AN45

6 September 2017 Abingdon News Lower sixth geographers have been honing their geographical fieldwork skills and techniques in different environments in preparation for their own Independent Investigation, worth 20% of the new A level specification. Locations included Studland in Dorset, East Hanney, comparative studies of Jericho and parts of the Cowley Road in Oxford and finally a visit to Stratford in East London, the site of the London Olympics, and an area that has been transformed over the last decade. Geography Field Studies Lower school boys enjoy their new breaktime activity – Trilliards - a cross between billiards and Connect 4. First years enjoyed a design challenge constructing a bridge using only uncooked spaghetti and glue. The bridges were then tested to see which could withstand a load - not all survived! First year DT Challenge The Physics of Scalextric 4th year physicists thoroughly enjoyed their “Physics of Scalextric” project with tasks including determining maximum speed and acceleration, the energy used and the cost to run. More complex challenges were designing and building an automatic controller that will get the car to travel exactly once around the track and to design and 3d print your own car. Many thanks to the SUS for the donation for this project. The Martlet, the School’s student newspaper, won the ‘Best Newspaper Front Cover’ category in the national Shine Media Awards with the judges commenting on the ‘thoughtful and intelligent’ design of the paper. It was also the Highly Commended runner-up in the ‘Best Newspaper’ category. It was one of 22 school publications shortlisted out of hundreds of entries and three members of the team, Blake Jones, Ben Ffrench and Ben Hutchison attended the awards ceremony. Success for ‘The Martlet’ Photo: Richard Chapman Studio