Month: November 2015
Jessica Hall, our adjudicator was very impressed with the standard of all the competitors and the standards they had reached. Over 60 pupils played a variety of stringed instruments from guitar to double bass during the day last Friday, which started at 9am and finished just before 6pm. The final session included non-competitive workshops with a variety of string ensembles from the year 7 string quartet through the cello octet to the senior’s performance of the First movement of Schubert’s Trout Quintet all benefiting from Miss Hall’s warm and supportive comments and advice.
Winners:
Elementary guitar: Joshua Bell
Intermediate Guitar: Alex King and Charles Tetley
Elementary Strings: Sophie Graham
Transitional Viola: Michael Chen
Transitional Cello and Double bass: Etiane Cheung
Intermediate Cello: Rayan Semnani
Intermediate Violin: Michael Chen and Brendan Bennett
Advanced Strings: Jennifer Clare
Open Class: William Emery
Cups:
Violin/Viola: William Emery
Cello/Bass: Charlie Green
https://youtu.be/sqk_E3QmC40
https://youtu.be/xt05trt5gss
Both Rugby matches v Colchester Grammar on Tuesday 15 December have been cancelled.
No boys should be leaving lessons early for rugby. It will be a normal Games afternoon for them.
This week the children at Queen’s House have taken part in a maths investigation morning. Children in Reception read the story ‘The Doorbell Rang’ and then worked together to find out how to share biscuits out fairly. In Year 1 the children worked in groups to help Pirate Pete organise his four piles of gold bars so that each pile was the same height – but in only two moves! In Year 2 one group read ‘One hundred hungry ants’ and used the story as a stimulus to find the quickest way for 100 ants to reach food by dividing them into lines of equal length. The other Year 2 group used trundle wheels to work out how far we walk to lunch every day. They found out that it was 240m, and worked out that from starting in Reception to leaving at the end of Year 2 the children will have walked 246km. That is the same distance as walking from Queen’s House to Buckingham Palace and back again! The children showed great determination and fun was had by all.
Year 6 Drama at The Abbey – ‘The Nativity Story’ in a series of freeze-frames
Petronella Powell reports
Woodbridge worked hard in their recent match against RHS. In the first half there were a few chances on goal but none were actually scored by either side. Then, in the second half, Elsa Trevor-Pallares scored, only for RHS to equalise. However, Woodbridge kept up the pressure and Petronella Powell scored our second to make the final score 2-1 to Woodbridge!
The inaugural meetings were held on this Tuesday and Wednesday. The original plan had been to hold one meeting but as about 70 students wanted to attend we had to add a second session. The aim of the group is to get intellectually curious Year 11-13 students together three or four times a term to discuss a range of cerebral matters. Sessions can be led by staff or pupils and can be on almost anything.
This week I led a discussion on the British Constitution – much more interesting than you might think! Should we have a written constitution? Should we have an elected House of Lords? Should we have a more proportional voting system. The students were fantastic and contributed with intelligence and enthusiasm. On balance most were keen on keeping our unwritten constitution but on reforming the House of Lords and the voting system. Well done to all who came along.
ON Tuesday 24 November, we had our second Lunchtime Recital of the term. A warm and appreciative audience were treated to twenty- three performances. Everyone performed well, and it was a lovely interlude in a busy day at the Abbey!
Harry Hobday reports
The Fifth match of the season was home and we were fired up despite the horrible weather conditions. It was very wet and windy so when Woodbridge kicked off we attacked ferociously causing handling errors. Woodbridge won lots of turnovers as the ball was slippery and it was very windy; however we also gave as many away ourselves, so we were often on the back foot. Our backs had three on one situations in defence as our forwards were committed in the rucks, and the game was being played 13-a-side, meaning the flankers were not on the pitch (and they contribute one of the strongest aspects of our game). By half time, they had scored two tries: but we were undeterred.
In the second half the Woodbridge team stayed committed to the game as the weather deteriorated. There were a series of crash ball where we really put them on the back foot showing our strength, and after some sublime handling Oliver Waldron scored to boost our moral. The fearless tackling never wavered, and despite their overwhelming numbers we put pressure on them turning the ball over and stopping them from scoring. We went on the attack again off a quick penalty, with the backs handling brilliantly in the weather conditions – notably Oscar Butcher with his evasive and aggressive running. The forwards then combined well for Louis Alexander to break the line and score under the posts. Unfortunately Langley responded in kind, but we kept going to the end. In particular Will Evans-Hendrick played in many positions and did well in all; and a mention goes to all the subs who stood on the side line in the awful weather and then came on and made an impact straight away.
Player of the match: Oscar Butcher and Louis Alexander
Tries: Oliver Waldron
Louis Alexander
Conversion: Saxon Gallo
Junior 3 played RHS on a blustery Wednesday afternoon away. The team played well with goal keeper Lauren Wilkes making some fine saves. They were rewarded for their hard work with a goal from Libby Martin and then Cecily Royal- Dawson hit a cracking shot from the top of the circle to make the final score 2- 0. Cecily played particularly well but both defenders Nell Pilkington and Julia Long also had good games.