News Abingdon Melvyn Bragg, speaking in the House of Lords recently, argued that the arts were not the cherry on the cake; they were in fact the cake. His reflections were related to the economic impact of the arts in the UK but he also emphasised the value of the arts in shaping our culture, identity and values. The importance of the arts to school life was certainly underlined by two real highlights of the Lent term: our two joint drama productions with St Helen and St Katharine. At Abingdon, the Amey Theatre hosted the senior production of A Monster Calls. This was a highly innovative production that combined physical theatre with moving and affecting performances and striking use of sound and light to Message from the Head I Can and I Am workshop Lower School pupils participated in a workshop run by I Can and I Am. Half the session was spent learning how to make a pizza and the other half about how to promote self-belief and wellbeing. Everyone chatted about how to keep self-belief fully-inflated by doing things that we enjoy and which make us feel we belong, accepting that we are all intelligent in different ways and have different strengths, and learning from setbacks and challenges. 2 April 2024 create a hugely powerful effect. The play deals with the death of a loved one - a challenging topic but conveyed with great sensitivity and maturity. St Helen and St Katharine hosted the joint musical Made in Dagenham which highlights the fight of female Ford workers for equal pay in the 1970s - with much humour, rocking tunes and some great dancing. Again, the performances were top notch and the production had audiences on their feet every night. These productions were very different in tone and approach but both displayed the importance of the expressive arts, powerfully underlining the central role that the arts play in an education at Abingdon. Mike Windsor, Head
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