Category: Senior School News
Sounds of the Soapbox
Wednesday night saw our first evening of poetry performed in the Seckford Theatre as part of the 3rd Woodbridge Youth Poetry Festival. Our now regular poetry friend, Amy Wragg, with fellow artists from Get On The Soapbox, treated us to a wonderfully diverse set performed to a 150 strong audience. Amy, a performance poet in her own right, is so much more than a host, drawing us in to recollections of her life filling stages at festivals in ‘Take Me Back To The Fields’, considering ‘What Poetry Is’, and collapsing the distinction between page and stage artists. She then introduced us to Allanah Jo-Ann Peck, an upcoming poet based in Ipswich whose work reverberated with passion and fragility. Meditations on her dog ‘Fletcher’ and the fallout from a university led CV workshop were particular highlights. Matt Annis, a personal favourite of mine, touched on the political, the familial and the commercial, launching an uncomfortable attack on the insidious nature of advertisements on social media with his robotic refrain of ‘fit in the mould, do as you’re told, be what you’re sold’. After a short interval our headline act for the evening, John Osborne, entertained us gently and with words that seemed to come naturally and sweetly yet with a core of sharp humour that never alienated his enthusiastic audience. He considered the plight of his friend at school, Michael Jackson – yes, like the singer, yes, people have said that before, yes, it is quite annoying – and I found myself wondering whether John himself has been the recipient of such comments – yes, like the playwright. But his poems never looked back in anger, rather they recollected with joy his closeness with his twin sister, two astounding young buskers on Hastings pier, that dream of buying a new sieve. My personal favourite was his thought-experiment of meeting Kylie on an online dating website and whether she’d respond to a message from a shy guy who lives in Norwich in a house with a chubby neighbour who snores. He should be so lucky.
This was an evening that showcased the imaginative possibilities to be found in our ordinary world, the spaces we live in and people we share them with, the feelings that we all struggle with, and made poetry in response and as a sort of solution. I am sure each poet will have inspired the audience to go home and write something, perhaps in anger, but also in a spirit of honesty and tenderness.
On Friday 12 October, 25 pupils from Y10 upwards went to the British Museum for the first trip run by Miss Wright, the head of the FitzGerald Society, with the help of Dr Renshaw and Mr Hillman. The FitzGerald Society is a society aimed at intellectual high-fliers in Year Ten and Eleven who may be considering applying to Oxford or Cambridge University in the future. The Society is a way for all these people to get together as a group to explore intellectual challenges beyond the normal school curriculum, and to encounter a range of skills and interests which may increase their chances of fulfilling their ambitions of Oxbridge.
During the morning we analysed images of Power and Authority, where we studied how ideas can be conveyed about a society without using words. We focused on the Assyrian society, which was at its strongest and most powerful during the 9th to 7th century BC. This activity was focused on enhancing our analytical and observational skills, looking at how different aspects of Assyrian society were depicted in carved reliefs and to consider how the sculpture conveyed ideas of power and authority.
In the afternoon we headed off to a nearby museum, The Wellcome Collection, where we focused on the history of medicine and how medicine has been tackled and portrayed throughout the years. We spent time as a group discussing different aspects of the exhibition and what interested us about medicine over a very long time period. We also had a look at the architecture in medicine: How hospitals in the past were and what hospitals in the future may look like.
We, as the FitzGerald Society, went on this trip to broaden our knowledge and understanding of two very different topics, to widen our knowledge and to see if we’d consider studies linked to either of these two topics. The FitzGerald Society is a great opportunity and I would encourage any pupils who are considering Oxbridge to join the society!
Suffolk Schools Qualifying Race
On a glorious sunny day at RHS, team Woodbridge arrived with 34 boys and 33 girls all in the Woodbridge vests ready to compete against the other 1700 children from 52 schools who had ventured out with a common desire of finishing in the top 50 to earn a place in the next Suffolk Qualifier.
The afternoon started with over one hundred competing in two senior races: in the girls’ event Amy and Sarah ran extremely well to finish in 4th and 7th respectively, while for the boys Nathan finished 2nd and Alex 4th, all four running with great control, taking their time to work through the field and finish in the top 10. Chris was not far behind, also finishing strongly to end in a well-deserved 16th position.
Racing next and suitably inspired, the minor girls and boys put in some outstanding runs of their own: Eloise 3rd, Rose 4th and Lara 10th (Rose and Lara both a year under age!); Sasha and Georgina 19th and 22nd; Millie a fantastic 29th, much to her own surprise!; Sophia showed incredible fighting spirit to finish 37th despite a big fall requiring first aid after the finish; Nancy A who must be thanked for helping poor Sophia came in a strong 69th, with Nancy N just on her tail 72nd. Phoebe and Bea both finished the race strong in 96th and 112 respectively. The minor boys also excelled with Ethan and James both finishing in the top 10 (8th and 9th) and Jonjo close behind in 16th. John, Jack and Will ran in a nice little pack at the front of the race, ensuring qualification for the next round in positions 23rd, 24th and 36th, while Arthur, Oscar and Oliver joined them in the top half of the race (65th, 69th, 75th). There were about 700 minors competing overall to give an indication of how well ours did.
The Junior girls saw Ruby 1st and Amy 4th finish in the top 10, with Ruby running away with the race by an astonishing margin. Anna made another top 20 finish with 14th and Isobel and Ella made the top 50 in 22nd and 47th. Libbie came in 57th and with Kitty 71st , Madeline 86th, Wilhelmina 95th and Iris 96th all breaking the top 100 it was an excellent performance of group running. The junior boys performed well, too. Henry was in excellent form finishing a strong 3rd with Ed just behind him in 11th. Jonny proved that running is definitely in the family with an impressive 22nd and with Moses finishing in 41st Woodbridge will have a solid number of representatives in the next round. Ronald was unlucky to just miss out on his place finishing 51st, whilst Senen in his first race finished a creditable 82nd. Samuel finished well in 116th, and Edward came 131st despite becoming ill while running (Tom 126th and George 124th helped him around the course and supported him through the finish – great teamwork). Once again all our runners were in the top half of their races, with 600 juniors competing on the day.
The Inter girls saw the second winner of the day for Woodbridge as April strode around confidently and made it to the finish line a good 50m in front of her nearest rival. Jess ran better than ever to finish an excellent 7th and even surprising herself; Bea 10th continued where she left off last season with another excellent performance whilst Charlotte 16th, Emily 23rd and Ashleigh 25th ran strong races to confirm their places in the next round of the Suffolk trials. The Inter boys rose to the challenge equally well: Charlie 2nd was closely followed by Kit 3rd and George 6th, all three finishing effortlessly; and Tom 18th and Barnaby 22nd worked hard together to ensure a top 25 position in what was Barnaby’s first race for school. 300 athletes competed at Inter.
All in all it was a fantastic day of running, with lots of positive improvement and some outstanding performances. Overall out of 65 runners 38 have so far made it through to the next round with a few more potentially joining them. The school also had a record 18 top 10 finishes this year and all should be congratulated for the hard work and dedication that it takes to perform at this level. As a school we won both inter categories and were second in both junior categories (but first combined); the minors had no team event, but judging by the results would have been top three or better, and would almost certainly have won the girls’ event.
The next round of the Suffolk qualifiers takes place at Ipswich High on Saturday 1st December so we will hopefully have even more positive news then.
County Round
Following on from an extremely successful event on Thursday, anticipation was high for the first round of the National Schools’ Cup. Unlike many other Cross Country races this is a team competition in which the best four runners count. The top three teams in the county round then qualify for the regional round. To add extra spice our runners knew that the regional and national round of the competitions are being held at Woodbridge School this year, so the opportunity to represent your school on ‘home soil’ is an opportunity not to be missed!
The competition began with the Junior girls’ team of Nancy, Issie, Georgina, Eloise, Ruby and Sophia. The initial pace of the race left a couple behind, but eventually the group settled into their running and made significant progress through the race, ably led by the imperious Ruby who finished a couple of fields ahead of her nearest rival in first. Eloise once again gave it her all and finished in an excellent 7th. Issie (with a slight injury) pushed herself to the limit for a 17th place finish ahead of Sophia 29th, Georgina 35th and Nancy 37th, working together to secure a team total of 54 points and qualification for the next round.
The Inter Girls were next: April immediately hit the front to dominate the race, controlling the speed to forge a comfortable lead and win; Molly produced an excellent performance, surging through the field on the second lap to finish 4th, whilst Jess and Bea worked hard as a team to push each other on and finish in 6th and 7th respectively. Amy 10th and Anna 15th both ran excellent races and ensured that the team total of 17 points was enough to give the team a dominant 1st place.
The Junior boys had been so enthralled supporting the previous race that they nearly forgot to line up at the start, and so when the gun went they were towards the back. Undeterred they picked off runners quickly and by the second lap were at top speed: the race eventually became a line of Woodbridge vests vying for top honours. Eventually the boys finished in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th positions for a points total of 26 and another 1st place for the school. A fantastic race from Edward, Ethan, Jonny, James, Moses and Jonjo.
The inter boys’ race began with Charlie immediately out in front to dominate the race, setting his marker down to finish comfortably in 1st place. Kit meanwhile settled into an excellent pace and slowly made his way through the field to take 2nd some 50m behind. George also powered through the field to finish in 6th, while Henry effectively sprinted the whole third lap to turn 15th into a fantastic 7th on the line. Tom and Ed worked hard to bring the team home in 16th and 17th. The team total of 16 points earned a third first place for Woodbridge.
All four teams through to the next round – three in first place! Roll on the regional finals on the 10th November here at Woodbridge!
The U15Bs put on a great display of determination and team play against Finborough recently. In particular, in the second part of the first half once our team had settled to its task, Emily made some great attacking runs up the pitch and Erin kept things tidy at the back. We discussed decision making at half time and tracking back which made a huge difference in the second half, exemplified by Phoebe and Katie B who worked a fantastic attack only for the ball to come back off the post. We made some great chances in the second half and really put the pressure on Finborough, their goalie (who was a year older!) making a series of fine saves. Talia and Lottie played some perfect passes up the pitch with Ella and Becky working hard in their attacking roles. Sophie and Bea had solid games in defence, clearing the ball wide, and Lakisha and Elsa played well in goal. Katie B-M and Olivia also made telling contributions and Maisy put some real pressure on the right of the pitch. It was an exciting game to watch and we were unlucky to lose 0-2. Well done girls, and many thanks to all the parents for supporting.
The under fourteens very much enjoyed taking part in their first tournament of the season recently, hosted at Portman Road. Split into two teams, the first group opened their day against Kesgrave A in a hard fought and tiring encounter concentrated in midfield. Kesgrave took an early lead they never relinquished, but Fazil and Theo in particular helped us get back into the game, and Ollie made a brilliant penalty save towards the end. The second game, against Beccles A, was a slower paced match with much of it played in the opposition half. Moses made a series of brilliant tackles in what proved to be a frustrating encounter in the end, as Beccles stole a goal on the break to win. Unfortunately the pattern was similar in the final game against Saxmundham A: plenty of possession but very few attempts on goal. In an end to end game, Saxmundham took their two chances to secure the win. The B team had a better day of it: in the first game Max scored twice up front while Tom kept a clean sheet in defence thanks to a fine save. 3 points won – the team feeling good! The second game was against Farlingaye which added a bit of local rivalry to the proceedings. In a tight encounter we defended as hard as possible and Erwan made some amazing saves. The match ended 0-0, giving us a well-earned point. The final games was against group leaders Kesgrave (we were joint second). Our approach was determined, but two headers from the opposition in rapid succession proved too much for us as they ran out winners by 3-0. The team, made up of Year 8 and Year 9 players who had not played together before, was proud of its efforts and the points gained.
Unlike previous Year 8s going to the Green Britain Centre in Swaffham, this year’s went to Foxburrow farm where they enjoyed such activities as an invertebrate search, tree study, pond dipping, and a classification mystery animal quiz. Now these activities may not sound like the most fun or interesting things to do but were actually very intriguing and exciting tasks.
Invertebrate Search
First when we entered the woodland meadow clearing we were told to sit on logs which we were not allowed to move for reasons which will become clear to you. Lena, our instructor, explained the different ways in which we could search for creatures. We swept through bracken, toiled through trees and captured what lurked under logs. The undergrowth hid Harvestmen, the trees strung with spiders; and under one particular log another group found an endangered species: a young great crested newt which in Poppy’s opinion was cute! In the end our team found a ladybird, two types of spider, a grey harvestman and a huge harvestman with black legs and an orange body that was about the size of a tangerine.
Tree Study
Firstly, we identified trees by the cuttings that had been taken for us. Searching through forest and thicket to find the owners of these twigs, we realised how similar and yet how different two trees can be. Next we proceeded to create a key by gathering three leaves before asking a question such as “Does it have a serrated (toothed) edge?” which led to either a leaf or another question. Our last task was to measure the height of a tree. We choose a beautiful pink leaved one. I stood a few metres away from the base and pointed the clinometer at the top-most twig. Once we had a reading of 45 degrees exactly, Poppy began to measure from my feet, but hit a problem, literally! There was a great stretch of thicket that we attempted to navigate through to reach the bottom of the trunk. Eventually, after picking our way through thorns, nettles and tree trunks, we made it in, so, with Jazzy keeping the other end secure, Poppy passed me the end of the tape measure. I brought it to the base of the tree ready for Poppy to confirm the exact reading. The tree was 10.4 metres tall.
Pond Dipping
When we first entered the pond area, there were bowls, nets and tubs with spoons. One person got to go up to the pond to dip first: even on our first net-full there were so many creatures, mainly backswimmers and lesser water boatman. On about our third dip I managed to catch a great diving beetle. Nearing the end of this activity Mae Batchelor caught a dragonfly nymph – which is the top predator in a pond- proving the quality of the water was very good. Finally we placed our creatures into identification tanks. When Mae placed the nymph in the tank it immediately got to work and fought to the death with the other bugs… it won!
Animal Classification
The final activity we did was inspecting a skull and classifying the animal it was from. After examining the skull we were asked two questions. 1) The positioning of the eyes. 2) The way in which the teeth were structured. Ours was a large skull with sets of molars, designed to grind down plant material. It had forward facing eyes with a little more peripheral vision than humans. Once we had recorded our answers we made our way to a woodland bowl (a lower area of woodland in the shape of a bowl), where we answered further questions according to the clues given to us. We were also given a fun fact about our mystery animal to help us on our way. Our creature was the largest land animal in the UK with the largest being 137cm to its shoulders and 190kg in weight. We also got to find out what habitat it lived in: for example our animal didn’t build a home so it just grazed a field. In the end, after much deliberation, we decided (with a lot of help from Poppy) that our mystery animal was, in fact, a Red Deer.
Poppy , Hannah and Jasmine
Back at the school it was a varied day for the Woodbridge School Sports Leaders.
The Y11 pupils had safeguarding training and, together with the Y12s, a Circus Skills workshop.
Y13 had a day of First Aid training as part of their Paediatric First Aid qualification.
Last Thursday evening saw the CCF Navy section pile into minibuses after school to travel to HMS Bristol in Portsmouth for their field day. Arriving in reasonable time the cadets were able to take in the experience of spending the night on a real Royal Navy destroyer before an early start on Friday for an action packed field day. After marching across the HMS Excellent base and past the RN HQ to breakfast our new Year 9 cadets were able to visit HMS Collingwood where they spent a morning getting wet and muddy on the Navy obstacle course before taking on the challenge of the low ropes course in the afternoon. This year we were fortunate to secure the use of two large motorboats and two small yachts which enabled all the rest of the section to spend the day afloat. Despite a lack of wind we all made it across in the sunshine to Cowes on the Isle of Wight for lunch before returning to Portsmouth and the long drive back to Woodbridge.
Congratulations to Myles who been successful in gaining a place at British Film Institute (BFI) Academy for aspiring filmmakers. The application criteria were for committed, talented young people who are passionate about film. In his application Myles submitted his CCF Inspection video amongst other videos he has produced, as well as demonstrating his commitment by running an after school Filmmakers Club and volunteering at holiday film workshops. The support and encouragement Myles has received from teachers at Woodbridge has given him the confidence to pursue his passion. His favourite fun film experience was making the Amarillo video with the staff in record time to raise money for Comic Relief!