Abingdon News No.49

www.abingdon.org.uk 3 Abingdon News Abingdon News I had a great first week, it lived up to all my expectations and I had a great time with friends that I knew before and new friends that I have only just met.” It has also been amazing to try out all the Other Half activities that I chose, they have been so fun!” I am really surprised I haven’t got lost yet and I hope I won’t get lost in the future!” I love playing in the houseroom especially the air hockey as well as the huge range of board games. My favourite thing though was the cafe’s chocolate muffins!” The food is INCREDIBLE and I love the new houseroom.” “ “ “ “ A warm welcome to the First Year “ Lower School pupils from Abingdon and St Helen’s enjoyed two diverse social events, the Scrapheap Challenge and the Thinking Supper. The former required the students to work together to design a balloon-powered car and an egg-carrying parachute system - with varying degrees of success! In the latter they considered whether we should clone our pets, which led to some interesting and thoughtful debate and a very enjoyable supper. St Helen’s and Abingdon join forces 68 boys joined Abingdon’s First Year this September. Here is just a little of what they had to say after their first week …… 1920’s Dining Hall to Lower School Houseroom Third year student Luke Prior studied the history of the new Lower School Houseroom. With the help of Sarah Wearne, the School Archivist, he discovered that it was originally an open air covered play area, before being turned into the Dining Hall in the 1920s. It then became the Grundy Library in 1974. Luke found photographs showing the different uses of the room and these are on display in the new Houseroom.