Abingdon News No.48

6 September 2018 Abingdon News Biology’s new arrival This Nosy Mitsio Panther Chameleon, Furcifer pardalis, joined the Biology department this term. Chromer, currently 7 months old should grow to about 30cm in length. 15th Abingdon Carnegie Forum Ten lower school students took part in the 15th annual Abingdon Carnegie Forum, which brought together more than 70 students from Abingdon School, St Helen’s, Larkmead, John Mason and Fitzharrys. The Forum followed three months reading, discussing and reviewing the eight books shortlisted for the 2018 Carnegie Medal, the UK’s most prestigious award for children’s literature. This year, the Abingdon winner, by a small margin, was The Hate u Give by Angie Thomas, the powerful story of a fight for justice in the face of violence, oppression and racism. According to one Abingdon student, it has “a plot that just makes you want to read on.” Prizes were presented by the Mayor of Abingdon. Congratulations to sixth former Max Martin who has been appointed a Lord- Lieutenant’s cadet. Following a tough selection process involving nomination from the Contingent Commander, an interview, inspection and a presentation on the future of the armed forces to a panel of senior officers, Max takes up his position this September. Max’s role will be to assist the Lord-Lieutenant as required – often on parade for royal visits – and to act as an ambassador for young people in Oxfordshire. Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadet Victory in RSC Chemistry Challenge A team of four fourth year boys won the regional final of the RSC Chemistry Challenge at the University of Greenwich. The boys answered a series of questions on general knowledge and the GCSE course, and undertook two challenging practical tasks. The boys did really well, receiving particular praise for the way they collaborated with one another in all four tasks. Physicists at the Lords Five lower sixth physicists enjoyed the All Party Parliamentary Engineering Group lunch at the House of Lords this term. Louis Brosnan, Jasper Dale, Simon Maddison, Kai Miles and Tristan Tsoi, were all keenly involved in at-table conversations (with lords, baronesses, MPs, industry leaders and fellow students). After lunch the question and answer session tackled 2018 - The Year of Engineering . Topics ranged from routes into engineering, through jet engines, to AI and quantum computing.