6 Dec 2019

WEEKLY MAILING

This week’s mailing is:

Letters:

Notices:

Parents of 6th Form Students: Gap Year Advice Evening, Thursday 16 January, 6:30-8:00pm, St Helen and St Katharine

Is your son thinking – even remotely – about taking a Gap Year? If he is, this is an event he and you will not want to miss. Abingdon School and St Helen and St Katharine School are co-hosting a Gap Year Advice Evening on Thursday 16 January 2020, 6:30 to 8:00pm at SHSK. The event will feature a 20-minute presentation about what is involved in planning and managing a Gap Year. This will be followed by a 45-minute panel discussion featuring five alumni from Abingdon School and SHSK who took gap years and then a 20- minute Q&A session with the panel.  No booking necessary (just turn up).  Parents welcome. Note: Students can download (from the Gap Year page of Firefly) the Abingdon School Gap Year Guide, which is intended to help them think carefully through all the considerations involved in electing, planning, and managing a Gap Year.

Parents of pupils in Fourth Year – Lower Sixth: Ski Trip February Half Term 2020

A place has become available on the above trip.  If your son is interested, please contact Mr Simmons on [email protected]

Music:

  • Next Term’s Musical Highlights.  Please find attached next term’s Lent Music Calendar. There are many exciting events for your diary, two of which come quite early on:
  • The first is the Inter-Schools Charity Concert in St Michael’s Church, Summertown on Wednesday 5 February at 7pm. This is raising funds for Cecily’s Fund, a charity working with refugee children in the Middle East. Our outstanding senior piano quartet will be playing alongside ensembles from several other schools such as Headington and St Edward’s. Please order your tickets in advance using this link.
  • Secondly, the Martin Speake International Jazz Quartet Concert on Monday 24 February at 8pm is a rare opportunity to hear jazz musicians of international standing who are on tour. Please see the poster, here. Tickets for this concert are available from the school’s Box Office.
  • Our main Spring Concert will be held on Thursday 19 March at 7pm in the Amey Theatre. This is just over a week before the end of the Lent Term and will feature Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto with David Bicarregui as soloist.
  • Music Technology Lessons at Abingdon School from next term.  Again, the Music Department is offering an exciting opportunity to a limited number of pupils to learn about its latest state-of-the-art music technology equipment. The lessons deal with how music/sound is composed, recorded and produced within the digital studio environment. This will involve the use of a variety of software packages and hardware equipment to unlock the vast potential of recording musical ideas and sound. Recent pupils have gone onto courses and careers in commercial music and sound recording and an understanding of the use of this essential technology will give future candidates an important edge. The lessons are offered on the same basis as individual music lessons, which currently cost £23.40 for a 30 minute weekly lesson. Places are limited so are offered on a first come, first served basis. If you are interested, please contact the Director of Music by email on [email protected]

Christmas Jumper Day – Wednesday 11 December

Students and staff are invited to put on their festive knitwear for a good cause.  A suggested £1 donation will be paid to the following charities: Save the Children; UNICEF; The Abingdon Bridge; Mind; Close the Gap.  Students are expected to be in normal school uniform with the addition of a jumper: it is not a full home-clothes day.  Please see attached poster.

ASPA Lower School Parents’ Burns Night Reminder – Saturday 25 January 2020

Tickets are now on sale for the Lower School Parents’ Burns Night.  All details including menu, timings and how to book tickets can be found here.

Abingdon Box Office:

Ultimate Activity Camps at Abingdon Prep and Sports Centre for ages 4-14 in 2020 – From the Commercial Director, Kieran Henderson

We are delighted to let you know that our partnership with Ultimate Activity Camps will continue in 2020, when they will be running their fun and engaging holiday programmes at Abingdon Prep and Abingdon School Sports Centre next Easter and Summer.  Please see attached poster. They have been successfully running camps at Abingdon School Sports Centre for a number of years and have a strong reputation for their quality holiday programmes.  Ultimate Activity Camps offer exciting holiday day camps with over 40 activities every week delivered by engaging and enthusiastic staff who will instruct and encourage children aged 4 to 14 years to try new activities and make new friends – and naturally have lots of fun!  They have a very special early bird booking offer running from 10 December to 5 January – please see attached information with a link to their website.

News from the Week:

Food menu for the coming week – Week 1

Here is the link to previous weekly mailings.

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