Abingdonian 2017

91 www.abingdon.org.uk House Reports It seems, though, that I had experts teaching me, as both the U18 and U15 teams finished with strong second places, which one might think would be enough to secure the overall hockey cup, but apparently that’s not how it works! No such problem for Gianluca Cau Tait, who comfortably won his division of the U18 pool competition, or for our footballers who, having won the U18 competition alongside strong finishes in the younger years, brought back the overall house football cup! The real highlight for me, though, was the huge numbers of boys stepping up into competitions where they perhaps did not have the most experience but gave it a go anyway. Charlie Ball celebrating a hard-won point in the fencing, against an international standard opponent, as if he had just secured Olympic gold is a memory that will stay with me for some time. The jewel in our sporting crown, however, was the inter-house athletics competition. We saw a vast array of individual winners, including Liam O’Hickey in the 100m, shot putters Greg Lister and Ben Ling, Ben “I can’t really run” Curtis in the 800m, and a stunning one-two finish in the senior 1500m from Calum Steer and Daniel Lawson. Our strength as a team was further highlighted with our dominance of the relay events, where we won both the A and B competitions in the third year, and a further win for the seniors. With so much glittering individual success, we were well placed to challenge for overall wins, and after a nervous wait for scores to be tallied, the house was rewarded with emphatic wins for both the U18 and U14 overall competitions, which, combined with a podium finish from the U15s, was good enough to win the competition outright! Well done to all! Having swept all before us in the previous sets of competitions, I was very proud to see the fine young gentlemen of Border’s step aside and allow the other houses a chance to win something in the other summer competitions. Such grace and sportsmanship should be celebrated. Unfortunately, James Munday clearly didn’t get the memo, picking up a win in the U15 squash. With so much success in the sporting arenas, it might be easy to stereotype these fine young men, but it transpires that they have rather large brains too! The summer exam season brought with it some fantastic performances. At GCSE level, seven boys scored straight A* and A grades, with Zach Griggs picking up a full house of ten A* grades. There were also some huge improvements between the mocks and the summer exams, which just goes to show how much of a difference hard work can make. The Upper Sixth refused to be outdone and we saw some stunning results, with highlights being 5 A* grades for Connor Clements and 4 more boys achieving straight A* and A grades. The bar has been set high for future years to follow. As I bring this review to a close, I would like to thank Head of House Henry Antonian for all his work, along with the team of prefects, and to wish Mr Stuart all the best for the future as he leaves us to lead the Maths Department at Cokethorpe. David Border Daniel Lawson and Callum Steer Jamie Volak