APS News 16

6 January 2017 Abingdon Prep In School Each year, Year 6 has a visit from Science Oxford. Felipe in 6R tells us what the boys did... “First we had an interesting talk about forces and friction and how they affect objects. Next we had the tricky challenge of ‘The Egg Drop.’ We had to build contraptions so the egg didn’t crack or break after falling a few metres. A few groups managed to keep their egg intact, but others weren’t so lucky. “We spent the afternoon building cars made of K’NEX. We had electric and wind-up motors to power them and three challenges. The first one was whose car went the furthest. The second was a race. Everyone lined up their car at the front of the hall then turned on their motors; the first one to get to the finish line was the winner. The third challenge was to get your car into a square made of duct tape - only wind-up motors were allowed in this competition. “In conclusion, all of Year 6 liked the activities and competitions. They loved Science Day and wanted to have other days like this.” School Council 2017-8 This term we have been very busy with the new ‘Think Tank’, a tank-shaped suggestion box designed by Harvey and Adam in Year 8. Every week, the School Council has met to sort out the first set of ideas to present to Craig. Most of the suggestions were to do with the playground, lessons/curriculum, food/lunches, and miscellaneous ones such as softer/better toilet paper. We presented our ideas in a breakfast meeting with Craig. This involved pains au chocolat and orange juice which was much appreciated. Craig went through the ideas and some were definitely possible, others were being looked into and some were not suitable for various reasons such as health and safety. We felt it was a very successful meeting and hope to see some changes after Christmas. Another aspect with which School Council was involved with was Anti-Bullying Week. We came up with suggestions of what to do if you are being bullied or if you are a bystander. We will be organising a competition after Christmas to design posters for classrooms. Clem and Patrick Class Pairings and House Meetings offer regular opportunities for team-building between boys of different ages. Year 6 Science Day Y7 and Y3 House ping-pong cups game Y5 and Y1