Sixth Form News Archives - Page 8 of 26

Students returned from their Spanish trip to Salamanca at the weekend, having spent time learning about and experiencing Spanish life, culture and language. Year 9 Intensive Spanish students and Year 12 A level students enjoyed all the city had to offer, including museums, galleries, shops, food and scenery, as well as spending time at language school and staying with host families – and even some salsa dancing and tapas tasting.

All the students had a great time, and really made the most of the trip and the opportunities it offered to immerse themselves in the city. Year 12’s Isla and Year 9’s Henry shared their first-hand experience of the trip.

Report from Year 12’s Isla

The Salamanca trip was a brilliant opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the culture and the language; I didn’t realise quite how much an experience like that can improve your Spanish.

We ate with our host families so had the opportunity to get to know them as well as learn more about the Spanish lifestyle – we also got to enjoy the Spanish daily routine (the siestas were a real treat!).

The Spanish lessons at the Colegio Delibes were eye opening. The teachers only spoke to us in Spanish, which was initially a bit daunting, but it massively improved our understanding of the language. The combination of Spanish speaking in the lessons and with the people we encountered outside of lessons was insanely beneficial.

We also really got to know the city which was perfect as everything was in walking distance. We had a tour of the beautiful old buildings and got to spend time relaxing in the Plaza Mayor.

Over the week we quickly found the best places for a snack or a coffee. We were also treated to a bit of salsa dancing and a tapas tour while we were in the city.

Overall, it was a really worthwhile experience; our Spanish improved exponentially and we all became a lot more confident in speaking the language.

Report from Year 9’s Henry

The Salamanca trip was an amazing experience! When we arrived in the city, we were split into groups of twos and threes and were hosted by local Spanish families who were very welcoming and keen to help us embrace Salamanca.

Our activities in the evening ranged from tortilla making to salsa dancing. Our lessons each morning at the Colegio Delibes helped us to improve our grammar and communication skills.

For me, personally, the best part of the Salamanca trip was the freedom we had; each day we had plenty of free time to spend roaming the city and putting into practise the Spanish we had learned in lessons, and to fully appreciate Spanish culture.

Thank you to Mr Morton and all the teachers for making it an amazing trip, although the weather at times wasn’t quite what we were expecting!

Sisters, Year 12’s Ada and Year 10’s Eve, competed at the British National Eventing Junior and Pony (U16) Championships last week, for Junior and Pony riders respectively taking place in Northumberland at Belsay International; it was Eve’s first attempt at the Pony Championships which is a three-day event. To get to these Championships, the combination of horse and rider have to compete at a number of events at increasingly higher levels, with a level of results to qualify to enter.

With Horse & Country TV filming on the Friday of the Championships, the cross country in particular, it was an exciting event for everyone taking part.

Ada celebrated success with 7th place, and was one of only six to finish on her dressage score which is an amazing achievement! Ada represented the Eastern Region in the National Youth Eventing Champs last year where the team took 3rd place, and she has also just been asked to join the training squad for the GB Junior European Eventing Team which is an incredible achievement!

Eve also did brilliantly, lying 16th out of 38, with only 18 completing, after Cross Country, but sadly her pony wasn’t comfortable in the final Showjumping phase as so she stopped. One of only 18 out of 38 starters that completed the Cross Country, which was at the highest level in the country for U16s, Eve has just one more year in the U16s so this will have been an excellent experience for her.

Well done to both girls, who represented our School and themselves exceptionally and good luck with everything that lies ahead!

Image credit: Athalens Photography

The Woodbridge School riding team had a fantastic time away over the half term, competing at the National Schools Equestrian Association Championships at Hickstead.

Our 70-75cm Eventers Challenge Team consisting of Year 8’s Harry, Zac and Edie, along with Year 7’s Grace, took the lead at 9:05am and then had a nail biting wait of six hours as the other teams competed to try and knock them off top spot. And so it was with absolute relief as well as joy when they found out that they were the Champions. They rode four fantastic and competitive rounds; a very strong and technical course for our team and they really made it look easy.

Our same team went forward the second day to compete in the 80-85cm Eventers Challenge championships, and again gave four very strong rounds and three clears for 10th place. This is still a big achievement for these riders who are stepping up to the technicalities of the championships.

We then took two teams forward for the 90-95cm Eventers Challenge Championships,

Team 1
Year 13’s Katie
year 10’s Oscar
Year 12’s Ada
Year 10’s Eve

Team 2
Year 8’s Edie
Year 8’s Zac
Year 12’s Florence

Both Teams gave a brilliant effort and Zac rode a brilliant clear to achieve the 4th best score and support his team.

Well done to all our riders who showed determination in all their rounds, all coming away and learning a great deal.

Responding to a request from the Army for cadets to assist with a Gold DofE award ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Year 12’s Izzie and Flo were selected to attend. Izzie reported on the occasion.

Izzie, Year 12, Army CCF

We arrived at Buckingham palace at 8.00am, where we were briefed for the day. We started by welcoming the Gold DofE award winners into the palace and handing them programmes. Several speeches were made throughout the day including the Duke of Edinburgh himself, Jill Scott, Charlotte Hawkins and DofE ambassadors.

Our role during these speeches was to line the aisle, as this was where the Duke of Edinburgh walked down speaking to guests. We had to stop the crowd stepping over the boundaries, keeping a safe distance between the public and the Duke of Edinburgh and then lead Prince Edward out of the crowd. We did this for two services during the day, the morning and afternoon and were lucky enough to speak to Prince Edward at the end.

Year 10 DT students spent a whole day in our design department earlier this week; learning and exploring a range of skills in order to prepare and arm them with a range of new skills and techniques for future projects. With Year 12 students dropping in to offer assistance and guidance, it was an eye-opener for many who left feeling informed and confident about future work.

Poppy, Year 10

The Year 10 DT skills day was very inspiring for me as a GCSE student. Throughout the course this year, I have experimented with a few materials but I feel that I haven’t pushed myself out of my comfort zone yet.

However, the skills day allowed me to explore a range of new techniques and equipment which has given me a fuller understanding of what is available to me in this subject, and which will enable me to produce my work with a greater level of independence and confidence. The day also enabled me to practice and make mistakes without any worry of the effect it would have on my coursework.

Overall, the DT skills day was very successful and enabled me to become a more confident DT student.

Our Woodbridge School MUN Society travelled to RHS for the ROYMUN conference last weekend. Year 12’s Kitt reported on the conference.

Kitt, Year 12

On the 20 and 21 May, the Woodbridge School MUN society went to RHS for the ROYMUN conference held there every year. Representing China, the students took part in many exciting and compelling debates with topics ranging from the use of weaponised drones, the issues of populism and nationalism, to how to promote economic and social inclusion for refugees.

Each member of the team debated their issues persuasively and with great research skills to back their arguments up. On the Security Council, the topic of Environmental Aid was brought up and two resolutions were debated, with the delegates for China, myself, and Russia, vetoing the more extreme of the two resolutions.

On the Human Rights committee the delegate for China, Year 9’s Bea, made it her mission to get as many countries as possible to join the ‘New China’ alliance, almost ending in both the massive expansion and dissolvement of the country, as well as passionately debating the treatment of refugees in both eastern and western countries.

In the politics committee another delegate, Year 12’s James, debated the idea of populism and nationalism from the perspective of a previously communist country effectively and professionally.

The environment committee focused on sustainable urbanisation and fast fashion. The delegates of China and Iraq, Year 9’s Izzie and Jack, debated the economic gain for less developed countries and their people when compared to the environmental effects caused by fast fashion.

In the World Health Organization, year 7’s Oscar, debated many difficult topics such as euthanasia, and when the crisis of AI infecting humans and controlling their limbs came up, the committee dealt with it swiftly and effectively through the use of EMP blasts.

Finally, in the disarmament committee, Year 8’s Maxim, debated the use of Autonomous Weaponry, which, as the largest producer of Autonomous Weaponry in the world, our delegate for China gave an interesting and well thought out perspective to.

Woodbridge School came away from the conference extremely successfully with three delegates being commended, one being highly commended, and another given best delegate in their committee. The MUN Society came away from the conference having learnt new debating skills, more about world politics, and a truly wonderful experience.

Sisters, Year 12’s Ada and Year 10’s Eve, are competing at the British National Eventing Junior and Pony (U16) Championships next week, for Junior and Pony riders respectively taking place in Northumberland at Belsay International; it is Eve’s first attempt at the Pony Championships which is a three-day event. To get to these Championships, the combination of horse and rider have to compete at a number of events at increasingly higher levels, with a level of results to qualify to enter.

Ada and Eve have both represented Woodbridge at multiple equestrian team events and National Finals including Eve taking the National Pony 110cms Jumping with Style Title at the end of last season and being a team member that secured the Regional Points League National Title for the School. Ada represented the Eastern Region in the National Youth Eventing Champs last year where the team took 3rd place; she is hoping to build on this good result next week at Belsay International.

Both girls are also heading to Hickstead on younger mounts the day before departing for the British Eventing Junior and Pony Championships to hopefully help the School to a successful team result in the Eventers Challenge final on Monday.

This is Ada’s last season at Under 18s and she hopes to prove herself enough for potential team selection, who commented, “It is a long way to go to get on the British Junior Team but I have a lovely horse and we have been progressing through the ranks so I hope for a good result at the Championships.”

With Horse & Country TV filming on the Friday of the Championships, the cross country in particular, it’s an exciting event for everyone taking part.

We wish everyone taking part the very best of luck at this top level, particularly Ada and Eve who will be representing Woodbridge School and Suffolk.

Last Wednesday, 10 May 2023, four teams set off to Bury St Edmunds to compete in the Suffolk Round of the Athletics Track and Field Cup. The weather was very kind and there was sunshine instead of the rain that had been predicted and expected which always makes for a better experience.

During the competition a team of thirteen to fifteen students have to cover all events between them, doing two events each (one track, one field). Points are scored for their distances and times. Junior boys and Junior girls teams are a mix of Year 7 and Year 8 students, and Inter boys and Inter girls teams are a mix of Year 9 and Year 10 students.

All of the Woodbridge teams did very well, with our Junior girls winning, our Junior boys and the Inter girls coming in second place and the Inter boys coming in fourth place. The Junior girls will automatically go through to the next regional round and will wait to hear if either of the second placed teams scored high enough to qualify.

Top scorers of the day were Oser, Romilly, Georgia and and Ollie.

On Sunday 14 May 2023 Woodbridge athletes returned to Bury St Edmunds for the Suffolk Field and Track Athletics Championships.

The athletes taking part were:

Year 7:
Grace

Year 8:
Abigail
Amelie
Emilia
Felicity
Romilly
Rosie
Sophie

Year 9:
Jasper
Margot

Year 10:
Angus

Year 11:
Nancy

Year 12:
Eniola

Year 13:
Archie

Archie was on top form winning the Javelin with his best throw of the season so far: 49.44m.

Eniola was a double Gold medallist winning the 100m and long jump.

Also winning their events were Nancy for hammer and Margot in high jump.

There was a Silver medal for Amelie in discus and Bronze for Rosie in shot, Romilly in 1500m and Emilia in high jump.

Well done to all the athletes that took part, who were all top ten finishers and particularly those who achieved personal bests.

Thank you to the parents for supporting the event.

As part of their geography A level, Year 12 students must complete an Independent Investigation, which is worth 20% of their final grade. With this in mind, students travelled to Felixstowe in order to experience and try as many different fieldwork techniques as possible.

During their time in Felixstowe, students had the opportunity to carry out measurements in order to determine how beach profiles are affected by the shape of groynes.

Later in the day they carried out various different tasks in the town, in order to ascertain the extent to which Felixstowe is ‘rebranding’.

Mental Health Awareness Week took place this week and the national focus was anxiety. This gives us an opportunity to share a little more about how we as a School support our students on a daily basis.

Over the past few weeks, unsurprisingly the focus has been on the build-up to exams. Exams obviously generate different emotions in our students, from excitement to anxiety and worry, so we have been focusing, through tutors, on different ways to cope with these emotions. Exams can be stressful for everyone, so it is important that we provide help and support in identifying feelings as well as finding ways of overcoming this stress, and that we know when to ask for help.

We also want our students to recognise that feeling stress can be perfectly normal and at times, helpful. Helping them try and practise different healthy coping strategies will carry them in good stead for the stresses of life we all have to deal with at times.

Last week we focused on resilience – what it is and how to build it, and this week we have been looking at anxiety, recognising it is typical to feel anxious at times and looking at the different ways we all cope with it. Students fed back to me, via their tutors, their various techniques – from writing down what’s causing them anxiety to distracting with music or books, to exercise and to smashing things! From this feedback we’ve developed a Woodbridge School students’ mind map of techniques which is available here, and will be displayed around School as well as discussed in tutor groups.

Spending time with the students, listening, observing, supporting and helping them to navigate their way through their emotions, thoughts and feelings is just as important an aspect of School life as academic success. Plus, our students being engaged and proactive has a big impact on the way in which we can help support one another through our ups and downs.

Mrs Brown
Assistant Head Pastoral