SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT & There were many successes and developments during the summer period 2016 and it was an exciting start to the academic year as we were welcomed back to three important changes to the physical environment which ensured a positive impact on learning and teaching across the school. The new Professor William Mead Library opened to students at the beginning of term. Located in the Headmaster’s quad, the new library will be the heartbeat of the School providing reading, study and learning space for every student. After a successful ‘Inspiring Science’ fundraising campaign, the refurbishment of the physics and chemistry laboratories was completed. The completion of this project transformed the learning in science and provided five innovative laboratories each for biology, chemistry and physics. Finally, the refurbishment and remodelling of the Sixth Form Centre was complete. This facility now provides a University style environment for our students with The Common Room and patio area as a social space, a study room for up to 40 students downstairs and a learning
building and updating and creating new preparation rooms, staff areas and the lecture theatre.
We were delighted to be able to share the news in September that, less than a year from the public launch, we had hit our fundraising target for the Inspiring Science Campaign. It was with our sincerest thanks to our parents, alumni and friends, and a number of trusts and grants; we received a total of £500,000 in gifts and pledges. The transformation of 13 vintage, disparate science laboratories into 15 modern laboratories fully equipped to provide the finest science teaching was the most significant refurbishment project the School had undertaken in modern times. In total £2.3 million had been raised over six years, which had been broken down into seven distinct phases. Not only had the old laboratories been completely refurbished but the project included building and fitting an entire new Biology building, replacing the roof on the current Science
centre upstairs for 140 students.
Our OA community continues to thrive with over 1800 old boys now ‘registered’ as part of the OA community and a further 1880 old boys connected to the School through LinkedIn. The Development Office also regularly uses other media such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with our now thriving OA community. At Senior Prize Giving in September, we were delighted to welcome back as our guest speaker Mr Charlie Bush, retired Headmaster of Oundle School and former mathematics teacher at AGS from 1975 to 1978. Charlie reminisced about the School in years gone by and extolled the virtues of starting his career at AGS. He left the students, staff and parents with a ten-point plan for the future, which included; maintaining integrity, remembering that all Deputy Heads are fearsome,
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The Aylesburian 2016/2017
