Category: Senior School News
Last Friday, Year 8 students travelled to France, where they visited Berk Beach, Go Ape, used their French in the local market and stayed at the beautiful 17th Century Chateau Du Broutel. Mrs Pilkington, Head of French reports on the trip for us.
Mrs Pilkington, Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Teacher of French and Sport.
The Junior French trip set off for France at the unsocial hour of 6.00am last Friday. The students were buzzing and showed no sign of tiredness. The journey went smoothly, we arrived at the château adorned in furry monkeys which had been purchased on the ferry.
Once in residence, the students had a wonderful first night doing the château Olympics and treasure hunt. We carried on until 10.45pm playing frisbee, volleyball, cricket or just chatting in the grounds.
The next day was an early rise, starting with room inspection (surprisingly good!) followed by mayonnaise making and the market. After a good lunch the group continued on to the cow farm which was interesting but due to 35 degree heat the butter would not turn. However, we made it in the end and everyone enjoyed the bread with freshly made butter.
A welcome relief was Berk beach, the students enjoyed a happy time frolicking around in the sand being cooled by the onshore breeze. Next was more games at the château and further games with staff leading the activities. Another 10.45pm bedtime, still no signs of fatigue!
Sunday, we made our way to Go Ape. Here the students showed excellent team working skills, helping each other in moments of doubt. The course was testing and the zip wires definitely set some hearts racing. On then to Amiens to go ice skating, here the students excelled and their tenacity and resilience shone through. Many hit the deck but always got back up and carried on.
Another evening of fun back at the château and then the students packed for home.
On the last day we left promptly without event. All rooms were immaculate, wow! On the way home we went to the sweet shop just to top up our sugar levels. Here the students listened carefully and translated brilliantly what was being said in the sweet manufacturing process explanation. The owner was very enthusiastic to say how impressed he was with the students’ engagement and how beautifully behaved they were – the staff were super impressed as well.
A trip to the supermarket followed, multiple baguettes, litres of water as well as tasty presents were bought. The journey home was swift despite passport control, allowing the group to arrive back at 7.45pm.
It was a fantastic trip, and I would like to thank the students because they were a delight, and the staff because they did not have any down time each day from 7.00am to 1.30am and yet, kept smiling and being enthusiastic throughout. They are all superstars!
Rehearsals are in full swing for this year’s production of Shakespeare On The Lawn comedy Twelfth Night, and we recently had the opportunity to meet and chat with two of the show’s main characters; Sir Toby Belch and Viola – Year 9’s Fergus and Georgia to all in School.
Meeting regularly over the next few weeks ahead of the production performance on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 July, small groups of students get together at different times to rehearse on the lawn under the shade of the trees just outside the School Chapel. Along with Miss Mayes and under her direction, actors/students not only go through their lines, but discuss their characters, stage direction and translate some of the Shakespearean language where required, to ensure everyone understand exactly what is happening in the scenes.
Georgia, who joined Woodbridge in Year 5, has a real passion for Drama and was extremely excited to be offered the part of Viola in the production commenting, “I was so surprised to be offered the part! I’ve acted in productions such as The Wizard Of Oz and the Lion King in the past, but to be involved in a Shakespeare production is wonderful – especially having the opportunity to perform outside on the lawn, it’s really very special. It was really exciting auditioning as no one was going for a specific part, so yes, I’m really happy with being asked to play Viola.”
Fergus, who joined Woodbridge in Year 1 also shares that passion and enthusiasm for Drama having performed in a number of School productions, and also in The Wizard Of Oz and The Lion King as well as Fame! Invited to play Sir Toby Belch he commented, “I love my part, there’s so much I can do with him, and he’s great fun to develop – he has a real edge and could be described as a comedy character. We don’t get to audition for specific parts, so to be chosen for this is a real compliment and I think had I been asked what part I’d like Sir Toby would have been one I would have chosen.”
Every year’s Shakespeare On The Lawn is special, but this year we will be inviting a number of OWs who performed the first time Twelfth Night was performed on the lawn in School, so it looks set to be quite an occasion. Filled with energy and enthusiasm, Year 9’s production is sure to be a delight for all involved as well as those watching.
Tickets are available from Seckford Theatre | Twelfth Night 5- 6 July – Seckford Theatre and those coming to watch are encouraged to bring a picnic to enjoy as they watch the performance.
This week saw our end of year summer Art department show and exhibition, taking place alongside our Design show. There were lots of visitors and some great feedback, a very positive day for everyone involved. Mr Hutch has asked Art Teacher Mrs Chapman-Ross to report on the event first hand, talking about the students exhibiting at and experiencing the event.
Ms Ross, Art Teacher
Let me paint a picture for you (pun intended).
It’s 6.30pm on Tuesday evening, the sun is shining, it’s Pimms o’clock, work’s done for the day… it doesn’t get better than this right? Wrong. The Woodbridge School Summer Art Show is in full swing; 80 outstanding exhibits from our very own Year 11, 12 and 13 artists, designers and photographers. What an absolute treat it was.
Not just an obvious abundance of talent, but a showcase of utter fearlessness. There’s this tangible sense of bravery, a sense that these individuals are being just that, individual. Their honest and real selves.
Exquisite fashion garments, ‘human’ sushi, breath taking portraiture and the newest series of Woodbridge Edition Prints for sale (https://www.woodbridgeschoolartdepartment.com/).
If you missed it, check out https://www.instagram.com/woodbridge_schl_art_department/
On Tuesday 14 June we were delighted to welcome students, parents and their families to this year’s Design Show – the first time since Covid! It was wonderful to finally have the opportunity to come together and celebrate the diverse range of exceptional work created by our GCSE and A Level students.
With three dimensional outcomes such as resin table, architectural models, lighting concepts and set design on show, there were lots of amazing comments about the students’ work.
Equally there was a fantastic response to our Graphic Communication which gave us branding designs, character development and album cover concepts.
With an amazing buzz in the department visitors were also treated to an exhibit of the outcomes of this year’s Creative Excellence Award for students from Year 8 and 9.
Our design show continues up until Tuesday 21 June, so if you weren’t able to join us earlier this week, you still have the chance to come into School and see the work for yourselves – please email our Head of Design Mrs Cracknell at dcracknell@woodbridgeschool.org.uk.
Rehearsals continue a pace for our annual Gala Concert, which takes place on Sunday 26 June at Ipswich Corn Exchange, with over 130 performers (including our parent choir) coming together to perform Faure’s sublime Requiem!
As we look ahead to this spectacular event, we met with Year 11’s Jasmine whose composition, ‘Ben Aan’, will be performed at the concert, it is a piece she was commissioned to compose especially for the occasion.
“The brief was to compose a piece of music that could be performed at the Gala Concert; to be played with a full orchestra and with a Scottish theme to compliment Hamish McCunn’s ‘Land of Mountain and Flood’ which will open proceedings at next Sunday’s concert. It was a huge challenge, but one I’ve been excited to take on. I will be also be performing in the piece on cello, it begins one might say with a rather sinister and dark feeling, but develops into a fun jig that then culminates in a combination of the two. Although I’m a little nervous, I can’t wait to play it.”
Jasmine plays cello, piano and sings at School as well as being a cellist in the Suffolk Youth Orchestra. She will be playing cello throughout the Gala Concert, and is excited to be playing to such a big audience in such a beautiful space.
The Gala Concert is certain to be a wonderful night, and our Director of Music Mrs Emma Kent will be conducting throughout. Tickets are now selling fast and we hope you can join us. Tickets are available directly from the Corn Exchange Ipswich by clicking here.
Last week, 55 students and several teachers from Year 9 and 12 embarked on their Spanish study trip to Salamanca, Spain. As well as taking in the sights, sounds and flavours of the Province, including staying with host families, students also learned Spanish for four hours every morning. Mr Morton reports on the trip, alongside Year 9’s Erin, and Year 12’s Lucy.
Mr Morton, Spanish Teacher
The Year 9 Spanish intensive groups and the Year 12 A Level students had a thoroughly enjoyable week in Salamanca, a ‘golden’ city just to the west of Madrid. It is said to have the purest form of ‘castellano’ Spanish in Spain and is also famous for one of the oldest universities in the world and its jamón! The staff all agreed that the students behaved very well and were fantastic during the week and a huge credit to our community. We look forward to returning in June 2023 with the next cohort!
Lucy, Year 12
After going on the trip to Salamanca in Year 9, returning in Year 12 was an opportunity I’m glad not to have missed. The combination of having more freedom to explore the city, choosing our activities more selectively and being able to understand the language better, made the trip even more enjoyable than before. As well as joining certain activities with Year 9 students, such as visiting Salamanca’s two cathedrals, extra experiences such as being taken on a tapas night by our Spanish teachers and playing the popular Spanish sport, ‘pádel’, contributed to making this year’s trip more special than before.
Erin, Year 9
We stayed in Salamanca for a week full of activities, lessons and touring some beautiful landmarks. Leaving our host families after breakfast at 8.00am, we walked over to Colegio Delibes – the school we attended from 9.00am to 1.00pm to learn Spanish in the form of two lessons: grammar and communication. Afternoons in Salamanca were spent with our host families eating home cooked lunches, having some free time to explore the city and then meeting outside later on to take part in activities such as touring the city, cooking, visiting museums and the market, a photo rally, tapas tour, salsa dancing and more. Each night, after these activities we had the chance to have up to two hours of free time each night to explore the city on our own (and definitely do some souvenir shopping). We met back up at the Plaza Mayor afterwards to walk back to our flats for dinner and a much-needed night’s sleep. Although, on Tuesday, because of our tapas tour which consisted of visiting three different bars and trying some popular tapas dishes, we were out in the city much later (until around 10. 15pm!) and got a chance to see the stunning lights switched on in the Plaza Mayor when the sun had set. Overall, the trip was packed with fun and new experiences organised by our lovely teachers – by the end of the week we were all completely shattered!
School athletes travelled to the Bedford International Athletic Stadium last Friday for the East Area Prep School Athletics Championships, and to the English Schools Athletics Track and Field Cup Regional Round East Anglia on Thursday. You can read more about it in our reports from Head of Athletics, Mrs Scahill.
East Area Prep School Championships
Everyone was up early to travel to Bedford for the East Area Prep School Championships last Friday; 32 of our Year 7 and 8 students had achieved qualifying times and distances to compete against athletes from 50 other schools in the East region hoping to gain a place in the National finals at Nuneaton on Monday 4 July.
It was a sunny day and team spirits were high as the competitors enjoyed a great day with many personal bests and the majority of athletes coming in the top ten for their event. Huw won the shot, Romilly came second in the 800m and Jasper second in the 1500m to qualify for the Nationals.
Third placed athletes who just missed out on qualification were Felicity 1500m, Oscar javelin, Amelie discus and Eloise long jump.
Thank you to the staff helping and parents supporting and a very big well done to all the athletes who gave maximum effort and were a great credit to Woodbridge School.
Athletics English Schools Athletics Track and Field Cup Regional Round East Anglia
Both the Inter and Junior girls teams qualified for the Regional Finals of the Athletics Track and Field Cup to compete against teams from Cambridgeshire, Essex and Norfolk. A team of twelve/fourteen students have to cover all events between them, doing two events each (one track one field) scoring points for their distances and times. Juniors is Year 7 and 8 and Inters is Year 9 and 10.
An early start saw the teams off to Grays in Essex on Wednesday 15 June 2022. The Intermediate girls were slightly depleted with two team members missing however this didn’t deter the rest of them, they showed great tenacity and competed to their best on what turned out to be a very hot day!
It was a mixture of results with personal bests and some scoring more points than in qualification, and some less. Year 10’s Nancy was again the top scorer of the team with 47 points followed by Year 9’s Ella and Year 7’s Georgia with 29, and Year 9’s Lilianna with 24. Their overall team position was 11th.
The Junior girls, with a full team, had more success and came 6th out of 12 teams. Top scorer for an individual event was Year 8’s Charlie with 26 points in the 1500m. Top scorers for two events were Year 7’s Romilly and Felicity with 41 points for 800m and relay. Not far behind were Year 7’s Eloise and Lyrah, with 36 and 32 respectively.
Well done to everyone that took part, and to both teams competing on a hot day – and during exams.
Our U12A, U13A and U15A Cricket teams were out in force over the weekend, bringing in three wins for the School playing against St Jo’s. You can read more about the matches, the players and the winning scores in our individual match reports below.
U12A Woodbridge vs St Jo’s – Match Report From Matt Davis
A glorious sunny Saturday morning and a batting deck to die for! The day began with Woodbridge winning the toss and deciding to bat. Barney and Liam set about their work in style and rarely looked uncomfortable taking us to 101 without loss in 15 overs. Liam made his maiden half-century and Barney contributed 42 as Woodbridge scored 127 for 1 from their twenty overs.
St Joseph’s were always slightly behind the required rate and thanks to careful fielding fell a little short of the total required for victory. Barney had a good day with the ball too bowling four overs for just 9 runs and then taking a diving catch in the slips.
Well done to all the boys on display – a good team performance even though only some get mentioned in dispatches.
U13A Woodbridge vs St Jo’s – Match Report from Ian Simpson
After Winning the toss and deciding to bowl, Woodbridge went out to field, full of confidence and with a great plan to beat the opposition. Charlie and Oscar opened and bowled excellently, with Oscar taking a wicket in the 2nd over and Charlie one in the 3rd over.
The rest of the team worked hard, continually stopping St Jo’s scoring easy runs and putting the batting team under more and more pressure. In Charlie’s fourth, and his last over he took a wicket with the 1st ball, when the batsman edged to Jasper, who took a very sharp catch at slip, he then took another wicket in the over and once Oscar and Charlie had finished their opening 4 overs each they had held St Jo’s to 33-3 from 8 overs.
Joe and Tom then continued with the tight bowling ensuring that St Jo’s never got and easy runs, and the wickets kept tumbling, Joe taking 2 wickets in his 4 overs and Tom taking 2 wickets in his 3rd and 4th over ensuring that St Jo’s were bowled out for just 78 in 18 overs. This was an excellent fielding and bowling display and limited St Jo’s.
In reply Woodbridge lost a wicket in the second over, however Rowan and Alex set about the task manfully, making positive connections with the ball and gently keeping the scoreboard moving forward, slowly reeling in the St Jo’s total; unfortunately with 20 runs left Rowan was forced to retire hurt and was unable to complete the innings, however Angus strode in and with Alex ensured that the team reached its target with 7 overs remaining.
Top performances to mention came from Charlie with 3 for 12, Tom with 4 for 23 and Alex with 33 not out.
U15A Woodbridge vs St Jo’s – Match Report Richard Pineo
An amazing game for our U15s against St Jo’s, at one point during the match the opposition were 130/3, and we bowled them out for 145, with special mention for Oscar W and Oscar H who did incredibly well.
Batting we were at 40/0 then 45/7! Amelie and Nancy steadied the ship for us before Tolly came in and blasted 23 off 8 balls. We needed 7 off the last with Jack facing. Two dots, then Nancy ran a wide to the keeper. They ran into each other and St Jo’s messed up watching those two crash. 4 off 2 needed and Nancy whacked a boundary, charging off screaming and celebrating – and rightly so!
An amazing win, and really great to see. Lots of parental support at the match too which made it an even lovelier afternoon.
Joe captained the side extremely well and deserves lots of credit for the way he changed the bowlers and made sure they only got 145. Well done everyone!
The School’s Equestrian Team competed against riders from all over the country at The All England Jumping Course, Hickstead from 28 to 30 May. Head of Athletics Mrs Scahill shares more details in her report.
Ali Scahill, Head of Athletics
The Woodbridge Equestrian team, comprised of Year 7’s Harry and Edie, Year 9’s Eve and Oscar, Year 10’s Sophia and Year 11’s Ada, were very excited to be off to Sussex to compete against teams from all over the country. They were competing in the finals of the Eventers Challenge, after qualifying earlier in the year.
We saw our 70-75cm team of Harry, Zac and Edie jump three fantastic clears to finish 4th out of 32 teams in a very strong field. Zac rode a brilliant round for individual 5th place with a close optimum time; he was competing in a field of 176 riders.
The 80-85cm Team took forward Harry, Zac, Phia and Oscar. The course was very technical but the team rode some brilliant rounds to finish 17th out of 46 teams.
Our 90-95cm team of Oscar, Eve, Phia and Ada started with a super clear from Eve but a few errors dropped us down the leader board as a team; however a lot of experience was gained.
Unfortunately we had to withdraw from the Dressage, 100cm Eventers Challenge and Show jumping teams due to several horses suffering injuries – we wish them a speedy recovery.
However, Eve was still able to compete as an individual rider and she achieved a fantastic clear to finish in 10th place in the 100cm Eventers Challenge. A fantastic result taking into account how technical the course had been built. She followed it up with an 11th place in the 100cm show jumping.
Well done to our teams and the parents supporting the riders.
Our annual Gala Concert takes place on Sunday 26 June at Ipswich Corn Exchange, with over 130 performers (including our parent choir) coming together to perform Faure’s sublime Requiem!
Rehearsals are in full swing and as part of our lead up to the event we recently met with our piano soloist Etiane (Y13), who talked about being part of this wonderful musical delight.
“Mrs Kent approached me last year and invited me to take part in the Gala Concert, offering me the piano solo for the event. I’m going to be playing the Piano Concerto No. 23, KV488 by Mozart; the second and third movements. I knew that I’d probably never get another opportunity like this in my life, to play at the wonderful Corn Exchange with the orchestra – there was absolutely no chance of me not taking this opportunity. I’m incredibly excited to be part of this.”
Etiane has been playing piano since she was four years old, achieving her Grade 8 at the age of 14 and is now playing to Diploma standard. Etiane also plays the cello and will be leading the cello section of the school’s Symphony Orchestra for the rest of the programme.
The Gala Concert is certain to be a night of splendor, and all conducted by our Director of Music, Mrs Emma Kent. Do join us, you can get your tickets directly from the Corn Exchange Ipswich at www.ipswichtheatres.co.uk.
