Category: Woodbridge News

It is many years since Woodbridge has entered its choirs for the Festival (I can vouch for at least 20!), if indeed they ever have, so there was plenty of excitement amongst the singers but perhaps a little uncertainty about what to expect as the buses pulled out of Woodbridge and headed to hosts Orwell Park on Tuesday. It proved to be Cantabile that tested the waters, in the junior classes which ran throughout the afternoon, and our younger singers took to the competition stage as if veterans. The song they chose for the ‘Own choice, junior choirs’ class was ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ – lonely they were not, however. With six in the class they had to be at their best, and earning a rapturously received distinction Cantabile were just that, and took a richly deserved first place. By the end of the afternoon they had added to their trophy cabinet the laurels as winners of the overall Suffolk Festival Junior Choir Championship.

Back to school, relaxation and recuperation, and then two coaches and two choirs set out for the evening’s entertainment. Cantabile, quietly confident; Chamber Choir… fine tuning on the coach (there’s nothing like a singing charabanc).

The Chamber Choir’s ‘Love walked in’ impressed the adjudicator for beautiful tone and harmonies, fine clarity and lyricism to earn a high distinction in the ‘Under 19 choirs Own Choice’ class; Shenandoah won the Open Choral Folk Arrangements class with another high distinction; Bruckner’s difficult ‘Ave Maria’ earned the choir another first place and high commendation. The adjudicator was full of admiration for the technical and musical clarity and mastery, especially for a choir of such relative youth, and hopes that there will be a fruitful search for finding even more passion in performances to supplement such skills (Funky Voices, another of the competing choirs, offering a tremendous example of how raw enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment can help lift a performance).

Meanwhile in another of the open classes Cantabile had returned to the stage to sing in the ‘Song from a show’ class: ‘Feed the birds’. Not a dry eye in the house. Some compositions are just made for a young choir and this must be one; the adjudicator could ‘have listened to Cantabile all night’. Praise indeed – and another first place and distinction!

And then it was time for closing thoughts and the final award for the evening – The Suffolk Festival U20 Choir Championship – our Chamber Choir.

A great day; a valuable experience in managing all that the heat of competition might throw up; and fantastic results with both choirs now champions of Suffolk. Many congratulations to all the choristers, and of course to Miss Weston as well.

Cantabile

1st place: Own choice class (distinction) ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’
1st place: Song from a show/film (distinction) ‘Feed the birds’

Overall winners of: Suffolk Festival Junior Choir Championship (against a large field of competitors)

Chamber Choir

2nd place: Own Choice (distinction) ‘Love walked in’ Gershwin
1st place: Choral Folk Arrangements (distinction) ‘Shenandoah’ Trad.
1st place: Choral Sacred Songs and Anthems (highly commended) ‘Ave Maria’ Bruckner

Overall winners: Suffolk Festival U20 Choir Championship

Year 6s went to Betty’s Tea Rooms in York for afternoon tea, amongst the other activities they did over their 4 days in York. Good fun was had by all.

The Pupils of The Abbey made an awe inspiring discovery on Monday. Mr Lewis, the school caretaker, was digging in the school grounds over the weekend when he found something quite astounding. Just before break time the children got the chance to see ‘The Hole’ for themselves. As they looked at the strange red lights emanating from a hole on the edge of the Abbey grounds their imaginations exploded into overdrive with ideas about underground caverns, lost civilisations and submerged alien spacecraft. Their Thinking and Imagining learning skills were harnessed in a manner that allowed them to produce ambitious pieces of creative writing about their journey into The Hole. The buzz around what, or who, might be in The Hole has continued throughout the day. In the words of Mulder and Scully “The truth is out there…”

The Sports Leaders had a diverse day which was interesting, informative and fun. Safeguarding and dementia talks, planning and running a Y7 tournament and skill session and a Circus Skills workshop.

Having studied Mandarin for almost half a term, all our Year 7 pupils had the opportunity to experience some different aspects of Mandarin Culture on field day. Their morning focused on three activities: fan dancing, traditional drumming and bean bag sewing with a cultural twist.

Chinese fan dance has been a part of China’s heritage for over two thousand years. It is used to help tell stories and maintain the traditions of Chinese culture as well offering entertainment. By watching the demonstration and having a go themselves, pupils were able to understand that fans are not only functional and decorative, but also play a critical part in passing down Chinese culture.

Just as with fan dance, drumming can be traced back thousands of years in China. First used in battle, drums are now seen as musical instruments, and are very often used at celebratory occasions. Each with their own individual drum, our Year 7s were able to appreciate the instruments at a close range and, more importantly, to play rhythms according to instruction.

The challenges and new learning continued with the bean bags; sewing a cube-shaped bean bag out of square cloths seemed to be a first for many pupils! However, all took the task to heart and tried their very best.

Many congratulations to Milly Buckingham, Denis Alpay and Thomas Rutherford who have all successfully completed their Bronze Awards recently.

Many congratulations to Asmee Mishra who earned a certificate of distinction for her performance in the Junior Mathematics Olympiad right at the end of last term. This is the invitation-only top extension paper for those who have done exceptionally well in the Junior National Mathematics Challenge earlier in the year. She scored an immensely impressive 37 points to put her well into the top 25% of our nation’s invited top mathematicians, and just a whisker away from being awarded a bronze medal.

Many congratulations to Henry Bull, Lily Butler-Mayer, Alex Evans Lombe, Poppy Fletcher, Joshua Graves, Christopher Long, James Martin, Myles McEvoy, Toby McNally, Oliver Phelan, George Rufford, and Guy Seagers who all – and this is a first for the school – completed and gained their certificates for Bronze while still in Year 10! (And just in time for the final whole school assembly last summer.)

The award is a significant commitment and these dozen between them undertook an extended period of volunteering (ranging from working in charity shops, helping keep a village green in good order and helping at an animal rescue centre), learnt or developed skills (music or shooting for example) and committed to a sustained programme of a new physical activity; not to mention two two-day expeditions in the local area (ah – I’ve just mentioned them). Magnificent.

Abhi Durbakula, Fred Bartlett-Smith, Charlie Williams and Mr Hunt all took part in the 1st Martlesham Thematic tournament, held on Saturday 23 September. Abhi scored 4 out of 6 and finished equal fourth in the Under 75 grading event, Fred Bartlett-Smith scored 2½ from the 4 games he played and Charlie scored a creditable 1½ out of 6 in his first tournament; many congratulations to all three.  Congratulations also to Mr Hunt who won the Open section with 5 wins from 5 games! A second event is planned for Saturday 21 October.