abingdon.org.uk/prep 19 ABINGDON NEWS Abingdon School’s Intermediate and Senior swim teams delivered outstanding results at the ESSA National Finals in Birmingham in November. The Senior team of Elijah, Ralph, Ethan and Monty finished 7th in the medley final, breaking the U18 school record. The Intermediate quartet (Clement, Kaan, Alex and Satoshi) secured a phenomenal 4th place in their medley final. Both teams also placed in the top 10 for freestyle, cementing Abingdon’s status among the UK’s elite school swimming programmes. Congratulations to our two Abingdon teams, who were placed 9th and 10th out of 914 teams nationally at the Cambridge University Biology Challenge. This is an event over four rounds where students are invited to answer thought-provoking questions that challenge them to use their biological knowledge in novel ways. The teams answered questions such as: Do behaviours fossilise? Do animals dream? What are hallucinations? and how might Santa Clause manage to survive eating all those mince pies? BUSINESS LANGUAGE CHALLENGE Over 75 students from five schools took part in OX14 Learning Partnership’s business language challenge before half term. The full day event was an opportunity for linguists from across the town to work in teams on a range of business tasks. Organised by Abingdon’s modern foreign languages department and led by external group ‘Business Language Champions’, the day consisted of fun and hands-on activities using the chosen language for each team.The highlights were creating an advert for a famous confectionary brand, pitching to the judges and making a trade stand. Four senior cadets, Max, Harold, Harry and Fynn as well as Major Lee Edwards and Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Cottam, were invited, as guests of Tony Edwards (OA 1962), to a Battle of Britain 85th anniversary dinner held on 10 September at the RAF Museum, London. Fynn read a poignant vignette about three Battle of Britain pilots, made more touching by the fact that he is the same age as one of them MARKING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN SWIMMING SUCCESS BIOLOGICAL INSIGHT WALK THIS WAY On 23 September, our entire school community took part in a sponsored walk to raise much needed funds for Homeless Oxfordshire. Each student was challenged to raise a minimum of £25 and the total surpassed £23,000. The ten mile route including sections of the Thames Path and Oxfordshire Greenbelt Way, provided a healthy and engaging way for students to raise money. Well done to all who took part and in particular to Mr Johnson and the Charities team who co-ordinated the entire day.
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