13 Dec 2019

WEEKLY MAILING

This week’s mailing is:

Notices:

Term Dates and Key Dates

Boys will be given a hard copy of the calendar at the start of term, but, for information for new parents, there is an online calendar which is kept regularly up to date.  It is available from the front page of the website under ‘Information’. In addition, there is a Term and Key dates page for 2020/21. This page highlights events such as parents’ evenings, social evenings and evening presentations to parents.

End of Term Reports

These will be published to the parent portal over the weekend.  If you cannot see the report on the portal by Monday 16 December, please contact [email protected] which is also the contact if you do not currently have a log on to the portal but think that you should have one.

Parents of pupils in Third Year – Fourth Year: Geography Trip to Slovenia

This Summer the Abingdon School Geography department are running a 3rd and 4th year trip to Slovenia. The trip will look at a range of geographies including river environments, ecology and conservation (particularly of the Slovenian Mountain Bear), the changing nature of place as well as glacial landscapes. The trip includes elements of adventure, trekking and learning, combined into 8 days of activity. The trip departs on Monday 17 August, returning on Tuesday 25 August. The total cost of the trip is £2,157.  There are two places available on the trip (although more can be accommodated). Should your son wish to go on this Middle School Geography trip this summer, please email Amy Donnelly on [email protected]

Residential Trips 2020

The trips list has now been updated to include trips planned for the Michaelmas Term 2020 too.

Holiday Reading

The Library and English Department  would like to encourage all boys to use the holiday as an opportunity to read for pleasure, thereby enhancing their skills, knowledge and more importantly appreciation of the subject. The following Christmas cards suggest books for every boy to sit back and enjoy this Christmas.

Saturday Bus Service

This service will start on Saturday 11 January 2019.  Please see the attached document which identifies the six different bus routes, including the individual stops and the designated times.  We are very keen for as many boys as possible to use this service. It has been set up to ease the burden on parents of getting their sons to School for the inter School fixtures. There is no charge for this service.

The buses are scheduled to arrive at School at 11.30am, allowing the boys time to have lunch in the Dining Hall, have a brief team meeting, and depart for their fixtures on time. Those boys who are involved in home fixtures will be catered for and supervised until the start of their matches. This service applies to all boys involved in sport on a Saturday afternoon, whether it be in cross country, badminton, hockey, football or any other sport. If you would like to make any comment, or have any queries in this regard, please contact the Director of Sport and PE, Pete Bignell. If you intend to utilise this service, please ensure that you son is at the appropriate stop 5 minutes before the scheduled departure.

Inter School Fixtures

Abingdon has a strong tradition of participating in inter school fixtures across the age ranges. In recent years we have strengthened our fixture list, and been more ambitious in the schools we have been playing. Boys are expected to be available for matches against other schools unless specific permission has been sought from, and granted, by the Headmaster. Please avoid asking for leave of absence. Any request should be made well in advance, at least one week before the fixture. The Director of Sport and PE, Pete Bignell should be copied in on any such leave of absence request.

To assist parental planning, the Sport and Physical Education Department email teamsheets for each of the age groups to parents on a Thursday evening. This will be sent to the primary contact, which we have stored on iSams, our internal database.

It is vitally important that parents contact the appropriate member of staff in cases of illness on a Saturday morning so that replacements can be sought, and we do not end up in the embarrassing situation by being short of players to fulfil our fixtures. Sanctions will be applied to those boys who fail to comply with this request. Parents may also contact the Abingdon School Sports Centre Reception on 01235 849062 in case of any problems arising.

School Dress

Parents are asked to provide their growing sons with shirts sufficiently large for them to have their top buttons done up throughout the day.  Boys may wear jumpers under their jackets, but they need to be dark blue, V-necked and without a zip.  The exception, for the sixth form, is that their V-necked jumper may be monochrome and of sober colour. The full uniform list and dress code is on the website.

Middle School Scholars’ Newsletter, and Scholars’ Podcast

Please find attached the latest edition of the Middle School Scholars’ newsletter, which has been created by the fifth year academic scholars. It’s packed full of interesting and insightful articles largely inspired by their recent trip to Oxford.  The Scholars’ Podcast (link here) is this term brought to you by Samuel King (drama scholar) and Johan Nerlov (academic scholar) as they discuss cinema as an art form.

To all Hockey Parents and Hockey Players

Please save the date Saturday 21 March 2020 for the end of season hockey dinner.  This is a black tie event and usually books out very quickly.  Tickets will be released in the new year.

Abingdon Box Office

Next Term

Term begins on Tuesday 7 January 2020 at 8.35am with tutor time, followed by lessons from 9am.  It will be week B timetable.

News from the Week

Here is the link to previous weekly mailings.

For forthcoming events, here is the link to the School Calendar.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year