Category: Senior School News
It’s been a busy term for boarders, which started with taster weekends in School House for prospective students; they were of course greeted and welcomed by all boarders, shown the sights around the School grounds and given the boarding experience at its very best with dinner, movies and a range of other activities that they could expect should they decided to board regularly at Woodbridge.
With School, sports and other activities students undertake throughout the term, they’ve been kept busy as per usual, but highlights included of course the world cup which was greeted with anticipation and excitement by everyone, with a little sorrow for some as the tournament progressed and teams left.
But Christmas was soon upon us all, and boarders took a trip to London, visiting Covent Garden to see the beautiful and enormous Christmas tree and the wonderful decorations all around the area. It’s a great time of year to see the capital at its very best, looking wonderfully festive and full of people scurrying around enjoying mulled wine as they search the market stalls for treats and presents.
With Christmas jumper day and Christmas dinner in the last weeks of term boarders were feeling festive and full and ready to return home or to guardians by the end of School, to celebrate as well as rest, recuperate and recover ahead of what will undoubtedly be another busy term in January.
This week we’ve several updates from Rugby at Woodbridge School, including our annual awards dinner, match reports and Woodbridge Warrior trophy presentations.
Trophies for two of our Woodbridge Warriors
Two of our Year 8 Woodbridge Warriors were presented with trophies for their performances in matches last weekend; Ambrose and George received recognition for ‘backs performance of the match and ‘forwards performance of the match’ respectively in two games, the first drawn the second won easily. Congratulations to them both, Ambrose worked hard and assisted in two tries while George captained the team for the day putting in a huge performance.
Woodbridge U13A mini triangular quadrangle competitions
Over the recent weeks the U13a team have had the opportunity to play a number of schools in mini triangular and quadrangular competitions. Our match report from Mr Simpson, Head of Rugby and Cricket details the matches, players and scores.
Match report
The first of the matches came at Culford School where we faced the familiar opposition of Orwell Park who we had lost 10-0 to at the start of the season. This was a fantastic opportunity to find out how far as a team we had progressed, and the boys were extremely keen to impress and show the level of development that has recently taken place. From kick off the Woodbridge team took the game to Orwell Park and with excellent defence and constructive attack took the lead after just five minutes, followed quickly by another try to take the lead 2-0 after 10 minutes. Orwell Park then came back into the game and put the defence under pressure, however Woodbridge was able to repel the strong attacks until an unlucky bounce of the ball saw the Orwell Park winger take advantage and scream through for the first of their tries. This gave them some confidence and with this they hit back and scored a further two tries, leaving the Woodbridge dejected and losing 2-3. A great effort and a great way to show how far we have come in the season.
Against Culford we played with the same intensity and desire, scoring two quick tries and dominating the opposition, only for the team to run out of puff and for Culford to score four quick tries to take the lead. Woodbridge did score one last try with the last play of the game which demonstrates the team’s great fighting spirit despite losing 3-4.
On the last Wednesday of Year 8 rugby the boys played against Finborough and Farlingaye. Finborough posed a very tough threat to Woodbridge and had some extremely quick and strong players who Woodbridge, at times, allowed to have too much space and freedom; giving them the opportunity to score a couple of tries. But Woodbridge got themselves together and fought back, scoring tries in response and creating opportunities, with two minutes to play the game was evenly balanced, and with the last play of the game Woodbridge moved the ball wide, but were unable to score, meaning that they lost another close game.
Against Farlingaye the boys pulled their socks up and played some excellent rugby in what were gloomy conditions. Moving the ball well and creating multiple opportunities whilst in attack, the defence was solid and this meant that in the last game in Year 8 rugby the boys won the match showing excellent spirit throughout.
Earlier this week our Year 10 and 11 Drama students welcomed Old Woodbridgian and ex Head of School Jamie Saul into School. Jamie, who now has his own theatre company called Brave Mirror, established the business in Bristol where he went to University to read English.
Students took part in a workshop during which Jamie taught adaptation of stories for stage, and Year 11’s James who took part shared this report:
Year 11’s James
This week in the drama department, Jamie Saul, OW and previous Head of School, came and delivered an excellent workshop with his award-winning theatre company Brave Mirror Productions on adapting and devising theatre. The two hour session, based around the story of Peter Pan, could not have been more engaging – it was pumped with energetic activities, fast theatre-making challenges, and collaborative tasks, with the endpoint being a devised small scene made in groups based on the story of Pan and his lost boys.
I left the workshop with bags of theatrical techniques and skills that I am sure all of us will utilise during the GCSE and A level devising process, and beyond. From the idea that a prop’s physical, visual, emotional, and literal meaning can all be used to influence a piece of theatre, to imagining your scene or production’s core message as a character to fully understand the atmosphere you want to create, Brave Mirror’s workshop was a fabulous way to spend a Friday morning. Thank you, Jamie and Tom!
Many thanks also to the Old Woodbridgian Liaison Group for supporting this event.
Woodbridge School Senior Girls cross country team were in Leeds last weekend, to race at the National Final of the English Schools Cross Country Cup. This was the sixth year is succession that one or more Woodbridge School teams had qualified for the nationals, with only 27 secondary schools across the nation qualifying to compete in each age group. The girls raced as an incredible unit to exceed expectation and finish in 9th place. Only the second time one of our girls’ teams have finished in the top 10.
Congratulations to our athletes:
Year 13’s Amy – 26th – her best cup final result in her final school year!
Year 12’s Isobel – 45th – a tough competitor and team athlete at every event!
Year 11’s Eloise – 51st – a brilliant finish to storm through the field!
Year 11’s Ellen – 84th – quite some performance for her first ever season!
Year 11’s Phoebe – 108th – played a major role in the Regionals to make sure the team qualified for this event!
Next stop is the South of England Inter County Cross Country on Saturday 10 December, the final race for the calendar this year.
There’s plenty of news for Cross Country this week, with the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial having taken place, as well as confirmation of students being selected to represent Suffolk at the South of England Inter County Cross Country.
Suffolk School’s Cross Country trial
Last Saturday students set off to Ipswich High School to compete in the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial, where there were unprecedented results, achievements and medals.
Following the first trial in October just the top 100 athletes in each age group, from around 80 schools, were invited to compete at this trial.
The talk of the day had to be our Minor Girls team (Years 6 and 7) where Woodbridge School athletes had seven of the top 14 places, something that’s absolutely unprecedented! To give this performance some context, 16 athletes will represent Suffolk Schools at Anglian Schools in February, so we have potential as a single school to fill almost half the county team.
We should also celebrate our individual medalists on the day, it’s never easy at this level:
Minor Girls – Alice (Year 7) – Gold
Senior Girls – Amy (Year 13) – Gold
Inter Girls – Phoebe (Year 10) – Bronze
With just one trial remaining, which Woodbridge School will host on Thursday 12 January (parents very welcome to spectate, our first race starts at 11.00am), we still have around 20 athletes in contention for Suffolk Schools selection (across the age groups) to compete at Anglian Schools in February, with just under half (and age groups Junior and above) still in contention to compete at English Schools in Nottingham in March.
Below we have the full list of athletes in the top 20 on Saturday:
Minor Girls:
1 – Alice (Year 7)
5 – Grace (Year 7)
6 – India J (Year 6)
7 – Marina (Year 7)
10 – Ella (Year 6)
11 – India B (Year 6)
14 – Alexandra (Year 6)
Minor Boys:
9 – Digby (Year 7)
Junior Girls:
6 – Charlie (Year 9)
9 – Felicity (Year 8)
Inter Girls:
3 – Phoebe (Year 10)
8 – Ellen (Year 11)
9 – Rose (Year 10)
16 – Poppy (Year 10)
Inter Boys:
5 – Angus (Year 10)
17 – Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls:
1 – Amy (Year 13)
4 – Isobel (Year 12)
Huge well done to Year 7’s Amelie, Charlotte, Eirann, Oscar and Jacob, to Year 8’s Sophie, Year 9’s Eloise and to Year 10’s Georgia, Lyra and Lilianna and Year 11’s Oscar, who competed on the day, not achieving a top 20 place, but doing incredibly well.
Congratulations to every athlete that took part, and thank you to staff and parents for their support on the day!
South Inter Country Cross Country
Congratulations to the following Woodbridge School athletes who have been selected to represent Suffolk (county rather than schools) at the South of England Inter County Cross Country in Oxford on Saturday 10 December:
U13G – Year 7’s Alice and Year 8’s Felicity, Romilly and Sophie
U15G – Year 9’s Charlie and Year 10’s Phoebe
U17G – Year 12’s Isobel
U20W – Year 13’s Amy
U13B – Year 7’s Digby
U15B – Year 10’s Angus
Congratulations to all and we wish them the very best of luck at the Southerns!
Last Friday our RAF cadets travelled to RAF Wittering, and great weather meant perfect conditions to take to the skies. Students were not only given the opportunity to take control of the aircraft themselves but to perform aerobatics! Our video featured recently on social media channels if you’d like to see for yourselves.
Then Saturday saw the cadets take part in the Inter Schools competition for the Eastern area, competing in aircraft recce, shooting, drill, command task, first aid and RAF knowledge. Results are awaiting and expected soon, and our cadets performed brilliantly, a credit to the School taking control and managing the day with little or no help needed from staff. Well done everyone who took part including: Year 10’s Samuel, Henry and Reuben, Year 11’s William and Hugh, Year 12’s Esmee, Eleanor, Kitty, Polina, Evelyn, Abdullah and Robert and Year 13’s Matteo, Oliver, Alexander, Nicholas and James.
Huge congratulations to our U14 and U16 netballers who qualified for the regional finals of the National Schools Competition over the weekend. Fantastic play saw our U14s win all their games, beating Ipswich School, Framlingham College, Culford, Ipswich High School, Finborough and Stowmarket, resulting in gaining first place, scoring 51 goals with 17 against. The U16s won against Framlingham College, Culford, Ipswich High, Benjamin Britten, Stowmarket and Finborough, but narrowly lost one game against Ipswich School, resulting in second place and scoring 79 goals with 34 against. Both teams will go on to represent Suffolk in the regional round of the National Schools Competition on 28 January at The Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City. The girls should be proud of their achievement as Woodbridge was the only school in Suffolk to get two teams through to the regional finals. Amazing work and thoroughly deserved – well done! Massive thanks to everyone who supported the players from the sidelines, you were all amazing too!
U14 Team: Year 9’s Charlie, Eloise, Millie, Lyrah, Bea M, Scarlett, Lily M, Year 8’s Izzy, Georgia C and Amelie.
U16 Team: Year 11’s Charlotte C, Charlotte H, Georgie, Florence, Sklya, Marina, Year 10’s Juno, Lara and Georgia P.
It’s been a bit of a wet and wonderful week in hockey, with our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U15A, U15B, Junior 7 and Junior 8 teams playing; crazy wind and rain particularly challenging at times! Mrs Rix, Head of Hockey reports on those matches.
Mrs Rix, Head of Hockey
The famous quote “Sport does not breed character, it reveals it” was so true as our girls showed resilience, grit and determination, still smiling at the end of every match this week. The U15A and U15B teams travelled to Fram with mixed success. The U15B team fought for a well-deserved 2-0 victory, dominating in every area of the game and not allowing Fram a single shot at goal. The U15 A team however was not as fortunate, experiencing a character building loss against tough opposition.
Three senior hockey teams played on Tuesday – and this is the first season in a few that we have had so many players and so much depth at senior level to field three teams. The 1st and 2nd team met Greshams in competitive matches. Results didn’t go our way but the development and learning opportunities for the two young teams was evident, with improvements and more magic moments every game. The first team was particularly disappointed with a 1-0 loss, despite doing everything right to try win the game.
However, a particular highlight was the 3rd team’s match against RHS. Due to absence and injuries the team featured quite a few players that were new to hockey, and thanks go to our Sixth Formers for stepping into the team – a friend in need is a friend indeed, the true sense of community of our School was in full force.
The Juniors (Y7 & 8) experienced sunshine, rain, darkness, hail, wind and more at Magpies on Wednesday against Greshams! Despite the terrible conditions and adjusted matches, it was a successful afternoon for our six teams, winning four matches, losing one and one ending in a draw when it had to be abandoned due to the flooded pitch.
On Thursday the U14A team had a dominant performance against Langley. They played some fantastic hockey highlighted by an excellent first touch on the ball, good decision making, slick passing, clinical circle play and top tackling. The final score ended 4-0 which was somewhat modest considering the team’s play. Special mention to Bea on a hattrick and a very mature performance.
The U15A regrouped after a tough match earlier in the week and also dominated large parts of the match against Langley on Thursday, but just lacked composure in the final third. In the second half Langley won a corner against the run of play and a very well executed set piece back to the injector ended in the net. Woodbridge fought back and got the equaliser with minutes to spare and pushing for more. 1-1 was the final score.
Last Thursday was indeed a delight as our Evening Of Music For Lower Strings took place. Mrs Kent reports on the musicians and the music.
Mrs Kent, Director of Music
Well what a treat the Evening Of Music For Lower Strings was last Thursday with the cello and double bass department, ably lead by Miss Nadia Alzapiedi at the helm.
The evening kicked off with a schmaltzy version of Singing in the Rain for Cellisti, our choir of cellists (yes there is such a thing!) which was followed by eleven assured solos from across all year groups. There were, of course, the obligatory visits to Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with both the Swan (Year 11’s James) and Elephant (Year 7’s Barnaby) making an appearance.
Mrs Fearnley, along with Year 12’s Jasmine and Miss Alzapeidi wooed us with a romantic Requiem for three cellos and piano by Popper. Another highlight of the evening was Jasmine’s epic rendition of the Brahms Sonata, featuring the ever-dexterous Mrs Spicer-Winand on the piano.
The evening concluded as it had begun, with Cellisti, who wowed us all with their Mexican Hat Dance which was encored at break-neck speed just for the hell of it – and why not!
Our U13 Rugby team played St Felix School last weekend, winning the match, but showcasing some excellent rugby on both sides. Details of the players, match and score can be found in our reports from our Head of Rugby and Cricket, Mr Simpson below.
Woodbridge U13s B vs St Felix School U13s
It what was a closely contested game in the end, but with a fast start by Woodbridge. It all came together with some much-improved handling skills and playing at a quick tempo which saw Woodbridge take the early lead. They took St Felix by surprise playing with quick hands down the line to their wingers who ran in two early tries. A small spell of inaccuracy with knock-ons and ill-discipline from both sides saw scrums and penalties slow down the game, but just before half time Woodbridge took back control of the game with two more tries before St Felix got one for themselves to head into half time with some confidence.
Half time score: Woodbridge 4 – St Felix 1
St Felix took the start of the second half by storm running in three back-to-back tries from some big ball carriers going through the middle of Woodbridge’s defence; while Woodbridge started the second half slowly and with a lot of missed tackles. With the score now being level, both teams were looking for that winning try. Both started to throw the ball around with solid catch and pass skills, causing the game to go from end to end and both teams scoring after each other; it went down to the last few minutes. The game finished eight tries each, a good representation of how the game flowed with neither team deserving to lose. The Woodbridge boys showed great improvement and will be looking forward to their next fixture to carry on the good work.
Final Score: Woodbridge 8 – St Felix 8