Category: Senior School News
Last Wednesday 18 GCSE and A level music students travelled to London’s West End with Mrs Kent and Miss Barnes, to see a matinee performance of Wicked the musical at the Apollo Victoria theatre. Perfect weather, a gentle stroll through St. James’ Park, excellent company, tunes on route and of course the extraordinary show helped make this an educational experience to remember.
Strong stomachs and inquisitive minds were required in last week’s science club, as students from Years 7 and 8 took part in a dissection. Our new biology teacher Dr Clayton held a demonstration ahead of giving students the chance to cut, slice and analyse the fish. Students were amazed when they discovered wriggly nematode worms inside the mackerel; a parasite of dolphins and seals, nematodes nest in mackerel in the hope they’ll be eaten by them. However, students learned that these parasites are no so healthy for humans, so were encouraged to ensure mackerel is always gutted and cleaned before eating!
Our hockey 2nd team played against Wymondham on Saturday 1 October, playing superbly and winning the match. Our match report has more details of the game, players and the score.
Woodbridge 2nd vs Wymondham – Match report: Mr Brous
For the first match of the season the team played superbly. On a warm Saturday afternoon we took on the Wymondham team. We controlled most of the first half but really struggled to find the goal, shot after shot was saved or shots missed their target. We were a little slow at recovering in the mid-field to start, but the back four of Year 11’s Lola, Rosie, Violetta and Charlotte ensured that nothing got past them. Backed up by some superb keeping from Year 12’s Kitt our draw was at least secure at the end of the first half. It was in the second half that we really got going. The team upped their work rate and defensibly were superb. This gave us the platform to launch counter attacks, which we did at superb pace. As a result we got three quick goals, two from Year 13’s Iris and one from Year 11’s Violet. Some great saves from Year 11’s Freya at the end helped keep the oppositions scoresheet blank. Player of the match was Year 11’s Charlotte for her superb defensive work and control of the centre of the pitch. All in all I was impressed by the team’s efforts, their work rate and their eagerness and determination to keep working hard throughout the match. Well done team, a 3-0 win.
Our U14A team also played Wymondham as well as Ipswich School last week, winning both matches and celebrating some great play. Match reports from Mrs Johnson below.
Woodbridge U14A vs Wymondham – Match report Mrs Johnson
Making the journey to Wymondham on a Saturday afternoon totally worthwhile were the Year 9 U14As who played some excellent hockey as a team to come home victors. With some stellar defending (meaning that our goalie Freya didn’t actually touch the ball all first half!) from Millie, Lyrah and Liya, and great midfield wizardry from Charlie, Margot, Ellie, Lily McK and Valentina, we were ahead at half time by four goals. These were scored by Bea who then went on to score a 6th in the final minutes of the game. Eloise, Bea, Scarlett and Lily F were all putting pressure on the Wymondham goalie and played brilliantly supporting the mid-field and making good leads up the pitch. A great goal from Lily McK and performance from all, well done! Final score, Woodbridge won 6-0.
Woodbridge U14A vs Ipswich School B – Match report Mrs Johnson
This was another great team performance by our Year 9s, illustrating leadership, support, tactics and hard work which culminated in four goals being scored before half time. The first goal was scored within a minute – a ‘Champagne goal’ which came from a fantastic ball from Meda into the D with Charlie getting on the end of it. The other goals were scored by Bea, Scarlett and Aurelia. We started the second half with a few people on the bench due to injury, but we passed the ball fantastically, and supported the play well up the pitch. Lily F snuck in to score a great goal in the last five minutes and her smile summed up the afternoon – amazing! Final score, Woodbridge won 5-0.
The Manchester Cheadle Hulme MUN conference (MUNCH) took place last week, and 12 students from the School’s MUN committee, led by Dr Ruggiero, travelled to the event and took part. More than 30 schools were represented including Warminster, Shrewsbury, Bristol Grammar; students took part in tense debates, evening quizzes and meeting new delegates from the most prestigious independent schools in the country – the weekend was a resounding success.
Impressively, we had a guest chair, Year 11’s Ewan, who chaired for the Special Committee for Diversity. We also had two delegates in said committee, Maxim representing Austria, our youngest delegate who is in Year 8, as well as Skyla, a year 11 student representing South Africa; she was Highly Commended by CHS and certainly a promising delegate for the future.
In the political committee, Harry a Year 11 who represented South Africa, wrote and submitted a resolution on the issue of political misinformation gaining many a signature and support from countries around the world.
Year 11’s Martha joined the committee on ethics, researching and discussing fascinating topics ranging from the ethics of insider trading to the world’s responsibility for refugees.
In the Social and Human Rights Committee Year 9’s Bea and Year 11’s Isabella were involved in heated debates around human rights violations in refugees’ camps and the right for adequate housing. Bea submitted a crisis resolution and was also commended; our youngest delegate to win an award in Year 9.
In the Human Rights Committee year 11’s Rose and Amelie argued the point of views of Austria and South Africa respectively on topical issues such the rights of unborn children and prolonging life by medical means.
Year 11’s Alexander represented South Africa’s views on complex and insightful debates in the context of the Middle East Committee on sensitive issues such as the oppression of Kurdish people and human rights violation in the Gulf States.
Finally, Year 11’s Bea and James were involved in debates around issues critical to children across the world in the Youth Committee. They made their voices heard in the attempt to find effective solutions to issues such as period poverty, the right to marry at sixteen and universal vaccination programmes for youth.
A special thanks to Miss Hinton for driving the mini-bus and providing invaluable moral support for all our delegates!
MUN Club takes place every Tuesday at 1.45pm in T21, and everyone is welcome to attend.
The Suffolk round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup was held in School this week on Tuesday 4 October. We’re proud to report that all six Woodbridge School teams, with Year groups from 7 through to 13, ran and qualified for the regional round of the cup, being held at Felsted School in Essex on Saturday 12 November.
Special mention and congratulations to Year 8’s Romilly and Year 10’s Angus who took excellent individual victories in their races.
The Junior girls team were outstanding, and comfortably the best result of the day, with all six of our athletes finishing in the top ten.
Well done to everyone that took part, particularly those that qualified, wishing them the best of luck for the regionals!
The next cross country fixture is the first Suffolk Schools trial at RHS on Thursday 13 October where around 70 of our athletes, from the Senior School and Prep, will be racing. Parents are welcome to attend with around 1,800 Suffolk athletes from some 80 schools racing throughout the day.
Having just been selected for the England Rugby Development programme, Year 11’s Nancy has very good reason to be proud of herself and her achievements of late when it comes to commitment and progression in sport.
Having played rugby for Ipswich U16 since she was 10 years old, Nancy was recently selected to not only play for but to Captain Eastern Counties Rugby U16 team; and it was there she was seen and selected for the England Rugby Development programme. A six week schedule which includes meal planning and a personal trainer, Nancy was obviously delighted to have been selected from over 60 players all hoping for a place which could ultimately end with her being chosen to play for England U16 team.
This latest success has been the icing on the cake for Nancy, having trained two nights a week every week over the summer, as well as competing at weekends for hammer and shotput. Recently she’s celebrated throwing her longest ever hammer throw at County Athletics in Oxford, increasing her throw by 3m to a distance of 46.3m, taking her into the top 10 rankings that month for the U17 English hammer.
But it doesn’t end there, Nancy is also currently in the top 25 for shotput, and the top 20 for discuss in England. Nancy explained her drive and motivation comes from the feeling she gets when she achieves, “I really enjoy the sense of achievement I get, coming off the pitch, being congratulated, knowing I’ve tried my best – and it’s paid off! That feeling I get when I’m running with the ball, the crowd are there supporting the team and we’re working together to win – I love that and that’s what I think of when I’m training hard!”
Woodbridge U13a vs Farlingaye – Match report: Mr Simpson
In the first Match of the U13 season the U13A team played a very competitive Farlingaye side at Woodbridge Rugby Club. The game saw contrasting tactics, with one side bashing it up the middle and the other trying to move the ball to the wings and into space with fast fluid hands. After an initial period of passive defence against the very strong, direct tactics, the Woodbridge team realised that if we were able to stop the bash attack, we would be able to move the ball with speed and fluidity to the wingers and put them away in space. This meant that after the early conceding of tries the half time turn around was 5-3 to Woodbridge. A positive team talk of keep moving it wide and yes, we can beat them, enabled the boys to focus on the task at hand. With continued excellent tackling, especially from Year 8’s Oliver the Farlingaye attack was nullified and with the turnover ball being moved to the wings quickly several tries were scored by the Woodbridge Wingers, with Year 8’s Tom scoring 5 in total!
A great win for the first game of the season and well done to joint men of the match, Oliver and Tom.
Woodbridge Year 7, A team vs Farlingaye – Match report: Mr Gage
Woodbridge started off their season with a home game against Farlingaye. It was a close game which saw both teams moving the ball well and playing some excellent rugby. Farlingaye scored first after some great link up play breaking through the Woodbridge defense. However, their lead didn’t last long, a quick counterattack saw Woodbridge draw level. Some great defense from both sides meant neither team could break through. Farlingaye found a gap in the defense going into half time one try up. 10-5 to Farlingaye.
In the second half, there were plenty of opportunities for both teams to score. Some great defending on each try line meant the score stayed the same. Farligaye looked like they would hold onto the lead, until a great pick up and movement of the ball saw Woodbridge get around the outside of the defence to score in the corner.
A well-deserved draw.
Woodbridge U14A & B vs. Colcheter RGS – Match report Mr Brous
The first match of the season was forced to be a touch game due to the conditions. The lack of rain meant pitch conditions were too hard to play a contact game. We also had to break the game into quarters, so that both the A and B team were able to play against the opposition. The first quarter started well, with the A team matching CRGS play for play. We were definitely better organised than the opposition; we were quicker to recycle the ball, quicker to get it down the line and defended well but lost out a little on physicality. Both teams crossed the line once, with Woodbridge having a try disallowed. The second quarter saw the B team take the field. Again we were well organised and disciplined, but two very quick runners ran around the team to score three times. The third and fourth quarters were similar. All in all it was a pleasing start to the rugby season and highlighted the work we had done on quick play and recycling.
Woodbridge U14A vs Farlingaye – Match report Mr Brous
This game also started as a touch game; once again to the fact that we had had limited physical practice due to hardness of the pitch. It was played in thirds, in order to develop the game and to get the team used to physical match play. Each third more and more physicality was added and by the final third we were ready to play a full contact match. It was in the last 15 minutes that we really found our feet, with Year 9’s Seb going over for a try after we had camped in the opposition’s 22 for a good period of time. Our tackling and physicality improved as the game progressed and Joe marshalled the back line superbly, showing silky hands and a well-balanced run.
A narrow loss.
Woodbridge U14A vs Culford – Match report Mr Brous
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Woodbridge were superb, with us locked in the opposition half. We pushed and pushed for the try and it almost came. However, a quick counter by the opposition, who had 2 incredibly fast runners, ran around our defence and scored. Unfortunately, from the kick -off we missed our tackles and the opposition collected the ball to run the full length of the field to score again. It took us a while to get ourselves organised, and we were guilty of losing the ball in contact. Having started well, this poor spell cost us and we conceded a number of tries. To the boy’s credit, we progressed towards the last 10 minutes and got going again, slowly but surely beginning to recycle the ball, and supporting our players in contact. This is a team with work in progress but equally so much potential. With continued work on our contact position and tacking we know we will soon see improvements. A match lost but lessons learned.
Last weekend three Woodbridge riders celebrated great results at the U18 regional Equestrian Eventing competitions and the National U16 Pony Eventing Trials.
Having been successful the previous weekend beating Olympian William Fix-Pitt (on a young horse) in an Open competition at the South of England Horse Trials, Year 10’s Eve rode Monroe Lad taking 7th place in the National Pony Trial at Little Downham. A great achievement as the course was very demanding, so much so it caused many of her fellow competitors to retire or be eliminated due to accumulated refusals.
Eve’s sister, Year 12’s Ada also competed at South of England in an International 2*S competition finishing 17th out of 54, the youngest competitor in the class riding her mare Izzietop. Ada and her horse went on to take 8th place this weekend in the U18 Open Novice class which is a selectors class for the Eastern Regional team at the International Youth Champs in 2023. She represented the team this season when the team took 3rd place.
And finally, Year 12’s Oscar competed in the Open100 U18, a selectors class for the Eastern Regional team at this level, and produced a super double clear to take 10th place. Congratulations to all of them!
Woodbridge School is thrilled to announce its partnership with Best of Suffolk in order to deliver The Well HQ’s Sport In Her Shoes conference on Friday 11 November 2022.
As part of our School’s PHSCE programme, the Sport In Her Shoes conference has been organised by Helen Richardson, Director of Co-Curricular at Woodbridge School, as well as The Well HQ co-founders Dr Emma Ross, Dr Bella Smith and Baz Moffat. Dr Emma Ross is a female athlete health specialist and former Head of Physiology at The English Institute of Sport. She was also the lead for the SmartHER project within the UK High Performance System from 2016 to 2020. Dr Bella Smith is a GP and specialist in women’s health. Baz Moffatt is a former GB rower and now a women’s health coach with expertise in pelvic health.
The one-day workshop aims to support girls, boys, teachers and coaches in understanding and being able to talk about and discuss the female body, how it works and how to approach issues so that girls can continue to participate in sport and physical activity at all times. With research1 showing that over 40% of girls drop out of physical activity and/or sport during puberty, it’s vital this subject is approached, understood and communicated to everyone.
The event will be attended by girls and boys from Years 7 to 9 and 10 to 13 from Woodbridge School, in separate modules appropriate to age; making Woodbridge School the first to include boys in the conversation.
During the day, a number of presentations will take place, providing information and the opportunity for discussions on subjects including: the menstrual cycle, the power of female centric nutrition, breasts, bras, pelvic floor, injury and concussion, coaching girls and the female mindset. Speakers will also discuss the social-political context of gender gaps inherent in the world of sport, exercise and physical activity.
Many of the topics are currently considered taboo and are perhaps uncomfortable for many since they deal with what might be considered private and personal; anxiety over ‘getting it wrong’ can also be one of the major reasons many of these topics are not discussed or mentioned. The biggest aim of the day is to reduce embarrassment, increase education and encourage more support and conversations on matters that affect girls and women every day.
Commenting on the event Shona Norman, Head of Woodbridge School said, “This event provides us with a great opportunity to not only involve our whole School, but many others as we invite schools and clubs from across the region to attend and then share the information received with their own communities. A challenging subject, I’m looking forward to our staff and students having the opportunity to be involved with and participate in the event and hopeful that the impact will be felt throughout the entire School.”
This was echoed by Tim Ripman, Director of Operations at Best of Suffolk who added, “Being able to enrich the lives of the Suffolk community by supporting events like In Her Shoes is absolutely key for Best of Suffolk. Not only do we work with local businesses and Schools such as Woodbridge, but we also work with local charities and communities to support where help is needed.”
An evening session will be held the night before the conference in School, on Thursday 10 November 2022 where parents of students taking part, local sports coaches, clubs and other schools are invited, and will have the opportunity to be introduced to The Well HQ and the conference content. For further information on this event please visit woodbridgeschool.org.uk or call 01394 615000 to talk to Helen Richardson.
Last week we met and heard from 2022 Forbes 30 under 30 recipient Mr Ben Askins, an OW and now Owner of luxury digital agency Verb Brands. He spoke to students about entrepreneurship and life skills needed beyond School. It was a great opportunity to showcase our newly renovated Science Lecture Theatre which now features 9-way video wall, speakers and lectern as well as new LED lighting with various functions and acoustic panels installed on the walls.
Mr Stuart Richardson organised the event, in his new role as Head of Careers at Woodbridge. He took time to explain how he plans to work with OWs and students over the coming months. Speaking about the event he said, “Building on the great work carried out by Izzie Brown, the previous Head of Careers, and looking forward to a post lockdown world, where we are allowed to have external speakers on-site. It was great last week to welcome Ben Askins OW to talk about his exciting business ventures in the new Science Lecture Theatre.”
He continued, “My second task as the new Head of Careers is to organise the Careers Fair, which after a three-year hiatus, is back on, taking place in the Dome on Saturday 12 November 10.00am until 2.00pm. All students and parents are encouraged to attend especially from Year 9 upwards. In the new year, I am also hoping to arrange for more OW talks for students, with an emphasis on environment-based jobs as well as alternative careers paths like apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships. It is never too early to start thinking about careers and as the old adage states, ‘choose a career you love and you will never have to go to work!'”