Category: Prep News
Despite the weather, yesterday’s Stepping Into Business was a huge success – the children in Year 6 loved setting up their stalls, serving their numerous customers and managing their money. All the teams have been busily completing their profit and loss sheets this morning and winners will be announced very soon…
Many thanks to all who came to support as well as to all those parents who assisted in the run-up to the event. A particular thanks goes to our Business Angels, Adam Saunders, Nick Deacon, Mark Carter, Vicky Smith, Isobel Bilgen and Richard Phillips, for their support and guidance in the project.
And finally, a very big well done to all of Year 6…a huge achievement for their first steps into the business world!
Miss Ballam
The town was out in force to celebrate the efforts of its citizens young and old competing in the Woodbridge Shufflers’ junior race and 10k last Sunday. The sun was out in force as well – glorious if you were there to support, and revel in the pre-event entertainment provided magnificently on the Chapel Lawn by the wonderful Swing Band. Sunshine and Swing – a perfect combination, and the music rolled richly over the verdant grounds, relaxing tense muscles and filling nervous hearts and minds with positive thoughts. The applause flowed for Mr Shepherd and his virtuosos, and then the scene shifted to the highways and byways of Woodbridge.
The Junior Race was an extraordinary endorsement of our fantastic running programme. Resplendent in Woodbridge tops, our boys and girls dominated proceedings as the results couldn’t fail to show:
In a field of 140 athletes, Woodbridge School Pupils filled 4 of the top 5, 6 of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20 positions. With some 30 athletes in total we accounted for almost a quarter of the field and the sea of red running through town was a sight to behold. All of our athletes finished in the top half and the running group were particularly proud of Rufus Davis, who in his first year with us, finished a credible 40th completing the 1500 m in 6:01
Medal winners were:
C.Turner – Overall race winner in his pink socks and Gold u16B
K.Evans Lombe – Second in the race, also in pink socks and silver u16B
A.Hill – Third overall, first lady and gold u16G
R.Vinton – Fifth overall, second lady and Gold u12G
M.Marshall – Silver u16G
E.Rufford – Silver u14B
A.Goddard – Gold u14G
J.Hattan – Bronze u12B
A.Jackson – Silver u14G
R.Jackson – Silver u12G
O.Ripman – Bronze U8B
And then in the Senior 10k itself, it was time for the most extraordinary moment of the day without doubt: Nathan Goddard, not yet 16, finishing fourth from a field of over 650. Fourth! In 35:10! Needless to say winning the under 18 pennant to boot! And not too far behind in 20th (38:05) Alex Evans Lombe ran a marvellous race as well. Chris Long, with just over a year of running behind him deserves a special mention as he was almost in the top 10% finishing 84th in 42:36. These three were our school’s undoubted highlights, with parents and school running club regulars, Mr Turner winning the Over 50 category in a very quick 36:04 for 9th place, closely followed by Mr Rufford in 13th in 37:17.
Some fantastic staff results included Mr Smith (39:49) and Mr Garvie (41:10) both making it into the top 100, as well as Mr Streat (51:44), Mr Lubbock (57:32 )and Ms Start ( 51:25).
With so many athletes competing on the day we may well have missed some names and we apologise in advance if that is indeed the case.
One more incredible highlight. Our Marketing Team put a massive effort into the day and decided to raise funds for one of the official charities of the race. We are extremely proud to announce that pupils and staff have raised over £500 for the East Anglian Air Ambulance, an outstanding conclusion to a great day!
Many congratulations to all of our runners: pupils, staff, parents and OW’s.
The Head Boy and Head Girl for next year are Harry Hobday and Lily Proudfoot. From a very strong field of candidates, they were chosen for a number of reasons. Both have been great enthusiasts during their time at the school and balanced an excellent work ethic with a huge range of extra-curricular involvement. Both have had leadership experience and were able to talk with great insight about the nature of leadership in their interview with Mr Tetley. Both are also superb role models and very approachable to younger students.
Abbey swimmers have had a storming start to 2018!
C Hattan, G Phillips, E Carter and M Pommier all qualified to compete in the County Championships, held over three weekends at Crown Pools, Ipswich, through February.
Out of a possible 15 events, C Hattan qualified in 14, including the challenging 200m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle. G Phillips picked up 12 qualifications and E Carter three. M Pommier had the challenge of swimming up a year, because of when her birthday fell, so had to qualify with and compete against largely Year 7s.
There were some excellent individual results, with both C Hattan and G Phillips making individual finals, but potentially the highlight was the 200m Freestyle Team Relay where an enthusiastically and loudly supported Deben team won a well-deserved bronze medal. C Hattan and G Phillips making up crucial time in the last two legs.
A great result for one of the smaller clubs (that doesn’t even have its own swimming pool at the moment!) On the basis of their performances this year, C Hattan, G Phillips and E Carter have been selected to attend the Suffolk County ASA Development programme, part of the England Swimming performance pathway.
The Year 5 art students visited Bury St Edmunds Cathedral to see their collaborative Art work on display as part of a public exhibition entitled “Choices”. The children enjoyed seeing their work and sketching areas they found interesting. We discussed how, why and when we make choices in life.
The exhibition had a biblical reference; we heard the story of Jesus in the desert and discussed how Lent is all about making choices.
Year 5 were lucky enough to each add a Lego brick to the model of the Cathedral and engaged brilliantly when touring and learning about the different aspects of the building itself.
On Monday 12 March, George, a former pupil of Woodbridge School, came to The Abbey to give a talk to Year 6 about the CCF. CCF stands for Combined Cadet Force. It has different sections: the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force.
The CCF teaches you lots of exciting skills; about being responsible, leadership and self-confidence by doing adventurous activities and teaches you how to speak in public. He talked about the importance of being part of a team, to look out for each other and to help one another.
You can join CCF in Year 9. Every month you get to do something amazing like fly a plane from a RAF Base, which would be extremely fun. Year 13 is the highest rank and you become a leader and have a lot of responsibility, such as attending meetings with teachers to plan activities for CCF.
He talked about The Duke of Edinburgh Awards. For the Bronze Award there are local activities and camps, the Silver Award camping in the Lake District and for the Gold Award he went to Morocco to climb the Atlas Mountains. Which sounds amazing!
We are delighted to announce that, just as we celebrate the successes of our pupils, we also like to congratulate our staff on their achievements.
Mrs Christina Clubb (Deputy Head at The Abbey) was commemorated at an awards ceremony this week. She is the proud recipient of the The Suffolk Schools Tennis Association, Tennis Teacher of The Year Award.
This award is in recognition of Mrs Clubb’s many years of service and her commitment to ensuring that tennis features as a summer sport in the fixture calendar.
Well done Mrs Clubb, we are very proud of you and you fully deserve your recognition.
Such a delightful performance of The Pied Piper at The Abbey.
Bravo to cast and crew for such a wonderful rendition.
Becoming a parent is an exciting time. Our first thoughts as parents are that we want our children to be healthy, fulfilled and happy; ready to enjoy their journey, embracing challenges along the way.
At what point does this change? Parents in the past have informed me that they have decided that Kate (not her real name) is destined for Oxford and will have a career in Medicine. Kate was 3 at the time and struggling with the concept of sharing her tractor.
All parents want the best for their children (and if they don’t, we should be questioning; “why not?”). Sending a child to school should enable the team behind the child; the parents, grandparents, friends, extended family and school staff, to work together to ensure that each individual is supported in the best way possible.
Schools should be about educating the whole child. They should have breadth and balance in the curriculum, value the Arts, enable the gifted, support those with additional needs, encourage independence, promote collaboration, celebrate success, develop individuality, advance academics and advocate teamwork.
The educational environment should be all things to all pupils. Schools should be unashamedly all-encompassing and concerned with developing every aspect.
School life should go beyond the basics of academic rigour and, if that is the single most important focus of a school, I would argue the point is being missed. We should be educating the mind, the body and the spirit. Supporting children to know themselves, recognising their strengths and weaknesses in order that they may continue to grow and develop in all areas. At the end of their time in school our children should emerge as happy, confident and well-rounded young adults; equipped with the examination results to open doors and the skills to ensure the paths that lead from them can be followed.
A good education should be a happy one, filled with positive memories (box-cart racing, productions, recitals, achievement, matches, friendship; not just tutoring and exam prep) and the chance to feel fulfilled, challenged and engaged. If this is achieved then the adults of the future will have been educated beyond the basics and have the transferable skills to cope with the ever-changing workplace.
If you are a parent and you are reading this, do pause for a moment and ask yourself – What do I want for my child?
On Monday 5 March we competed at one of the ten IAPS regional galas.
We took six swimmers to the gala at Bishop’s Stortford College who all swam in individual events. All of our swimmers performed very well in a highly competitive event and posted very pleasing times. We are now waiting with our fingers crossed that some of the times are in the Top 20 across all of the other galas. This would mean that the swimmer will have qualified for the National Finals, which is being hosted at the London Aquatics Centre in June.
Our team was comprised of E Carter, C Hattan, G Phillips, G Pommier, M Pommier and L Zie.