18 Abingdon Prep • January 2024 ABINGDON NEWS Abingdon School has opened a new, contemporarily designed dining pavilion, as well as two newly renovated and extended day and boarding houses (with plans to renovate the third in due course). The projects sit within the wider context of the school’s strategic 15 year development plan to provide sustainable, fit for purpose facilities and focus on enhancing the ‘Abingdon experience’. Sympathetically sitting within the school’s existing environment, Abingdon’s new dining pavilion is dynamic and eyecatching. Adjoining the 450 seat Amey Theatre, it is set to become the very heart of school life. Intentionally designed to have several different purposes to maximise its useability, it houses a cafe, as well as being a dining hall, event and function space. USHERING IN A NEW ERA The extension and renovation of Austin and Crescent Houses is no less impressive. It has brought geographic cohesion to Abingdon’s school community with each House now approached from within the school site. By extension, access to the school’s many sports and recreational facilities has also been made easier. Internally, the accommodation is thoughtful and practical. Communal House rooms and kitchen facilities are arranged to maximise student interaction, down-time and host social events, whilst dedicated ‘quiet’ study areas provide a purpose built space for students to concentrate on their academic work. Boarders additionally have use of their own kitchenettes, contemporary designed shower and wash room facilities, and spacious bedrooms with plenty of built in storage, shared between 2 and 3 students (with single rooms for sixth formers). Each of the new developments has been constructed, where practicable, using sustainable materials, maximising insulation and using renewable sources of energy for heating and lighting. Mike Windsor, Head of Abingdon School, comments: “I am immensely proud of the quality of our provision - in everything from our academics and extracurricular, to the facilities which are available to students, staff and our wider community. The opening of our renovated boarding houses and state of the art dining pavilion benefits all of our community and my hope is, it will continue to significantly enhance the Abingdon experience for many for years to come.” Over half term, 58 pupils and 6 staff travelled to Rome and the Bay of Naples. Highlights included visiting the richly decorated houses of Pompeii; seeing worldfamous sculptures in the Capitoline and Palazzo Massimo Museums; walking in the underground warren beneath the amphitheatre at the centre of Spartacus’ uprising; and enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon at the Canopus at Hadrian’s Villa. With great food, warm weather and fantastic sights, it was a memorable trip. A CLASSICAL ADVENTURE
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