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www.abingdon.org.uk 7 Abingdon News Moldovan visitors This year’s Moldova Project trip was a reversal of the usual visit with a group of 16 students, 4 teachers, and the director of the charity, Agape, coming to Abingdon for a week-long trip. The visitors spent time touring the school and enjoyed a range of activities including cricket, a biology lesson on digestion and a drama workshop, which culminated in performances of Romeo and Juliet. The visitors also enjoyed trips to London and Oxford. Tackling Vector Mechanics Dr Catherine Heyer of the Department of Physics at Oxford University led a very informative and challenging problem-solving workshop for sixth formers. The boys welcomed Dr Heyer’s advice for Oxbridge applicants and enjoyed the tough vector mechanics problems, designed by the Isaac Physics project team at Cambridge University. Second year students enthusiastically embraced the art of stage conflicts when Kev McCurdy, fight director for the National Theatre, the RSC and the Globe held a workshop; he found the boys were very attentive learners when it came to controlled fight manoeuvres. Sixth formers Patrick McCubbin and Matthew Gill spent a week with astronauts and space scientists at the International Space School Education Trust’s ‘Mission Discovery’, at King’s College, London. The sixth formers joined students from across the UK and the rest of the world and were tasked with designing and presenting ideas for bio-medical experiments capable of being launched onto the International Space Station. The boys met inspirational people such as Michael Foale CBE and Sarah Murray, current Assistant Chief of EVA, Robotics and Crew Systems at NASA. Both Patrick and Matthew are now looking forward to participating in the joint Abingdon and St.Helen’s trip to the Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City in Russia next February. Patrick McCubbin with former NASA astronaut Michael Foale Be the best you can be! The Lower School was inspired by the presentation from paralympian and motorcycling world champion Talan Skeels-Piggins who launched this year’s ‘Be the Best you can be’ programme. The Second Year – up for a fight Mission Discovery