Category: Senior School News
The under fifteens have continued their season with two spirited encounters. The first was against RGS Colchester: after another strong week of training, strategies were in place before the whistle, only for a slow start to lead to a converted try against us. Happily, a few clean breaks from numerous players got us back on our feet, and Jack finished the phase with a well-deserved try. Unfortunately Colchester then scored twice more through their strong and consistent forwards to secure the lead at half time. The start of the second half saw some fine individual performances from the likes of Tom B and Mauricio, and another try followed as John dived into the corner. But the physicality of the game began to show, and with substitutions for injury, Colchester eased away again before Woodbridge answered back with a lovely weighted kick from Barney for Mak to touch down under the posts. 19-35 the final score.
Next for the team was the national cup fixture against Ipswich. It was a shame that not all wounds had healed from the weekend, but our team gave their all in another physical and demanding match. The highlight came early in the first half when multiple strong carries by Jack W and others, led to John’s try – one for the whole team. Just before the break Mauricio then scored a very cheeky try in open play with a chip and chase, leaving the boys close enough to hope for more in the second half. Sadly it was not to be as Ipswich’s strength in depth proved decisive. Despite defeat, the team were immensely impressive: relentless tackling and hard work for the full 70 minutes, but Ipswich played their best game and they deserved the win. Special mentions go to Jack W, Kit and Barney who all had very strong games and refused give up or to allow Ipswich through.
Members of the Science Club can be seen here having great fun competing in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s global experiment, looking at hydrogel. They embraced the chance to return to their youth by filling nappies – just with water of course this time!
Many congratulations to OW Alex Dye who has just received his Gold D of E Award and is now awaiting his invitation to the Palace.
Meanwhile, back in school there are many enthusiastic volunteers looking to match his achievement. Charlie has recently completed his Silver Award, and Robin, Noah, Madelaine, Joanne, Katy, Ianthe, Rob, Ben, Petronella, Saif and Beth have recently earned their Bronze Awards.
Bee reports: We had a great time at the Year 7 Movie Night on Friday evening. We watched Paddington 2, and it was really nice to sit in the Science Lecture Theatre and wear our own clothes. Some of us even wore onesies, making it feel really cosy! We were raising money for Macmillan, and we raised over £90, which we feel very proud of! We look forward to the next charity movie night just before Christmas and hope that the event is even bigger than this time.”
Our thanks go to Year 9 students Phoebe, Rufus and Eleanor who organised this event, including designing and printing the posters, booking the Science Lecture Theatre and choosing the movie and pricing.Year 7 gave them a round of applause at the end of the evening.
On 28 September 2018, Woodbridge joined thousands of others across the country to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support with their annual coffee morning. Bake sales have always been popular, and students arrived in large numbers to sample the delights that were kindly donated by a number of staff and students. The catering department provided all hot drinks and the event was a huge success.
Overall, we raised over £225. Including the Year 7 Charity Movie Night last week, that brings the total to £317. Thank you to all staff and students who supported this event, and to Mrs Shanahan’s tutor group and the Charity Committee for running the event so smoothly!
Juniors against Norwich
Two reports in so far from the six-team extravaganza played at the Harleston Magpies’ ground: The fifth team had great success having started off a little shakily. Norwich unfortunately went ahead with a goal that teased its way past our defenders and goalkeeper, but we responded quickly thanks to a great goal by Isla. Settling down a little after this initial excitement, we started to pass the ball round well, especially at the back. Perdi and Alice linked expertly together, and during our next attack Isla scored again amidst great excitement. Great saves by Matilda kept us ahead going into a second half in which Lucia, Havannah and Jasmine all played really well, putting in some great tackles in the midfield and defence. They were well supported by Evie, Olivia and Poppy, and at the back our second half Goalkeeper, Faith, kept the opposition out with a string of fine interceptions. We continued to dominate with two more fantastic goals both coming from Alice to win 4-1.
It was harder going for the fourth team: despite having most of the possession and much of it in our attacking circle, we could not find the net to score and were unlucky to concede twice against the run of play. Eloise had a particularly good game and was tenacious in closing the play down and gaining possession of the ball. Ananya also had a strong game in defence alongside Charlotte H and Charlotte C. The opposition nominated Year 8 Kitty as the player of the match.
All the girls should be very proud of themselves.
The girls’ first hockey team travelled to Cambridge on a very hot afternoon to face The Leys, and after only a short and sharp warm up surprised the hosts with a strong star. Taking the game to the Leys, our girls won a penalty corner in the second minute, only for the chance to go begging. It gave the Leys the chance to gain some confidence in their turn, and now it was our girls who had to soak up the pressure. And they did, tackling well and winning the ball to start counter attacks. Poppy F and her fellow forwards worked tirelessly up and down the pitch in defence and attack, and Mollie B and Ianthe worked wonders in midfield to keep The Leys at bay, but despite best efforts and those of Sophie L in goal the Leys took the lead half way through the half, and scored again just before half time to cement their advantage.
It was a great second half, end to end at times; the Leys managed to sneak through once more, and Woodbridge could just not make half chances count. Kiya S had a good second half and linked up well with Flora P; and Molly M (Year 10) made a brilliant and seemingly nerveless debut. Player of the match was Annabel Y for her outstanding all round contribution.
Photo: debutant Molly and Player of the Match, Annabel Y
U13A Match Reports
The under thirteens have opened their season with two games in quick succession: against Colchester and Orwell Park. The Orwell game proved to be a bit of a thriller under hot late summer skies. It was a classic free-flowing affair, with both sides keen to play some expansive rugby. First, Theo in the play-maker role passed wide to allow Fazil and Robert S to run through the Orwell tackles; meanwhile in the forwards George N, Edward B and Zaid laid a platform to allow for further forays forward. At last the tries flowed, and in a tight encounter our boys had to settle for a 3-3 draw – not quite the victory they had hoped for. Fazil scored all three tries, while Player of the Match was Erwan for his outstanding defensive skills.
Earlier, against Colchester, our boys suffered an early reversal at the hands of a physically more mature and stronger team. The quick try led to more, but our boys never gave up and responded well with four fine tries of their own, scored by Fazil (3) and Henry, to make the final score 4-10. Four special mentions for outstanding effort and determination go to George N, Erwan, Edward B and Fazil.
Last Friday Year 4 pupils form Woodbridge Primary school took part in Woodbridge School’s STEM outreach Computational Thinking workshop during which they had to write an algorithm to allow mini traffic lights to light up creating a variety of light displays. The young programmers were then given the opportunity to try out their algorithms using the Crumble based software and equipment to see if there were any bugs in their code.
Science club this week saw pupils making gas powered rockets. Dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and Alka Seltzer rockets were both used, relying on the production of gas in the canisters to power their rockets skyward.