Month: March 2019
…And the search for enlightenment, or for knowledge of the unknowable. Or just for a happy ending? With charming and beguiling grace our five players set the scene: a family full of love and hope but few prospects seeking solace in each other and in storytelling. And what a story… the separated talents left searching fruitlessly without ‘sight’; the sightless searcher succeeding through unshakeable belief. One may fail, one may be thwarted; but with belief comes the courage to continue, to be resilient, and ultimately to find. The story’s end saw its family reunited and the philosopher’s stone secured; the story’s message saw the storytellers’ hopes renewed, and a feeling that their prospects are on the turn. Here’s to their success, to their prosperity, and, ultimately, to their love for each other! Hurrah!
Many congratulations to our Sixth Form quintet on their beautifully wrought rendering of this uplifting folk tale – they brought wit and warmth, and a glorious burst of springtime to a chilly March evening!
Sophie reports:
On the sunny morning of Wednesday 13 March, the Year 8s went on an amazing trip to BT Adastral Park in Martlesham as part of British Science Week.
After introductions and a brief safety talk we were straight off to the Innovation Centre, where companies owned by BT had setup a small mock shop to demonstrate futuristic technology and examples of electronics and wiring in everyday life. We visited a bank with a hologram for a worker; we went to BT Pulse where we met Double, a mobile iPad on wheels which allows workers across the world to be in the same room and work together; and we learnt how drones are currently being used and what businesses are having to consider in terms of security and flight space. It was fascinating to find out about the products and systems that already make jobs easier, as well as those we can expect to see soon in stores, hospitals and more!
After the tour we headed back to the main hall to explore a huge variety of exhibits. Opportunities abounded, from Space Race challenges, to the Adastral Park’s Ambulance Team’s heart rate machine! I had a go on quite a few of the wonderful exhibits, but my favourites were the Explorer Robots, where you had the chance to program the Bee Bots to complete a challenging course. I also loved the Learning in 360 Degrees exhibit, and wearing the Virtual Reality headsets to see around a virtual workplace – it was a lot of fun, even if I did come out feeling a little dizzy! There was something for everyone.
Then it was back to the main hall for the presentations. Loads of people from Woodbridge School won prizes for taking part in the various activities, including a first place for ‘The Lears’ team who managed to reach the Sun in the Space Race. Sadly, and all too soon, it was time to say goodbye and head back to the buses after a lovely, inspiring morning at Adastral Park. The staff were helpful and kind and were always suggesting great activities for us to take part in. It was a great trip and a fantastic way to celebrate British Science Week! Thank you to Mrs Calver and the teachers who took us on this trip! I really enjoyed it!
For the first time in 30 years, Woodbridge CCF has reached the CCF National Competition, and for the first time ever the school team has become the top CCF RAF drill team in the country out of 220 schools. 15 Schools took part in the the National Competition.
The School will now represent the RAF Air Cadets as the only CCF team in the Air Cadets National drill competition at RAF Honington in November. This competition is formed out of the 900 ATC units in the country reduced down to 6, meaning that out of 40,000 cadets across the country, Woodbridge CCF is not only the best CCF RAF drill team, but in the top 7 out of over 1000 cadet units as a whole.
After last year’s cancellation due to snow, we were very happy to be able to run the event. The amount of races has grown with the addition of the Year 3 and 4 individual race, for both boys and girls.
The children produced some amazing results across the whole age range and as a group of teams.
Top results
Year 3/4 race
- 3rd Felicity
- 6th Digby
- All boys finishing in the top 33
- All girls finished in the top 35
Year 5
- 1st Aston
- 4th Eloise
- Boys Team 1st All boys finishing in the top 16
- Girls Team 3rd All girls finished in the top half of the field
Year 6
- 1st Rose
- 3rd Lara
- 8Th Arthur
- Girls Team 1st All girls finished in the top 17
- Boys Team 6th All Boys finished in the top
Overall Team Results
Boys 1st Place
Girls 1st Place
The children’s World Book Day costumes have turned The Abbey into a wonderfully vibrant celebration of their favourite reading books. The day started with a fun filled assembly in which the winning costumes were announced and prizes awarded. The children watched the staff share their favourite stores and a scene from George’s Marvellous Medicine was acted out on stage. Mr Fernley was very convincing in his role as Grandma! Many exciting reading themed events took place during the day and at break and lunchtime the children took part in a reading treasure hunt within the school grounds. Happy World Book Day everyone!
We travelled to Ipswich High on a glorious afternoon and knew we had to be on our game to win this tournament but also knew that we had it in ourselves to do so. We started off playing St Joseph’s and from the very beginning played well and dominated them. This was a comfortable victory with all of the girls playing their part.
Next it was Ipswich High and they gave us a run for our money to start with, but we stayed calm! Maddie and Steph put in some great shots and Ruby distributed the ball well in the centre. Lily and Ada played well in defence, passing the ball securely up to Maggie and Chloe. Sure enough, we came out on top, knowing our next game would be our toughest.
Ipswich School have some strong players but Libbie, Esme, Izzy all played really well and kept possession of the ball vitally when we were ahead. But Ipswich then pulled it back to one score behind… we were counting down the seconds (well the Dads on the side-line were!) … and the hooter went at last! Phew.
Our last game was against our B team and the girls played really well and it was so good to see them all on a court together.
Well done, girls, a great display of netball, team work, belief and determination. You are a pleasure to coach and here’s to the next fixture!
The neutral venue of Harleston Magpies was used for this epic encounter. Woodbridge started the game strongly and never looked back with some fine midfield and forward play. Barnaby, making his junior 2 debut, settled his and the team’s nerves by scoring early on. There was then some lovely playing out from the back by Moses, Tom and Joe. The midfield three of Jonjo, James and Kai provided some lethal passes into our attacking players for them to capitalise and score more goals for the team, Luca doing this fantastically well, striking the ball cleanly to score two, with James getting the other. Poor Fred in goal didn’t have too much to do but when called upon made some important saves.
The boys’ First team worked hard for their 4-1 win over New Hall, dominating and creating chances throughout. Despite the score line, the boys were nonetheless somewhat inconsistent in their control so New Hall felt they were always in the game. On the plus side, the deep defence and distribution improved well during the course of the match.
In the 3rd minute Woodbridge set the best possible standard with a perfect team goal building up the pitch, using the width, and well converted by Hugo. For the remainder of the first half things were a bit more scrappy: New Hall were offered uncontested shots on goal, and play tended to drift to the middle of the pitch. However, in the 25th minute Henry finished well with a first time effort, catching the GK off guard and giving Woodbridge a deserved cushion at half time.
Vice-captain, Oliver B pounced on a third rebound from the GK in the first minute after half time, making an excellent decision to flick the ball high rather than going at the keeper. New Hall came back after a bit of sloppy defence from Woodbridge, to make it 1-3; but George sealed the match for his team when he deflected the ball into the goal in front of the right post, perfectly positioned.
Everyone in the team contributed to this good win. Captain, Toby, led from the front to earn a unanimous player of the match performance.
Photo: Stephen McKay / Framlingham Church
Where to begin? At the beginning – and our thanks to St Michael’s Church for its splendid hospitality. Ms Weston welcomed all, and the Chamber Choir raised the roof with O, Radiant Dawn to set the tone for what lay ahead. It was compelling, mesmerising and full of drama. Purcell, Parry and Bruckner kept up the momentum marvellously!
Then the Chamber Orchestra under Mr Turner’s baton danced beguilingly on Holst’s Brook Green – the first of their three wonderful visits to centre stage. Chorum, our new all girls small choir, offered the first of the ‘treats’ with the ever-popular Panis Angelicus of Franck and a less familiar but no less beautiful Mendelssohn, before the full Choir reassembled for some truly rousing Finzi – God is Gone Up – and all the organ stops are pulled out!
A fantastic first half – topped by the second? It had to be a close run thing. The orchestra’s Grieg was gorgeous, its St Paul’s Suite quite exceptional (with a showman’s finale to celebrate!); Chorum (Elgar) and the Choir (Palestrina, Victoria, Stainer, and Taverner’s riveting and haunting The Lamb); and then all together now for Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. Oh joy! What an evening!
Many, many congratulations to all the performers, to Mr Turner and Ms Weston (and in absentio Mr Milton ), and many thanks to our audience for braving the wind and rain – it was worth it!
The FitzGerald Society is Woodbridge School’s Junior Oxbridge programme for academic highfliers who seek intellectual challenges beyond the curriculum. Events so far have included an afternoon discussing arsenic poisoning, as well as trips to the British Museum, the Wellcome Collection and a University of Cambridge Year 10 Open Day. On Friday 1st March, the Science Lecture Theatre was transformed into the Royal Courts of Justice for the main Lent Term event – a Moot (or mock law trial). We were particularly fortunate in having three extremely eminent legal guests present: the Rt Hon Sir John Waite (formerly of the Court of Appeal), Mr Justice Beaumont (ex-Recorder of London) and Mr Justice Bevan (formerly of the Old Bailey). They were joined by Mr Finbow, Chairman of the Seckford Foundation and George Vestey, the High Sheriff of Suffolk.
The audience (from Years 7, 8, 9 and 11, plus parents and friends) made up the jury and were treated to a display of impassioned debate and close interrogation from the two legal teams (who were in wigs and gowns, thanks to the generosity of various parents). However, unlike in normal courtroom dramas, the cast had not learned lines from a script. The barristers had been presented with a series of witness statements, police documents, and summaries of various laws. From that, they had to decide who was to be called to give evidence, to formulate what questions to ask the witnesses, and to anticipate what the other side might ask on cross-examination. Moreover, the prosecution had to consider the difference between Murder, Unlawful Act Manslaughter, and Child Destruction, as well as which would be the most appropriate charge against the defendant. (The defendant, Michael Attleborough, had stabbed his pregnant girlfriend in the abdomen. The baby was born prematurely, and the defendant was accused of causing its death.)
Similarly, the witnesses had to work out what their responses would be to likely questions, and there were some superb character studies of 999 operatives and police officers, medical experts, an uncertain shopkeeper, a loyal – but hilariously nasty – sister, and the aggrieved (or aggravating?) girlfriend. The judge gave a studied and fair summing-up, and then it was over to the jury. Was Attleborough (currently serving four years’ imprisonment in Ipswich jail for GBH) guilty of Manslaughter? The jury’s excitement was palpable as they argued with each other. Guilty – he’s a wrong ’un. Not Guilty – the medical evidence isn’t strong enough. Guilty – he stabbed her in the abdomen. Not Guilty – the baby was born two weeks after the attack and he didn’t intend to harm it. So the arguments flowed this way and that, all showing how much evidence the jurors had absorbed. Finally, the vote was called and the verdict was announced. Not Guilty: 44; Guilty: 25. So the defendant was free – to return to jail.
With the verdict delivered, it was the turn of our learned guests to speak about the Moot. All agreed that it had been of a very high standard. Mr Justice Beaumont made some valuable remarks about procedure. Mr Justice Bevan commented on how very convincing barristers, judge and witnesses had been. The Rt Hon Sir John Waite echoed these statements, asking how many schools would take time out of a busy curriculum to undertake such a worthwhile endeavour. He ended with a clarion call for us all to consider the value of the Rule of Law: This is the administration of Justice; this is an embodiment of the British tradition of fair play; this is the Rule of Law on which all our liberties are founded. And how hard and terrible a life it would be for us all if the Rule of Law did not prevail as it does in this country.
Quite. And to judge from the enthusiasm of the participants and audience alike, Moots – and all the benefits which they bring – are here to stay at Woodbridge.