Abingdon News No. 57

www.abingdon.org.uk 3 World Book Day This year, World Book Day looked a little bit different, with students taking part in a variety of virtual activities from writing workshops to scavenger hunts. The celebrations began at the start of the week, with the launch of the Book Review and Book Cover Design competitions. Students were tasked with writing a review of a book they recently read, one they loved, or even one they hated! For the Book Cover Design competition, they were asked to design a new book cover, either because they fell in love with the book, or because they didn’t like the way it currently looked. We had a wide range of submissions for both competitions. Lower School Scavenger Hunt As part of World Book Day, lower school pupils enjoyed a literary themed scavenger hunt. They had to look for ten objects around their house that linked to a particular book, then send a picture of themselves and their guess for which book it was. The first years were hunting for Alice in Wonderland themed items, and the second years got into the world of James Bond . Great fun was had all round. Virtual Writing Workshop Students from the Third Year attended a virtual writing workshop with YA author Martin Stewart ( Riverkeep, The Sacrifice Box ), who showed them how to carefully craft their characters and avoid writing about sequences of events. The students were highly engaged and asked some great questions, and had particular fun writing dialogue and guessing who the characters were. In a recent school blog from English teacher, Andrew Jamison, abingdon.org.uk/blog/what-good-is-poetry , we were encouraged to think about the relevance and worth of poetry. In keeping with this, first year Bertie Smith shared this poem that he wrote for his grandfather, who he was unable to see during lockdown. It is a wonderful illustration of the beauty and value of poetry for all age groups. And dappled light appears in your mind, And soon the light will burn the grey away – The everlasting war of hope and fear, The fate of hope is cradled in your arms. So keep your chin up high for dawn will come. Keeping your chin up is an easy thing To say but not to do in real life. Grey thoughts like foggy mornings cloud your mind, But hope is breaking through the clouds like dawn, Poem for my Grandfather Photo: Simon Berger Covid-19 testing As part of the measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, nearly 1000 students were tested over the weekend of 6 and 7 March before returning to school on 8 March. This was quite a logistical challenge but with the aid of an online appointment system and digital consent form the testing went smoothly. We are very grateful to all who helped out from setting up the logistics to our parents bringing their children to school. Particular thanks go to our Healthcare team for their efficient and professional approach to running the testing centre.