Abingdon News No. 52

4 January 2020 Army Scholarship Congratulations to sixth former Oscar Hitch who has won a prestigious army scholarship. Oscar succeeded despite a very demanding application process which concluded with a three-day selection assessment involving command tasks, interviews, written work and challenging fitness tests. Besides the financial benefits of the scholarship both for school and university, Oscar has a guaranteed place at Sandhurst after he finishes university. Abingdon News Abingdon School in Partnership, ASiP, appointed seven upper sixth boys to the newly created posts of Peer Support Mentors. The students have been trained alongside their peers from St Helen’s, Larkmead, John Mason and Fitzharrys using advanced listening skills taught to them by expert Nick Luxmoore. Their role is to support the third years who joined the school this term. Peer Support Mentors City Shaper project Third years have spent the term building and programming robots out of Lego Technic to complete the challenges set out as part of the City Shaper project. The project highlights the problems facing our modern world and encourages participants to identify potential solutions to overcome them. The first Lego League competition takes place in the Lent term. Green Anole Lizard TEENTECH Physics in Action Lower sixth physics students unanimous favorite lecture from Physics in Action in London was all about the 2019 changes to the definitions of the kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole, four of the seven ‘SI’ units - extremely clever and funny! Other topics ranged from the unsolved mysteries facing astrophysicists and cosmologists today to the physics of smart buildings. Ten third year boys visited TEENTECH in Bristol taking part in interactive activities led by engineers and scientists from large companies and academic institutions including Bristol University. A baby green anole lizard has been spotted in the Biology department!