Category: Senior School News

Congratulations to James Phelan for winning the history society’s debate entitled, ‘The Worst Natural Disaster in History’. James fought off stiff competition from Chester Wigzell, Oliver Reid, Tom Jarvis, Joshua Cole and Eliza Kilburn with his passionate and convincing argument in favour of the events of 1816, the so-called ‘year without summer’. Thank you to Dominic Ellice-Freeman for so ably chairing the event.

A 7.30 start and miserable weather weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of the Young Enterprise team at the Framlingham Sausage Fest last Sunday; in just a few hours, nearly £350 was raised as part of the business’s first fundraising venture.

Exemplary planning and punctuality were integral to the group’s success and kept the stall and raffle running smoothly throughout the day. Joshua Bradbeer, Daniel Hempstead, Callum Sycamore and Jess Bowers were responsible for the stall’s successful setup, while later Jude Ashken and Cavan Fawcett helped to manage customers and promote the business during the day. Lily Proudfoot and Ella Holliday worked the crowds determinedly and pulled every passerby towards the stall, while Sebastian Lamb and Nathan Little worked to promote their product and provide market research for their team.

The company is now looking to start producing their products, and look forward to the quiz night fundraiser on the 8 November, Queen’s House hall from 6.30-9.30. Tickets are available from every member of the team, priced at £5 each.

It is many years since Woodbridge has entered its choirs for the Festival (I can vouch for at least 20!), if indeed they ever have, so there was plenty of excitement amongst the singers but perhaps a little uncertainty about what to expect as the buses pulled out of Woodbridge and headed to hosts Orwell Park on Tuesday. It proved to be Cantabile that tested the waters, in the junior classes which ran throughout the afternoon, and our younger singers took to the competition stage as if veterans. The song they chose for the ‘Own choice, junior choirs’ class was ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ – lonely they were not, however. With six in the class they had to be at their best, and earning a rapturously received distinction Cantabile were just that, and took a richly deserved first place. By the end of the afternoon they had added to their trophy cabinet the laurels as winners of the overall Suffolk Festival Junior Choir Championship.

Back to school, relaxation and recuperation, and then two coaches and two choirs set out for the evening’s entertainment. Cantabile, quietly confident; Chamber Choir… fine tuning on the coach (there’s nothing like a singing charabanc).

The Chamber Choir’s ‘Love walked in’ impressed the adjudicator for beautiful tone and harmonies, fine clarity and lyricism to earn a high distinction in the ‘Under 19 choirs Own Choice’ class; Shenandoah won the Open Choral Folk Arrangements class with another high distinction; Bruckner’s difficult ‘Ave Maria’ earned the choir another first place and high commendation. The adjudicator was full of admiration for the technical and musical clarity and mastery, especially for a choir of such relative youth, and hopes that there will be a fruitful search for finding even more passion in performances to supplement such skills (Funky Voices, another of the competing choirs, offering a tremendous example of how raw enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment can help lift a performance).

Meanwhile in another of the open classes Cantabile had returned to the stage to sing in the ‘Song from a show’ class: ‘Feed the birds’. Not a dry eye in the house. Some compositions are just made for a young choir and this must be one; the adjudicator could ‘have listened to Cantabile all night’. Praise indeed – and another first place and distinction!

And then it was time for closing thoughts and the final award for the evening – The Suffolk Festival U20 Choir Championship – our Chamber Choir.

A great day; a valuable experience in managing all that the heat of competition might throw up; and fantastic results with both choirs now champions of Suffolk. Many congratulations to all the choristers, and of course to Miss Weston as well.

Cantabile

1st place: Own choice class (distinction) ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’
1st place: Song from a show/film (distinction) ‘Feed the birds’

Overall winners of: Suffolk Festival Junior Choir Championship (against a large field of competitors)

Chamber Choir

2nd place: Own Choice (distinction) ‘Love walked in’ Gershwin
1st place: Choral Folk Arrangements (distinction) ‘Shenandoah’ Trad.
1st place: Choral Sacred Songs and Anthems (highly commended) ‘Ave Maria’ Bruckner

Overall winners: Suffolk Festival U20 Choir Championship

The Sports Leaders had a diverse day which was interesting, informative and fun. Safeguarding and dementia talks, planning and running a Y7 tournament and skill session and a Circus Skills workshop.

Having studied Mandarin for almost half a term, all our Year 7 pupils had the opportunity to experience some different aspects of Mandarin Culture on field day. Their morning focused on three activities: fan dancing, traditional drumming and bean bag sewing with a cultural twist.

Chinese fan dance has been a part of China’s heritage for over two thousand years. It is used to help tell stories and maintain the traditions of Chinese culture as well offering entertainment. By watching the demonstration and having a go themselves, pupils were able to understand that fans are not only functional and decorative, but also play a critical part in passing down Chinese culture.

Just as with fan dance, drumming can be traced back thousands of years in China. First used in battle, drums are now seen as musical instruments, and are very often used at celebratory occasions. Each with their own individual drum, our Year 7s were able to appreciate the instruments at a close range and, more importantly, to play rhythms according to instruction.

The challenges and new learning continued with the bean bags; sewing a cube-shaped bean bag out of square cloths seemed to be a first for many pupils! However, all took the task to heart and tried their very best.

Woodbridge Under 16s led by captain George Barker travelled to Finborough keen to impress, and wasted little time proving as much, as Alex Evans Lombe immediately created quick ball for centre Charlie Mayhew to score in the corner. Jonny Max converted for a 7-0 lead, and almost from the restart Tom Harrington nipped over in the corner to extend the lead to 12-0.

More followed: Gabe Newland bulldozed over from close range; Leo Brooks converted; Theo Wright cantered in for another which he converted himself; Gabe completed his brace after another crashing run in at the corner. 31-0 at half time!

Woodbridge took the opportunity at the interval to make a number of changes and, after a period of adjustment and with Josh Holland and James Moss starring at half back, the points began to flow again: first Alex pounced on loose ball to score his second, then Henry Bull finished off a driving maul, and finally Theo rampaged through the Finborough defence to round things off at a very satisfactory 46-0. Man of the match Gabriel Newland.

Many congratulations to the U14B girls’ hockey team for their very impressive 4-0 victory over Norwich. It was a beautiful but hot afternoon at Harleston, and our girls had a match plan as clear as the sky was blue, especially from those crucial set plays. From the off the girls chased the ball down, passed with measured effectiveness, and pushed up field menacingly. Indeed, in the first half play was mostly in Norwich’s final quarter of the pitch. Maisy Webster opened the scoring with a very nice powerful shot from 3m out; and a few minutes later the Woodbridge girls intercepted the ball and with more confidence worked to convert another cross into the goal, Cecily Royal-Dawson flicking the ball confidently past the goalkeeper. Meanwhile Ashleigh Wildbore was terrorising the Norwich girls with her ball speed down the right wing and she was the third player to score after an excellent run down the wing thanks to Talia Fawcett’s support. Emily Outen then rounded off the scoring in fine style as she slapped the ball from the left post across the keeper and into the goal – a textbook finish!

The whole team should be pleased with their performance. It was a joy to watch.

Many congratulations to Milly Buckingham, Denis Alpay and Thomas Rutherford who have all successfully completed their Bronze Awards recently.

Many congratulations to Asmee Mishra who earned a certificate of distinction for her performance in the Junior Mathematics Olympiad right at the end of last term. This is the invitation-only top extension paper for those who have done exceptionally well in the Junior National Mathematics Challenge earlier in the year. She scored an immensely impressive 37 points to put her well into the top 25% of our nation’s invited top mathematicians, and just a whisker away from being awarded a bronze medal.

Many congratulations to Henry Bull, Lily Butler-Mayer, Alex Evans Lombe, Poppy Fletcher, Joshua Graves, Christopher Long, James Martin, Myles McEvoy, Toby McNally, Oliver Phelan, George Rufford, and Guy Seagers who all – and this is a first for the school – completed and gained their certificates for Bronze while still in Year 10! (And just in time for the final whole school assembly last summer.)

The award is a significant commitment and these dozen between them undertook an extended period of volunteering (ranging from working in charity shops, helping keep a village green in good order and helping at an animal rescue centre), learnt or developed skills (music or shooting for example) and committed to a sustained programme of a new physical activity; not to mention two two-day expeditions in the local area (ah – I’ve just mentioned them). Magnificent.