APS News 18

AbingdonPrep News is the newsletter of Abingdon Preparatory School, Josca’s House, Kingston Road, Oxford OX13 5NX Tel: 01865 391570 www.abingdon.org.uk/prep Editor: Annabel Gaskell Abingdon School is a company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Company No. 3625063. Registered Office: Abingdon School, Park Road, Abingdon, OX14 1DE Registered Charity No. 1071298 This year we supported a local charity, Springfield School in Witney. The school provides education for children and young people with severe learning difficulties and communication problems. During the year, it was great to see some of the Springfield children join our boys at Forest School to enjoy joint activities. Abingdon Prep Charities & JPA Thank you ... Another great year of events and fundraising has been and gone. A massive thank you to everyone on the JPA committee and other helpers who’ve given their time to make this happen. A special thanks to Susie and her team for organizing a memorable ball. If you have great ideas or time to give, please come and be part of the JPA next year. Can we also remind all parents that we are always grateful for help at events, whether on the day or in advance to help plan and set up. Stuart Bonthron, JPA Chair Charities Summary We have again had a range of successful events this year, which included a Bold and Bright home clothes day, our annual quiz and the Christmas Bazaar, where the boys’ stalls alone brought in over £500. Pre-Prep demonstrated their enthusiasm for books and raised an amazing £700 with a sponsored read. We also saw the return of the APS Bake Off and the sponsored swim at the senior school. Many of the boys swam considerably further than they had hoped to - unfortunate for those who had sponsored per length! Did you know you can follow APS on social media? instagram.com/abingdon_prep twitter.com/abingdonprep facebook.com/abingdonprep A big thank you to all who helped raise over £8,000 for Springfield School. Every year, our houses vote to raise funds for charities of their choosing. The boys decide and then run their own events. Dragon ran their annual and ever popular sweet tombola to raise money for the Children’s Air Ambulance. Griffin chose to raise funds for Great Ormond Street hospital and asked the boys to dig around in their Grandad’s cupboard to find the craziest, Some of our swimmers with their Sponsored Swim certificates nastiest kipper tie to wear - some were quite shocking! Not to be outdone, Unicorn had a wacky glasses days, with some boys going to great lengths and questions were asked as to whether boys could actually see! Finally, Phoenix donated the money from a successful cake sale to Help for Heroes. Anne Parker The Bench Project In CDT this term, Year 6 worked with a parent architect, Phoebe Gresford, to design a new seating area to be positioned outside the MUSA. It will be built and funded by the JPA, and the whole school will benefit from this entrepreneurial project. Having surveyed the area, the boys brainstormed ideas, deciding on key features such as: • The function : e.g. quiet time sitting or reading, chatting together, playing chess, planning things, refereeing, or just to watch the sky… • The purpose - how many would their bench seat? e.g. lots to promote chat or a few to give personal space. • A name for their design - e.g. a communal bench, a relaxing seat, a listening bench, a recycled bench. From their drawings and discussions the boys produced a series of 3D models made from wood, styrofoam and card to demonstrate their final group outcomes. Phoebe has the hard job of combining or choosing a final design to be made from the boys’ thoughtful suggestions. The CDT department is looking forward to sharing developments this autumn. Katie Smith