Month: June 2016

On Friday 9 June the Year 3 Girl’s tennis team travelled to Brandeston to play in the Suffolk School Mini Tennis League. The team was made up of Lara Zie, Georgia Pommier, Rose Jackson and Nina Chapman.

They played brilliantly and supported each other as the competition progressed. There were four schools in the competition and for each school the girls played one single and one doubles match. When it was time for the semi-final The Abbey and Culford had won three matches each and so it went down to points. Culford  just beat us on points to gain a place in the final and we played Brandeston B team to decide third and fourth place.

The girls were a credit to The Abbey and played some great tennis. They came away with a medal for third place and they deserve to feel very proud of themselves.  Well done girls!

Over the past two weeks, Year 2 have enjoyed some very exciting chemistry lessons from Mrs Hillman, head of chemistry at the senior school.  Mrs Hillman very kindly fulfilled the children’s requests for ‘potions and explosions’!  She showed them how dry ice is made and they learnt that in this instance carbon turns from a solid straight to a gas and the gas is heavier than air.  Mrs Hillman demonstrated testing for PH levels and kindly left some test tube racks in the classroom displaying the full range.  The children were delighted, evidenced by their gasps and cheers and expressions on their faces.  A big thank you to Mrs Hillman and Jo for really inspiring the next generation of scientists!

Opening night for the open mic! Welcome to the twenty-first century, Woodbridge School! And it was fantastic…

Utopian Shift, The Rift (those were the best band names – and brilliant performances too from our Year 7s), The Year 8 Band, The Year 7 Band (great music but the names need work…), Jozef Gwizdala and Eleanor King-Gardiner (a rhyming pair, but solo performers, and stylish ones too), Allen and Cottrell (yes… the heads of the departments of physics and maths – this was anything but music by numbers: a wonderful variety of wavelengths and volumes), Voices 7 (definitely not music by numbers given there were only five of them, though they were certainly into measurements… you’d have to have been there to get my drift on that comment), and then three sixth form bands: the first two with overlapping members, one piece sung, one instrumental, and the last – Lenny and the Jets – offering their homage to Dire Straits and The Who.

Solos to quintets, covers and new material, vocals and instrumentals, singing along and clapping along. We had it all; the audience loved it, and the performers clearly loved it too – music as it always should be: shared, enjoyed, supported, intimate, engaging and entertaining! Many, many congratulations to all the performers, and of course to the impresario, coach, mentor, guide, performer and technician, Miss Ellen Foster!

The Abbey U11 tennis team represented the school very well at the annual Framlingham U11 tennis festival. The team consisted of Beau Barrington Hibbert (only in Y5), Katie Norman, Iris Morton and Helen knight (photo attached). The team finished sixth in a tough field and improved throughout the day, The morning started with a touygh match against eventual tournament winners, the Brandeston Alligators. Although the girls played well and singles and doubles games were close, The Alligators won the tie 6-o. Next up was Old Buckingham Hall. The Abbey grow in confidence and this time we didn’t lose a rubber. Beau and Katie won their doubles, and each also won their singles. While Helen won her singles and drew in the doubles, playing with Iris. The last pool game was against Holmwood House, who were too strong. Both Beau and Katie scored points for the Abbey by drawing their singles 3-3. This meant The Abbey qualified 3rd in the pool, playing for positions 5-8. A strong performance against the Brandeston Cheetahs followed in the first of the cross-pool matches.Beau and Katie again won their doubles while Helen and Katie won their singles. Iris and Helen (doubles) and Beau in her singles secured the tie for The Abbey when they drew their rubbers.

In the final tie of the day, we were up against Town Close, last years winners. Some great tennis was played during this fixture and both teams saved their best for last. Beau impressed in her singles, against a player two years her senior. Helen and Iris both drew their singles. Katie played a great match but was just beaten by a great come-back from her opponent.

Well done to all the players for good work throughout the long day and especially warm afternoon. Many lessons about technique and tactics were learned and the school can be porud of the team.

The Reception classes visited Poplar farm in Grundisburgh today. Mrs Houston talked to the children about the different crops and animals that they have on the farm and showed them examples of wheat, barley, sugar beet and rapeseed plants straight from the fields. The children took part in a variety of activities matching different foods to the plants and animals that they come from. They thoroughly enjoyed meeting Willy, the bull, and some piglets as well as looking at all the different farm machinery, including combine harvester and tractors. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Houston, Emilia’s parents, for such an enjoyable day!

Many congratulations to Adam Colbert who continues to make strong progress in the gruelling world of road racing. His latest triumph was in the 88km Abberton Road Race at Colchester, as part of the eastern region Road league on Sunday 5 June. Racing predominantly against experience adults he finished in a very impressive fourth place overall (behind two adults and one under 23), and fastest junior, out of the sixty or so riders who took to the course. Brilliant work.

U12 v Holmwood House 

On a very clement May day the Woodbridge u12s travelled in buoyant mood to Holmwood House. Woodbridge won the toss and backed themselves with the bat. Scoring in the early overs was steady with Tom Harper and Seb Gifford looking at ease at the crease, and after an acceleration when the second string bowlers came on Woodbridge were on a very healthy 63 for no wicket after 10 overs. After Seb Gifford was unfortunately run out on 26 the whirling blade of Will Franklin came to the crease and the runs continued to flow. Tom Harper retired on an outstanding 50 and Woodbridge closed their innings on 173 for 3 from their 25 overs. With the luxury of healthy runs on the board we were able to throw the ball around and give everyone a bowl – exactly the right thing to do at this level. Jack Christey and Reace Figaji ended up with figures of 1 for 4 and 1 for 13 respectively, while Will Franklin’s pace was always a threat (2 for 34). A good team performance was sealed with run-outs from Tom Turner and Kit Evans Lombe as Woodbridge emerged victors by 11 runs. In truth we were always in control of this match and the boys played with great spirit and determination.

U13A v Colchester Grammar

A victory for the under thirteens away at Colchester on a cold Saturday morning was truly deserved.

A few new faces had joined the team (the match reporter cites absenteeism, marriages, births, bar mitzvah…. and other equally valid reasons). Nevertheless, a happy minibus made the journey out of sunny Suffolk into miserable Essex with a cargo of hope, ambition, belief and very expensive cricketing paraphernalia.

The toss was won and Captain Charles Tetley, after considering the imminent possibility of rain, sleet and snow interfering with back-to-back wins made the wise decision to field first.

Excellent bowling by Woodbridge was the order of the day. Jack Leith was first to strike but, with five wickets and the match ball swiftly and securely in his metaphorical pocket (zipped away in a rather nice bag), Alfie Franklin had found a cloud to be on (five for just 8 to boot).   Colchester all out for 51.

The realisation of back-to-back wins was complete (by four wickets) after Harry Rennell (17*) and Captain Charles (19) had made certain that Alfie would have a badly battered ball to take back to Sunny Suffolk.

U14 v RHS

At the end of last half term Woodbridge U14 battled hard to beat RHS by 3 runs in a thrilling 25 over affair.

Woodbridge batted first and started cautiously: George Barker commenced his man of the match performance with 30 runs off 47 balls, and was partnered at the wicket for most of the overs by captain Daniel Davies who guided the team through the remaining overs unbeaten on 38. Unfortunately three quick wickets left Woodbridge with a defendable target of 98 for six, but one a little lower than they would have liked.  The bowling and fielding would have to be up to scratch.

The RHS innings seemed to carry a very similar feel to the Woodbridge one with scores constantly within a run or so of each other throughout all the overs. The RHS no. 6 started to pile on the pressure with an unbeaten 38 but great bowling by George Barker (3wkts), Daniel Davies (2 wkts), Oliver Juszt (2 wkts) and Nathan Goddard (1) constantly kept RHS in check. Two great run outs, one by George Barker and the other by Nathan Goddard were also influential in the overall victory. The final two overs saw RHS needing 7  to win but a great penultimate over from Daniel put the pressure back on RHS, now needing 6 to win. Nathan bowled excellently and took the 10th RHS wicket with a great run out and one ball to spare. A deserved win after a few close games lost in the final few overs. A great team effort that all should be proud of.

Woodbridge v MCC

MCC 168 all out (Callum Askins 5 for 62 off 13 overs, Ben Harper 2 for 6).

MCC elected to bat in lovely conditions. The opening bowlers started tightly, and restricted the run flow. Just as the opening stand got going Oliver Whiting made the break through. A superb spell from Callum Askins saw him pick up 2 quick wickets which was followed by debutant Ben Harper, taking 2 wickets in his first over for 1st team. The 1st team were superb and the first time in living memory that we have bowled the MCC out. Unfortunately at the change of innings play was stopped due to hail, sleet and snow and the match was abandoned.

U13A v RHS

The U13A rounders team had an excellent match against RHS yesterday. The Woodbridge girls fielded first and kept RHS to 4 ½ rounders thanks to excellent bowling by Vicky Burrows and superb fielding from the deeps including some very impressive catching by Eleanor Pilkington. In the first batting innings the Woodbridge girls managed to alter the direction of their hits effectively and most of the girls scored at least one rounder each, and 10 in total. In the second innings the Woodbridge girls manage to keep RHS to 4 ½ rounders again. Ianthe Hill worked hard at second post and managed to get four girls out thanks to quick fielding by Neve Walker and Sophie Graham. Eleanor carried on as before in the second innings, catching seven players out in total. In bat the Woodbridge girls continued to hit the ball high but unfortunately the RHS girls had moved further out and so took five catches. The combination between backstop and first post was also strong and a further 3 Woodbridge girls were stumped out. Finally Victoria Burrows was last man standing with 3 balls to go, narrowly missing the chance for a final rounder. Saffron Holliday and Emma Trebilcock should also be commended for their excellent strike rate. Woodbridge won the match 19 ½ -9.

U13B v RHS

The U13B rounders team had an excellent game at home against RHS, where they went out fighting from the beginning. Charlotte Bowers’s bowling was faultless and prevented the opposition from attacking the ball hard. Minnie Wayman played superbly on 2nd post and was quick to receive the fielded ball and stump the post. In bat, Verity Hobday made contact every time and scored a rounder from each. Lily Craig had a blinder too where she scored 1½ rounders off one ball. After the first innings, Woodbridge were leading 9 – 3. The second innings really showed the team at its best; not only in terms of batting, but also in fielding. They worked perfectly in harmony, communicating with each other and ensuring they were putting the opposition under pressure. Every player made contact with the ball and managed to score either a ½ or rounder off their ball. Final result 20 – 6½. A superb effort by all – well done!