Abingdon News No.59

Abingdon News www.abingdon.org.uk 9 The inaugural sixth form Classics Lecture Evening featured not an external speaker, but the very best of our upper sixth talent: David Haar discussed the subversive ideas of Latin love poetry, followed by Charles Maddison summarising the findings of his EPQ on the intricacies of the Persian administrative system. Will Haynes recounted his visit to the archaeological site of Amphipolis enthusiastically, before Luka Shanidze introduced us to the Etruscans and the dangers of studying a little-attested culture. The evening was brought to a tremendous close by Ethan Walker, exploring the contradictions of the Roman concept of the ‘golden age’ of Augustus. Classics Lecture Evening This year’s launch of the Be More Griffen programme in Lower School saw the first years in a series of lessons designed to help them develop their organisational skills, think about how they approach the process of learning, and analyse their own performance through the use of The 4 Rs and The Grow Model. They were then joined in the afternoon by the second years for an inspiring talk from Paralympian, Talan Skeels-Piggins. First years also took part in a range of team building activities to help them get to know each other. Parachutes were deployed, tangrams solved, and towers of spaghetti built. Be more Griffen! Fishbourne Roman Palace Over the summer many of the pupils now in the Second Year created a project piece inspired by their trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace at the end of the Summer term. Inspiring explorer Lower school pupils enjoyed an inspiring talk from adventurer James Ketchell. James has rowed the Atlantic Ocean, climbed Mount Everest, cycled the 18,000 miles around the world, and also circumnavigated the globe in a gyrocopter. His story of overcoming many challenges to achieve these feats, and all the lessons he has learned as a result, certainly gave the students plenty to think about.