Abingdonian 2017

95 www.abingdon.org.uk House Reports coveted silver medal for the second year in the prestigious National Cypher Challenge run by GCHQ, and pocketing £800 into the bargain. Further intellectual achievements came in the Inter-House Debating Competition, where Archie Williams and George Jeffreys (Head of House and Head of School respectively) gave virtuoso performances in front of a crowded audience of some 400 people to win the thing for the fifth year in a row. What’s more is they gave up their time to pass on their knowledge to younger year groups in the house - they would have every reason to be a little arrogant after such a display, but not a bit of it. The Lent Term was also our most successful one from a sporting point of view. The road relay saw us claim the prizes for fastest Upper Sixth and fifth form team (the senior boys for the fitth year in a row again!), whilst Ivo Brown was the fastest individual completing the course in eight minutes two seconds. With Max Carter-Keall (later to be voted in as Head of House 2017-18) now a permanent fixture in the U18 England hockey side, and fresh from a tour of Holland, it was no surprise to see us win inter-house hockey in the sixth form, though Max would be the first to celebrate the collective efforts of a team which spanned three year groups. Lastly, the Lent Term saw two unforeseen successes for James’s House staff, with Mr Poon and Mr Jones wiping the floor with all opposition in the inaugural House Table Football Competition - the brainchild of Mr Gold’s tutor group - whilst Mr James and Mr Fisher accidentally won the sixth form quiz. This is frankly embarrassing, and we feel the boys must try harder in these two areas (he brags modestly!). The Summer Term saw the study room become the ‘revision nest’ of certain Upper Sixth formers buried under piles of folders. All of which paid off - by my reckoning, 13 of them secured their ‘firm’ university offers, with two off to their insurance, two gaining places through clearing and three on planned gap years. All four Oxbridge places were secured too. They were a fabulous year group, talented and hard-working in equal measure, and selfless too. A shared ‘graduation’ meal in school only served to underline this. The fifth form must have taken note, because we became the most improved house at GCSE based on the mock exams. Traditionally our strongest term on the sports pitch, the Summer Term also saw our fourth years win inter-house athletics, whilst Samuel Miles won the U14 squash tournament. Jake Blackwell and Tim Armstrong also won inter-house golf for the second year in a row - as you can imagine, as Master in charge of Golf this was the absolute highlight of my year! Joking aside, I ended the academic year feeling very positive about the ethos in the house, and feeling very lucky to be working alongside such impressive young men. I cannot wait to see what 2018 brings. Simon James Max Carter-Keall Ivo Brown