Category: Senior School News
Last weekend was incredibly busy for our cross country athletes, starting with Henry (Y11) racing his way to win the Essex U17 Cross Country title. In doing so, he secured his selection to compete at the UK Inter County Cross Country in Loughborough on Saturday 12 March as well as a place on the East of England team to compete in the London Mini Marathon in October.
Not to be outdone, Ruby (Y11) also did amazing well, achieving exactly the same by becoming Suffolk U17 Champion at the Suffolk County race last Sunday. Considering both students are in Year 11 and competing in a Year 11 and 12 race, they can both be extremely proud of themselves and their achievements.
Year 6’s Alice took gold in the U11 girls race at the same event, and as this was then combined with the U11 boys race, she became the overall winner, which was also a superb achievement – and really something special to watch. Marina (Y6) also achieved a top 10 place, finishing 7th overall.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day came in the U13 girls race where Felicity (Y7) ran a great race to take bronze in 3rd place; closely followed by Charlie (Y8) in 4th place, both girls are now guaranteed selection for the UK Inter Counties taking place in March. Two others who might still be considered for selection were Aurelia (Y8) and Romilly (Y7) who came in 8th and 9th place respectively. Four in the top 10 meant a clear win for Woodbridge in the team competition at a club event, truly something to be extremely proud of as overall the U13 girls team took gold, beating all other running clubs in Suffolk!
Competing a year up in the boys U13 race, Year 6’s Digby continued his excellent winter, finishing 12th.
It really was a very good couple of days for Woodbridge School athletes, with their next race now being the Suffolk Schools Trial which is being hosted at the School on Thursday 13 January.
The Woodbridge Equestrian teams took a trip to Forest Edge on Saturday 27 November for the County and Hickstead Show Jumping qualifiers.
The team were able to field riders across all the heights from 70 to 110cm, and the day began with Harry (Y7) competing as an individual in the 70cm, finishing in an excellent 3rd place out of what was really a rather large class.
The 80cm team comprised of Phia (Y10), Harry (Y7) and Zac (Y7), who rode fantastic rounds finishing in 3rd place.
The 90 com team consisted of Katie (Y12), Lois (Y8), Eve (Y9) and Oscar (Y11) who finished in 3rd place overall with Lois finishing in 4th place individually.
Our 1m teams competed next. The first team, which included Eve (Y9), Ada (Y11), Lois (Y8) and Oscar (Y11), finished in 3rd place, the highest placed Suffolk team meaning qualification for Hickstead! Eve also took 6th place individually, qualifying as the highest placed Suffolk rider. Katie (Y12), Oscar (Y11), Ada (Y11) and Eve (Y9) also competed at this heights, and were lower placed.
The second of our events recently took place on Saturday 11 December, at Lime Kiln. On what was an incredibly cold, if not freezing day, the riders were up early to travel to Norfolk and ready to ride by 9.30am.
Jazzy from Year 5 was first up, kicking off the day in the most positive way by winning Class 1. Next up was the Prelim 7, and it was a Woodbridge one-two with Phia from Year 10 coming in 1st and Year 7’s Edie in 2nd.
The Prelim 14 was won by Oscar (Y11), Eve (Y9), Ada (Y11) and Issy (Y11) meaning qualification to represent Suffolk at the County Finals. Oscar just missed out qualifying as the top individual, finishing in an exceptionally close 2nd instead.
In the Novice, Woodbridge had an excellent set of results with Oscar (Y11) achieving 1st, Issy (Y11) 3rd, Katie (Y12) 4th Ada (Y11) 5th and Eve (Y9) coming 6th.
It was such a long day that Ada had to finish her test in the dark! But despite this, and the very cold weather, the team’s spirits remained high, and it was a successful day – huge well done to everyone that took part.
The School’s Head of Biology and European women’s Rugby team player, Lou Rickard, was recently presented with her first cap (having received her 50th and 100th previously but never her first!). Joining a group of Welsh players that had never received their first cap, she was presented hers by Thomas Davies CBE DL, a Welsh former Rugby Union wing and British Lions player. Having played international Rugby for Wales between 1966 and 1978, Thomas Davies is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams including Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wyn Jones – so it was quite an honor to meet the man and the player!
Following this presentation, Dr Rickard also attended an Inspirational Women’s event recently, where she was presented with and received her 100th cap from the Centurions. Only eight women in the world have received over 100 caps for their country, and four of them presented caps during this event. On the cap it states that Dr Rickard is centurion number 10, meaning she is the 10th centurion male and female (second female) to have got to 100caps. What an achievement!
The U12A netball team travelled to Northgate to play in a tournament against four other schools last Thursday afternoon, and despite the freezing cold weather spirits were high!
Their first match was against Orminston where Woodbridge took the match with 15-0. The next game against the B team from St Jo’s was also won, 12-0 and then the team faced Copleston. The temperature was starting to drop rapidly by now, so the team’s hands were getting colder and stiffer, and so it was inevitable that the team started making a few mistakes. Copleston went ahead and scored the first goal, but we soon regained our team structure, and the goals were converted; we were lucky to come away with another win 8-1.
With one match off, the team were sure to keep warm ahead of facing Northgate in the final game for that day. Keen to make it four out of four wins, the girls knew they had to continue playing how they had been, and making sure they stayed warm so that the ball wasn’t dropped. Straight off the first whistle the team played really well, coming away with a 10-0 win, meaning Woodbridge won the tournament overall, which was simply amazing!
45 goals scored in four, ten minute games is just phenomenal, showing how consistent the shooting was. With just one goal conceded in the entire tournament clearly demonstrates how strong the U12As are as defenders – a superb effort by all the girls, huge well done to everyone who took part; a particularly proud achievement given how very cold it was!
The team now looks forward to a second round tournament, playing against different teams (including the top two teams from the other two tournaments) on Tuesday 11 January 2022.
Another cold winter’s night saw the U12B team’s tournament being played, hosted by Farlingaye but luckily it was indoors at home in the Dome.
Going into the tournament the team knew the competition was going to be tougher than the last friendly match played against Farlingaye, but they were absolutely up for it!
In the first match the team were losing 3-0 at half time, but in the second half the girls stepped it up a gear and prevented Farlingaye from scoring, managing to score one goal themselves resulting in a 3-1 defeat unfortunately.
St Alban’s was next, another tough game with very tall players, but the team managed a 1-1 draw. Unlucky in the second half not to score two more goals like the opposition, the game finished 3-2 to them.
It was during the team’s next match against Claydon that they really found their shooting power! Sitting rather nicely at 7-1 by half time, the goals just kept coming, with an amazing final score of 13-1 to Woodbridge – what a win!
That solid win spurred the team on and into their next match against East Bergholt, and again the shooting was on form, alongside the defending. Coming away with yet another win, 7-3, the final results were in. East Bergholt came 1st, Farlingaye 2nd and Woodbridge got 3rd place – what a superb effort, the girls demonstrated the depth of the School’s Year 7 netball and the team are excited for the season to begin in January.
The team now have second round tournaments to play against the 3rd and 4th placed schools in the other two tournaments, which take place on Wednesday 12 January 2020. These tournaments are friendlies, and from them the U13 leagues are set for next September 2022.
The U12B Rugby team, comprising of Year 7s, celebrated a big win over Finborough last week, with 15 tries to 2 in the last game of the season. It’s always great to get through to the last game, just a shame it’s always so cold at this time of year!
Spirits were high after a decent journey to the match, and as soon as the game started Woodbridge’s tries began to flow. Shuffling the deck plenty of times, all the boys played really well. Having changed a fair few times over the season, the team line-up has seen plenty of success and everyone has made decent progress.
A big well done to all the boys for taking part this season, having played six matches, won three, drawn one and lost two.
The School’s weekly boarding offering has been extended and will now be available from Year 7 onwards from January 2022. Staying at School House where our Head of Boarding, Richard Pineo, lives with his family, students will feel they are home from home.
With a long tradition of boarding at Woodbridge School, boarders are an integral part of the School community, adding value themselves and enjoying a wide range of additional benefits that boarding brings. Arriving on Sunday evening, staying through to Friday after School, students can be organised and prepared ahead of the week, settled and ready to start on Monday morning – returning home at the end of the week to spend quality time with family and friends.
Providing structure, routine and encouraging increased independence and responsibility, weekly boarding can also reduce time spent travelling back and forth from School each day; up to 10 hours per week if travel time is ordinarily up to an hour per day. This time can be used in many positive ways, such as to study, with set times in place for all boarders each day after School, as well as take advantage of access during the evening to the Sports Centre, Gym and Music School.
Surrounded by a diverse range of students in terms of nationality and culture, weekly boarding can be an enriching experience that encourages tolerance, patience, cultural awareness and acceptance of others – as well as a great opportunity to make friends with people from School.
There’s fun to be had whilst boarding too, with regular activities, suppers and outings. Alongside the support and care provided by the House parents, students are also given the opportunity to learn practical skills such as cooking, cleanliness and organisation, with the expectation that their rooms will be tidy and well organised. These are great skills to acquire ahead of university, where independence and self-reliance is essential. Weekly boarders can expect to feel as much a part of the House as any other, with the opportunity to improve leadership skills and experience or provide mentoring.
For those interested, we are able to arrange and offer a taster session free of charge; this will allow students to experience the environment and meet the other boarders, as well as give parents the opportunity to ascertain how this arrangement would benefit them and their family. Please contact Richard Pineo at RPineo@woodbridgeschool.org.uk to discuss in more detail and make arrangements, or to make any other enquiries about boarding.
After what has been an incredibly busy term for Modern United Nations, another busy session took place this week. Sophie, the delegate for the United States submitted a resolution proposing the adoption of gender neutral pronouns across all the UN communication.
The resolution sparked a heated debate during which a range of arguments were elegantly constructed and put forward; from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia through Iceland and Sweden to France and Argentina.
Thanks go out particularly to Harry, Bea, Xander, Ollie, Sophie, Kitt, Robert, Amelie, Skyla, Ewan, Toby, Izzie, Rose, Georgie, James, Maisy, Jade and all the other delegates that, during each MUN session, successfully put aside their own beliefs to explore and adopt a range of different cultural and political perspectives on the most critical global issues we face today.
Following its extended deadline, the English essay competition closed on 29 November, following a superb number of really well written and presented essays from Year 10 and 11 students. With a wide range and variety of topics included in the entries, it was clear that students had really seized the opportunity to showcase their wider reading and explore their subject.
Winning the literature category, Year 11’s Hannah’s outstanding essay addressing the character Clytemnestra in the Greek trilogy The Oresteia, she explored the statement, ‘A villain is just a victim whose story has not been told’. She made a very compelling case for judges to sympathise with Clytemnestra.
In the language category, it was Year 11’s Florence’s perceptive essay on the idea that we have all forgotten how to communicate with one another these days, through her very powerful critique of modern society.
Judging the competition, Ms Norman said that she found choosing between the entries extremely tough, but loved reading them all; she praised the superb standard of writing exhibited in all the essays.
Congratulations to Hannah and Florence who received their prize from Ms Norman in School this week, and a huge well done to all of the students who entered.
In a packed out classroom, Year 10 and 11 students listened to their English teachers discussing John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice And Men; both a classic novel and set text in their English Literature IGCSE. A chance for teachers to take great pleasure in exploring the differing critical views on various aspects of the novel, as well as a chance to explore and demonstrate the ways in which readers themselves create meaning from what they read, depending on their own context.
For the students of Years 10 and 11, it was a great opportunity to join in discussion, offer their own ideas and theories, and witness discussion and disagreement = all in the spirit of intellectual endeavour.
Everyone (students and teachers!) came away buzzing with a deeper and richer understanding and appreciation of the novel, as well as the responses to it. We look forward to more LiveChat next term!
On the evening of Thursday 9 December, students gathered for the annual Rugby Dinner in the Tuckwell room at School. Prize winners were announced while players from all year groups had the opportunity to socialise and celebrate the season together. With speeches from Captains and awards for players, it was a wonderful evening spent together.
Prize winner details below:
Coaches’ Most Outstanding Player of the Year:
- 1st Oliver
- U16 Ed
- U15 Harrison
- U14 Archie
- U13a Ollie
- U13b Arthur
- U12a Oliver
- U12b Harry
Players’ Player of the Year:
- 1st Fazil
- U16 Moses
- U15 Aidan
- U14 Andrea
- U13a Charlie
- U13b Henry
- U12a Elijah
- U12b George
Most Improved Player of the Year:
- 1st Ed
- U16 Josh
- U15 Bash
- U14 Jacob
- U13a Angus
- U13b Jack
- U12a Oliver
- U12b Seb
Clubman:
- 1st Mak
- U16 Robert
- U15 Aidan
- U14 Harry
- U13a Tom
- U13b Arlo
- U12a Liam
- U12b Isaac
