APS News No. 17

4 April 2018 Abingdon Prep Out and About Sulgrave Manor is a Tudor house set in the beautiful green countryside of Northamptonshire, the home of a distant ancestor of George Washington. During our visit, the boys dressed as Tudor schoolchildren: caps, breeches or kirtle (skirt), and tunics - they certainly looked the part! They all took part in an entertaining role play in which the boys became Henry VIII, his court and his rather unfortunate wives. Amid cheering and booing, they played out numerous marriages, divorces, beheadings and a visit to the Pope in Rome. After a typical Tudor lunch of chicken legs, pork pies, hunks of bread and cheese, they toured the house, visiting the kitchen, bedroom and dining hall learning about the Tudor artefacts in each room. The boys were eager to ask questions and thoroughly enjoyed their conversations with our guide. The lives of servants and how the Tudors cooked, ate and slept were fascinating. The trip was a rich and rewarding experience that was enjoyed by all. The Tudors of Year 4 In March, Years 3 and 4 went on a school trip to Hazard Alley where we learnt how to stay safe, inside and outside. We learnt about hazards like fire, train tracks and road crossings. We learnt how to prevent accidents as well as having a fun day. My favourite part was when we saw the dangers of fishing where you shouldn't. Willem Hazard Alley Belt up in the car! Dial 999 Get ready for the recovery position William tells us about Year 5’s trip to the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museums in Oxford: “In the Pitt Rivers Museum we learned about the Aztecs, our topic in History. We had a brief slide show and then they showed us around Aztec objects like looms, pots and small statues of their gods.There were spears and bows, fish hooks and other things which they would have used for hunting, farming and fishing. I even learned that they believed that sweetcorn was a lucky charm! At the end we had to draw what an Aztec person would look like from the information we gathered. Later, we moved to the Natural Year 5: The Aztecs and Darwin History Museum to find out about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. We had a talk about how life started as microorganisms that evolved into fish-like creatures and then into amphibians and so on. Next, we were told that Steve Backshall comes here a lot and he had set us an iPad quest to find certain exhibits. When we typed in the code next to them, Steve would tell you about which kingdom of animals it came from. We all enjoyed this activity.”