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The Junior 1st Girls clicked from start to finish in their victory over St Joseph’s U13A. Co-captains Maddy and Steph led from the front, encouraging the players from start to finish: it made for a fantastic team atmosphere. Woodbridge had the perfect start when a training ground move to the right, down the flank and back into the goalmouth worked brilliantly. Maddy fed the ball to Lexie who made the high lead, Lexie playing the perfect pass across, and Georgie on hand with the finishing touch! Maddy made it 2-0 shortly before half time with a great strike. The team was buzzing at the break having played really well, in attack and also in defence. Isabel, Ada and Chloe being rocks in defence and distributing well to allow Steph, Esme, and other midfield and forward players to play with freedom. Great structure in the defensive press gave Woodbridge confidence as well, as they were able to turn a lot of ball over and start counter attacks.

Libbie’s goal halfway through the second half secured the win for Woodbridge and now it was a matter of pride to fight for the first clean sheet of the season. Ruby in goal did just that and played another faultless match. Shortly before the final whistle Maddy scored her second with the second perfect team goal, mirroring the first. Every player had their ‘match of the season’ to date and produced great hockey to watch: fast, tough, and skilful in a quality end-to-end match. Well done to everyone!

The Junior 6s travelled to Harleston to play Norwich School for their first match of the season – and for some, their first ever hockey match. Although a little nervous, the girls were excited. The team took a few minutes to settle in to the game and understand their positions and job roles, but after 5 minutes, confidence grew which enabled the girls to dribble the ball into space. Our passing was not as strong as the opposition, but the determination was definitely stronger; chasing our opponents to try and gain possession of the ball. Grace and Eleanor worked tirelessly in defence to ensure the opposing attacked did not reach the goal every time they entered their attacking D and midfield players Hannah and Phoebe, chased the ball up and down the pitch, supporting both in defence and attack. Well done to Imogen and Ariana who played in goal for the first time ever and both made some great saves. We were unlucky to go down in the first half 1 – 0, but we managed to keep the score line the same in the second half. Well done to everyone in the team, we look forward to playing RHS away after half term.

U19 South Suffolk tournament
Although we are currently in the hockey term, the South Suffolk round of the National Schools’ Netball Cup is played during October. The U19 team travelled to Rushmere to face strong teams each with their own County, Regional or Maverick Futures players, so it was going to be a tough afternoon. And they were excited by the prospect. The team played 7 games of 14 minutes each, with no breaks: in itself a challenge. First Farlingaye: 13 – 3; next Northgate: 7 – 1. So far so very good…

Unfortunately Ipswich High were made of sterner stuff, but defeat was by a close enough margin to earn a losers’ point. Next came an Ipswich School double-header: against the B team an easy 8 – 1, marred only by an injury to Joanne. Against the A team… and it went to the wire… the final minute … 7-7… our shot, our goal! 8-7… Their shot… their miss – our victory! With tired legs from giving everything in the Ipswich game, we faced RHS, who we knew were extremely strong and would probably win the tournament, so we stepped off the gas slightly in preparation for our final deciding game against St Joseph’s. Victory would earn a place at the County round in November, so there was all to play for. And we were winning 6-5 until the last 10 seconds of the game, only for St Joseph’s to tie things up. The final whistle went and with it qualification by just that one lost point. The girls’ determination and tenacity cannot be faulted: they played brilliantly on little practice, owing to their hockey commitments, and were desperately unlucky not to gain 3rd place. They should be extremely proud of their performance on the day. Well done!

Team: Chloe (Captain), Georgia, Mollie, Maddie, Jemima, Katy G, Lily, Katie B & Joanne.

George, Charlie and Gabe were put of the winning Suffolk U17 rugby squad who successfully beat Norfolk and Cambridgeshire to win the East Anglian County Cup, this week.

Sounds of the Soapbox
Wednesday night saw our first evening of poetry performed in the Seckford Theatre as part of the 3rd Woodbridge Youth Poetry Festival. Our now regular poetry friend, Amy Wragg, with fellow artists from Get On The Soapbox, treated us to a wonderfully diverse set performed to a 150 strong audience. Amy, a performance poet in her own right, is so much more than a host, drawing us in to recollections of her life filling stages at festivals in ‘Take Me Back To The Fields’, considering ‘What Poetry Is’, and collapsing the distinction between page and stage artists. She then introduced us to Allanah Jo-Ann Peck, an upcoming poet based in Ipswich whose work reverberated with passion and fragility. Meditations on her dog ‘Fletcher’ and the fallout from a university led CV workshop were particular highlights. Matt Annis, a personal favourite of mine, touched on the political, the familial and the commercial, launching an uncomfortable attack on the insidious nature of advertisements on social media with his robotic refrain of ‘fit in the mould, do as you’re told, be what you’re sold’. After a short interval our headline act for the evening, John Osborne, entertained us gently and with words that seemed to come naturally and sweetly yet with a core of sharp humour that never alienated his enthusiastic audience. He considered the plight of his friend at school, Michael Jackson – yes, like the singer, yes, people have said that before, yes, it is quite annoying – and I found myself wondering whether John himself has been the recipient of such comments – yes, like the playwright. But his poems never looked back in anger, rather they recollected with joy his closeness with his twin sister, two astounding young buskers on Hastings pier, that dream of buying a new sieve. My personal favourite was his thought-experiment of meeting Kylie on an online dating website and whether she’d respond to a message from a shy guy who lives in Norwich in a house with a chubby neighbour who snores. He should be so lucky.

This was an evening that showcased the imaginative possibilities to be found in our ordinary world, the spaces we live in and people we share them with, the feelings that we all struggle with, and made poetry in response and as a sort of solution. I am sure each poet will have inspired the audience to go home and write something, perhaps in anger, but also in a spirit of honesty and tenderness.

       

On Friday 12 October, 25 pupils from Y10 upwards went to the British Museum for the first trip run by Miss Wright, the head of the FitzGerald Society, with the help of Dr Renshaw and Mr Hillman. The FitzGerald Society is a society aimed at intellectual high-fliers in Year Ten and Eleven who may be considering applying to Oxford or Cambridge University in the future. The Society is a way for all these people to get together as a group to explore intellectual challenges beyond the normal school curriculum, and to encounter a range of skills and interests which may increase their chances of fulfilling their ambitions of Oxbridge.

During the morning we analysed images of Power and Authority, where we studied how ideas can be conveyed about a society without using words. We focused on the Assyrian society, which was at its strongest and most powerful during the 9th to 7th century BC. This activity was focused on enhancing our analytical and observational skills, looking at how different aspects of Assyrian society were depicted in carved reliefs and to consider how the sculpture conveyed ideas of power and authority.

In the afternoon we headed off to a nearby museum, The Wellcome Collection, where we focused on the history of medicine and how medicine has been tackled and portrayed throughout the years. We spent time as a group discussing different aspects of the exhibition and what interested us about medicine over a very long time period. We also had a look at the architecture in medicine: How hospitals in the past were and what hospitals in the future may look like.

We, as the FitzGerald Society, went on this trip to broaden our knowledge and understanding of two very different topics, to widen our knowledge and to see if we’d consider studies linked to either of these two topics. The FitzGerald Society is a great opportunity and I would encourage any pupils who are considering Oxbridge to join the society!

 

       

Suffolk Schools Qualifying Race
On a glorious sunny day at RHS, team Woodbridge arrived with 34 boys and 33 girls all in the Woodbridge vests ready to compete against the other 1700 children from 52 schools who had ventured out with a common desire of finishing in the top 50 to earn a place in the next Suffolk Qualifier.

The afternoon started with over one hundred competing in two senior races: in the girls’ event Amy and Sarah ran extremely well to finish in 4th and 7th respectively, while for the boys Nathan finished 2nd and Alex 4th, all four running with great control, taking their time to work through the field and finish in the top 10. Chris was not far behind, also finishing strongly to end in a well-deserved 16th position.

Racing next and suitably inspired, the minor girls and boys put in some outstanding runs of their own: Eloise 3rd, Rose 4th and Lara 10th (Rose and Lara both a year under age!); Sasha and Georgina 19th and 22nd; Millie a fantastic 29th, much to her own surprise!; Sophia showed incredible fighting spirit to finish 37th despite a big fall requiring first aid after the finish; Nancy A who must be thanked for helping poor Sophia came in a strong 69th, with Nancy N just on her tail 72nd. Phoebe and Bea both finished the race strong in 96th and 112 respectively.  The minor boys also excelled with Ethan and James both finishing in the top 10 (8th and 9th) and Jonjo close behind in 16th. John, Jack and Will ran in a nice little pack at the front of the race, ensuring qualification for the next round in positions 23rd, 24th and 36th, while Arthur, Oscar and Oliver joined them in the top half of the race (65th, 69th, 75th). There were about 700 minors competing overall to give an indication of how well ours did.

The Junior girls saw Ruby 1st  and Amy 4th finish in the top 10, with Ruby running away with the race by an astonishing margin. Anna made another top 20 finish with 14th and Isobel and Ella made the top 50 in 22nd and 47th. Libbie came in 57th and with Kitty 71st , Madeline 86th, Wilhelmina 95th and Iris 96th all breaking the top 100 it was an excellent performance of group running.  The junior boys performed well, too.  Henry was in excellent form finishing a strong 3rd with Ed just behind him in 11th. Jonny proved that running is definitely in the family with an impressive 22nd and with Moses finishing in 41st Woodbridge will have a solid number of representatives in the next round. Ronald was unlucky to just miss out on his place finishing 51st, whilst Senen in his first race finished a creditable 82nd. Samuel finished well in 116th, and Edward came 131st despite becoming ill while running (Tom 126th and George 124th helped him around the course and supported him through the finish – great teamwork).  Once again all our runners were in the top half of their races, with 600 juniors competing on the day.

The Inter girls saw the second winner of the day for Woodbridge as April strode around confidently and made it to the finish line a good 50m in front of her nearest rival. Jess ran better than ever to finish an excellent 7th and even surprising herself; Bea 10th continued where she left off last season with another excellent performance whilst Charlotte 16th, Emily 23rd and Ashleigh 25th ran strong races to confirm their places in the next round of the Suffolk trials.  The Inter boys rose to the challenge equally well: Charlie 2nd was closely followed by Kit 3rd and George 6th, all three finishing effortlessly; and Tom 18th and Barnaby 22nd worked hard together to ensure a top 25 position in what was Barnaby’s first race for school.  300 athletes competed at Inter.

All in all it was a fantastic day of running, with lots of positive improvement and some outstanding performances.  Overall out of 65 runners 38 have so far made it through to the next round with a few more potentially joining them.  The school also had a record 18 top 10 finishes this year and all should be congratulated for the hard work and dedication that it takes to perform at this level.  As a school we won both inter categories and were second in both junior categories (but first combined); the minors had no team event, but judging by the results would have been top three or better, and would almost certainly have won the girls’ event.

The next round of the Suffolk qualifiers takes place at Ipswich High on Saturday 1st December so we will hopefully have even more positive news then.

       

County Round
Following on from an extremely successful event on Thursday, anticipation was high for the first round of the National Schools’ Cup. Unlike many other Cross Country races this is a team competition in which the best four runners count. The top three teams in the county round then qualify for the regional round. To add extra spice our runners knew that the regional and national round of the competitions are being held at Woodbridge School this year, so the opportunity to represent your school on ‘home soil’ is an opportunity not to be missed!

The competition began with the Junior girls’ team of Nancy, Issie, Georgina, Eloise, Ruby and Sophia. The initial pace of the race left a couple behind, but eventually the group settled into their running and made significant progress through the race, ably led by the imperious Ruby who finished a couple of fields ahead of her nearest rival in first. Eloise once again gave it her all and finished in an excellent 7th. Issie (with a slight injury) pushed herself to the limit for a 17th place finish ahead of Sophia 29th, Georgina 35th and Nancy 37th, working together to secure a team total of 54 points and qualification for the next round.

The Inter Girls were next: April immediately hit the front to dominate the race, controlling the speed to forge a comfortable lead and win; Molly produced an excellent performance, surging through the field on the second lap to finish 4th, whilst Jess and Bea worked hard as a team to push each other on and finish in 6th and 7th respectively. Amy 10th and Anna 15th both ran excellent races and ensured that the team total of 17 points was enough to give the team a dominant 1st place.

The Junior boys had been so enthralled supporting the previous race that they nearly forgot to line up at the start, and so when the gun went they were towards the back. Undeterred they picked off runners quickly and by the second lap were at top speed: the race eventually became a line of Woodbridge vests vying for top honours. Eventually the boys finished in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th positions for a points total of 26 and another 1st place for the school. A fantastic race from Edward, Ethan, Jonny, James, Moses and Jonjo.

The inter boys’ race began with Charlie immediately out in front to dominate the race, setting his marker down to finish comfortably in 1st place. Kit meanwhile settled into an excellent pace and slowly made his way through the field to take 2nd some 50m behind. George also powered through the field to finish in 6th, while Henry effectively sprinted the whole third lap to turn 15th into a fantastic 7th on the line. Tom and Ed worked hard to bring the team home in 16th and 17th.  The team total of 16 points earned a third first place for Woodbridge.

All four teams through to the next round – three in first place!  Roll on the regional finals on the 10th November here at Woodbridge!

The U15Bs put on a great display of determination and team play against Finborough recently.  In particular, in the second part of the first half once our team had settled to its task, Emily made some great attacking runs up the pitch and Erin kept things tidy at the back.  We discussed decision making at half time and tracking back which made a huge difference in the second half, exemplified by Phoebe and Katie B who worked a fantastic attack only for the ball to come back off the post.  We made some great chances in the second half and really put the pressure on Finborough, their goalie (who was a year older!) making a series of fine saves.  Talia and Lottie played some perfect passes up the pitch with Ella and Becky working hard in their attacking roles.  Sophie and Bea had solid games in defence, clearing the ball wide, and Lakisha and Elsa played well in goal.  Katie B-M and Olivia also made telling contributions and Maisy put some real pressure on the right of the pitch.  It was an exciting game to watch and we were unlucky to lose 0-2.  Well done girls, and many thanks to all the parents for supporting.

The under fourteens very much enjoyed taking part in their first tournament of the season recently, hosted at Portman Road. Split into two teams, the first group opened their day against Kesgrave A in a hard fought and tiring encounter concentrated in midfield. Kesgrave took an early lead they never relinquished, but Fazil and Theo in particular helped us get back into the game, and Ollie made a brilliant penalty save towards the end.  The second game, against Beccles A, was a slower paced match with much of it played in the opposition half. Moses made a series of brilliant tackles in what proved to be a frustrating encounter in the end, as Beccles stole a goal on the break to win.  Unfortunately the pattern was similar in the final game against Saxmundham A: plenty of possession but very few attempts on goal.  In an end to end game, Saxmundham took their two chances to secure the win.   The B team had a better day of it: in the first game Max scored twice up front while Tom kept a clean sheet in defence thanks to a fine save. 3 points won – the team feeling good! The second game was against Farlingaye which added a bit of local rivalry to the proceedings. In a tight encounter we defended as hard as possible and Erwan made some amazing saves. The match ended 0-0, giving us a well-earned point.  The final games was against group leaders Kesgrave (we were joint second). Our approach was determined, but two headers from the opposition in rapid succession proved too much for us as they ran out winners by 3-0. The team, made up of Year 8 and Year 9 players who had not played together before, was proud of its efforts and the points gained.