5 Sep 2014

WEEKLY MAILING

This week's mailing is:

Letter from the Head (PDF)

Letters

Notices:

Head's Reception for 2nd, 4th and 5th Year parents on Tuesday 9 September at 6.00pm

Over the summer parents should have received an invitation to the Head's Reception next Tuesday. Drinks and canapes will be served in the Sports Centre Hospitality Suite. If you have yet to reply and wish to come please email.

Open Day: Saturday 27 September

Open Day runs from 9.30 until 12.30. All boys, EXCEPT first years who are not involved in an activity such as an orchestra or band, are expected to attend and should arrive at School no later than 8.55 am to register before beginning their Open Day activities. Request for absence on this day should, as usual, be made to the housemaster, as for a single weekday absence.

For boys who use the joint bus service, all the morning routes will be operating the weekday schedule running 30 minutes later than usual. For the return journey, the weekday 5.20pm service will depart on all usual routes from the coach park at 1.00pm.

Exam Remarks

Parents are asked to remind their sons that the deadline for exam remarks is fast approaching. Requests should be made before Friday 19 September, and any requests received after will not be processed. Mrs Cottam will be available in her office between 9am – 3pm. To contact Mrs Cottam please email or call 01235 849035.

American Universities

An introductory meeting for boys and parents who are considering applying to universities in the USA will be held on Wednesday 24 September at 7.00pm in the Amey Theatre. All are welcome, but it will be of particular value to fifth year students and above. Come along and find out more about the American university system and the application process, scholarships and financing an American education. Please contact Mrs Waite for further information.

Joint Parents' Prayer Group meeting, – Tuesday 16 September, 7.45pm, St Helen's

Abingdon has a thriving community of parents who support the school by praying for it. We aim to meet on six occasions during the school year, finishing with a chapel service in the summer term. Our first meeting of the new academic year is joint with St. Helen and St. Katharine and will be at St. Helens on Tuesday 16 September at 7.45pm. Refreshments will be served. Do join us to meet with other parents and staff,  to learn about the various Christian activities that happen in the school and to pray. 

Rugby: concussion

Now we are back in the midst of the rugby term, can we take this opportunity to remind you of the protocols if your son is unlucky enough to be concussed during a rugby match. This is something that we are all very sensitive about in order to ensure best practice. Please follow the link to the RFU website so that you can familiarise yourself with the suggested protocol, but we need to highlight one very important point, especially for day boys.  In case of a head injury please ensure the following steps are undertaken:

If a boy sustains a head injury during a match here or Cox's Field we have a Doctor who can see them on the same day, who will then review them in three weeks. The boy will need to come into see him prior to matches starting. During this period they will have a graduated return to play programme and this will include being reviewed by the school nurses at week 1 and 2. If they are playing away they should be seen by the medic covering the match, they may be advised to go to the Emergency department.  This information needs to be shared with his rugby coach and Peter Coke (as Director of Rugby) and the Health Centre should be copied in. We can then get them reviewed with the doctor at week 3 and the nurses at week 1 and 2. The advice is clear that he should not play competitively again until he is signed as fit by a medical professional. Any queries to Peter Coke please.

Behaviour on the Buses

We have over 460 boys using the Joint Bus Service. Most behave impeccably but there can be moments of poor behaviour, ranging from nagging irritations, such as the persistent leaving of litter on the floor and use of bad language, to the safety issue of boys not wearing seat belts. Inevitably the people who tend to bear the brunt of this bad behaviour are the drivers. The Deputy Head (Pastoral), Mark Hindley has spoken to all the boys about bus behaviour, but please could you reiterate to your sons that they are representatives of Abingdon School and that they must behave accordingly. Equally it is a requirement, not an option, that they wear seat belts.

In the course of that conversation could you please also remind them that if they cannot adhere to the requisite standards of behaviour, despite his warnings and the efforts of the Bus Prefects, then they will receive a Friday Detention. If they continue to misbehave, we reserve the right to ban them from the buses for a period of time, probably 3 to 5 days in the first instance. The level of sanction will obviously be dependent on the severity of the offending behaviour.

School buses: problems

Parents are reminded of the following extract from our bus service coordinator, Tom Peeke, which is part of the bus service contract:

  • If your bus is more than 5 minutes later than normal and you have not been contacted, ring the bus company direct (see contact numbers below). They are best placed to give the reason for lateness and the likely revised time of arrival for the bus or its replacement.
  • Do not wait longer than 5 minutes before calling, as your call may speed up the action needed. Always leave someone in a visible position at the stop if you move away to make a call, in case the bus arrives.
  • Only call the Co-ordinator 01235 546565 if you cannot get a reply from the bus operator. Telephones are not usually manned before 8.30 am or after 5.30pm. We may have been informed of delays, but cannot contact families to inform them.

We have had a couple of operator changes this term and wanted to make you aware of contact numbers for our operators. Apart from when a bus does not arrive, your first point of call is either the JBS number on 01235 546565 or email. Please do not use the bus company numbers to report lost property. This should only be done using the form available on the school website. Our operators will always do their up most to get things back to you as soon as possible. Because of the jobs the vehicles are doing this can take a day or 2 at times.

Any news items such as alternative routes because of local road works will be made available on the JBS website at www.jointbus.co.uk

Baileys Coaches         01635 203005
Blunsdon Coaches      01993 811320
Pearces Coaches        01865 340560
Plastows Coaches       01865 872270
Whites Coaches          01865 340516

Dropping off and collection of pupils by car

Parents are reminded not to drop off or collect boys from the Bursary area, or Lower Field car park, please. This is because the area is already busy with pedestrians, pupils and school traffic. We therefore ask that parents drop and collect boys in Park Crescent, operating a one-way system travelling clockwise past the private housing on the west of Albert Park, and ending up near the boarding houses. The Crescent ends at a cross roads, where halting is obligatory on these private roads. Wheel clamping operates on Park Road and Park Crescent, so you are advised not to leave a car unattended.

Abingdon News

Copies of the new 'Abingdon News' will be given to boys to take home next week. There is one copy per family. Boys who are full boarders will have copies posted home.

Permission for use of images for Marketing Purposes: Photographs, videos, media images of pupils

Occasionally the School would like to use photographs, video or media images of pupils at Abingdon School for use in promotional or broadcast material including on the school website and in promotional literature such as the prospectus and Other Half booklet. Each year we ask parents or legal guardians to give permission to use photographs of boys should the opportunity arise. If we have not received the completed consent form from parents or guardians we will roll over permission to use photographs of pupils from the 2013/14 academic year. If pupils are new to the school and we have not received the completed consent form we will assume consent unless parents or guardians contact the school. If you would like to withhold permission then please email the school by Wednesday 10 September.  

Weekly Mailing

We aim to send an email each Friday at 5.00pm which provides a link to that day's Weekly Mailing. All editions of Weekly Mailing may be found on the website, under the News tab. The search facility at the top right of every page can be useful to find archived items. We would encourage those who missed the link to view last Friday's Weekly Mailing, which was the first mailing of the term.

Mobile website www.abingdon.org.uk/m

A reminder to parents that the School has a mobile website where you can view a smaller version of the school website from handheld devices.  Information includes the latest news, weekly mailing, calendar, match arrangements and joint bus service status. You can also follow the school on Twitter @abingdonschool and many of the sports teams and some departments also have their own Twitter accounts.