most importantly, the boys all tried their very best and enjoyed the opportunity to run on a superb athletics track, not something that many of us will have ever been lucky enough to have done!

Year 3 visited the Ashmolean Museum on Monday where they focused on the displays from Ancient Egypt which supported what they had been learning in lessons. Museums are a great way to put learning into context and our boys enjoyed seeing so many artefacts first hand.

Our Year 8s have been having a great time in France and I look forward to welcoming them back. They have been busy at the various attractions in Normandy and been dodging a number of thunderstorms! The reports coming back suggest they have been having a great time and the theme park was a particular highlight.

Cricket this week saw the U10 and U11 B and C teams take on Oratory Prep, once again in the drizzle. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing first-hand how much the U10Cs had improved and they had a super game which they lost on the final ball.

The Year 7s took part in a fantastic courtroom experience on Thursday where Natasha was in the dock and a trial was put together. It was a great opportunity for the boys to see how the justice process works in Britain and may well have inspired a few of the boys to look into a career in Law at a later stage.

Middle School’s Got Talent took place this week and I was lucky enough to be able to see the acts perform. There was classical, rap and rock music, performance drama and a rather brilliant comedy dance act. It was great to see the middle section seizing their opportunities to perform.

I also wanted to congratulate all the Year 7 boys who ran for the house captain and vice-captain positions for next year. They had all produced very thoughtful speeches to try to garner votes from the rest of the house in this week’s house meetings. I look forward to finding out the results of the votes.

We are looking forward to move up day on Tuesday and welcoming our new children into school. It is always a great chance for our current boys to make new friends and welcome them into our community. The class lists for next year will be sent out to you on Tuesday afternoon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and that the sun will stay with us. I myself am looking forward to another opportunity to get out onto the cricket pitch!

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 14 June 2019

Dear Parents

Well there has not been too much summer sunshine this week with raincoats and umbrellas more the order of the day. Fingers crossed for a break in the rain so that Sports Day can go ahead tomorrow morning over at Tilsley Park. I hope that many of you will be able to join us to see the boys compete for their houses. It is always a great occasion and I hope that we are able to enjoy the spectacle.

Despite the inclement weather, it has been a very busy week in all sections of the school. On Monday, the Year 3 and 4 Verse Speaking finals took place and the boys competing were incredibly impressive. We had Shakespeare, comedy and even a Granny Rap. The standard was quite amazing considering how young the boys are and they all seemed to love performing to the entire school. It did not faze them at all.

Drama and performance continued to be centre stage this week with the LAMDA exams taking place all day today and I know the boys have prepared well and were looking forward to sharing their pieces with the examiner. Drama is certainly looking strong at Abingdon Prep for the foreseeable future.

On Tuesday our Year 7s visited Compton Verney for an art experience which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The boys were taught some new artistic techniques and all of them produced some exquisite printing pieces. They returned in great spirits having developed another new artistic technique.

Our Year 8s spent yesterday morning across at Abingdon School taking part in masterclasses where they were taught lessons by senior school staff and lower sixth pupils. The boys really seemed to have enjoyed the lessons and are looking forward to September even more now.

This week saw cricket matches take place in the drizzle against Abingdon School and St Andrew’s. The boys played some excellent cricket and tried hard in the difficult conditions. The U11Bs stood out with an impressive win whilst the other teams were all involved in tight finishes, sadly coming up just short. Investment in cricket spikes may well be needed for some of the boys if the weather continues to be wet!

28 of our boys competed in the Mercia Athletics qualifiers on Thursday. After a long journey to Malvern, all the boys acquitted themselves extremely well and enjoyed competing against so many other talented athletes. Quinn and Jacob managed to win their respective events and have now qualified for the National Finals at The Alexandra Stadium later on this term. This event followed the National Swimming finals last weekend where we managed a fantastic 11th place in the country for the U12 Freestyle relay and a 6th placed finish for Ned in the 50m backstroke. The boys thoroughly enjoyed their amazing experience at the Aquatic Centre.

We finished the week with our whole school barbeque which was greatly enjoyed by everyone and then our wonderful Grandparents’ Afternoon. It was lovely to welcome so many of the boys’ grandparents into school to show them their work and listen to some recitals of poetry and musical pieces. I enjoyed meeting many of them and hope that some may make it to Sports Day tomorrow too.

I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow and if not, have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Craig

PS – please could I ask that boys are not dropped off in school before 8am as they will not be supervised until the staff member arrives for early birds at 8am. Many thanks for your support with this.

Friday 7 June 2019

Dear Parents

It has been a lovely start to the second half of term with the warmer weather making an appearance – at least until today that is! Trips season is well and truly upon us and it is great that so many boys are getting the opportunity to experience hands on learning outside of the classroom.

8R explored Oxford on Tuesday, learning all about the old and new with a tour of the Westgate Centre and also visits to some Oxford Colleges. Our Year 4s were also in Oxford visiting the Ashmolean Museum where they learnt all about Greek statues with a particular focus on the Olympic Games and how it all began.

Year 5 went further afield to Portsmouth to explore the Historic Dockyard, focusing on HMS Victory. I had seen them the day before in class researching the different functions of each deck and it was certainly brought to life by touring the ship the very next day. They reported back that they had a fantastic time and that it was remarkably busy with preparations for the D-Day landings commemoration service there the next day.

Year 2 also got in on the act today by going across to Abingdon School to participate in the Crest Science show being held there. They had a fantastic time watching science in action with exciting experiments that they could get hands on with!

It has been an important week for our senior boys with their AP+ exams taking place. This is a full set of academic exams which I know they have worked hard towards and will hopefully attain marks that they will be proud of, reflecting their efforts. The experience of preparing fully for exams is a useful one as it will help them get used to the rigorous approach required when they move to their senior schools and start to sit public exams.    

The last few days have seen cricket matches for Years 3 – 6 with every boy in those year groups involved in a match against either Moulsford or Christ Church Cathedral school. There were some impressive individual performances with an all bowled hat trick by Jack in Year 6, five wickets from George in Year 6, and a great win for a combined Year 5 and 6 team. Strong Moulsford opposition saw them win some very good contests though. The U8s and U9s had more success in their fixtures winning more than their fair share.

Today saw our U11A Cricket team depart after lunch on their tour to Devon. Two matches and a range of other activities in the South West are planned and hopefully the weather forecast will be wrong and the boys will be able to enjoy their experience without the need for raincoats!

Finally, I would like to wish good luck to the boys on Saturday who have qualified for the IAPS National Swimming Finals at The Aquatics Centre in London. It is an unbelievably high standard event and the fact that we have a number of boys who have qualified for the finals is a superb achievement.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 24 May 2019

Dear Parents

It has been exam week this week for Years 3-6. This is a good opportunity for the boys to start getting used to the format of exams and to understand the importance of organised preparation when it comes to sitting them. Year 7 and 8 will have their turn after half term and I know that they have their own revision schedules set out and materials gathered together to support their revision.

On the games field it has been another busy week with six senior teams (1sts, 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 6ths and 7ths) playing cricket matches against Moulsford and Oratory Prep. Our boys performed well in the sunshine and I was lucky enough to be umpiring the 6th team in what proved to be a very close game which went down to the final over before Oratory Prep managed to take the win. Our other teams also had very competitive matches but sadly struggled to beat strong opposition. Some work is needed on spending time at the crease!

On Tuesday, 20 senior section boys took part in the athletics meet at Radley where they performed admirably in such a big event. A number of personal bests were achieved and the boys enjoyed testing themselves on the synthetic track.

Four Year 6 boys took part in an U11 Tennis tournament on Sunday, also at Radley, where they produced some superb tennis with our pairs combining to win most of their matches and almost making the top three in a very competitive field. The boys certainly enjoyed challenging themselves against some top opponents.

Yesterday saw 8R venturing out to Burford and Widford to investigate the medieval architecture and history of the area. The boys seemed fascinated by the buildings and the remnants of medieval society that are still so clearly visible in the landscape today. It was history coming alive in the best way possible.

The Year 5-8 swimming gala is taking place this afternoon and I am looking forward to seeing how our boys get on and cheering them all on as they race against each other in all four strokes and a series of relays.

Finally, I just wanted to take this opportunity to clear up any slight confusion that may have arisen from some of the boys about end of school day times for Years 3-8. The school day finish time has not changed, it is still 4.10pm. We have, however, had a slight reworking of timings during the day to allow for the boys to return to their classrooms at 4pm in order to ensure that they get themselves organised and take home all their prep and other important belongings.

I hope that you will all have a very enjoyable half-term break and fingers crossed for a continuation of the lovely weather we have been experiencing this week.

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 17 May 2019

Dear Parents

I could only start my letter this week about the incredibly exciting flying visit from 845 Naval Air Command squadron. The enormous Merlin helicopter (the length of two double decker buses I am reliably informed), landed on Cox's Field after two low level overhead passes with two of the intrepid crew leaning out from the side and rear exit points waving at the boys. It really was a sight to behold. Every one of our boys got to listen to a talk about the aircraft from a crew member, ask questions and even go onto the helicopter, strapping themselves into the seats, with some trying on the helmets and others getting to sit in the cockpit. No matter what age, the boys (and staff) were all so excited to have the opportunity to step on board such an amazing aircraft and meet these four wonderful crew members who were quite brilliant ambassadors for our armed forces. As they flew off to their next mission, they even found time to do a double fly past over the playground as a farewell. Reception have been writing information sheets about the visit which I was lucky enough to see today. It has certainly inspired them. Who knows if any of the boys will go on to have a career in the Forces because they have been inspired by this brilliant experience?

On the cricket pitch this week our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and U11A XIs all recorded impressive victories over Crosfields with some strong performances too in other matches. Our U8s took part in their first ever cricket matches on Thursday and they can be very proud of their performances. Our U9s played their first match of the season and we also had our first tennis fixtures against Chandlings and Cothill for U10, U11 and U13 teams. Our U11s performed extremely well in both matches and the other boys really enjoyed playing competitive tennis.

All year groups this week from Reception to Year 6 paid a visit to the Life Education Bus where a range of age appropriate themes were discussed, ranging from ‘Meet the brain’ to ‘It’s great to be me’. The boys really enjoyed the different themes and learnt a great deal.

I hope that many of you have been able to visit school this week and see the fantastic array or work on display from the Art and CDT departments. All the boys have some work out on show and as I walked round it this week, it struck me just how wide a range of work the boys produce in these incredibly important subjects. Hearing our tour guides explaining how certain items were produced and the different skills needed to do that was a real eye opener. All our boys should be very proud of their creative pieces which have helped make Artweeks such a success.

On Tuesday our Year 6s visited the JR Hospital for their IMPS visit. This stands for Injury Minimisation Program for Schools. The morning gives them strategies to allow them to take responsibility for managing their own risk and equips them with the skills to cope in an emergency. I know the boys learnt a great deal and hopefully are now better able to manage risk of injury.

8R travelled to Richmond Village Retirement home. There, they were fortunate enough to speak with the last surviving spitfire pilot from WW2, just one of the brilliant men and women who had so much wisdom to share with our boys. I know they really valued the time spent chatting and our boys were keen to share some of their musical talents with the residents as well.

Concert platform is taking place this afternoon and I know that the boys who have signed up are looking forward to sharing their pieces with a wider audience, some for the first time.

Tomorrow sees the next in our series of Art workshops. This time there is a sculpture focus for the day and I know that it has once again proved a real draw for the boys. I look forward to seeing what they are going to produce.

As you can probably tell, it has been a very busy week with our boys seizing the opportunities on offer with both hands!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 10 May 2019

Dear Parents

I hope you all had a very enjoyable bank holiday weekend. Unlike the previous bank holiday, the weather was not quite conducive to barbeques this time round but the extra day did enable our patio at home to be properly cleaned in preparation for the summer!

Our Reception class this week have been focusing on learning about the jungle. I was very fortunate to taste some of their stepping stone cookies and I learnt a huge amount about the Venus fly trap which they had studied and were writing facts about. The boys seemed captivated by this amazing plant and were all incredibly knowledgeable. The jungle topic is a great one for them to fully immerse themselves in and it had certainly grabbed their interest.

Sadly, the frequent heavy showers this week meant that all of our cricket matches had to be cancelled on Wednesday but at least the U8s and U9s avoided the worst of the downpours and were able to get their practice sessions in, preparing for their first matches next week. With the Cricket World Cup just around the corner, followed by an Ashes series, it is a great year to get involved in the sport!

This week Year 7 and Year 5 have been thoroughly enjoying themselves on adventure trips at Whitemead and PGL Liddington respectively. They are great opportunities to take on challenges that they will not have experienced before and where working as a team is so important for the success of the activity. Despite the wet weather, the boys have returned today in great spirits and having had a great time.

Year 6 performed playlets from ‘Macbeth’ yesterday evening. It was lovely to see them embracing their first taste of Shakespeare. The performances were terrific and it was so encouraging to hear from parents that many of the boys had been discussing Shakespeare at home and in the car on the way to school. It really is incredible to think that Shakepeare’s plays are as popular today as they were when first written back in the 1590’s. They truly have stood the test of time.

Next week is Artweeks at school and I would encourage as many of you as possible to come into school and see the boys’ fabulous work on display. The school is open to visitors on Tuesday from 08.30-10.30 and Wednesday from 15.00-18.00. There will also be refreshments available in the library courtesy of the JPA.

Also next week, on Wednesday, we are incredibly fortunate to be receiving a flying visit, quite literally, from a Naval Air Commando unit (845 Squadron). They will be landing their helicopter on Coxes field and the boys will get to meet the crew and hopefully even get a tour of the helicopter. We look forward to welcoming them to Abingdon Prep. If any parents would like to come and see this event, then you would be very welcome to attend. Expected landing time is 10.30.

Finally, I would like to congratulate all the boys who represented us last weekend at the IAPS National Table Tennis Championships. They all played very well and certainly enjoyed the day. The standard was, as always, incredibly high, but Todd excelled again and was crowned National Champion for the 3rd consecutive year. A fantastic achievement!

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 3 May 2019

Dear Parents

Term is well and truly underway and the April showers seem to have decided to move into May this year.

It was lovely to welcome a local Buddhist leader to school on Monday and he spoke at length with our Year 8 boys detailing the history and practices of Buddhism, complimenting their unit of study. I know that the boys were fascinated to hear firsthand about the practices that are undertaken. It will certainly have helped when it comes to answering questions on this topic in their exam later this term.

Open Morning took place on Wednesday and was a great opportunity to showcase Abingdon Prep to prospective parents. Many of them were here because of positive comments from friends of theirs with boys at our school so thank you to all of you for sharing such positive feedback with the wider community. Our Year 7 boys were, as always, terrific ambassadors for us, taking tours and talking about their experiences of life at Abingdon Prep.

Wednesday also saw our first cricket fixtures of the season, with an even split of wins and losses. I thoroughly enjoyed watching our 2nd XI win a great match with just a few balls to spare. There was also athletics at Tilsley Park in the first meet of the season and again a number of boys put in very impressive performances across both track and field.

One of the highlights of the performing arts calendar took place yesterday – the Year 5 Music and Drama Soiree. There were some superb individual instrumental performances set alongside group performance poetry – ‘The Highwayman’. A Victorian theme, linking to their English studies, shone through in their fabulous performances of a selection of songs from ‘Oliver’. We certainly have some talented singers and actors coming up through the school. I was also rather jealous of the lovely picnics being consumed around the room!

If you find yourselves in Oxford this Saturday, please do take the chance to visit the Ashmolean Museum. 21 of our boys have their artwork being exhibited in the Young Art Oxford competition, which takes place every year as part of the Oxfordshire Artweeks. It opened yesterday and one of our Year 8 boys was awarded 3rd place and we had another two boys receive commendations. It never ceases to amaze me how creative and artistic so many of our boys are. We are very much looking forward to celebrating Artweeks later on in term by opening up our doors to you all, and the general public, to see more of the work that our boys have produced this year.

Thank you too for all of the brilliant recycled paper projects that have been coming into school this week, alongside the final entries for ‘Bake Off’. Some very tasty ones this week!

Tomorrow sees seven of the boys venturing to Hertfordshire to compete in the National IAPS Table Tennis Championships. We have a good track record in this event and are hoping once again to bring back the trophy. Good luck to all of the boys competing.

I hope that you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend ahead. Baby Quinn is popping down to Glastonbury to watch his Mum run in the fun 10K race whilst I shall be venturing out onto the cricket pitch once again.

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 26 April 2019

Dear Parents

It was lovely to welcome all of the boys back to school this week for the start of the summer term, especially our five new joiners. The school looked beautiful with the tulips out in full force and the blue skies setting a stunning backdrop for Josca’s House. I would like to say a big thank you to our grounds staff for all the work that they have put into making the school look so resplendent. As is so often the case, the beautiful sunshine gave way to April showers the moment that the boys stepped across the whitewash and onto the cricket pitch for the first time on Wednesday!

I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the boys’ exciting adventures during the break and judging by the fantastic photos that so many of you kindly sent in for Rachel’s assembly yesterday with the theme of ‘connecting with people’, the holidays have been time well spent. It is always important for the boys to recharge their batteries, and the teachers too, ready for what is a busy summer with exciting trips and examinations to be undertaken. I know that the Year 8s have been revising hard over the holidays in preparation for their AP+ exams.

Mr Windsor and I enjoyed popping into a number of lessons yesterday morning and it was very encouraging seeing all the boys fully focused and working hard on some adjectival agreements in French, undertaking difficult translations in Latin, significant figures in Maths, and microscopes and cells in Science. There was a real sense of purpose in all of the classrooms.

For the first time in a number of years, our Year 8s took part in a CCF demonstration yesterday afternoon. This was eagerly anticipated and the boys certainly seemed to have had a great time exploring camouflage paints, food preparation in the field and basher building. Thanks to the senior school boys and staff who came over to Abingdon Prep to give the boys a taste of the CCF they will be participating in next year.

I look forward to catching up with you all in the next few weeks and hopefully we will enjoy more of the lovely sunshine that Easter brought us.

Best wishes

Craig

Friday 29 March 2019

Dear Parents

The warm spring weather has accompanied us to the end of another fabulous term at Abingdon Prep. As I watched the photos flick round on our Lent Term montage this morning (available on the website), it reminded me of just how many different activities have taken place this term across all the year groups. If I had to pick a few highlights they would certainly be the snow day in school, the penguins and both of the brilliant productions.

Despite it being the final week of term, the pace has not diminished. ‘Animal Farm’, our senior section production, took place on Thursday evening and was a delight to watch. The boys involved should be very proud of their performances and the hard work that they have been putting into it in the lead up.

Reception visited Cotswold Farm Park on Monday and came back full of excitement and tales of the animals they had seen. They, alongside Year 1 and 2, also took part in a lovely Easter Bonnet parade this week in front of the whole school showing off their creative sides.

Years 2, 4 and 6 had a spectacular architecture workshop on Tuesday where Year 6 created Viking boat structures from bamboo and elastic bands, Year 4 created bridges from similar materials and Year 2 created a range of tetrahedron shapes. The boys really enjoyed the creative problem solving elements of these workshops and will certainly have learnt a great deal from them.

The Science Week poster competition awards were given out too this week and I was lucky enough to be asked to adjudicate – a tough job with so many brilliant entries on the theme of journeys. The overall winner came from Year 4 and showed a stunning journey of an arctic tern migration.

The Easter Eggstravaganza on Saturday last week was a great success and the sunshine allowed for a lovely Easter egg hunt in the Pre-Prep play area to round off the event. The Easter Bunny was kind enough to join us despite being such a busy time of year. I was lucky and found a few stray eggs myself this year!

Dragon have managed to earn themselves a home clothes day next term by winning the house merit cup and as a school we managed to raise £412 for our Dragon House charity – ‘The Friends of Della and Don’. They will be putting the money towards part funding a teacher at the school they have set up in an area still struggling to recover from the tragic tsunami of 2004. Thank you to all the boys and parents who have kindly made Sri Lankan styles cakes and pastries which sold so well. This followed on from some wonderful ‘Bake Off’ cakes which certainly went down well and I am very much looking forward to the finals of the ‘Abingdon Prep Bake Off’ next term.

Our Easter Service today will round off the term and hopefully allow for a few moments of quiet reflection before we all enjoy the holiday break. I am personally looking forward to venturing down to the Gower Peninsula for a few days to walk with my family on the stunning beaches and beautiful coastline. If the weather allows, I will also be starting my cricket season too with a couple of pre-season matches. I hope that you all have a restful and enjoyable holidays, whether that is skiing in the Alps, jetting off somewhere exotic, pottering off to the South West or simply enjoying some family time at home. Fingers crossed for some more warm spring weather.

Best wishes and Happy Easter!

Craig

Friday 22 March 2019

Dear Parents

To start the week, a number of boys sat their Associated Board Music exams. I know that this is always a nerve wracking affair but the boys had been practising hard and I am sure they will have done themselves proud. I am always delighted to hear the boys play their instruments and slightly jealous of the talent they possess!

On Tuesday, our whole school photograph took place outside the front of Josca’s House this week. It really is quite a feat for the photographers to organise 261 boys on the scaffolding to get such a lovely image.

On Wednesday, four of our Year 8 boys joined 20 other schools from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire for a day of Chemistry in the Salters Chemistry challenge at Oxford University. The boys took part in two challenges and were awarded first prize in the ‘University Challenge’ seeing them race against the clock to react different concentrations of Sulphuric Acid with Magnesium ribbon. The boys had a great day out and came back buzzing about the chemistry they had undertaken.

After some excellent results and performances from our A teams at Cokethorpe on Saturday, matches continued this week with our seniors playing football against Abingdon School. A late winning goal for the U13As capped a fine season for them. 25 boys from the senior section went across to St Edward's to play New College at hockey and our mixed U12/13 team came away with a very impressive 1-1 draw. Our U10s were also in action and our A team completed their second consecutive unbeaten season – a great achievement. St Hugh’s were the opposition for our U9A, B and C teams this week and they all played extremely well, ending with two wins and a draw.

The British Biathlon championships took place last Sunday where all our teams and individual competitors can be very proud of their performances. Our U9s raced incredibly well, leading them to finish 2nd in this national competition – a superb performance.

It was lovely to see a number of you at Coffee and Catch up this morning. I always enjoy chatting with parents and hearing your thoughts on how the boys are doing, and of course about the upcoming holidays!

The Pre-Prep Spring Celebration took place this afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the boys showcase some of their work and sing the songs that they have been learning. It is always a lovely way to reflect on the brilliant things that the boys have been working on over the course of the term.

Tomorrow, the Easter Eggstravaganza takes place alongside a full rehearsal for the senior production of ‘Animal Farm’. We are hoping for a flying visit from the Easter Bunny too! This is a busy weekend which leads us into the final week of term.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the warmer spring weather.

Best wishes

Craig