Category: Prep News
7 Woodbridge school riders qualified for the NSEA Championships, including two individuals and two teams. The age range of riders was from 10 to 18 years old.
The first day saw the youngest team member, Ada Marson age 10, take part in the JwS 70cms Final. This was her first time competing at the Finals, and she produced a confident clear round, taking all the short routes. She scored 3rd highest on Style marks, but finished 11th overall out of 55 individuals competing. She was the youngest in the top 12 riders.
The second day saw the most action for the Woodbridge Teams with the Dressage Team of James Brown, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Lydia Sida-Page and Francesca Aitchison competing as well as the 80cms showjumping team of Rowena Wilson-Smith, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Francesca Aitchison and Fleur Ludgrove.
The day started with the Showjumping team. The course was in the outdoor International Arena and consisted of a relatively straight forward first part, with a jump off course offering the option to take tight lines and go for a fast time. With 50 Teams contesting, it was all or nothing to have a chance of a place. Sadly, other than Fleur Ludgrove who produced a good clear and a fast jump off time, the rest of the team had a fence down resulting on a team score of 8 penalties and no placing.
The Dressage team however had a truly successful day. Two riders took their tests in the morning; Tabitha and Lydia rode Prelim tests and scored individual placings of 2nd and 8th places respectively, leaving the team in 2nd place after the first round. Then the final two riders, James and Francesca, took Novice tests in the afternoon to produce the final scores for the results.
James performed exceptionally well and took 1st place in his arena, whilst Francesca was also placed 8th in her arena.
This resulted in a fantastic result of the Team taking 2nd Place at the Championships.
The final day saw James Brown contesting his individual qualification in the JwS 1.10m competition.
He produced a good round with one fence down; but with only one clear round out of 22 competitors this was a superb result. He finished up taking an individual 7th Place in this Championship – another good result for James.
Woodbridge School also was awarded a Training Voucher for coming 2nd in the Regional Points League 2015-2016
The school had a range of riders from Grass Roots rider Eve Marson (8yrs, Yr 4) to Senior Dressage Team riders present to collect the Award, representing all those that have gained points in Regional Points accumulating competitions against other schools in the Eastern Region (Suffolk, Essex, Cambs, Norfolk). This is based on Team points won and includes Grass Roots through to Open classes.
A great team spirit existed across all the ages with everyone supporting each other.
Team members:-
James Brown riding iL Darco G – 2nd Team Dressage , 7th JwS Individual 1.10m
Rowena Wilson-Smith riding Autumn Gold – Team 80cms SJ
Lydia Sida-Page riding OK Mister – 2nd Team Dressage
Tabitha Wilson-Smith riding Ruby Queen of Diamonds – 2nd Team Dressage & Team 80cms SJFrancesca Aitchison riding Wix Spring Realm – 2nd Team Dressage, 8th individual Dressage & Team 80cms SJ
Fleur Ludgrove riding Otter – Team 80cms JS
Ada Marson riding Rolly Rascal – 11th JwS Individual 70cms
Woodbridge and Abbey pupils achieved extraordinary results in this year’s Suffolk Festival of Performing Arts, almost seeming to sweep the board at times. Meanwhile there are almost too many highlights to select by way of an appetite-raiser, but I will have a go by congratulating in particular those who took first places, cups and trophies (many of them more than one!): Lily Cook, William Cook, Tom Evans, Amber Franklin, Oliver Laxton, Christopher Long, Chloe Macmillan, Caitlyn Maggs, Sophia Mattar, Imogen Melrose, James Phelan, Sasha Reid, Evelyn Saunders (overall most promising speech performer), Alexander Sharratt (overall senior speech champion), Alice Sharratt (overall junior speech champion), and Sebastian Ward.
A fun morning of cross country was held at the Senior School this week for Queen’s House and The Abbey. Everyone got the chance to take part and enjoy a fun run in the sun! A slightly longer course was offered to the Year 5 and 6 pupils, which gave them a chance to enjoy the excitement of running in the valley.
Year Three had a fabulous day on Wednesday when they went exploring at Grimes Graves. Grimes Graves is the only Neolithic flint mine open to visitors in Britain. Highlights of the day included descending a steep ladder, 30 feet into one of the pits. There were layers of rocks dating back millions of years and evidence of tunnelling. The children discovered what it must have been like for Stone Age man to mine the flint using a deer antler as a pick. Running up and down the lunar looking landscape outside also proved to be great fun. The deep holes are evidence of a further 400 mines that had been partially filled in.
It was a great day of fun, exploring and learning
On Tuesday Year 5 went to Hedingham Castle for a series of interactive sessions with Norman castle dwellers. We were shown how to invade a Norman keep, how to address and lay places for the hierarchy of staff at the castle, archery and Norman healing methods.
Finlay Clench said “it got more and more exciting as the day went on” and Millie Johnson said “a great day was had by all”.
On Tuesday 20 September we went to Colchester Castle as part of our History topic – The Romans. When we arrived at the castle we were welcomed and shown around. First we went got into our classes (4C and 4T) and built an Iron Age round house and a Roman Villa.
We then went down under the castle into the vaults. We had to count the steps as we went down – each step was worth 100 years, which means the steps were 200 years old. Our leader talked to us about the Celts and their round houses and then described the Roman invasion. We learnt how the Romans beat the Celts – killing, beheading them or making them slaves. After that we talked a little about Boudicca.
We spent the rest of the trip looking around the museum and learning about Roman artefacts.
Year 4
Pupils were inspired by British rower Simon Dennis MBE at Woodbridge School Speech Day held on Saturday 17 September 2016, when he spoke of the hard work and the pressures involved in elite sport, and how his gold medal represented all the low points and tough training sessions that he overcame along the way. His speech resonated with pupils who were later recognised for their hard work and determination in GCSE and A level exams this summer.
Congratulations to Rowan Kent who won the UK Chess challenge Under 7 title at the weekend in Manchester. He scored a perfect 6 points from 6 games and qualifies for the very last stage, the Terafinal in Loughborough in August in which he takes on the winners of all the other age groups up to Under 18! The UK chess challenge is recognised as the largest chess tournament in the world, with over 70000 children entering annually. Rowan also won £100 for his efforts. Congratulations to the other Woodbridge School players who took part.Marina Pommier scored 4 out of 6 in the Under 9 girls event, whilst her sister Georgia Pommier scored 3/6 in the Under 8 girls. Lai Chun also produced a fine performance, scoring 3.5/6 in the Boys Under 18 event.
Delicious smells floated around The Abbey this week as the Year 5 children took part in Bake a Cake for the Queen competition. Oliver Laxton, Imogen Melrose and Grace Godwin baked a stylish hat made from coconut, lime and courgette, complete with specially baked carrot dog cakes. The Queen’s corgi’s would be thrilled.
Chloe MacMillan baked two delicious carrot cakes and then put them together with brightly coloured icing and edible jewels to create a splendid crown. To complete the look she had made an edible corgi to stick on the front and scattered glacier mints around the edge which made the cake look as if had been encrusted with diamonds.
Recipes and photos are soon to be submitted to a National Competition and we will keep you posted of the outcome.
Years 5 and 6 treated us all to a fun-filled two hours in the Seckford Theatre this week. The two musical shows, based on Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, involved many, many farm animals, a giant, Daisy the Cow, ex horse-race jockeys, a baddie queen, a handsome king, a gutsy Snow White, a heroic Jack and many more colourful, weird and wonderful characters.
The two shows were in celebration of Roald Dahl 100 – marking 100 years since the birth of the world’s number one storyteller. The cast mimed and performed to specially orchestrated music in a minimalistic space and sang catchy and witty songs written by Mr Brett.
Most of the scenes had been improvised by the cast during the rehearsal process and showed real flair and imagination. There were some wonderful set pieces that had the audience rooting for Jack as he escaped from the Giant and cheering for the horses as they raced over the jumps!
The children have worked extremely hard over the past few weeks and ought to be very proud of their performances.
A big ‘Thank You’ to the staff who helped and supported the cast and to the technical team at the Seckford Theatre for your endless enthusiasm and positivity!
