November 2015 - Page 5 of 5 - Woodbridge School

Oliver Wroe continues his winning ways on the water. Last weekend he triumphed in the junior 16 single sculls division of the Ely small boats head, finishing the 3000m course (into wind and rain) in a time of 15:45 – nearly five minutes ahead of second in his category. He raced in amongst J15, J16 and J17 scullers and double scullers, finishing eighth overall out of the 37 crews, but first in his category.

During half term our riders went to Wix Equestrian Centre in Essex and competed in an Inter Schools Show Jumping competition. It was a very busy, long day, starting at 9am and finishing at 9pm! Schools from all over East Anglia and London were taking part. The first 4 classes were qualifiers for the Grassroots Regional Final being held in December. Woodbridge School entered a team in all 8 classes and several individuals too.

It was certainly a day for coming 4th – our teams in the 40cm, 50cm and 90cm all came 4th! Individually, Neve Walker and Rohan Brooks did particularly well winning the 60cm and 90cm respectively, both classes had over 40 entries – so a great result.

Full results – 40cm – Oliver Reid 4th, 50cm Ada Marson 3rd, Tess Walker 5th, 70cm Fleur Ludgrove 4th, Tess 5th, Ada 6th. All riders qualifying for the Regional Finals – very well done! Also, Rowena Wilson –Smith came 4th in the 90cm individual.

On 24 September the Abbey School brave Swimmers from year 4 to 6 girls travelled to Ipswich High to challenge them to a swimming gala. There was tension in the air as both schools filled the leisure centre. There was an eerie silence as Ipswich High started their warm up, The Abbey watched and grew ever more excited. First up was the year 6 Back Crawl, went up to start us off followed by the year 5 and 4.

Year 6 Back crawl start off neck to neck till the final stretch where the opposition powered ahead to take the lead from both our pairs to grab the top two spots. As fate had it the year 4’s had a very similar result. However not for the year 5 pair which took 1st and 3rd place.

We left the first race behind us and looked onward to Breast stroke. Just like last time the Year 6 pair were up first. They got into position, off they went was neck and neck till the last length were Ipswich High A team slowly pulled ahead to take first place, closely followed by I.H.S B in second. Hoping they could change the flow, off the year 5 pair went, however could not beat the strong I.H.S pair. After the disappointing start the year 4 girls weren’t going to lose quietly and fought back in the breaststroke and took 1st and 2nd away from the home side, we were back in the race.

Butterfly was next, arguable the hardest stroke to do. Yet we had some talented enough swimmers to compete. Sadly though I.H.S where stronger in the year 6 and 5 races and took an early lead to grab the two spots. However the same can’t be said about the Year 4’s, which Abby B team narrowly lost to the I.H.S A team but grabbed 2 place for the team.

Freestyle, the year 6 pair was up first. Sadly though the races weren’t going our way and I.H.S seems to ease to victory in this race but the Year 6 weren’t giving up still full of excitement they continued to fight on. Seeing this, the year 5 pair weren’t going to be shown up and took 2nd place followed by the year 4 B freestyle swimmers who grabbed 1st and 3rd in their race.
Next up was the year 6 medley relay, however luck wasn’t on our side as I.H.S was just too strong this year and we ended up taking 3rd and 4th places, similarly in the year 5 race, Although year 4 was a different story which we took 1st and 3rd place leaving all to play for in the final race.
The final race was the freestyle relay, The Year 6 and 5 Team took their place on the starting blocks, they made a valiant effort to narrowly lose to I.H.S A and B team to take 3rd and 4th place respectively. A big race for the year 4 teams as they lined up. After a thrilling race the Abbey took 2nd and 3rd hoping it was enough to keep them in the lead.

Over all I.H.S year 6 Team won comfortably with a combined score of 18 compared to the Abbey’s of 42. With the year 5 doing slightly better but still lost with a score of 38 compared to I.H.S score of 22. However the Year 4’s results were a different story with the Abbey having a score of 29 and I.H.S achieving 31.

The funeral will take place on Wednesday 25 November, 2.30pm, at St Mary’s Church, Woodbridge.

Family flowers only; donations if desired to Help Musicians UK, either via their website, or c/o E B Button & Sons, Funeral Directors, 24 St John’s Street, Woodbridge IP12 1EB

A great start to our golf this year in the ISGA matchplay golf competition where we won 2-1, beating St Joseph’s College in the first round. Round 2 is against Langley to be completed by end of term.

Results
William Morcombe won 10 and 8
Guy Maynard won 2 and 0

On Monday, the children at The Abbey came back to school to find a mysterious object had landed in the grounds. Shrouded in mist, it was all very dramatic! Mr Brett explained to the children in assembly that there had been a disturbance in the night and some people had seen bright lights and heard a strange humming sound. Whatever it was had landed in the grounds of the school and the visitors had vanished, leaving just a few clues.

The children got a chance to investigate and have a good look at the site, then they were asked to write the story of what they thought had happened. The government were investigating the landing, but were a bit stumped and wanted the children’s ideas. And they had lots of ideas! Some told of aliens having to leave their imploding planet in a terrible rush and choosing Earth as a place to seek refuge; some described aliens searching the galaxies for other life forms and finally finding us here on Earth; some believed that the aliens were here to teach us about looking after our planet; and some described aliens burrowing beneath the grounds of The Abbey, building an underground city.

It was such a fun day and one that the children will certainly remember.

Due to our U14 Girls qualifying to Next round of County Netball Tournament on Saturday 14 November, we are cancelling U14A Hockey v Culford on that day.

U15A Hockey v Culford (Home) on Saturday 14 November will now start at earlier time of 2.30pm.

RUGBY remains the same as advertised in red book.

Saturday 21 November
– Langley School (A) 11am

Tuesday 1 December
– Thomas Mills (H) 2.30pm

Saturday 12 December
– Kings Ely (H) 11am

Tuesday 15 December
– RGS Colchester (A)way 2.30pm

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our Assistant Director of Music, John Stafford.

John was an incredibly talented musician and teacher with a wonderful, subversive sense of humour. His work with our students, particularly as an accompanist, was of the highest order and invariably helped them to give of their best in very stressful situations, often inspiring them to excel well beyond their own expectations. There can have been few better than John able to perform the most complex music, often at very short notice, with such amazing skill and authority.

John passed away peacefully on Wednesday 28 October. His sparkle around the music department, his warmth, his friendship, and his complete commitment to others will be sorely missed by us all.