Category: Prep News
The Anglia Inter County Schools Cross Country took place in Northampton last weekend, with 22 of our athletes representing Suffolk. Taking six of the eight team victories, it was an amazing performance from everyone.
Suffolk Schools select teams of 16 across four age groups covering Year 6 to year 13, to compete against Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
It was a fantastic day with our athletes making a major contribution to the Suffolk Schools team that were dominant on the day, and taking six of the eight team victories. This obviously meant Suffolk Schools were crowned Anglian Schools Champions, defending the title they won last year!
Woodbridge School top individual honours went to Year 12’s Henry, who was 2nd in the Senior Boys, taking the individual Silver medal.
Our stand-out team contribution was the Minor Boys (Year 6 and 7) where six of our athletes finished in the top 12 – an amazing performance!
Woodbridge School athletes full results:
Minor Girls:
- 12 India (Year 6 – India was 5th Suffolk finisher)
- 15 Ella (Year 6)
- 17 Marina (Year 7)
- 18 Grace (Year 7)
- 26 Alexandra (Year 6)
Minor Boys:
- 5 Dexter (Year 6 – Dexter was 2nd Suffolk finisher)
- 6 Otis (Year 6)
- 7 Alfie (Year 6)
- 10 Digby (Year 7)
- 11 Charlie (Year 6)
- 12 Oliver (Year 6)
Junior Girls:
- 9 Romilly (Year 8 – Romilly was 3rd Suffolk finisher)
- 16 Felicity (Year 8)
- 19 Charlie (Year 9)
Junior Boys:
- 47 Jasper (Year 9 – Jasper was 12th Suffolk finisher)
Inter Girls:
- 9 Phoebe (Year 10 – Phoebe was 4th Suffolk finisher)
- 44 Poppy (Year 10)
- 48 Ellen (Year 11)
Inter Boys:
- 37 Angus (Year 10 – Angus was 9th Suffolk finisher)
- 57 Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls:
- 11 Amy (Year 13 – Amy was 2nd Suffolk finisher)
Senior Boys:
- 2 Henry (Year 12 – Henry was 1st Suffolk finisher)
For most of our Minor athletes (Year 6 and 7) this will mark the end of a busy yet very successful cross country season.
A fantastic day, congratulations to every athlete and thank you to parents and staff that travelled to Northampton in support!
At the time of writing this, for Junior and older, Suffolk was about to select a reduced team to compete at the English Schools Championship in Nottingham on Saturday 18 March – six of our athletes were chosen, you can read about that in our separate news report.
Our Junior Boys hockey teams (Year 7 and 8) started their season with a bang against Royal Hospital School this week, and although conditions were extremely cold the play was anything but! Seven matches, every boy in lower School playing!
Junior 1 Team
The Junior 1s had a confident start and dominant display. Although they were disappointed to not have scored more goals after creating many opportunities, especially in the first half, they were very pleased with an impressive and well-earned clean sheet.
Highlights from the match included a good and disciplined press and defensive structure, excellent one-on-one defence at the back, multiple chances created by good passing and circle play, and a debut goal for Year 8’s Toby in his first match for Woodbridge School! Top performers were Year 8’s Harry, Oliver, Barney and Arthur in goal, with player of the match going to Year 8’s Elijah.
Junior 2 Team
The Junior 2s boys started their season with an exciting draw. An excellent opening half, saw Year 8’s Charlie score twice after some superb team hockey, with assists from Year 8’s Ambrose and Toby. After missing a few chances to put the game to bed before the half, RHS scored twice in quick succession halfway into the second (against the run of play). The quick pace of the game continued up to the final whistle with both sides missing chances to win the game. An enthralling and very promising start to the season!
Junior 3 Team
What a cracking first game of the season for the Junior 3s with a great mixture of Year 7 and 8 students representing the team. For some students it meant their first opportunity to represent the School in hockey and show their ability. Year 8’s Jago and Zac held their position at the back, allowing Year 8’s Lade, Tom, Isaac and Jack K to exploit the spaces in front of them. It was an excellent start to the match, with the ball regularly making its way to the right hand side of the pitch where we were able to take advantage of our strong side and make an early lead with Year 8’s Jack sliding the ball into the corner. The subs came on and continued the impressive display with Year 7’s Oscar W moving especially quickly up and down the right hand side of the field, showing great effort in attack and defence. The only negative to the first half was that we didn’t score more goals.
Into the second half and a few changes in position meant that RHS were then able to attack a little more, however a few alterations and a little more composure saw Year 8’s Tom strike the ball into the goal for a two goal lead. With some more great defence we secured a solid win with Year 7’s Oscar W being voted man of the match.
Junior 4 Team
The Junior 4s had to settle for a low scoring draw in their first match. Both sides put their hearts and souls into this combative and close first fixture, but the match was crying out for a bit of composure. The frenzied activity on the pitch never ceased with plenty of goalmouth action and robust challenges in midfield. Players were trying out different positions and testing out their teamwork in the crucible of competition. The goal went to Year 8’s Oscar R, and Year 7’s Tahir was voted player of the match. There is a lot of promise looking ahead at future matches for this team.
Junior 5, 6 and 7 Teams
The Junior 5, 6 and 7 teams played their first matches together against an equally inexperienced RHS teams. Huge credit must go to the boys for approaching the matches with such spirit and enthusiasm, especially in the freezing conditions.
The Junior 5s were very impressive, taking ownership of their own positions and substitutions, they were dominant throughout and recorded a comfortable win, scoring plenty of goals whilst also keeping a clean sheet. Excellent work all round! Special mention to Year 7’s Jacob for a double hattrick and Year 8’s Noah for his all-round performance.
The Junior 6s were quick off the mark to get the ball from the opposition and some great link up play meant they scored very early in the first half. From then on in Woodbridge had the upper hand over RHS for most of the first half. RHS got a score early in the second half however their attack was soon stopped with some great defending. Woodbridge responded quickly with some good play getting the ball wide, with a good cross into the box for an easy tap in. They went on to win comfortably without conceding again.
The Junior 7s scored first in their game after converting a quick counter-attack. More good play saw them score a second and third not long after. RHS put together some good attacking play forcing multiple saves from Year 7’s Kaell in goal, however they did eventually manage to score in the corner. Woodbridge got the final goal of the game to round off an excellent afternoon for our teams.
Seven matches, five wins and two draws – a pretty great way to start the season. Hopefully the experience and knowledge gained will stand all our players in good stead for the matches ahead. Well done to all and big thank you for the fantastic parent support on a very cold afternoon.
30 Woodbridge School athletes took part in the third and final round of the Suffolk Schools Cross Country trials, which was hosted in School last week. Read more about the event, the runners and the full results in our report from running coach Mark Goddard.
Mark Goddard’s Report
On Thursday 12 January Woodbridge School were proud hosts of the final Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial for this winter. Following this third and final trial, Suffolk Schools will announce teams of 16 in each age group to compete at Anglian Schools in Northamptonshire on Saturday 4 February.
After the February race, and including those race results, Suffolk Schools will announce reduced teams of eight (only for Juniors, Inters and Seniors – Year 8 and above) to compete at English Schools in Nottingham in March.
A very successful day for Woodbridge School athletes with around 30 having qualified to compete on their home course, with four winning individual medals and hopefully some 20 in contention for selection to be announced later this week.
Well done to every athlete and good luck to those racing at Anglian Schools.
Medal winners:
- Gold – Henry (Year 12)
- Silver – Amy (Year 13)
- Silver – Dexter (Year 6)
- Bronze – Otis (Year 6)
Minor Girls (Year 6 and 7)
- 4th India J (Year 6)
- 5th Ella (Year 6)
- 9th Grace (Year 7)
- 10th Marina (Year 7)
- 11th Alexandra (Year 6)
- 21st Eirann (Year 7)
- 45th India B (Year 6)
- 47th Charlie (Year 7)
Minor Boys (Year 6 and 7)
- 2nd Dexter (Year 6)
- 3rd Otis (Year 6)
- 4th Alfie (Year 6)
- 5th Charlie (Year 6)
- 6th Ollie (Year 6)
- 7th Digby (Year 7)
- 19th Oscar (Year 7)
- 21st Alfie (Year 6)
- 44th Jacob (Year 7)
Junior Girls (Year 8 and 9)
- 4th Romilly (Year 8)
- 20th Felicity (Year 8)
- 31st Eloise (Year 9)
Junior Boys (Year 8 and 9)
- 12th Jasper (Year 9)
Inter Girls (Year 10 and 11)
- 4th Phoebe (Year 10)
- 14th Poppy (Year 10)
- 15th Ellen (Year 11)
- 21st Rose (Year 10)
- 28th Georgia (Year 10)
Inter Boys (Year 10 and 11)
- 18th Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls (Year 12 and 13)
- 2nd Amy (Year 13)
- 7th Isobel (Year 12)
Senior Boys (Year 12 and 13)
- 1st Henry (Year 12)
Last Saturday, 14 January, Woodbridge School hosted the Lego Fun Morning, supported by Brickologists, Young Engineers. Children and adults from the local community poured into School Hall, which was filled with millions of Lego bricks. There were various activities including a Lego mini figure hunt, build under construction model stations, timed challenge competitions, a racing car station, Duplo area and Lego Bionicles.
Children who took part in the various competitions walked away with prizes provided by the Brickologists. Congratulations go to Cameron and Harry for winning first prize with their bridge build – well done! Adults were also put to the test and only had ten minutes to build a wind turbine; the competition was fierce, but a huge amount of fun was had by all.
The Lego Fun Morning event is part of the Primary Enrichment programme provided by Woodbridge School to local primary schools and the community. The programme provides an exciting and dynamic mix of topics and skills which appeals to so many areas of interest, and is intended to bring genuine joy and enjoyment to all within its learning.
Last weekend saw 21 of our cross country athletes compete at the annual county cross country championships.
Our busiest time of year, and for some this is the first of five races in less than a month.
The county championship is a one-off event leading to selection for UK Inter Counties in March, which in turn at senior level leads to selection for the World Cross Country Championships.
County Champs also includes an introduction to cross country at U11, even though they do not progress to the UK event. The boys U11 race was something to behold, with Woodbridge School athletes filling six of the top seven places. A special moment for all those in attendance!
Across the races Woodbridge School athletes won nine individual medals and special mention must be made of the U13 Girls who took a medal clean sweep. In doing so the girls took the team prize beating all of the Suffolk athletics clubs.
Full results below.
Medal winners:
- U11G – India (Year 6) – Bronze
- U11B – Dexter (Year 6) – Silver
- U11B – Otis (Year 6) – Bronze
- U13G – Romilly (Year 8) – Gold
- U13G – Felicity (Year 8) – Silver
- U13G – Alice (Year 7) – Bronze
- U17W – Isobel (Year 12) – Bronze
- U17M – Henry (Year 12) – Silver (Henry raced Essex Champs on the Saturday and was second by just four seconds, behind the individual that took bronze at the UK Inter Counties in 2022)
- U20W – Amy (Year 13) – Gold
Equally excellent results from:
- U11G – Ella (Year 6) – 5th
- U11G – Alexandra (Year 6) – 6th
- U11G – Imogen (Year 6) – 10th
- U11B – Alfie R (Year 6) – 4th
- U11B – Oliver (Year 6) – 5th
- U11B – Charlie (Year 6) – 6th
- U11B – Alfie P (Year 6) – 7th
- U13G – Grace (Year 7) – 15th
- U13G – Marina (Year 7) – 17th
- U13B – Digby (Year 7) – Unfortunately Digby twisted his knee mid-race and had to withdraw
- U15G – Phoebe (Year 10) – 10th
- U15B – Angus (Year 10) – 6th
Congratulations to every athlete and well done to Romilly, Felicity, Alice, Angus, Isobel and Amy who are all selected to represent Suffolk at the UK Inter Counties in Loughborough on Saturday 11 March 2023, Henry will be representing Essex.
There’s plenty of news for Cross Country this week, with the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial having taken place, as well as confirmation of students being selected to represent Suffolk at the South of England Inter County Cross Country.
Suffolk School’s Cross Country trial
Last Saturday students set off to Ipswich High School to compete in the second Suffolk Schools Cross Country trial, where there were unprecedented results, achievements and medals.
Following the first trial in October just the top 100 athletes in each age group, from around 80 schools, were invited to compete at this trial.
The talk of the day had to be our Minor Girls team (Years 6 and 7) where Woodbridge School athletes had seven of the top 14 places, something that’s absolutely unprecedented! To give this performance some context, 16 athletes will represent Suffolk Schools at Anglian Schools in February, so we have potential as a single school to fill almost half the county team.
We should also celebrate our individual medalists on the day, it’s never easy at this level:
Minor Girls – Alice (Year 7) – Gold
Senior Girls – Amy (Year 13) – Gold
Inter Girls – Phoebe (Year 10) – Bronze
With just one trial remaining, which Woodbridge School will host on Thursday 12 January (parents very welcome to spectate, our first race starts at 11.00am), we still have around 20 athletes in contention for Suffolk Schools selection (across the age groups) to compete at Anglian Schools in February, with just under half (and age groups Junior and above) still in contention to compete at English Schools in Nottingham in March.
Below we have the full list of athletes in the top 20 on Saturday:
Minor Girls:
1 – Alice (Year 7)
5 – Grace (Year 7)
6 – India J (Year 6)
7 – Marina (Year 7)
10 – Ella (Year 6)
11 – India B (Year 6)
14 – Alexandra (Year 6)
Minor Boys:
9 – Digby (Year 7)
Junior Girls:
6 – Charlie (Year 9)
9 – Felicity (Year 8)
Inter Girls:
3 – Phoebe (Year 10)
8 – Ellen (Year 11)
9 – Rose (Year 10)
16 – Poppy (Year 10)
Inter Boys:
5 – Angus (Year 10)
17 – Bruce (Year 11)
Senior Girls:
1 – Amy (Year 13)
4 – Isobel (Year 12)
Huge well done to Year 7’s Amelie, Charlotte, Eirann, Oscar and Jacob, to Year 8’s Sophie, Year 9’s Eloise and to Year 10’s Georgia, Lyra and Lilianna and Year 11’s Oscar, who competed on the day, not achieving a top 20 place, but doing incredibly well.
Congratulations to every athlete that took part, and thank you to staff and parents for their support on the day!
South Inter Country Cross Country
Congratulations to the following Woodbridge School athletes who have been selected to represent Suffolk (county rather than schools) at the South of England Inter County Cross Country in Oxford on Saturday 10 December:
U13G – Year 7’s Alice and Year 8’s Felicity, Romilly and Sophie
U15G – Year 9’s Charlie and Year 10’s Phoebe
U17G – Year 12’s Isobel
U20W – Year 13’s Amy
U13B – Year 7’s Digby
U15B – Year 10’s Angus
Congratulations to all and we wish them the very best of luck at the Southerns!
On Monday 10 October 2022, Woodbridge School Prep Year 6 hockey team took part in the IAPS U11 girls hockey, facing several teams and working hard to win a place in the plate final. Notoriously difficult to predict, and with 12-minute one-way matches, the IAPS tournament games ran with frenetic pace throughout the morning.
Starting slowly the girls played their first match against Beeston Hall (Norfolk), however they had difficultly establishing their passing game and lacked consistency. Despite having a good chance of winning the match, the Beeston goalkeeper made an important save and kept the overall score at 0-0.
The second match saw the girls take on Barnardiston, conceding an early and disappointing goal. However, this thankfully kick-started the team into life, and so playing hockey as they can do, Woodbridge replied almost immediately with a great pass, moving down the right wing and to a composed finish to bring the scores level. From then on Woodbridge were in ascendancy, with midfield marshalling was superb, but we weren’t quite able to force the ball over the goal line to give the deserved win.
On to the third game, filled with great goal saves keeping scores level, Woodbridge took a great move down the right-hand side after some brilliant defending, and on to score!
The fourth and last game of the pool was against Felsted, having won both of their matches as they came to compete with Woodbridge, despite battling hard and keeping into a good save, Felsted managed to score two good goals giving them the win. This defeat placed Woodbridge fourth in their pool, but nonetheless into the plate competition for the afternoon – completely deserved.
The first match of the plate was a knockout game; lose and Woodbridge would be back at School for afternoon lessons – not a popular option with the girls! Facing OBH who had finished third in their pool, Woodbridge played magnificently, putting together a brilliant 12-minute performance to out-play OBH in all aspects. With great defence and attack in equal measure, a powerful drive down the right set up the first goal, the second coming from a brilliant press, resulting in the team winning the ball high up the pitch for a last ball making it 2-0, but it could have been more, such was the dominance of Woodbridge’s performance.
Woodbridge had made it into the plate semi-final against Bedford Modern. Bouyed by the previous result, the girls continued where they had left off against OBH, putting together another really great performance. The ball was transferred from left to right utilising space, with free hits from the side lines catching the opposition off-guard; two great team goals were scored and deserved so, Woodbridge went through to the plate final against the unknown, Russel House.
Woodbridge played brilliantly once more, carving open two chances, but the shots were just narrowly wide and unfortunately Russel House forced two goals past. Although they were upset after losing the final 2-0, the girls were congratulated for their level of play, recognised for improvement throughout the day and they should be exceptionally pleased with their performances.
Huge well done to everyone that took part.
On Tuesday 4 October 2022, Woodbridge School Prep Year 6 football team travelled to Hertfordshire to compete in the IAPS U11 Football qualifiers. After a long journey on the minibus, Woodbridge began the matches in a pool of four teams, playing three games.
From these games two were won and one was drawn, a great start to the day putting Woodbridge at the top of the group, making sure the team progressed to the quarter-finals.
The last match of the day proved to be the team’s most important result, a 1-1 draw at full time was a brilliant result given they were down early on in the match; they went on to play a golden goal period. A goal in the top corner of the net secured the team’s victory, putting them through to the semi-final stage.
With only four teams going through to the National Finals, from the 19 teams that started the day, Woodbridge School Prep had made it and were through to play in the finals in Millfield late November.
As well as the victory, Woodbridge School Prep Year 6 football team were a credit to the School, playing their part in competing in the right spirit, with the right amount of effort and skill; matching all teams played on the day.
There have been various athletic events over the last few weeks, here our Head of Athletics Mrs Scahill, reports on two of the latest: the National Prep Schools Track and Field Championships, as well as the Athletics Competition at Northgate.
Athletics competition in Northgate – Mrs Scahill, Head of Athletics
Year 7 athletes competed against other schools in South Suffolk at the Athletics competition in Northgate on 23 June. Head of Athletics, Mrs Scahill reports. Both teams gave maximum effort in their events with the girls coming in a very close 3rd place and the boys in 5th; this is a competition where you gained points for places.
In the boys A team Oliver came 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the shot. There were also 3rd places for Eli in the 60m and Oliver in the long jump.
In the B team Lade won the long jump, Tom the shot and 3rd position for Harry in the javelin.
In the girls A team there were wins for Romilly 300m, Rosie shot and Amelie discus, with 2nd places for Felicity in 800m and Emelia in the high jump.
In the B team Annie won the discus, Rosie was 2nd in the 100m band and there were 3rd places for Abi 300m, Sophie 800m and Emma 60m.
Well done to all the athletes, particularly those who achieved personal bests. The girls team scored 112 just 3 points behind the winners and the boys team scored 102.
National Prep Schools Track and Field Championships – Mrs Scahill, Head of Athletics
Having won or been placed second in their event at the East Area Prep School Championships, three athletes from School travelled to the Pingles Stadium, Nuneaton to represent the East team at the National Prep Schools Track and Field Championships on Monday 4 July.
Year 7’s Romilly, along with Year 8’s Jasper and Huw competed with 24 athletes from 12 regional teams in England, Huw was up first in the shot where he made it through to the last eight for an extra throw. He finished in 7th place.
Next up was Jasper in the 1500m, he finished well with a personal best in 11th place.
Finally it was Romilly’s turn in the 800m, who after having won her heat, had a long wait to find out the times from the other faster heat which would determine her placing. Overall she finished 8th place, knocking five seconds off her personal best.
A very well done to the athletes who as always put in maximum effort to give their best on the day, and thank you to the parents for all their encouragement and support.
Our Prep School is delighted to have hosted and sponsored the 2022 Young East Anglian Artist competition and exhibition in 2022; a community event which celebrates the artwork of young people in the region and gives them the chance to have their artwork displayed in a professional gallery, all while raising funds for Cancer Research UK.
Having raised over £140,000 over the past 18 years, and previously managed by an independent committee, unfortunately it looked as though the competition might not be able to continue. Hearing of this however, we agreed Woodbridge Prep School would host and sponsor the competition in its 19th year.
Children across Suffolk submitted entries for the competition
Children from nursery age to Year 6 in schools in Suffolk, were encouraged to produce and submit artwork for the competition, based on this year’s theme of The Royal Jubilee. With a maximum size of A3, all mediums were accepted. Funds were raised by each entrant contributing and making a minimum donation of £2.50 per piece of artwork, and from selling selected pieces that were exhibited after the competition closed; almost £1,000 (and still counting) was raised for Cancer Research UK this year.
Exhibition at The Longshed, John Gibbins Gallery
Artwork received was viewed and judged ahead of selection of prize winners in four age categories: nursery and reception, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6. A selection of pieces were also chosen to exhibit at the John Gibbins Gallery at The Longshed in Woodbridge, and were available to view and be purchased by the public (with priority given to the artist’s family of course) from Friday 14 to Sunday 26 June.
Over 500 children across Suffolk got involved
The competition was a wonderful community project, with artwork submitted from over 500 children from schools around the region including our own.
Congratulations to every child that took part, the standard of work was remarkable, and the exhibition one of a colourful, vibrant experience for all who visited.
Young East Anglian Artist 2023
We’re delighted to confirm that we will be hosting and organising the competition again in 2023, it’s clear to see the enthusiasm and talent amongst children in Suffolk, and so we look forward to seeing more fabulous, wonderful artwork next year.
