Abingdon News No.56

www.abingdon.org.uk 5 Sheffield History Prize Congratulations to upper sixth formers Mike MacLennan and Archie Malcolm for their excellent entries into the University of Sheffield’s History Department essay prize competition 2020. There were a record number of submissions and it was a very strong field. Mike MacLennan’s essay on Apartheid in South Africa received one of only two commendations awarded by the judges. Archie Malcolm was also praised for his essay ‘of extremely high quality’. Archie chose to write about the significance of the First World War. He read much of Hobsbawm’s Age of Empire and produced a very accomplished piece. After weeks of selections, each house put forward a speaker and a speech (chosen from history or literature) to be judged by a panel chaired by Triona Admas: a former nun, stage performer and theatrical agent who is now in charge of alumnae events at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. The speeches chosen and memorised ranged from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, through Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” to Winston Churchill’s “we will fight them on the beaches”. The winning speech came from Lower School, with Harold Lethaby’s impressive declamation of JFK’s “we choose to go to the moon” speech. Inter house public speaking competition SCAMPA (Schools Clean Air Monitoring Project in Abingdon) The SCAMPA project has been of central importance for the Abingdon Science Partnership over the last term, with 13 schools involved, substantial funding from the Royal Society of Chemistry, international collaboration with the University of Chile and local backing from the ATOM Festival and local political leaders. As well as allowing younger pupils to contribute data to a real research project, SCAMPA is giving sixth formers at Abingdon, Radley College and Larkmead opportunities to support them with expertise in GIS, coding and science subject knowledge. Upper sixth former, Jake Wallis, was instrumental in setting up and evaluating Raspberry Pi air quality sensors for the project. Jake did this work voluntarily during the summer holiday and collaborated with local and international scientists to provide feedback on the sensor data collected. Upper Sixth design JBS App Two upper sixth form students, Ben Broadbent and Freddie Nicholson, have successfully developed a bus app for the JBS which helps maintain social distancing as the boys wait to go home. The boys were tasked with developing a digital coach departures board to prevent crowding around the physical board that the boys have got used to from previous years. St Helen’s, who share the joint bus service, asked Ben and Freddie to develop a version of the app that they can use. Headhunted Lower sixth former Harry Watkins has been headhunted by a leading UK designer to join a team looking to design a 3D printer specifically for ceramics. The project aims to have a working prototype and associated exhibition in the UK and Europe by summer 2021.