This week's mailing is:
Letter from the Headmaster (PDF)
Notices:
Return to School
We look forward to welcoming new boys and those returning. Extract from Key Dates:
Sunday 4 September – New boarders arrive
Monday 5 September – Other boarders return
Monday 5 September – First year induction
Monday 5 September, 3.45pm – Headmaster’s reception for 1st Year parents, Lacies Court Garden
Tuesday 6 September – Term begins (first day back for lower sixth)
After beginning with a tutor period, there will be Headmaster's and House Assemblies. The service at St Helen's Church will be on Wednesday at 11.30am.
For Parents of 3rd Year Pupils
On the afternoon of Friday 9 September, 3rd year boys will be having a bbq (weather permitting) followed by some team building activities within their tutor groups. Please can your son bring in comfortable home clothes for this afternoon. The activities will end by 4.30pm so boys who travel home on the school bus will not be affected. Also, if you have not yet had a chance to RSVP to the 3rd year parents' social evening on the evening of Tuesday 20 September from 7.15pm please can you kindly fill in the details at this link. I wish your sons a very happy start to the 3rd year and I look forward to meeting you on 20 September.
For Parents of 5th Year Pupils: COA Preview Programme – IMPORTANT INFORMATION
You will have previously received an email about the Preview career guidance programme designed and delivered by an external company called Cambridge Occupational Analysts. Preview is operated by Abingdon at a cost to parents and on an opt-out basis. The cost for a 5th Year pupil to participate is £79 (including VAT), which will be charged via your next school bill. To read more about Preview, go to: https://www.abingdon.org.uk/coa_preview_programme. If you do not wish for your son to participate in Preview, you may opt-out. To opt-out, a parent or guardian must email Michael Triff no later than midnight on Friday 16 September; otherwise, your son will be enrolled automatically in the Preview programme and the £79 charge will be made. We regret that refunds will not be possible after this date.
Taking, Storing and Using Images of Children (TSUIC) Policy and Parent and Guardian Contact Details
Reminders were sent out over the summer to parents asking for signatures showing the consent of both parents and boys for the taking, storing and use of images of your son as set out in the TSUIC Policy. Please return the form. The School will shortly send another reminder, but in the interim photos of events will continue to be taken, stored and used. Please do contact the School to update us with any changes to parent and/or guardian contact details, such as email addresses and mobile phone numbers, so that we can ensure our databases are kept as up to date as possible. Any changes can be emailed to [email protected].
Tuesday 6 September – Sport and PE
Please note that all 1st, 2nd and 4th Year boys have a Sports lesson on Tuesday afternoon. It is important that boys bring their sports kit with them to School on this, the first day of term. The 1st and 2nd years will be working outdoors and it is therefore important that they bring the appropriate kit, and the 4th Year are to bring the kit appropriate to the activity which they have chosen to do.
Open Day on Saturday 1 October for all pupils except first years who are not in activities
All boys except first years will need to be in school for Open Day. The weekday bus schedule will run half an hour later than on normal weekdays.
Coach park and Faringdon Road
Parents are reminded that cars waiting by the coach park impede prompt departure of the buses as well as causing traffic problems. The pick up point is Park Crescent.
Requests for absence
Extract from the 2016/17 Parents' Handbook
Leave out of School
Requests involving the absence of any boy for more than a day of School time should be made in writing to the Headmaster. His Housemaster may deal with requests involving absence of a day or less. Parents are strongly requested not to take their sons out of School for any but the most pressing reasons. It must be said that we object strongly to applications for leave that have the effect of extending the already generous School holidays.
Sporting Fixtures
Boys are expected to be available for matches against other schools unless specific permission has been sought from and granted by the Headmaster. Any request should be made well in advance, at least one week before the fixture and copied to the Director of Sport and PE, [email protected].
Term Calendar 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 'Calendar and Events'. Each week there is a link from the Friday Weekly Mailing to the 'The Week Ahead' which you will find on the top right of the weekly mailing page. In addition, there is a Key dates page for 2016/17. This page highlights events such as parents' evenings, Headmaster's receptions for current parents, social evenings and evening presentations to parents. Term dates for 2016/17 and 2017/18 are also on the website.
Mouthguard Fittings
This is a reminder that the O-pro dentist fittings, are on Tuesday 6 and Thursday 8 September in the Sports Centre changing rooms. Years 1, 2 & 4 will have their fittings during their sports lesson. Years 3, 5, 6 and 7 should attend when available between 1.30 and 4pm. If you have ordered a new mouthguard, please remind your son to attend.
Saturday Bus Service
This service will start on Saturday 10 September. 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, rugby 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. There are a number of primary contacts for whom we have not got email addresses attached, and these contacts will therefore not be receiving the email. Please do supply data to the School, so as to ease our paths of communication.
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.
Off-Games Procedure
Boys who are unable to participate, because they are ‘off games’, must excuse themselves in advance. Boys must present an ‘off games’ note/letter from parents or the Health Centre to the member of staff i/c their activity, by lunchtime on the day of the activity. Alternatively, the pupil should report to the member of staff at the start of the activity to excuse themselves in person. Sending a message via other pupils is not acceptable. Team players, who are able to do so, should attend the training session in order to pick up coaching points and so that the coach has an opportunity to talk to the boys about likely availability for the next match.
If the pupil has a medical note or advice from a medical professional regarding the rehabilitation process, please send in a copy of this note so that the School can play an active role through use of the Fitness Suite or by maintaining fitness through participation in an alternative activity. If you have any queries in this regard please contact the Director of Sport & PE, Pete Bignell.
Physiotherapy Provision
The School is very fortunate to have access to a Physiotherapist who operates on site on a Wednesday afternoon so that the boys are able to access treatment directly, rather than for parents having to make alternative arrangements. If you would like to make use of this service, please contact the Sports Centre Duty Manager.
Tutor Groups
Please see the attached document for details of the tutor groups in each house.
Bus Safety
Parents are asked to remind their sons that they should wait to cross the road until well after the coach has departed from a stop, to ensure boys have full sight of other traffic.
Ocean Film Festival – Saturday 10 September,AmeyTheatre
The Ocean Film Festival showcases the world’s most amazing ocean films from above and below the water’s surface! Brought to you by the producers of the Banff Film Festival UK Tour, this extraordinary collection of short films document the beauty and power of the ocean, and celebrate the divers, surfers, swimmers and oceanographers who live for the sea’s salt spray; who chase the crests of waves; and who marvel at the mysteries of the big blue. Visit the Ocean Film Festival website for more details and tickets. Age Guidance: 12A (This means that anyone under 12 can attend if they are accompanied by an adult.)
Temporary Traffic Order – A415 Marcham Road between Marcham and A34 junction – from 19 Septmeber for approx 2 weeks
Abingdon, A415 Marcham Road from Marcham to the A34 interchange and also the road connecting this road to Barrow Road, Shippon. Prohibition of Through Traffic and Waiting on the above roads will take effect from Monday 19 September 2016. It will take approximately two weeks to complete and will be in force as and when appropriate traffic signs are displayed.
Food Menu for the coming week – Week 1
