Month: February 2017
We welcomed Ben Parry, Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, on Thursday this week. Such an invigorating day! It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm for singing at all age ranges, and a testament to both Maria Williams in the Abbey and Claire Weston (along with the other singing teachers) at the Senior School. Ben was great at his fun warm up sessions for the youngsters, right through to some really detailed technical work with interpretation in the two hour workshop he did with the Chamber Choir in the afternoon. It was good to see the local primary schools from St Mary’s and Woodbridge being involved at the Abbey as well.
Ben’s feedback on the day below;
“I so enjoyed working with the young singers from both The Abbey and the Senior School, as well as younger singers from some local primary schools. It’s great to see so much choral activity going on at the School, which in turn is a huge feather in the cap for singing in Suffolk. I loved working with the different chorus of all ages and abilities, observing their enthusiasm and eagerness to discover, learn and improve. Congratulations to the Schools’ music department for all the work they are doing, and for organising such a dynamic and invigorating day!”
There was such energy, skill, and shared enjoyment on stage this week. Our dancers, young and old, novice and expert entertained with great panache and a joie de vivre which belied any inexperience or nerves. From ballet to hip hop, from contemporary to commercial to lyrical, the genres reflected both the music and the characters of the dancers: innocence, whimsy, grace, and occasionally something a little more knowing, whether anguished or self-assured. Slick, passionate, and richly entertaining, the evening passed in a flash and before we knew it the dancers were taking a final bow to rapturous applause.
Many, many congratulations to one and all on stage, and especially to those who had also choreographed their own performances; and our thanks and congratulations in equal measure to the team backstage and to the impresario and guiding light for this year’s dance show, Mrs Simpson.
The Reception children are learning about 2D shapes. They worked together with a partner to see how many they could find in the outside area. They were thrilled to discover, not only circles, triangles, rectangles and squares but also a couple of hexagons! They recorded their work on clip boards and shared their findings with their friends.
Last weekend Rowan Kent won the Under 8 South of England Chess Championship. He played six games and won them all!
This is now trophy number fifteen. We wish Rowan luck for the next tournament, coming up this month and suggest he builds another shelf for his growing collection of trophies.
The weekend saw multiple teams from Woodbridge School competing at the Suffolk County Show Jumping and Suffolk County Dressage Qualifiers for the NSEA County Championships at the end of April.
On Saturday 28th Jan at The Jays , Bury St Edmunds, many Schools from all over Suffolk were contesting for the NSEA Suffolk County Show Jumping Qualifiers from 70cms-1.10m.
Woodbridge School’s riding teams are going from strength to strength with the younger team members showing the way winning the 70cms Suffolk County Show Jumping Qualifier; crowning them Suffolk Champions and qualifying them to represent both Suffolk and the School at the County Championships.
The four team members of Perdi Ludgrove (Yr6), Olivia Brown(Yr7), Tess Walker (Yr7) and Ada Marson(Yr6) all produced clear rounds with Ada producing an extremely fast round taking 2nd individually, narrowly missing winning and qualifying herself as an individual as well.
The School also had their youngest team competing in the 70cms who performed exceptionally to take 4th place. This was the first time any of this team had competed at this level before. They had gone for the experience and then all produced good rounds to take 4th place in a very competitive class. The Team was Isla Appleby (Yr7), Lily Waterer(Yr7), Sophia Waterer(Yr5) & Eve Marson (Yr4)
The School fielded two full teams for the 80cms competition; with the teams taking 3rd & 4th place.
Third placed team of Fleur Ludgrove, Oliver Reid, Alex Ryder-Davies & Isla Appleby. Fleur was substituted in at the last minute as Zoe Newman had suffered a minor kick so was unable to ride.
This was the first 80cms competition for Oliver Reid & Isla Appleby.
The Fourth team was Olivia Brown, Tess Walker, Perdi Ludgrove and Ada Marson. Ada again produced a fast round but was pipped from taking the County Title coming 2nd.
Tabitha Wilson-Smith rode a top class round to take the individual Suffolk County title and qualify for the Championships in the 90cms with the team of Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Rowena Wilson-Smith, Zara Lye & Fleur Ludgrove narrowly missing out qualifying themselves by taking the 2nd place.
In the 1m class; James Brown took 3rd place and Zara Lye took 6th.
On Sunday the 29th January, a team of Woodbridge Riders contested the Suffolk County Dressage Qualifier at Easton College.
The Team of Caragh Paul, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Rowena Wilson-Smith and the youngest member Oliver Reid did exceptionally well to WIN the Dressage qualifier and secure their place to the Championships.
An extra well done to both Wilson-Smith sisters and to Oliver Reid who competed back to back at the weekend on both days with superb results and qualifications on both days.
Dressage Team; (L-R_Caragh Paul (3rd), Tabitha Wilson-Smith (6th), Rowena Wilson-Smith (2nd) & Oliver Reid Suffolk County Dressage Champions
70cms Show Jumping Team: (L-R) Ada Marson (2nd individually), Olivia Brown, Perdi Ludgrove & Tess Walker NSEA Suffolk County 70cms Champions
