Woodbridge School and Sixth Form
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Score: Won 1-0

It was a good start to the season for the Junior 1st hockey team with a 1-0 win against RHS. The first 10 minutes of the match saw Woodbridge working their hardest and playing their best hockey. Good movement and slick passing resulted in a cheeky finish from the elusive Daniel Davies! There were many more shots on goal throughout the game from Woodbridge but, unfortunately, their keeper was on fire and pulled out some tremendous saves! A win and no goals conceded is exactly the start that the team were looking for.

Congratulations to Hugo Thomas (the only year 7) for an exceptional performance, quite rightly being awarded Man of the Match.

Score: Won 29-1

On a cold afternoon we travelled to Kesgrave and dominated the game entirely. There was some great shooting from Joanne Garnett, Tessa Lye, and Amelia Potter and our defence of Harriet Petley, Maud Peel, and Lucy Hudson made sure that Kesgrave were only able to score one goal throughout the whole game. Amy Graham had a stormer as both WA and WD and it was a great display of team work from the whole squad.  Great Woodbridge spirit and thank you to the supports! Fantastic, well done girls.

Tuesday 20th January saw the schools National Under 19 chess team travel to Southend High School for Boys for the regional semi-finals of this prestigious competition. One of the great things about chess is that age is largely irrelevant, and we fielded 6 players from Year 13 to year 7. In the end the team scored a convincing 4-2 victory, with wins for captain Justin Tan, Anthony Yu, Taisei Tsuruoka and crucially, after a game lasting one and a half hours, Hugo Kelleway. The two games we lost were long and very close affairs, so congratulations also to Lai Chun and Harry Rennell for their performances. The zonal final will take place before half term but as of yet the opponents are unknown.

Score: Won 15-10

Although East Bergholt came back to us in the second quarter we dominated the rest of the game. There was some excellent shooting and competitive spirit from Katie La Vergne and some fantastic defending from Issy Farr. Freya Cooney played well in both defence, supporting the play up the court and as GA she shot and fed the ball well. Francis Poulter played very well as Centre and the girls can be pleased to get a win under their belts.

Score: Won 27-8

This was a great display of teamwork especially in very cold conditions. We dominated the game from the first whistle and there was an excellent movement and shooting from Joanne Garnett and great defending from Lucy Hudson which enabled us to be in control of the game the whole way through. Sarah Barker kept control in the centre of the court and the girls can be very pleased with their first result of the season.

On Monday 19th January we welcomed James Averdieck, founder of the delicious GU puddings, to talk to us in in assembly about entrepreneurship and how his career has progressed. A fascinating talk ensued about taking risks, welcoming failure and becoming resilient. Feedback from the students has been excited, with several different business ideas – glow in the dark tattoos being one of the more original ones – blossoming. James was generous enough to leave us all with a delicious GU pudding  and a sample of his new tasty venture – coconut yoghurt. This was a great way to introduce this new scheme of career assemblies! Thanks, James.

It was a sunny but very cold and windy day for the County B races at Culford, the conditions (apart from the course) were ideal, although the route had been changed for this year’s race, and included running through fields containing sheep! It was an extremely successful day, with 11 out of the 17 runners gaining a top 16 position in their respective races. This was an important competition as the top 8 in each race would definitely gain a place in the Suffolk Schools’ team, ready for the Anglian Championships @ RHS on Saturday 7th February, with 9th – 12th place having a good chance to be selected and 12th – 16th place being considered, depending on other factors.

Well done to the following runners who have been selected: Sarah Barker (3rd), Amy Graham (5th), Charlotte Dinwiddy (7th), Henry Dinwiddy (8th), Victoria Burrows (10th), Charlie Turner (10th), Harriet Petley (12th) and Gus Cooney (12th). Jack Grant (15th) and Tom Turner (30th) from The Abbey are both under consideration. Well done to the remaining competitors who fought hard; Sophie Graham (13th), Madeleine Craig (16th), Calum Andrews (17th), George Rufford (24th), Connor Grant (25th), Ianthe Hill (30th) and Tom Hendry (32nd).

Thank you to all the parents who came along and supported – especially Mr Goddard who lead the warm ups and helped to mentally prepare each runner!

Score: Woodbridge 20 – 11 Ipswich School

Although it was an extremely cold and frosty Saturday morning, we were all hyped up ready for our first league match of the season. Although we had to wait for a decision to be made as to whether we could play, finally, the game got under way. After a shaky first quarter where the girls were trying to find their feet and were timid on court, we went 6 – 5 down. Heading into the 2nd quarter after a little team talk and some coaching points, the girls fought for absolutely everything and played with feistiness and determination, preventing the opposition from scoring therefore turning the score around 12 – 6 to us. We were lucky to keep hold of the lead; 15 – 11 at the end of the 3rd quarter and finally 20 – 11 at the final whistle. Victoria Burrows and Saffron Holliday’s shooting was consistent and when they missed, they managed to fight for the rebounds and Neve Walker and Minnie Wayman had a great game dominating in defence. Annabel Yates supported her defenders and picked up lose players, whilst Nell Pilkington, Sophie Graham and Ianthe Hill fed our shooting circle effectively and dominated the centre court. A great team effort and a very pleasing first game. Well done!

Woodbridge 5 -2 Felsted

The U18 team’s confidence was high following a big win against RHS and some productive training sessions focusing specifically on using defence to attack.

We were now familiar with the style of play that Felsted use (fast, counter attacking hockey). Suffering a defeat at the same point of the cup this time last year added to the desire and motivation for a victory this time around.

1

The game started at a fast pace with Sam Lyne converting a well worked move two minutes into the game to make it 1-0 Woodbridge. The next 33 minutes saw Woodbridge play the best hockey I’ve seen since arriving at the school (3yrs); it was controlled, skilful, composed and flowing. The score was 4-0 at half time with Ed Robson adding two to make it 11 in three games, and Callum Askins adding the fourth.

A 15 minute spell in the second half saw the home side lose focus and become complacent, conceding two soft goals. Woodbridge still maintained control and discipline ending the game with a fine solo effort from Myles King to settle the tie at 5-2.

2

There were many performances worthy of mention including the tireless midfield work by Will Neall and Callum Askins and the intelligent leads and chance conversion by the forwards. Another special mention must go to Ben Kilburn (Yr 11) who receives his second Man of the Match in a row for another mature, solid display at centre back.

We now play Ipswich in the second round of the cup; this is set to be a great game and the Woodbridge boys must maintain their belief and set out to turn over last year’s semi-finalists.

Woodbridge 30 – 29 Ipswich High School

With the toughest opposition being our first league fixture of the season, nerves were evident among the team, especially having lost to Ipswich High in the County tournament, so the girls knew it would be a challenging but an evenly matched game, with everything to play for. From the starting whistle, we played with everything we had; Esmee Scott made some fantastic interceptions against her 6ft odd shooter and distributed the ball effectively out of our defending circle to Ellisse Morey, Tara King, Ella Burdett and Imogen Bacon who were waiting with anticipation to pass it into our attacking third. These four also made some excellent interceptions and composed themselves before finding the next important pass. Imogen Craig had a storming game at centre and controlled the speed of the game, (although a little too fast at times!!) but always managed to pressurise her opponent and intercept or chase down every loose ball. Bella Chater worked hard feeding both Lily Felton and Olivia Woodmansee, who shot with confidence and determination – even if a couple of shots were missed! Snatching the rebounds enabled us to gain possession, therefore being able to convert the missed shots into goals. It was an extremely even match with the score 8 – 8 at the end of the 1st quarter, 16 – 16, then 24 – 21 to Ipswich High going into the 4th quarter, we had to give everything we had left to give. In the last minute of the game, with the score 29-29 and their centre pass, the pressure was on. Esmee fought hard and intercepted the ball. It then worked its way down the court to our shooters, but unfortuantely we missed the shot. Luckily, we had a sideline. With only 10 seconds left, the ball was fed perfectly into Olivia Woodmansee…who scored the final and winning goal!!! To say this game was nail biting (whilst giving me heart palpitations), is an understatement!! The best performance I have ever seen from this team!! Well done!!

Thank you to all the parents for their support – your encouragement empowered the girls to give everything until the final whistle and not give up! Also, special mention to Laura Marshall and Verity Jackson who supported from the side-line…the girls could not have done it without you shouting at them…so thank you!!