Abingdonian 2020

89 www.abingdon.org.uk House Reports the course of this period and that can only help them in the future. A sense of house identity was maintained through inter-tutor group competitions including the completion of the Public Speaking Competition, where 2G, speaking against animal testing, narrowly defeated 1C who discussed the dangers caused by bushfires, the Countdown Challenge which saw 1J beat 2P by being slightly quicker on the buzzer for the final crucial conundrum, and the Virtual Garden Games, won by 2P and 1J, where the boys were spurred on in their sporting endeavours by a message from Olympian Paula Radcliffe. A fantastic Lower School Gala Concert saw lots of the boys showcasing their musicianship in a compilation of recordings made at home, and over 60 Lower School families competed against each other in an online quiz night. Creativity flourished as well with lots of imaginative entries for the weekly taskmaster challenge (Josh Bromley’s large cardboard x-wing fighter was a particular highlight for the Lower School Housemaster!) and the art lockdown challenge, with Samuel Price, Lucas Sammartino and James Wakefield all producing winning entries. The annual Be the Best You Can Be Celebration evening took place as usual in the last week of term and we were very pleased to welcome back Mike Mullen, former BMX half-pipe world champion who had given a superb display of his skills at the start of the academic year, as our guest speaker over Zoom. He reflected on the importance of showing resilience and learning from failure and shared his secret to success: knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do. His words seemed particularly relevant given the events of the term. After presentations from each of the second year tutor groups, the end of year prizes were awarded as follows: Academic Prizes: Philip Ashton (2P), Henry Drake (2G) and Lachlan Keene (2M) Baker Awards: Philip Ashton, Bertie Bellman, Shaun Gregory, Rupert Mathieson, Pranit Narain, Matthew Stone, Harry Vinall and Thomas Wilson The Cooper Cup for excellence in reading: George Coombs The Dillon Cup for service: Hamish Bloom The Woodgett Cup: Harry Winsey In the Lower School end of year assembly on the last day of term, the first year prizes were awarded with the academic prizes going to Mark Hanlon (1J), Samuel Price (1H) and Sam Wormald (1C), and The Broadbent Cup for all-round sporting excellence being presented to Charlie Sutton. We say goodbye to Mrs McRae after 10 years as a Lower School tutor. She has always set the boys under her care very high standards and pushed them to achieve, particularly with the sponsored challenges she has set them at the end of their time in Lower School, and has always led by example. We wish her well as she leaves Abingdon for a new job. We also say farewell to the 68 second years and wish them every success for the move to Middle School. They have achieved great things during their two years together in Lower School, both as individuals and as a team. You can say it all sounds crazy, you can say that I’ve lost my mind… but I know they are going to achieve even greater things as they make their way up the school. Adam Jenkins