abingdon.org.uk 17 ABINGDON NEWS THE GREAT OUTOORS In June, 8 of our 4th Year students successfully completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) canoeing assessment on the River Medway. The group, who completed their training in May, braved the intense heat as they made their way from Tonbridge to Allington Lock, skilfully manoeuvring through the exciting canoe shoots along the river. The students’ resilience and teamwork shone through and their ability to navigate the unpredictable nature of the river exemplified their commitment, a testament to their unwavering spirit and determination to overcome challenges in pursuit of personal growth and achievement. A TASTE OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND On a sunny Sunday in May, a group of 20 boarders visited the historic Warwick Castle. As well as the castle itself, there was the opportunity to see a falconry display, practise archery and visit the town of Warwick. Everyone had a lovely time. The culmination of 5 months work by a larger team at school, 3 A Level Computer Science students attended the 2023 Student Robotics competition held at the University of Southampton over the Easter holidays. Each of the 30 competing teams was given a Robot 'brain' by organisers 'Student Robotics' and then challenged to design, build, programme and test a robot which would collect and transport cubes. The team found day one challenging as they came to terms with the activity of robots from the other schools in the arena. However, after analysing video taken of the other teams, and adapting the coding of their own robot, Abingdon developed a successful counter strategy which resulted in a significant and impressive improvement on day two, resulting in Abingdon coming 2nd overall. Peter Willis, Head of Computer Science, said: "I am very proud of our students who demonstrated their skill in engineering, their adaptivity and excellent teamwork in this prestigious competition." STUDENT ROBOTICS Holocaust survivor, Henry Schachter, visited Abingdon in June to give a talk to 4th Year history students. He brought the atrocities of the Holocaust to light by providing a general overview of the persecution of the Jews but he also shared his own personal and very tragic story - from being smuggled across the German border and having to go into hiding; to having to change his identity and be put into foster care; to losing his own parents who died in the labour camps and being reunited after the war with his uncle. The students were left with a far deeper understanding of the barbarism of the Nazi regime. HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR TALK
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNTM1