6 Abingdon Prep • September 2024 Year 8R became journalists in English lessons to report on their experiences. Wet, Wet, Wet! - Rockley Year 8 trip By Benji, travel reporter The Rockley trip started off with a 2½ hour bus journey. When we arrived, we had a tour of the site and lunch. The food was very good: dinner was my favourite because it varied between different hot meals with tasty puddings. We slept in 5-6 man tents on raised beds. It was cold on the first and last nights but the others were fine. We met very friendly people from other schools. Our activities included paddle boarding, kayaking, boating, raft building, climbing, abseiling, jacob’s ladder, crate stacking and team building events. My favourite was paddle boarding as we were in the water a lot! I’d also like to say many thanks to all the teachers that came on the trip and any of those involved with its organisation. Science Week By Will D, science reporter During British Science week, 8R worked with the Pre-Prep classes and carried out three experiments. These were all to do with Science Week’s theme, ‘Time’. THE 8R TIMES THE 8R TIMES With Reception, we made pendulums. The pupils were of great help and enjoyed crafting these. Next Year 1, where we had a lot of fun devising shadow puppet shows. They made some brilliant animals and creatures that were then used to create the stories in shadows. And finally Year 2: here we used three different ways to tell the time, using sand, marble runs and water. The children had to calculate the time of various different amounts. On 25 June, Year 7 & 8 performed We Will Rock You to a packed Amey Theatre. It was excellently cast and acted with some star roles, including Rupert and Joseph as Galileo and Sam as the Killer Queen. The stage was set with a mixture of props and people acting as props. Everyone had a great costume from the Teen Queens’ tutus to the Scaramouches’ funky make-up. Elizabeth and Emma, as director and co-director, did very well convincing all of us to do our best, and it all came together successfully on the night. WE WILL ROCK YOU By Monty J, theatre reporter In rehearsal at the Amey Theatre Making a water clock with Year 2 An unusual pendulum with Reception Earth Science Workshop By Alex, environment reporter Pupils in 8R took part in an Earth Science workshop presented by the Outreach Department from Oxford University Earth Sciences Department during British Science Week. We saw an online simulation of historic earthquakes and the presenters taught us about how earthquakes form and the distribution of the tectonic plates of our planet. For the practical workshop, our job was to build a model of the Nintendo HQ with strands of pasta and marshmallow which could withstand a simulation of an earthquake using an elasticated rolling platform. Some groups managed to build structures a metre tall while withstanding the earthquake! CREST Awards By Joe, technology reporter Following on from the scholarship exams, 8R pupils participated in the nationally accredited British Science Association’s CREST Awards. Participants devise projects to answer a scientific question. We had to pick a question, formulate a hypothesis, then test and present it. Our projects this year were varied: such as how to make a remote controlled car go faster, and what is the best type of crisp. We all enjoyed this activity, particularly the freedom which came from answering your own question in your own way, albeit with clear investigative parameters.
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