Month: March 2017
The cross country season ended on a high for Woodbridge pupils at the weekend with the English Schools championships in Norwich. An astonishing seven Woodbridgians were running for Suffolk, all of them a year young for their age category.
The course was dry, flat, and frankly rather boring but the event was impeccably organised and the many thousands of spectators were very well entertained. The English Schools is incredibly competitive and just 10 seconds at the end of a long race can be a difference of over 50 places.
On a day of superb Woodbridge results the standout performance belonged to Nathan Goddard. Running a year young for the Inter Boys he was first back for Suffolk in 68th. Top 15 at next year’s English schools is looking a realistic target for him!
Most gutsy performance of the day probably belonged to Kit Evans Lombe. The runner in front of him fell over in the Suffolk ‘pen’ at the start of the race. Kit was left 3rd from last after the first 300 metres but he had overtaken nearly 100 of the best runners in England before the finish!
Suffolk has a small population so is graded as a category C county for the English Schools. The excellent results from Charlie Turner, George Wharam, Kit Evans Lombe, Bea Thomas, Nathan Goddard, Sarah Barker and Amy Graham made a big difference to Suffolk’s standing in the category C team competition. 2nd in the girls and 2nd in the boys, a fantastic result for Suffolk and a phenomenal end to a fantastic season for Woodbridge.
This was a great display of both the A and B team playing in a number of different positions, and with different team members, but always being in control of the game. There was some fantastic shooting by Eliza Kilburn, Maddie Felton, Katy Garnett and Jemima Hill. Fond farewells to Mia King and Louise Farthing who have now played their last game for the school L, and thank you for all your hard work. Mollie Biddle, Louise, Eleanor Berridge and Flora Johnston played well in defence and Chloe Outen, Georgia Harrold and Jess Bowers put some great balls into the circle. Well done girls and thanks for all working so hard and for some great results!
Pupil Oliver Laxton delighted an audience of Abbey staff and pupils last week as he and a number of other Year 6 pupils performed Oliver’s own play, “We’re History”. Oliver wrote the play himself, an outstanding achievement, and was delighted to see it brought to life by his friends.
Here Oliver describes this is his own words;
On Wednesday 15 March, a most spectacular event was held in the hall at 9.30!
Oliver Laxton and his merry cast of 15 had set to work a month earlier, to perform a historical play which Oliver himself had written! The play, appropriately named ‘We’re History’ was a 45 minute long portrayal of historical comedy, including make-shift meat, furry crowns, fat alcoholic kings and a battle axe/guitar, ending with a finale of Elvis Presley,David Bowie, and Michael Jackson, and finishing with ‘We are the Champions’ by Queen. The Cast were literal ‘starmen’. It was an absolute ‘thriller’ and we were left ‘doggedly’ begging for more!
Huge Congratulations to Oliver; To write a play whilst in Year 6 is a fantastic achievement, and even more special when it is brought to life on the stage.
Year 10 Graphic Communication students took part in a publishing competition for local charity Just 42. They were set a brief to design a new newsletter for the charity to send out to their supporters. The students worked hard during lessons for about four weeks to research the charity, and then come up with a design that represented the charity but was also clear and easy to read. Caroline Rutherford at Just 42 was highly impressed with all the designs, and said that the students had made a real effort to understand exactly what the charity is about. It was a hard decision, but Charles Sutton was the overall winner of the competition. Caroline said they were mostly impressed by his simplistic approach to the project, and that the overall layout was clear and easy to follow. Well done Charles!
Putting together a string of impeccable performances, Zara Lye won the under 18 Novice at Poplar Park at the Horse Trials on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 March with a best dressage score of 24.5 (75.5%), and clear Show Jumping and Cross Country rounds. She also won the prize for best Suffolk U18 rider by winning the class. Next stop is Belton International on Friday 31 March for her first GB Junior Trial. Many congratulations to Zara on her outstanding achievement.
Woodbridge pupils came third overall in Exercise Combat Cadet over the weekend. We were able to win a Gold Medal and the Best CCF trophy in addition.
Exercise Combat Cadet is the annual competition held by 7 Infantry Brigade (aka The Desert Rats) allowing 20 teams (of 9 cadets) from all over their area of responsibility, which includes roughly 7,500 cadets from both CCFs in schools and ACFs from each of the nine counties, to compete over two days. The aim is to pit the best cadets from each school or detachment against one another in a number of areas. This year the focus was on TIBUA (Tactics In a Built Up Area) and involved operating in an urban environment. Our cadets had to respond to a range of scenarios, including casualty evacuations, First Aid, section attacks, defensive operations and house and street clearance. They also fired live rounds in two target based challenges.
This means we have now come 3rd, 1st, 3rd over the last three years which demonstrates the continued excellence of our cadets and Army section, especially when compared nationally. Much of our success this year was down to our Section Commander, C/Sgt Ben Kilburn, who continued the tradition of superb leadership and tactical understanding that our previous commanders have shown.
Team:
C/Sgt Ben Kilburn
CSM Tom Innes
Sgt Ben Spence
Cpl Will Pilkington
Cpl Tom Lomas
Cpl Will Clarke
Cpl Alfie Agar
Cpl James Barrell
L/Cpl Harry Hobday
Congratulations to our Abbey and Senior School pupils who have won an outstanding number of accolades at the Sudbury Festival of the performing arts. The results are as follows;
VERSE SPEAKING
Commended certificates were awarded to:-
Rosie Stennett, James Maggs, Polly Scoggins, Beatrice Liddy, Tilly Houchell, Nina Chapman, James Blackmore, Oliver Laxton, Isla Richardson, Evelyn Saunders, Caitlin Maggs, Alice Sharratt.
Distinction certificates were awarded to :-
Ruby Field, Amora Minhas, Chloe Macmillan, Amy Thornley, Eleanor Parsons, Imogen Melrose, Oliver Reid.
Outstanding certificates were awarded to :-
Sasha Reid, Alexander Sharratt.
Third Place in their age group – Ruby Field
Second Place in their age group – Chloe Macmillan, Eleanor Parsons, Oliver Reid
First Place in their age group – Sasha Reid, Amy Thornley, Imogen Melrose, Alexander Sharratt.
PROSE READING
Merit and Commended certificates were awarded to :-
Amora Minhas, Ruby Field, Evelyn Saunders, Caitlyn Maggs, Chloe Macmillan, Amy Thornley, Polly Scoggins, Beatrice Liddy, Eleanor Parsons, Alexander Sharratt, Oliver Reid.
Distinction Certificates were awarded to :-
Sasha Reid, Alice Sharratt,
Outstanding Certificates were awarded to :-
Oliver Laxton, Imogen Melrose.
Second Place in their age group – Alice Sharratt
First Place in their age group – Sasha Reid, Oliver Laxton, Imogen Melrose, Oliver Reid.
SOLO ACTING
Merit and Commended certificates were awarded to:-
Alexander Sharratt, James Blackmore, Polly Scoggins.
Distinction Certificates were awarded to:-
Sasha Reid, Caitlyn Maggs, Chloe Macmillan, Oliver Laxton, Alice Sharratt.
Third place in their age group – Oliver Laxton, Caitlyn Maggs
Second Place in their age group – Sasha Reid, Alice Sharratt, Chloe Macmillan.
DUOLOGUE ACTING
Tilly Houchell & Ruby Field – Merit
Lily Cook & Sasha Reid – 1st Place Distinction.
DUOLOGUE POEM
Fergus Gathorne-Hardy & James Blackmore – 3rd Place Commended.
Rose Jackson & Beatrice Liddy – Commended.
Amy Thornley & Polly Scoggins – 3rd Place Distinction.
Lily Cook & Sasha Reid – 1st Place Distinction.
SOLO MIME
Merit and Commended Certificates awarded to:-
Evelyn Saunders, Caitlyn Maggs, Chloe Macmillan.
Second Place in their age group – Chloe Macmillan.
SPEAKERS’ CORNER
James Maggs – 2nd Place Merit.
Evelyn Saunders – 1st Place Merit.
BIBLE READING
Isla Richardson – 3rd Place Commended
Alice Sharratt – 2nd Place Distinction
Oliver Laxton – !st Place Distinction.
Alexander Sharratt – 1st Place Commended.
SIGHT READING
Amy Thornley – 2nd Place Commended.
Alice Sharratt – 1st Place Distinction.
Alexander Sharratt – 1st Place Distinction.
SHAKESPEARE
Commended Certificates awarded to:-
James Maggs, Chloe Macmillan, Isla Richardson, Oliver Reid.
Distinction Certificates awarded to:-
Oliver Laxton, Alexander Sharratt.
Third Place in their age group – Chloe Macmillan, Alexander Sharratt.
Second Place in their age group – Isla Richardson.
First place in their age group – Oliver Laxton.
MUSIC AND SINGING
Unaccompanied Folk song 1st place with Distinction – Chloe Macmillan
Set piece 2nd place Commended – Chloe Macmillan
Song from the shows Commended – Chloe Macmillan
Saxophone grade 1 2nd place Commended – Chloe Macmillan
AWARDS
Sudbury Newstalk award for Junior Prose Reading – Oliver Laxton.
Sudbury Newstalk award for Senior Prose Reading – Imogen Melrose.
Sheila Kiddy Award for Most Promising Junior – Alice Sharratt.
Wardale Williams Cup for Excellence – Alexander Sharratt.
Palmer Thomas Award for Bible Reading – Oliver Laxton.
Patricia Brindley Trophy for Duologue Verse Speaking – Sasha Reid & Lily Cook.
JUNIOR CHAMPION – SASHA REID
SENIOR CHAMPION – ALEXANDER SHARRATT
Alexander and Oliver were the only two Woodbridgians amongst a very accomplished field in the senior speech and drama section of the Festival; Oliver won his prose reading class and came second in his verse speaking class with distinction; Alexander won the Senior Speech and Drama Championship Salver for the highest aggregate marks in solo acting, verse speaking and prose reading across all senior classes and was also awarded the Wardale Williams Cup for Excellence. Huge congratulations to both pupils on their outstanding achievements.
Oliver and Alexander were invited to perform (along with 4 others from The Abbey) at the Gala Concert in Sudbury.
The concert showcases the very best of performances from the whole Festival.
At the end of the concert, 2 very special awards are presented.
One of these is The Suffolk Free Press Anniversary Cup, given, on the recommendation of the adjudicators to the most promising performer aged 15 years or under, in Music, Speech & Drama, or Dance.
This year it was awarded to Alexander Sharratt.
This was a remarkable achievement to add to the fact that in the two major Performing Arts Festivals of Suffolk, Woodbridge School and The Abbey now have the reigning Junior and Senior Speech Champions in both.
The Abbey pupils also achieved an outstanding haul of accolades at the Sudbury festival, with 21 pupils achieving awards across a wide range of categories.
Score: Won 3-0
The first team travelled away to Saint Felix on Tuesday 7 March. Our players put in some excellent play in defence, and some direct running up front enabled Chris Henry to break through, after a strong tackle on the goalkeeper, to score the opening fantastic goal.
At half time the score was 1-0, but it didn’t reflect the dominance of Woodbridge in the match so far. During the second half, with a slight change of system, we were able to change the game and pushed forward with goal number two, and then a third in quick succession from Seb Lamb and Freeman Lok.
All 14 boys represented the first team extremely well on the day, and never stopped working hard to secure the School its first football victory in over 25 years! Very well done to the team, and we look forward to our first and second teams playing Royal Hospital school next week.
10 am, slipping and sliding alongside thousands of others under a heavy sky in the rolling Leicestershire countryside… and that was just walking the course at the UK Inter Counties Cross Country championships! As usual Mark Goddard and Dr Wharam were assisted by an absolutely superb parental support team and it was fantastic to see the Woodbridge runners making up such a sizeable proportion of a Suffolk team who were looking to punch well above their weight.
The UK Inter Counties is an elite competition between the very best in Britain with 44 counties (Wales, Scotland and N Ireland are divided into larger districts) fielding their best 8 runners in each age category.
First up the U13 boys. Following the mudfest of the Nationals at Nottingham, and then the excitement of taking the first three places at the East Anglian Prep Schools Finals, this was their third demanding weekend in a row. Did George Wharam, Charlie Turner, and Kit Evans Lombe still have anything left in the tank? And how would Edward Rufford, as a Year 7 running ‘a year up’, cope in such a big and talented field?
Charlie and George worked together moving steadily past their competitors, up and down the hills through the gooey mud; 60th, 50th, 40th, 30th, and still they pushed on pacing it brilliantly … 22nd for George Wharam, 27th for Charlie Turner. Kit Evans Lombe was 94th and Edward Rufford came an excellent 262nd that bodes well for the future. Suffolk just missed out on the medals with 4th place, an incredible achievement for such a small county. What a start for Woodbridge!
Next the U15 boys. Two weeks ago at the Nationals, Nathan Goddard edged into the top 20 for the first time with a brilliant 18th but the UK Inter Counties would be harder with some very good Welsh and Scottish runners expected to push him further down the order. With an impressive 29th Nathan was first back for Suffolk continuing his excellent run of form. George Rufford coped well with the mud and hills to finish 240th.
Inspired by the success of the boys it was now the turn of the U13 girls. Bea Thomas was second back for Suffolk in 152nd. Amy Goddard in Year 7, competing ‘a year up’, ran with maturity and intelligence to finish an excellent 177th.
The U15 girls were determined not to be outdone. Sarah Barker led the way for Suffolk in 48th, another National top 50 on what she described as one of her hardest ever courses. Amy Graham dug in to come a well-deserved 158th whilst Milly Buckingham paced it well and finished an encouraging 251st. To give you an idea of how fast the runners come through, Amy Graham, at 158th was just 27 seconds from breaking into the top 100!
So, yet another exceptional day for Woodbridge’s endurance runners! Eleven pupils ran for Suffolk against the very best in Britain, with four in the top fifty. Already being talked about as a national centre of excellence for endurance running the school has plans to develop this further.
Next weekend is the English Schools, the last race of the cross country season. A tough one as nearly all our runners will be a year young for their age category but confidence is high and rightly so.
