Abbey Times Student Newsletter Jan 2021

ISSUE 2 | JANUARY 2021

Abbey Times

In this issue: STUDENT

ABBEY TIMES

LIFE Clubs and Activities at Abbey Student Artwork Teacher Interviews SCHOOL MAGAZINE

TIPS AND ENTERTAINMENT How to Stay Fit and Healthy in Winter How to Prepare for Exams

...AND SO MUCH MORE Festivals Around the World Politics and Current Affairs History of Cambridge

Welcome Welcome and thank you for taking your time to read the second edition of Abbey Times! For the second edition, the team decided to write on a wide variety of articles, from current affairs, global focus, ‘how to’ guides and Abbey-related topics. With COVID19 currently going on, I’m extremely proud of the team having to work through these tough times, especially all our members who have been unable to be in the classroom with us.

I hope you enjoy it!

Editor-in-Chief, January 2021

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CONTENTS CURRENT AFFAIRS 01 FACTFILE OF A NEW PRESIDENT 02 POLITICAL SITUATION IN BELARUS

FOCUS ON ABBEY 03 CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES 05 INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER 07 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

GLOBAL FOCUS 11 FESTIVALS IN THE WORLD

FOCUS ON CAMBRIDGE 13 HSTORY OF CAMBRIDGE

HOW TO..

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HEALTH AND WELLBEING TIPS IN WINTER/AUTUMN

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EXAM PREPARATION: TOP TIPS

ENTERTAINMENT 16 PUZZLE

A New President and Vice President of the USA

By Abbey College Students

What do we know about the new President and Vice President of the USA? We did some research...

Joe Biden Occupation: President of the USA Age: 78 years old Education: Syracuse University, University of Delaware, Archmere Academy Ethnicity: Irish Spouse: Jill Biden (His first wife died in a car crash with his 1-year old daughter in 1972) Children: Hunter, Beau (died 2015), Ashley, Naomi (died 1972 aged 1) How did he feel about the debates: He could never get on with Trump, so he didn’t feel like doing any other debates.

Favourite pet: Dog Favourite food: He seriously loves ice cream.

Political ideologies: Democrat, although he is generally seen as a centrist.

Kamala Harris

Occupation: Vice President of the USA Age: 56 years old Height: 5’2 Date of Birth: 20th of October 1964 Ethnicity: Half Indian/ Black American Education: UC Hasting College; Howard Spouse: Douglas Craig Emhoff - an American lawyer Children: Favourite Pet: Dogs Favourite Food: Roast Chicken Political Ideologies: Democrat Books written: Superheroes Are Everywhere; The Truths We Hold

[Photos: Unsplash]

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Political situation in Belarus

By Abbey College Students

BELARUS HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS A LOT RECENTLY. WHY? THIS IS WHAT’S GOING ON IN BELARUS RIGHT NOW. Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus since 1994, was re-elected this summer, which caused massive protests in the country.

“You should be happy about that!

I’m the last one! No one is going to be the dictator if I leave!”

This was his reply when a journalist asked him about his feelings about his ‘nickname’ – ‘Europe’s last dictator.’

The election campaign started approximately in April and there were several strong candidates. Leading rival candidates, such as Viktor Babaryko, Sergei Tikhanovsky and Valery Tsepkal,o were all eventually banned or prevented from running bids. The first two were put in jail against the law and are still there.

Their wives then decided to stand for election instead, with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya becoming the face of the opposition movement.

On Election Day, the 9th of August, the results were published: 80% for Lukashenko and mere 20% for the opposition. This seemed to be extremely unfair, as one online magazine had previously done a poll and only 3-6% of voters had planned to vote for him.

Since the election, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and Ms. Tikhanovskaya has fled to neighbouring Lithuania due to the many threats from Mr. Lukashenko himself and other representatives of the authorities.

[Photo by Andrew Keymaster on Unsplash]

The rallies continue even today. Every Sunday, people gather and try to have a say in the running of their own country. The last weeks in particular were very important – Roman Bondarenko died because of the OMON (a system of special police units of the police). He is one of 6 people to meet this fate and 6 more people have since disappeared.

People are randomly caught and put in jail for 14 days as a punishment for expressing their personal political views. However, many authorities in the international community – including the UK Government – have declared the elections to be neither free nor fair and have rejected the result. This is a step in the right direction.

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Clubs and Activities

By Abbey College Students

Whether it be sport or something creative and artistic, Abbey College provides it all through a range of clubs to suit the passions of the students here.

It’s extremely important for a student to participate in at least one club, as it helps develop skills and interests within you, which can help strengthen your university applications as well.

At Abbey, many students attend at least one sports club, since it’s a great way to keep your physical and mental health in a good state along with being a great way to de-stress after a long day at school.

If you’re looking for that, then you might want to consider joining the running club on Fridays at 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm, which is run by the houseparent Sian. Ladies can join the ladies’ sports night on Fridays at 7 - 8 pm with Helen Winter, which features a variety of sports (basketball, netball, etc.). For other types of physical activity, there’s the dance club and yoga club, both at 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm, on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. The dance club is open to both boys and girls, with the teacher being able to cater for whatever the students want to do.

At the moment, that’s K-Pop.

The yoga club, on the other hand, is great for de-stressing, general well-being and flexibility; a nice chance to relax after a long day.

Other students may prefer clubs that aren’t as physically demanding, opting to develop their artistic or creative side, such as the Art Club, run by Serena, our art teacher. You don’t need to have any talent to join the club, as long as you have something artistic you want to do, so check out the club! The Creative Writing Club, run by Nigel on Mondays at 8am, is also a fantastic way to express yourself with words instead of visual art. The club can help improve your speaking and writing abilities, along with your creative thinking.

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Apart from sports and creative clubs, Abbey also provides students with music rooms where you can practise your instruments in private lessons or play with a band. From jazz to classical music, the bands in our school play it all! If there’s anyone you’d like to form a band with, don’t hesitate to talk to John Morgan about booking a time to practise in the music rooms!

Mr. James Learmonth runs the karaoke club, which is still running on a Tuesday 5-6pm: What would you say is the appeal of the karaoke club that makes it unique from the other music clubs?

"The club gives students an opportunity to sing and express themselves. I myself am a private singing teacher, so I can give students coaching and the opportunity to improve their singing technique. With everything going on right now in the world, music is a great way to relieve stress, enjoy yourselves and to relax."

Is there anything you’d like to tell students who are possibly interested in the club?

"Come along if you’re interested in singing or if you want to learn some ways to improve your singing techniques. The club is open to all students and you can sing whatever you want - there are no restrictions on what songs are allowed. There’s no need to feel shy, as everyone comes to the club to enjoy themselves."

If you’d prefer to join one of the many clubs in our school that help further your interest in one of the subjects that you might want to study at university, the school has you covered. Many clubs specialize in a certain subject, such as Chemistry or Maths Masterclass, Astronomy Club or the Electronics Club.

All of these clubs help students who either want to know more about the subject they love or students who may be interested in a certain area of a subject.

Apart from the clubs mentioned above, the boarding staff also provide clubs over the weekends. Take the Anime Club for example; you will be able to dive into animated shows with a group of people as a group viewing with discussions afterwards! Perhaps you’d prefer to debate certain topics to improve your skills? The Debate Club is on from 2 - 3 pm on Sundays in the block B library, run by Mark Thorpe.

[Pictures: Abbey College]

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Spotlight on Teachers: Interview with Patrick Murray

By Abbey College Students

How many years have you been teaching?

What will you miss most about this school?

"20 years"

"Teachers always say this, but I will miss the students because they really are fantastic. The students at Abbey College are really engaged, naturally inquisitive and incredibly talented, and you feel that you are privileged to teach students that will go on to achieve really great things in their life."

What drives your passion for teaching?

"Firstly, I really do enjoy learning about history and politics. They link really well with one another. History is a subject where I constantly want to learn about things that already happened and every single year I teach I find out new things. With politics, the political landscape can change very quickly - one day you can wake up and an election has happened, and there is a very big change as a result, so politics can be very exciting. Famously, a British Prime Minister called Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics and he was right! The second reason why I find inspiration in being a teacher is that the students that choose my subjects tend to be the ones that are like me. They want to know more about the past, enjoy the very changing nature of politics and try to keep up with current affairs. These students like to debate, like me, so this is a shared interest. Being able to inspire a student is a really fulfilling thing and when they come up to you at the end of a lesson or recognise something you said in a previous lesson, it’s always a nice feeling, because you feel that you had an impact on that student and that makes it even more worthwhile."

Paddy is a History and Politics teacher and was also the Housemaster of Hera house. Unfortunately, he left our school at Christmas. He was a truly wonderful teacher and he has been inspirational for me. Many students will really miss him. [Picture: Lucas Yang]

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[Picture: Abbey College]

"Abbey College is a school which is really good at helping students improve their grades and achieve their dream of going to very strong universities. I find here that there are more students who want to learn more about their subjects outside of their lessons and have a thirst for knowledge, and that’s really rewarding as a teacher.

I must also admit that it has been very exciting to teach such an array of different nationalities. I also find that at Abbey College it’s not quite a university, but it feels more mature than a traditional British secondary school and private school with sixth form; it feels that we are preparing students more for university in the way in which we go about our business. It’s not just the fact that students wear their own clothes and call their teachers by their first name; it’s more to do with our approach to lessons there’s a greater maturity about the students here as a result and that is something I will miss."

The second one is more of a message for life in general, which is don’t be afraid to fail. That is sometimes very hard to understand when you are young because there’s so much pressure on a young person to succeed, to achieve, to get the best results at school because you’ve got to go to the best university you can, and so on and so forth. But the truth is that in life you don’t always get what you want. I know that young people know that, but sometimes you have to live and experience failure to really understand what this means. When you fail or don’t achieve what you wanted to do, then you adapt to that situation, whether it’s preparing for an exam re-sit or applying for another job. This builds resilience and gives you certain skills to adapt to situations that might come up again in the future.

So we shouldn’t pretend that failure isn’t there; instead we need to accept it and start putting our energy into how we are going to improve and succeed from our failure. I think some of the most successful people in life are the ones who have actually not just experienced failure, because we have all experienced failure to a degree, but they lived through it, adapted and learnt from it."

What advice would you give to students in this school?

"Two things. The first thing is keep on being inquisitive and ask lots of questions. By asking lots of questions, you will learn more because, once you have solved one problem, you get to move on to the next problem.

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Student Spotlight

By Abbey College Students

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"In this piece I went for a surreal look - a mixture of human expedition to the depths of the ocean and into space. There wasn’t a lot of thought process besides a rough sketch of where I wanted everything to be. I just thought if a whale was breaching in space while two astronauts watched, it’d look pretty cool.

And there are fireworks in space for some reason. Or maybe those are stars collapsing on in on themselves.

Looks pretty though!"

"From that old movie - The Iron Giant. A 10/10 movie! This piece was huge and took an eternity to get done since I ruined it the first time when I didn’t draw it to scale. The sketch is actually two papers taped together since I didn’t have paper that would fit the frame right. But don’t look too closely at the kid’s face. I can’t draw faces!"

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Strength

As we face the unknown, held up inside our homes.

Scared of the danger right outside that daunts us from day to night.

But do not be frightened and have strength, for this darkness will eventually pass.

Dawn awaits us.

So let us pick ourselves up.

Rise with the sun and start a new day, a new beginning - just as a Phoenix who rises up from ashes.

Have strength and move forward.

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New Year's Eve Street food prepared at Abbey

[Pictures: Abbey College]

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Festivals in the World

By Abbey College Students

Here is an overview of the celebrations in the autumn term in the UK and around the world.

Even though COVID-19 may have stolen some of the chances to commemorate them together physically, we still have lots to celebrate!.

Remembrance Day This date requires respect from people all over the globe and is specifically targeted at the ending of the First World War. However, the deeper meaning commemorates all of the wars that have occured and remembers the atrocities, casualties and many other examples of the damage caused by conflict.

Diwali

This year we had an online meeting with the principal, Julian Davies, and David Savage on 11th November. A 2-minute silence concluded the event and a poem about the famous flower that grew in Flanders Fields was read - the poppy.

[Picture: Canva]

Originating from India, Diwali is an important festival in the UK, mostly through globalisation and ease of travel. This festival is celebrated by Hindus, Jainists, Sikhs and Buddhists. One of the main messages is “victory light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.” Furthermore, some celebrate Diwali as the return of Rama (a Hindu god) to his kingdom, Ayodhya, with his brother and wife, after defeating Ravana (a villain). People decorate their homes and wear their finest clothes with diyas (oil lamps) and rangolis (mathematical patterns). Ceremonies to honour Lashkami, a Hindu goddess, are celebrated with fireworks and family feasts, with mithai (sweets) and gifts. This is continued with a five-day celebration, with the third day on the darkest night of the lunar month.

[Picture: Canva]

I was lucky to talk to Allan Smith about this who told me that the war was very ‘traumatic’ for loved ones. Allan also mentioned that any village or town across the country with a statue of a soldier will have a cluster of poppies around the statue, along with the names of the victims from that village or town.

To finish, Surahbi gave us her view about this event, comparing Diwali to New Year’s celebrations as it celebrates new beginnings.

She said that it is a religious celebration, but it is more important to remember to learn from your mistakes and remember that being grateful creates positivity and cheerfulness.

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Christmas in the UK Christmas is by far the most important and preferred celebration of the whole nation. This is nothing new to you since right after Halloween, you’ll see Christmas trees in reception. Generally, at school Christmas is not celebrated on the 25th December, as it is in the middle of the Christmas holidays.

However, some students will have to stay in Cambridge over the holiday due COVID-19. Hence, you will be able to enjoy it with roommates and houseparents. The day before teachers say goodbye for the holidays, there is a traditional Christmas lunch.

Moreover, you will find things that you may have never seen before, such as Christmas crackers, each containing simple toys and bad jokes. One of the English teachers, Patrick Williams expressed that this was one source of his wisdom. He mentioned that he enjoys spending time with people who you don’t see frequently as well as being “greedy” because he loves the food.

[Picture: Francisco Lorusso]

[Picture: Abbey College]

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The History of Cambridge

By Abbey College Students

When you walk around the streets of Cambridge, it is obvious that Cambridge is steeped in history. For example, the University of Cambridge is one of the world's oldest universities and leading academic centres in the world.

People all over the world know its reputation for outstanding academic achievement as well as the world-class original research carried out by the staff and students at the University. The oldest college in the University of Cambridge is Peterhouse College, which was founded in 1284!

In many ways, historically speaking, Cambridge is the quintessential English town, as it was ruled by Danes, AngloSaxons and Normans. In fact, the modern city of Cambridge was founded in 875 when the Danes conquered Eastern England. It was originally called ‘Granta bryg,’ which means Granta Bridge. This is because the river used to be called the Granta not the Cam. The town went from strength to strength and from the midnineteenth century it was considered both modern and prosperous.

In 1951, Cambridge became a city.

It is still one of the few cities in the UK which doesn’t have a cathedral.

But it does have the famous King's College Chapel!

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Cambridge was estimated at just under 40,000 people, but today there are around 129,000 residents!

This number does not include the 25,000 students who are studying at the University at any one time.

[Pictures: An Suke]

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How to Stay Healthy in the Winter

By Abbey College Students

[Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash]

As the days are getting shorter, some of us are beginning to feel more tired, sad and lonely. This is commonly known as Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD), which is a form of depression. 1 in 15 people suffer from SAD between the months of September and April. The disorder can affect people of any age, and it comes and goes in a seasonal pattern. SAD is sometimes referred to as “winter depression.“ SAD is often linked to reduced exposure to sunlight during the shorter autumn and winter days, as the exact cause of the disorder is not fully understood.

Symptoms of SAD may include: -

A persistent low mood A loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities Feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness Tearfulness

Below are a few of the most common tips for your mental wellbeing or any type of sadness during this season: - Try to get as much natural sunlight as possible - Exercise regularly - Sleep for longer hours - Have a balanced diet - Do not skip meals - Limit your caffeine intake - During your studies, take as many short breaks (5-10 mins) as possible and stretch or get some fresh air during this time - Talk to someone. Tell your friends and family you’re feeling overwhelmed and let them know how they can help you.

- Practise breathing exercises. The easiest breathing exercise is 4 - 7 - 8.

Take a deep breath and count to 4, hold your breath while counting to 7 and release your breath slowly and silently, counting to 8.

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Quick Tips for Successful Exam Preparation

By Abbey College Students Preparing for an exam can be stressful and time-consuming, but it doesn't have to be. This article offers practical guidelines to help you prepare for your exams.

If you know how to organize time and data properly, you can ensure that you are confident and ready for anything that comes up on the test.

Practice with past papers

One of the most effective ways to prepare for exams is to practise with an old version of the previous exams. Practice papers allow you to check how your revision is going and you can assess areas for improvement. You can either ask for practice papers from your teachers or search on websites such as “SaveMyExams”, “RevisionWorld”, and “PhyscisAndMathtutor”.

Organize study groups and explain your answers to others

Study groups can help you get the answers you need and will help you to get it clear in your head. Talking to friends about your work can also help to highlight any areas where you need more help and clarity. Plus, you can explain answers to your classmates, parents and siblings, which can be one of the most effective ways to challenge yourself.

Take regular breaks

It’s very hard to work in a concentrated way for more than about an hour - it might leave you with no energy to study and retain knowledge. Thus, it’s essential to take regular breaks to freshen your mind and help to prevent study fatigue.

Use diagrams flowcharts

and

Visual aids can be very effective in studying enormous amounts of study material. First, write everything you know about the subject. Then use information on certain topics to write revision notes in the form of diagrams.

This visual support will be effective to memorize various topics that you need to cover in an exam.

[Photos: Canva]

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Quiz How many of these places in the UK do you know?

The first person to email Ali Talbot the answers wins an Achievement Point!

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OUR TEAM All of the newspaper was planned, written, edited and designed by the Abbey Times newspaper team with the help of Ali Talbot, Head of 6th Form EAL Our team consists of 10 students across the school who are interested in current affairs, the media, photography and journalism.

Special thanks also to the three students for their fabulous artwork!

Look out for the next issue of Abbey Times coming in February 2021...