APS News 27

4 April 2021 AbingdonPrep at Home, at School The Lunchtime Concert Series The Lockdown Year 8 Bake-Off Live on Zoom, the boys had an hour to produce a bake of their choice, sweet or savoury. The boys were very imaginative in their ingredients and ambitious with their creations – we had sushi, pasties and a variety of biscuits and cakes. They demonstrated some fantastic skills and although we could not taste the food, the lingering parents and siblings in the background gave some indication of the delicious smells emanating. Our worthy overall winner was Xander who produced a rainbow coloured stack of pancakes sandwiched together with different fruits and drizzled with syrup – an amazing effort. The boys’ individual music lessons have continued via remote teaching during lockdown. Many have been keen to share their playing, enabling us to run a series of weekly, short lunchtime concerts from half term onwards, beginning during lockdown and continuing after the return to being in school. Boys from Year 8 down to Reception sent their videos in. These included family ensembles too, plus guitar maestro Paul Wisby created a collage of all his remote guitar pupils playing together. The concerts are all available to watch on the school website’s News page. Au Voleur! Pupils in Year 5 became French detectives to solve the mystery of the stolen pains au chocolat. The boys listened to the ten prime suspects talk about themselves and read police transcripts (all in French of course) so they could build up a profile of each individual. In their haste to leave the crime scene, the thief left a bag behind which contained a number of clues to their identity. Whilst other police forces work with the aid of sniffer dogs, our young detectives enjoyed the support of their cats, dogs and even guinea pigs during the investigation, ending with a celebratory French pastry via Zoom. Bravo les agents de police!