Independent Schools 2017

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Newbury Weekly News

Abingdon School: Words and that IN my first year as headmaster at Abingdon I’ve been struck by the opportunities that each other and Jon to perfect their pieces, and their writing was published in an anthology.

(in Spanish). There’s also a very entertaining guide to speaking ‘Trump’! Student journalism starts young at Abingdon, with the Lower School’s The Blazer offering an eclectic mix of articles, reviews, puzzles and games. We were delighted that The Martlet , our hard-hitting termly newspaper, was highly commended in this year’s Shine Media Awards, where it also won the prize for best cover. The latest edition includes

thoughtful reflections on the General Election, written from two very different political perspectives. Last term’s issue of the student- led Words and That , which features ‘prose, poetry and paraphernalia’ took – as ever – a healthily subversive, and often very amusing, look at school life and the wider world. All in all, it’s fair to say that the written word is in excellent

It promises to be a stunning facility with a wide range of resources for boys to enjoy and to stimulate learning. Last term saw the culmination of a year-long project, the Birth of a Book: from Pitch to Publication , with the school’s writer-in- residence and author, Jon Stock. Jon met regularly with a group of pupils to explore the process of writing a book, including insights into publishing such as book launches and pitches. The boys each completed three chapters of a novel, working with

development of our pupils and who is very creative in supporting their reading and study. Just one expression of this is the Carnegie Award shadowing group in which all of Abingdon’s secondary schools, both independent and maintained, are represented. I am therefore very much looking forward to the school’s new library, opening next autumn alongside our new Sixth Form centre, art and drama facilities.

exist, not only as part of the curriculum but also through our Other Half (extra- curricular) activities, for our pupils to relish their reading and to express themselves in writing. The library is such an important – and sometimes overlooked – part of any school. We are fortunate to have a librarian, Graham Gardner, who is committed to the intellectual

There are many different opportunities for student journalism too, with 10 publications produced by students across various departments, from history and economics to philosophy and modern languages. The most recent edition of the latter, The Polyglot , is crammed with thoughtful articles on topics such as the future of languages post-Brexit and the rise of Castro

shape at Abingdon. Michael Windsor, Headmaster