APS News 19

2 January 2019 Abingdon Prep News It is sometimes only after a busy term ends that you can sit quietly and reflect on all that has happened in the preceding months. In the final cups and colours assembly, I showed the boys a montage of photos taken during the term. It was lovely to reminisce about all the activities that the boys had been involved in since September. I have picked out just a few of the term’s highlights below. Our Reception class are well and truly settled into school life and had their first trip to Cogges Farm. Later, the whole of Pre-Prep went to Roves Farm, as well as performing on stage for their Harvest Festival and Nativity. Our Year 3 and 4 classes loved their end of term trip to see ‘Dick Whittington’ and one of the best experiences for Year 4 came in just the second week of term, with their first overnight trip walking on the Ridgeway. I joined them that evening at the hostel and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them in the early autumn sunshine. Our Year 5s had a great time at the Black Country From the Headmaster Museum which set them up beautifully for their work on Victorian detective stories and our Year 6s started the term with a two night Bushcraft adventure, sleeping out in their dens under the stars. Our Year 7s have been incredibly creative in CDT and Art this term and our Year 8s have been to Swanage to explore the glorious Jurassic coastline for their residential geography trip. Many of them have taken on the role of Young Leader to support staff with our Other Half clubs. Our beautiful carol concert rounded off a wonderful term of music after our Senior Choir sang in a massed choir at the Royal Albert Hall in November, supporting pupils with special needs. It is great that our boys continue to make the most of the opportunities available to them. With best wishes Craig Williams Griffin won the end of term House Merit Cup Abingdon Prep commemorated Remembrance Day this year with a range of events. The boys in 5S delivered an assembly. As well as marking the hundredth anniversary of the end of WWI, and drawing attention to those who have given their lives in conflict then and since, they also gave some examples of how the war changed the way people thought and lived, especially in the arts. Reference was made to how the music of Ralph Vaughan-Williams became more lamentful, the art of Paul Nash starker and darker, and the poetry of writers such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden and Laurence Binyon more evocative, inspired by the horrors which they had witnessed at the front. This was followed by a special recital, where Year 8 boys read poems (see right) they had composed in English lessons on the theme of WWI, inspired by a range of poets. We shall remember them On Friday, everyone gathered in the hall just before 11am for a short Remembrance Ceremony. Craig read from Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen then the 2-minutes silence was observed respectfully, with Ruari, in Year 8, playing the Last Post to signpost the occasion. Thank you to all the boys and parents who contributed to our Poppy Appeal, to our informative display linking these events to our own families, and to Katie, Sherrey and those pupils who helped to create the striking display of cascading poppies. Rugby training with Year 5 Good Morning George Smith Good morning George Smith, Do you mind if I sit here near your graveside? The sun shines down on the place where you lie, Although the clouds loom heavy across the sky I see in the churchyard that you’re not alone. Surrounded by friends Tom, Willy and Jack Jones. Your gravestone tells a story, more than your name. You joined up full of hope in 1914 but died with the damned in 1918. How did you die? Was it quick with a bullet, shot through the heart? Torn to pieces or blown apart? Did you suffer too long, agonisingly slow, Calling for mother to come take you home? Did you suddenly fall where you stood, Drowning in terror, face down in the mud? Did your friends come to rescue you or leave you to die? Perhaps they were with you all of the time? They rest by you now, no more songs of cheer. Just graves to rest in as the trenches have long disappeared. Lorcan, Y8 The stage was full of poppies made in CDT and Art