Abingdonian 2020

79 www.abingdon.org.uk House Reports The third years kept themselves busy, particularly in the kitchen as they set about cooking up Abingdon-themed pizzas from scratch, Alex Mapplebeck’s the overall winner, before they took on the challenge of eating vegetarian for a week as part of our house eco-week during which we addressed our carbon footprint. The fourth years enjoyed each others’ company at a virtual Night At The Races, and it was a pleasure to catch up with the Donnelly’s fifth year pupils before they departed. A difficult period followed, yet I was delighted to see these boys achieve so strongly this summer; three boys achieving all 8s and 9s (Oscar Bennett, Alasdair Emmett & Callum Ryall), and Andrei Roberts gaining 10 grade 9s. This year’s Lower Sixth are a remarkably talented group, and I was therefore delighted when five (yes five!) of them were appointed to the school’s prefect body, four as school prefects (Ben Crofts, Toby Hindley, Johan Nerlov and Will Shorrocks) and Freddie Merrett as Head of School. The release of the GCSE grades was preceded by the A-level grades, and although we have not yet had the chance to share the normal end of term formalities with these departing members of Donnelly’s, an enjoyable occasion was had by all as hymns passionately echoed around Big School in their final chapel service. The outgoing Upper Sixth are a very talented group of pupils, with each of them going on to pursue a variety of avenues be it university, music or professional sport. My thanks go to Iman Taghol and Archie Turnbull, this year’s Heads of House, who have been ably supported by Toby Smallcombe, Rishik Kumar and Huw Williams as House Prefects. They now pass the baton on to our 2020- 21 prefect team, led by new Heads of House, James Daly and Max Williams. I would like to thank all the members of Donnelly’s House for making my first year’s experience as Housemaster so memorable for the right reasons, and I look forward to continuing to work with you all to develop our community, striving to make the house a better place for all next year. Tom Donnelly