VIEW FROM THE ABBEY Friday 11 March 2022
Students star at Open Day We were so proud of our students who were at the heart of a successful Open Day on Saturday, with over 100 visitors attending. Sixth Former Henry R welcomed visitors to the Abbey, Third Formers talked confidently about their experiences joining the school, and dozens of pupils helped lead guests around the grounds.
Activity Days
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Options Fair
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Pupils were even involved in running the day: Hospitality students set up the Abbots Hall for lunch and served refreshments, Photography students took pictures of the day, and Countryside Management pupils talked passionately about the School Farm. The visiting families had wonderful comments about all the students they met and everyone involved in the day was thanked by the Head. Claudia Hindle | Deputy Head (Academic) & Head of Admissions
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VIEW FROM THE ABBEY
Options Fair It was an interesting afternoon for the Third Form at their Options Fair, as pupils learnt more about the subjects available to them next year. There was lots of interactivity: cookies baked by Hospitality students, brilliant DT work on display, props from GCSE Drama, inspiring coursework projects from across the school, and even some animals to meet from the School Farm. There were great conversations with teachers and thoughtful questions from the pupils. It’s already helped many of them hone down the options they’d like to study next year. Full Options booklets are now with pupils and parents, so please find a time to talk about choices over the Exeat weekend. Will Fraser | Head of Lower School
WATCH OUR WEBINAR: Learning with screens On Monday we held our latest Parents’ Webinar, following popular sessions on topics such as ADHD, Dyspraxia and Encouraging Numeracy. How teenagers use their phones and how parents can help manage screen-time at this age is a hot conversation in many households. During this session we spoke about ways to help teenagers form good habits with their phones and also looked positively at the many ways phones can be used to support learning. I ran through some of the tools and apps we use at school to help children access learning through their phones, tablets and laptops. Click the photo to watch a recording of the webinar (use Access Code AdAFS#u1 if required). Laura Kleiser | SENDCo & Lead Practitioner
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VIEW FROM THE ABBEY
What a performance! In the two weeks since returning from Half Term, students have enjoyed two trips to watch performances at local theatres. Sixth Form Music students went to Poole Lighthouse to watch Hairspray, as research for their Performance and Music Technology modules. They were incredibly impressed with the staging, particularly the lighting, and everyone got into the spirit of the show. Fifth Form Drama pupils watched a more serious performance of Blood Brothers at the Theatre Royal, Bath, which will be a great experience for their own future perfomances. Nikki Budd | Director of Music Liz Bemment | Head of Drama & Performing Arts
COMMENDATIONS Nica M | Lower Sixth Form Completed a superb independent cooking assessment as part of her Asian Food unit. Nica constantly pushes herself to learn new skills and create exciting dishes, which was demonstrated in the assessment. Nica’s three Indian dishes were of top restaurant quality. A fantastic achievment!
Anna D & Harvey BK | Middle Sixth Form Anna perfomed singing ‘Killing Me Softly’ with a beautiful tone in Assembly, especially considering this was first thing in the school day. Harvey provided a brillaint guitar accompaniment with sensitivity and a lovely sense of tone.
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COMMENDATIONS Zinny LQH | Middle Sixth Form
Harrison E | Fourth Form
Has worked indefatigably in History of Art and Critical & Contextual Studies. Her personal investigation on ‘the heroic and the ideal in sculpture’ presents fascinating research from many sources.
Has made a Herculean commitment to learning and positive behaviour this term, receiving awards and praise all over the school.
Oscar S & Mise O | Fourth Form In our Sunday Chapel Service, both boys gave an excellent performance of ‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’ from the musical Les Misérables, singing with real confidence.
WATCH FOR ANSWERS: Guess That Book for World Book Day Thanks to everyone who got involved in our ‘Guess That Book’ competition, running between World Book Day and assembly. Teachers decorated their rooms, pupils created short videos with clues about their favourite books, and parents even took part by guessing the books on on our social media posts. Pupils who created videos and who worked hard with their guesses were awarded with sweet treats in Assembly. While we can’t share any sweets with parents who took part, you can enjoy a compilation video revealing the chosen books by clicking the photo of Treasure Island set up in Mrs Hall’s classroom. Karen Baney | Head of English
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VIEW FROM THE ABBEY
Ski excitement mounting It wasn’t quite Niseko or Hakuba, but the floodlit slopes of Warmwell Ski Centre still proved an exciting weekend activity, particuarly for students brushing up their skills ready for our proposed ski trip to Japan in December.
A flipping marvellous race Our annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race took place in pouring rain (which is becoming the tradition for this event!) Every House fielded a team of ten ‘flippers’, who each ran around the Abbey before passing the pan-shaped ‘baton’ to their next runner. This time, Athelstan took the first place honours.
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SPORTING NEWS Our cycling Turbo Zone has had an upgrade. It now sports four ‘smart trainers’ - with individual screens - connected to a large format projector to show riders’ progress on the digital cycling platform ‘Zwift’. We’ve been delighted to welcome these four new students to road cycling as their sport choice for this term. The team are engaging in a range of personalised training sessions to improve their fitness ready for the competitive sportive season after the Easter break. Craig Lucas | English Teacher & Head of Cycling
Golf vs Ryde | Rocco and Freddie both played consistently well throughout their round to contribute 37 and 34 points. Mugambi got off to a slower start but fought back admirably, which enabled us to secure the victory and move on to the Area Plate Final next. Very exciting! Hockey 1st XI vs Winchester College | This was probably the best performance by the boys’ 1st team this year, with direct passing and good movement off the ball seeing MA win 7-0. Max was clinical upfront and the midfield of Jed, Ed and Will dominated possession. An excellent performance all around. Lacrosse vs Canford | It was an evenly matched game, but we just couldn’t get the angles on our shots to cash in all the goals. Excellent leadership from Georgia S, and great fieldwork by Lily A and Anna D, with goals scored by Marina PJ, Izzy L and Fleur H. Well done all. Ben Lawes | Director of Sports With ten competitve fixures in the last week and more than 12 sports of offer, we can’t feature them all every time. But you can see every result online at: www.ma-sports.co.uk
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VIEW FROM THE ABBEY
IN PHOTOS: Activity Days The Third and Fourth Forms had brilliant Outdoor Adventure Days over the last week, hosted by PGL Osmington. Activities included helping each other navigate a huge zip line, aerial course and giant swing, building a buggy together, and having a go at rifle shooting. It was a great way for the year groups to have fun and problem-solve together, building on their weekly leadership and PSHE lessons.
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HOUSE NEWS | International Women’s Day special We were delighted to celebrate International Women’s Day at Milton Abbey this week. All the houses spent time in the run up to Tuesday 8 March choosing inspirational women that they felt encapsulated all that it is to be an influence culturally, economically, socially or politically. We had a positive assembly hearing from each house about the women they had chosen. The slogan this year was #breakthebias and we hope that by having these conversations we are able not just to recognise possible bias, but to find ways to overcome it so that we can celebrate the achievements of everyone, whatever their gender. Claudia Hindle | Deputy Head (Academic) & Head of Admissions
Hambro Ralph L spoke about Michelle Obama. After talking about her life and achievements, he said: “Michelle Obama seems confident, analytical and ambitious - an independent thinker focused on helping to solve the world’s problems.”
Damer Selected by Grace and Libby, who received Commendations for their confident public speaking in Assembly, and said: “Malala Yousufzai is just one of the amazing female figures we celebrate on International Women’s Day, as she is a role model and heroine in her own story. “Even from an early age she was courageous. When she grew up in Pakistan, the Taliban were at their height of violence and did not allow girls to attend school. Eager for learning she stood against all odds and fought for her rights. “She taught us that even fear can’t beat a strong will. That was what pushed her to survive, even after she was shot several times in the head. Years later she is still inspiring people worldwide to stand up for their rights.”
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HOUSE NEWS | International Women’s Day special Hughies Princess Diana was chosen by Lara B, who said: “We would like to honour the life of the Princess of Wales, Diana, also known as ‘The People’s Princess’. “Her whole life was devoted to charity and helping communities. Because of her fashion sense and her warm heart, she was seen as an icon all over the world. There were two main campaigns she represented: changing the attitude towards AIDS patients and the Nobel Prize winning removal of landmines. “She was seen as a modest person, even though she was one of the most classy and beautiful women in the world. Diana’s death in a car crash in 1997 had an impact on the whole world, not only the British community.”
Tregonwell Gus F spoke about Dian Fossey as a woman who has inspired him. He said: “Dian Fossey was an American primatologist and conservationist, known for undertaking extensive study of mountain gorillas from 1966 until her murder in 1985. “She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda. Her research and conservation work helped reduce the downward population trend in mountain gorillas. “I find her inspirational because I love animals and I appreciate what she has done for gorillas in Africa.”
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HOUSE NEWS | International Women’s Day special
Athelstan The final inspirational women we are featuring is a very personal tribute written by Head of School Isaac from Athelstan: “Oluwatomi Somefun - also known as my mother - is a Nigerian businesswoman and banker, and currently serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Unity Bank plc. “I decided to write about her, not only because she is my mother, but because for many women back home, she is a beacon of light, a living embodiment of how anyone can break the chains that society has placed on them. “In a male-dominated industry, Somefun rose to the highest rank of her occupation when she was named MD and CEO of Unity Bank in 2015. She is one of only six women CEOs in the whole country. “To shed light on the magnitude of her success, she is also a Christian woman who works in a part of the country where there is opposition to her beliefs. “Truthfully, I am honoured to call this extraordinary woman my mother, and I hope one day to find someone as remarkable as her.”
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CREATIVE SHOWCASE
VIEW FROM THE ABBEY
Left: We love this mixedmedia piece created by Marina in the Lower Sixth Form. It was inspired by a school trip to London for a project on the theme of ‘Journeys’. Sara Burton | Head of Art
Below: A fascinating picture by Fourth Form photography pupil Oscar S, who has been experimenting with exposure settings in the gym and flexing his software editing skills to create this final image. Ed Lynn | Photography Teacher
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