Woodbridge School and Sixth Form
+44 (0)1394 615000
Woodbridge School Prep
+44 (0)1394 382673

Many congratulations to Rosie Streat who has just been awarded her Silver DofE award, and also to Poppy Yeo OW who has just received notification that her DofE Gold award is now complete.

From Friday 18 until Sunday 20 March 2016, seven Woodbridge students represented three member states at the Haileybury Model United Nations.

Charlie Green, the ambassador of Lebanon, fervently put forward his nation’s interests to the Special Committee on the question of the Arab-Israeli conflict, presenting a two state solution that was passed with 26 votes for and 11 against. Also working on Human Rights was Abi Tearle who debated in favour of transgender rights.

All seven delegates thoroughly enjoyed this unique opportunity to learn about international relations by actively debating about the most pressing issues of our time.

Trinidad & Tobago
Economic & Social 1        Yong Yin Chen (Ambassador)

Lebanon
Special Conference         Charlie Green (Ambassador)
Economic & Social 2       Ash Powar
Human Rights 2               Abi Tearle

Peru
Disarmament                    Miles Budden (Ambassador)
Human Rights 2               William Zhang
Political 2                           Josh Cole

We had five candidates in this year’s international extension paper for our nation’s top performers in the national intermediate maths challenge. Many congratulations to: William Emery (95, earning a merit for finishing in the top 25%) and Jason Li (89, also a merit), Oliver Phelan (84), Joseph Brierly (78) and Abigail Crane (73) who were all very close to merits as well.

Wick and Wax candles; lyrical presentation; expert company report; compelling trade stand. Outcome? This year’s team, under the joint leadership of Helena Boynton and Jakob Hatfield, were gloriously triumphant at the recent Suffolk finals, hosted by UCS and sponsored by top companies such as EDF Energy, BT, Adnams and many more. Talk about setting out your stall in front of the very best… Which is just what our 25 Year 12s have done. So far. Because the Suffolk victory earns them the right to compete for the Eastern Region title sometime in June, and with stellar profits, a great product, and a fine business model behind them they can embark with ambition.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, the Skills and Understanding Award and the Teamwork Award, as well as the overall Winner Award were the headline achievements. The trade stand, company report, and presentation to the audience on competition night were outstanding, and Helena, Jakob, Jozef, Ash, Cressida, Jasmine, Rosie, Tom, Abi, George and Chris deserve the highest praise – but their success was built upon the hard work of the whole team, too many to per
form on the night, and so our congratulations also go to Laura, Maddie, Alex, Will, Miles, Chun, Tom, Chris, Thomas, Calum, Hector, Flo and William.

And how, apart from through sweat and tears, hard work and long hours, inspiration and imagination, have they come to be successful? Teamwork. It’s been vital; and so we must congratulate every bit as much Mrs Wright and our business advisors Richard Walkling and Ed Blackmore for helping them to harness that energy so successfully.

More success for Oliver Wroe!  In a very busy weekend he first of all represented our region impressively well in the junior 16 double sculls with Deben Rowing Club teammate Jamie Goodwyn, reaching the Junior 16 Inter-Regional final and coming an excellent fourth, not far behind the medalling crews from top flight clubs and rowing schools (and needless to say, ahead of many others).  As a wind-down he and Jamie then competed at Lea regatta, winning their doubles event and then facing off against each other in the final of the single sculls – for Oliver to triumph once again.  Brilliant work.

The successes achieved by Woodbridge School tennis teams in 2015 were rewarded at the recent Suffolk Schools Tennis Association Annual General Meeting. Woodbridge was presented with the Champion School Shield. This award is attributed to winning the Girls Y8 and below Division 1 and Division 2 competitions.

The U13A tennis team made Woodbridge history by winning the Suffolk Schools Tennis Association Division 1 county finals. The team did well during the league stages of the competition, winning the matches needed to qualify for the county finals and gaining experience in pressure situations. On finals day the girls beat Brandeston Hall in the semi-final before going on to beat Culford in the final, showing the depth of the team.

During the first round of the national knock-out competition, the team had to settle for second best against The Leys.

The county success followed hot on the heels of another tournament win for the U13A team. The team won the annual Brandeston Hall U13 girls tennis tournament, seeing off 5 other teams, winning a massive 25 rubbers and losing only 4.

The girls’ U13B tennis team remained unbeaten during the tennis season, and was crowned Suffolk Division 2 champions.

The team qualified for the county finals beating RHS, Ipswich High School and Orwell Park in the pool rounds. At the finals they beat Westley School in the semi-final and then Brandeston Hall B in the final in a very good contest. The team won 27 of the 30 rubbers played during the season, proving the dominance of the U13B team.

At the AGM, Woodbridge School was also thanked for their contribution to Mini-Tennis in the area.

Many congratulations to all the candidates in last term’s LADMA examinations. They secured a one hundred percent pass rate, gaining an extraordinary 57 distinctions and 36 merits.

Those with Distinctions were:

Grade Two
Rufus Vogel; Thomas Evans; William Cook; Ruben Kill; Sebastian Ward; Emily Weston; Ella Reynard

Grade Three
Amber Harrell; Hope Jerstice; Derry Jay; Rob McBride; Tom Scoggins; Alfie Franklin; Lily Craig

Grade Three Verse and Prose
Oliver Reid

Grade Four Acting
Jennifer Clare; Amelia Potter; Milly Buckingham; Sophie Harper; George Barker; Luke Townshend

Grade Four Verse and Prose
Nina Varadarajan; Medomfo Owusu; Alex Sharratt; Chris Long

Grade Five Acting
Toby Stowe; Charlie Garnham; Johnny Kajoba; Guy Seagers; Daniella Elman; Maddie Felton; Eliza Kilburn; Florence Appell; Isabelle Cory; Simone Webb; Harriet Spence; Mia King; Martha Carey; Isabella Withey

Grade Five Public Speaking
Peter Huang

Grade Six Acting
Nancy King; Imogen Thomas; Abigail Crane; Emilia Vaes; Natalia Reid; Katja Longbon; Phoebe Averdieck

Grade Six Public Speaking
Abigail Tearle (With 100%)

Grade Seven Acting
Chris Grainger; Theo Bimson; Jasper Beaumont; Amy Weir-Simmons; Emma Jarvis; Abbi  Warburton; Lucy Buckingham

Grade Eight Acting
Harry Salter; Grace Baker

Congratulations also to those who earned merits or passes, in acting grades unless otherwise stated:-

Grade 1: Etiane Cheung; Jo Dunmore;
Grade 3: Ariane Bilgen; Phoebe Bell (both verse and prose); Lily Peto; Petronella Powell; Iona Murland; Amelia Kirkham
Grade 4: Freddie Chin; Toby Cassy; Lily Butler-Mayer; Miranda Woods Ballard; Daniel Davies;
Grade 5: Madeleine Craig; Sam Kill;
Grade 6: George King; Alex Chin; Jake Jay; Finbar Burns; Ben Kelly; Theo Lindsay-Smith; Alexander Stow; Teddie Buckley; Victoria Williams; Oliver Wroe; Sid Roberts; Nathan Lloyd and William Clarke (both public speaking);
Grade 7: Adam Colbert, Thomas Chin and Sofia Cassy (all verse and prose); Lydia Cook; Hollie Harrell; David Spray; Laura Graham; Connie Farrow; Rosie Streat;
Grade 8: Flora Douglas and Harry Salter (both verse and prose); Nick Kill; Flora Douglas

Over Easter Isabella Pincombe was asked to play principle for the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. She was called by an oboe teacher at senior Academy, Melanie Ragge, during the holidays if she would stand in for a member that had dropped out, at pretty much under a week’s notice. Isabella ended up doing the nine day course in the second week of Easter at Queenswood School in Potters Bar and did a concert at the Royal College of Music, playing Kodaly Dances of Galanta, Beethoven’s Egmont and Bizet Jeu d’enfants.

During the Easter holiday 29 Abbey pupils took to the slopes of the Stubai Glacier. After a long bus journey and an evening preparing our skis and boots we were ready. 3 days of brilliant sunshine followed, this made for really good conditions for all groups, beginners to advanced, to make really good progress. On the fourth day we were faced with some heavy snow that really put our skills to the test. With the help of our 3 fantastic instructors all pupils were able to tackle a wide range slopes from wide calving blues to some tough mogul red runs. With ten-pin bowling and swimming thrown in this really was an action packed trip.

Preparations for next year’s trip have already begun and I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am. Finally I must say a huge thank-you to Miss Theobald, Mr French and Matron for all their help on the trip.

“It was better than any school trip I could have dreamed of” Caitlyn Maggs

“The best holiday I’ve ever been on” Arun Nayar

Mark Fernley

As part of our topic ‘On Safari in the Garden’ we have been learning all about snails. We met some African Land Snails and everyone had the chance to hold and feed them. We learnt some interesting facts and enjoyed watching them move and eat. We have also looked at Henri Matisse’s “The Snail” in art and had a lot of fun making our own abstract snail pictures.

Sarah Lindsay-Smith