Category: Prep News

Congratulations to Fraser Johnson, in year 6, who has received a call up for the Suffolk county swimming team. Fraser, who swims for Deben Swimming Club, has been invited to represent Suffolk in the Inter County Competition, being held this year at the UEA Sportspark in Norwich. It’s an outstanding achievement and a considerable accolade to have his talents recognised by the team selectors, who chose their squad from across all the swimming clubs in the whole county. It demonstrates Fraser’s considerable ability, and potential, in this highly competitive sport. Very well done Fraser – an awe-inspiring achievement!

Musical activities at the Abbey are in full swing and once again, the children were delighted to welcome one of the country’s leading vocal ensembles, Voces8 to our midst. They delivered an entertaining and inspirational workshop, and the children could be heard humming their new song throughout the day!

We had a VERY successful day on Saturday 16 January at Queen Mary University of London at the First Lego League Competition – we won the Robot Design award and came second in the Robot Challenge competition. The team from The Abbey consisted of: Caitlyn Maggs and Faith Harrold.

On a lovely sunny day at Newton Hall the Woodbridge School Team enjoyed competing in the Inter School Trot Pole and Jumping Competition. The Trot Pole Team consisted of Maddy Ayres, Zoe Newman and Sophia Waterer with Ella Reynard competing individually. The team performed well and achieved second place overall and individually Ella was placed 1st with Maddy 3rd and Sophia 6th.

In the 55cm Show Jumping Competition the team consisted of Lolly Brown (1st), Eve Marson, Ada Marson (3rd) , Olivia Lubbock (5th), Grace Childs(2nd) and Maddy Ayres (4th). This resulted in a resounding victory for the combined Woodbridge & Abbey Junior Team.

In the 60cm Show Jumping, Woodbridge were represented by Olivia Lubbock, Ada Marson, Lolly Brown, Lily Waterer and Grace Childs. Once again all competitors rode exceptionally well with Ada Marson claiming 1st place with a speedy jump off and Olivia Lubbock and Grace Childs picking up 5th and 6th respectively. To crown the successful day of show jumping, Lolly Brown and Ada Marson stayed on to compete in the 70cm round and were placed 3rd and 4th respectively. Another good day in the area for our young riders. Let’s not forget the great support from parents. Well done all!

“Woodbridge School Cross Country Athletes excelled at the County Schools Final selection race in Culford on Thursday. Despite the mud and wet conditions on the day, spirits were high as race after race we had pupils in contention for County selection.

Special mention must go to Nathan Goddard who stormed to the gold medal in the Junior boys and Kitt Evans-Lombe who raced all the way to the line to claim bronze in the Minor boys.

Teams have just been announced and we are proud to report that 11 of our athletes (with another two on a shortlist still being considered) will represent Suffolk at the Anglian Championships to be held in Boston, Lincolnshire on Saturday 6 February. A good race at this event will then secure Suffolk selection for the National Schools Cross Country Championship to be held in Nottingham on 5 March.

Those deserving congratulations for making the Suffolk Team are:

Minor Girls:
Bea Thomas
Isabelle Eaton
Amy Goddard

(Still being considered – Cecily Royal-Dawson)

Minor Boys:
Kitt Evans-Lombe
Henry Dinwiddy
William Franklin

(Still being considered – Charlie Turner)

Junior Girls:
Sarah Barker
Milly Buckingham
Amy Graham

Junior Boys:
Nathan Goddard
George Rufford

Well done everyone and have a great race in Boston!

A number of Woodbridge School pupils represented the School against the best Suffolk Clubs at the Annual County Cross Country Championships.

Included in the School Team were five Abbey Pupils who performed above expectation and revelled in the tough muddy conditions where at times they were running through water rather than mud!

First off on the day were the Under 11s and although Under 11s are not able to progress to Nationals our two athletes deserve special mention:

U11 Girls – Amy Goddard – 1st and Suffolk Champion!

U11 Boys – Tommy Burrows – Bronze Medal. A fantastic effort holding on to the leaders right to the end!

We then had three Year 6 boys in the U13s. The amazing news is that two of the three finished in the top eight, thereby guaranteeing a place in the Suffolk Team for the Nationals later this winter. A great effort by all and our congratulations to:

U13 Boys – Henry Dinwiddy – 5th
U13 Boys – Edward Rufford – 8th
U13 Boys – Thomas Liddy – 30th

To round off a successful day the Woodbridge School U15 Girls won a County Team Silver Medal defeating a number of the larger County Club teams! All in, Woodbridge School had seven athletes gain County selection!

U11 A Boys’ Hockey v Kent College
The Abbey lost 4 – 7

U11 B Boys’ Hockey v Kent College
The Abbey lost 4 – 8

U11 C Boys’ Hockey v Kent College
The Abbey won 3 – 0

U11 D Boys’ Hockey v Kent College
The Abbey drew 0 – 0

U11 Football v St Joseph’s College
U11 A lost 0-4

U11 Football v St Joseph’s College
U11 B won 5-0

U11 B Netball v St Felix
The Abbey won 13 – 1

On Wednesday we were privileged to welcome Monty Halls to come to speak to Years 6-12 about the importance of developing leadership skills in young people. Monty is a former marine who went on to do a Marine Biology degree and is best known for his three BBC2 series ‘Great Escapes’, where he lived on the west coast of Scotland and Ireland with his dog Reuben. He also presented the multi-award winning series ‘Great Barrier Reef’.
Monty spoke about his life and career, including working with Nelson Mandela for a year, sleeping in a scorpion filled cave and being attacked by a Tiger shark!

However, his main focus was on how important it is for all young people to received leadership training. He told the students how, in a survey of over 400 top business leaders, over 90% felt leadership should be formally developed at school. His key message was that everyone has the capacity to lead and he challenged the archetypal image of a leader as a dominant ‘alpha’ personality but instead asked students to think about how there are very different approaches to effective leadership.

At Woodbridge School we want all our students to leave feeling they have the capacity to lead so we are looking to pilot a leadership course, developed with Monty Halls and various other independent schools, to help develop this confidence.

Monty was effusive at the end of the day:
“It was my great pleasure to visit Woodbridge to speak to the students about the importance of their own leadership development. The school is showing real drive and initiative to make sure that leadership – such a crucial life skill – is introduced to all students. Woodbridge is very much at the vanguard of creating meaningful, progressive, accredited leadership training for every young person that attends the school, and I look forward very much to working with them (and indeed learning from them) in the future.”

Our pupils found this talk an enlightening experience:
“I found it extremely useful listening to someone who has taken the same career path that I am hoping to travel on”
Matthew Sutton

“It was encouraging to discover that someone who had such little military experience was so successful in his field”
Phoebe Cook

“Varied as our aims and goals were, he was a fascinating and personable man with words of wisdom for everyone”
Gabby Zins

“He is an inspiring man who definitely helped me realise that leadership can come in many forms and that our path of life is not set in stone”
Abi Crane

“It was very interesting to hear about his experiences in his field because he talked to us as equals”
Matthew Bye

“I found it a truly enlightening experience. It was a great opportunity to learn not only more about leadership, but also what we can expect going into a life in the armed forces and general life after school- a very worthwhile experience!”
David Spray

“I enjoyed talking to Monty and learning about his own life through the armed forces and university. It has definitely give me a good idea what to expect in the future”
George Cory

Cross country
Well done to the 32 runners (from both The Abbey and the Senior School) who competed in Saturday’s County Schools’ Cross-Country Championships at Alde Valley School, Leiston. Although the conditions seemed clear, the wind was a force to be reckoned with and made the course that little bit tougher for our athletes. Many congratulations go to the 22 runners who came in the top 40, therefore gaining a place in the next round. However, a special mention must go to Kit Evans Lombe and Nathan Goddard, who both came first in their respective races, and Sarah Barker who came third in hers. The minor boys had some cracking results, with 7 out of the 9 runners through to the next round!!

Athletes who gained top 40 places

Minor Girls: Cecily Royal-Dawson 9th, Bea Thomas 11th, Isabelle Eaton 15th, Amy Goddard 20th, Molly Marshall 31st & Ella Walker 32nd.

Minor Boys: Kit Evans Lombe 1st, Henry Dinwiddy 5th, Charlie Turner 8th, William Franklin 13th, Tom Turner 17th, Thomas Harper 18th & Tom Martin 25th.

Junior Girls: Sarah Barker 3rd, Amy Graham 4th, Milly Buckingham 7th, Sophie Graham 17th & Ianthe Hill 40th.

Junior Boys: Nathan Goddard 1st, George Rufford 8th & Daniel Davies 38th.

Senior Boys: Connor Grant 19th.

The next round is on Thursday 14th January at RHS. Good luck to those involved!

Thank you to all the parents for their support, and especially to Mr Goddard who has worked so hard with our runners to help them to achieve so highly.