Category: Prep News

The Abbey was pleased to be able to offer ‘An Introduction to Digital photography’ as an after school club for the first time this term. Under the guidance of Ruth Leach, the student photographers completed a basic Digital Photography Course, learning how to get the most from their cameras as well as how to read the light and how to compose the elements of their pictures in an engaging way.

We are proud to enter eight pictures into two local photography competitions under the category ‘The Heritage of Thomas Seckford’. Well done photographers and we look forward to learning more next term.

Science Museum Comes to Woodbridge
Inspiration to Schools Across the County

Over a thousand pupils from primary and secondary schools across Suffolk have been gathering at the Seckford Theatre and Abbey Hall this week for an inspiring series of science shows from the Science Museum. Materials, bubbles, magnetic forces, the human body… interaction and fascination in equal measure! The Science Museum has a real talent for bringing the subject to life and getting young people excited about how science works. In a wonderful rolling programme of shows to capacity audiences, children from fifteen different local primary and secondary schools, including our own of course, were wowed, amazed, enthralled and entertained.

It was fantastic that we as a School could share the experience so widely, and our thanks go to the members of the Science Museum for their time, expertise and outstanding work, and to Miss Cousins for orchestrating the whole magnificent occasion. We now just hope the shows will have inspired pupils from across Suffolk to consider science as a part of their futures.

On Thursday 23 April The Abbey’s Year 4 pupils went to the School Farm Fair held at Trinity Park in Ipswich – here are some short reports of their experience.

George Na Nakhorn: Trinity Park got its name from the three Suffolk stone statues, three also means tri. We went into a big barn and saw lots of animals. I held a duck and it fell asleep in my hand. Afterwards we looked at some horses and beagles.

Caitlyn Maggs: We saw a helicopter taking off. After that we went to the potato council, we answered 5 questions and got to eat some potatoes. Then we went to a barn and held some ducklings and chicks. It was so much fun at the School Farm Fair.

Ada Marson: There were hundreds of buses there from different schools. First we went to the food tent – there were lots of different stands. There was an Otley college stand – they talked about worms. There was an electricity stand where you had to find all the dangers involved with electricity. There was a milk stand and they had a cow that you could milk. Then we saw all the farm machinery and went to the potato council and had to get 5 questions right. Then because we got all the questions right we got to eat some potatoes. We also got a puzzle. We also saw sheep being weighed.

Arun Nayar: When we got there we went into a big tent and we looked at stalls. The first stall my group went to was a stall with seeds, we got to try the seeds, they were nice. Then we went to a stall about worms –  it was interesting. After  awhile we went outside. We went to a stall where we had to match the food to the crops. Then we went to a Weetabix council. I had a race against George to see who could build the highest Weetabix tower.

Amy Thornley: We went to a bee- keeping tent and we felt a big bit of an unpopulated hive. Next we saw a real hive in a bit of glass, the queen bee was painted with a hint of yellow so we could locate her. We saw the queen bee laying eggs in her hive, she managed to lay 1 in 5 seconds. This was just the start! We went to see the animals – there were cows, pigs, sheep, goats, lamas, and even chicks that you can hold. The sheep were the best, they were soft, cute and woolly!

Amelie Field: My favourite bit was when we were all watching a dog show whilst we were eating lunch. My favourite out of all the dogs we saw were the Labradors and the Spaniels. I loved to see them jump over the gate to get a toy.

Joshua Turner: My group went to hold the ducklings first. It was great fun, they even went to sleep in our jackets! They were all so warm and furry. Afterwards we had lunch. It was really nice. While we were eating we were watching some dogs performing.

Sophie Fry: We went to the munchy seed stall, the electricity stall, the olive oil stall and the potato council. We held chicks, stroked dogs, saw alpacas, baby piglets and lambs. Then we went back to school, it was an eventful day!

Pupils at the Abbey have been busy practicing their musical instruments and many decided to participate in our Practice-a-Thon and Music Festival which raised a stunning £884.87 for the CLIC Sargent  charity which helps families of children and young people with cancer.  This is a terrific achievement and pupils should be commended for their efforts.

The Abbey, the Prep School for Woodbridge School held the inaugural Woodbridge Junior Young Musician of the Year competition on 1 May.  We were delighted to welcome thirty-one participants from sixteen different Suffolk schools, all aged eleven and under to be adjudicated by Clio Gould, Leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music.  The level of music making was extremely high, and our distinguished adjudicator was very impressed by all the young musicians. Each participant received a certificate and a written adjudication, but there could only be three prizes.  These were awarded to Amelie Clark from Mellis CEVC Primary School who came third playing the flute, Nina Varadarajan from Bealings Primary School who came second playing the piano and Etiane Cheung from Ipswich Preparatory School who came first, also playing the piano. A number of other performers were highly commended and all showed great potential.