Category: Sport

All praise to both the Year 7 boys and girls who recently sailed through to the next round in the county athletics competition, to be held at Northgate on 8 June. In a fiercely fought competition, the boys qualified in third place out of nine by one point scoring 114 points. John Hendry won his 200m long jump and was instrumental in the last leg of the relay victory, Charlie Turner won the B javelin, Mak Zie the B 200m, and Prem Pohl the B discus. The girls meanwhile won their section outright with 138 points. Both Ella Walker and Katie Bellhouse won their 300m races with very similar times. Olivia Buchanan won the A javelin with a personal best score and Molly Marshall won the 75m sprint, which replaces the hurdles in the first round. Both relay teams won with Issy Eaton running particularly well, having already registered an impressive 13.7s in her 100m race.

Many congratulations to everyone who competed: it is a team competition so every point earned is equally precious!

There was further exceptional competition at Northgate recently, this time in the Year 8 schools athletics. Some excellent scores were recorded, in particular Nell Pilkington winning the A string shot, Sophie Graham the javelin with 35.71m, Sophie Harper the B string javelin, Ianthe Hill the A 300m with a new PB of 47.22s, and Sophie Graham coming second in the hurdles with a time of 13.34s. Technical hitches meant that the team results were not announced on the night, so although we suspect we were not the overall winners the girls did really well, especially those new to the squad.

With nine schools sending girls’ teams, and with seven boys’ teams, competition was high at Northgate in the schools’ athletics. Alex Weir-Simmons had another good meet with first place in the A 200m race and discus. Nathan Goddard ran an excellent 800m race to win his A event, and Oliver Juszt and Gabriel Newland won the A and B Shot respectively to dominate that particular competition. Overall the boys were placed a very creditable fifth.

For the girls Maud Peel won A shot, Joanne Garnett A discus, Emma Hendry A high jump, Amy Graham won the 800m closely followed by Sarah Barker, Freya Nyberg won the B javelin while Amy Graham with a throw of over 30m came second in the A event, and Sophie Weston, Millie Buchanan, Emma Hendry and Tessa Lye won the B relay. With the top two places qualifying for the county competition we were pleased to finish second, ahead of Ipswich High and behind RHS. A particular well done to those who stepped into events they did not think they would be doing, to cover for absent friends, and to all those new to the team – they did very well!

‘So, Mr Streat, how was the day for you?’

‘An awful lot better thanks to the fantastic lift I got from listening to the Swing Band before the start.  It was on top form and brought broad smiles to everyone’s face – as it always does – no mean feat considering what lay ahead for the hundreds of participants…’

Absolutely true: The members of the Swing Band gave up their morning (as they so generously, and brilliantly, gave up an evening not so long ago to grace the WSPA Downton Ball) to open proceedings with the best of flourishes.  They brought calm to furrowed brows, and made the prospect of 10k seem like nothing more than a stroll in a Royal Park to the beat of the Band of the Coldstream Guards. Brilliant – I send a hearty thanks to Mr Shepherd and all our wonderful musicians (many of whom even stayed to support the runners) on behalf of the hundreds there on the day.

As for the racing, and what racing it was, there are some stunning highlights to report, top amongst them being the victories in the junior races for Sarah Barker (G14-15), Nathan Goddard (B12-13), Amy Goddard (G10-11), Teddie Buckingham (B10-11), Ruby Winton (G9), Jonjo Walker (B9) and Arthur Na Nakhorn (B7-8); close behind them were other top-10 finishers Daniel Davies (B14-15), Molly Marshall, Ella Walker and Ianthe Hill (G12-13), George Rufford (3rd) and Mak Zie (B12-13), Anna Jackson and Clara Simpson (G10-11), Thomas Liddy (3rd), Edward Rufford and George Na Nakhorn (B10-11), Jimmy Glendinning (2nd) and James Hattan (B9), and Ruby Lubbock (2nd), Rose Jackson, Lara Zie and Mihi Forbes Ballard (G7-8).  So many great performances from our boys and girls of all ages (as well as some gallant members of staff – for example Mr Smith (an excellent 27th), with Mr Garvie not far behind (50th) , a host of parents (Mr Rufford first of them to finish, in 20th place), and a healthy smattering of OWs – Tom Wake in 49th the first in, I think).  Save to say, the Woodbridge Shufflers’ slick organisation and the brilliant atmosphere created by the thousands out supporting all around the course made for a great day, and everyone who ran, performed, helped or volunteered on the day deserves our congratulations.

Isabelle Eaton had a successful run of tournaments over the Easter holidays and is currently ranked at number 2 in the U12 Girls’ National rankings.

She played in two U12 National tournaments over Easter, reaching the singles semi-finals in one and the quarter finals in the other. She also reached the semi-finals for the Girls’ doubles in both tournaments. Isabelle was also awarded a wild card to compete in an U14 Tennis Europe event (held in Nottingham!), and while her campaign was short lived it was a great experience and she competed well as the youngest player there.

As the days get longer and the sun shines warmer, some pupils are still very much busy doing their “winter” sport, or have been awarded accolades for their efforts during the Hockey season.

Suffolk Hockey recently selected their final teams to compete in inter-county competitions. Molly Marshall represented Suffolk U13 while Annabel Yates was a non-travelling reserve for this strong team; Ianthe Hill represented Suffolk U14 (and is progressing to JRPC); Mollie Biddle and Georgia Harrold were selected into the final Suffolk U15 team, performing strongly in their tournament; and Hugo Thomas also made the starting line-up of the Suffolk U13 team taking part in the East region competitions. Miles and Mia King represented Norfolk U17 and U15 respectively, and have now progressed on to JRPC. Tildy Paul, Oliver Juszt and Alex Weir-Simmons have all featured in our reports in recent weeks for their regional successes, too.

Woodbridge School have many pupils and staff representing various clubs in the area, gaining much from the experience, putting knowledge and skill back into the school teams. Most clubs have now also concluded their seasons with their annual awards evenings. Oliver Juszt (Y9) was named IES Men’s (senior) IV’s player of the season. Head of Hockey, Mariette Rix was named Ipswich Hockey Club Ladies’ first team player of the year, while Callum Askins was awarded Ipswich Hockey Club Junior Player of the Year to add to his Woodbridge School first team player of the year award.

We hope we have mentioned everyone in this snapshot of club and county successes, but if not, please do let us know so we can include them next time.

Last weekend saw Woodbridge enter 2 boats into the RS Feva open event held at Alton Water. Martha Carey, Bethany Wakefield, Louis Tomlinson and Christopher Long battled it out in the gusty wind on Saturday, testing their newly found asymmetric spinnaker handling skills to the limit. Then on Sunday, after a late start due to no wind, Martha and Bethany pulled it all together to achieve a 3rd overall in the weekend’s 8 races. Well done to all involved for their great efforts.

The ESSA English Schools’ Track and Field Cup took place at West Suffolk Arena in Bury St Edmunds over two parallel days recently, with qualifying schools each attending one of the days, Woodbridge competing on the second of them alongside another ten schools. With girls’ teams of thirteen (juniors consisting of our best Year 7 and 8 athletes, and intermediate of Years 9 and 10) and boys’ teams of fifteen, everyone was kept busy, each competitor entering two events, with points awarded according to distances and times.

The top four teams over the two days qualify for the regionals. Our junior girls’ team came 1st with 333 points (the best the day before was way off with 266); our intermediate girls’ team came 1st with an extraordinary 379 points which sets the bar impressively high for the regional finals; the junior boys’ team completed a stunning hat trick, winning in their turn on a score of 329, ten clear of second and even further ahead of the best from the day before; and the intermediate boys, frustratingly one man down on the day, came a very creditable 6th on 264. Wow.

Individually there were some outstanding contributions, notably Amy Graham scoring 48 points from her events of 800m and javelin, sister Sophie Graham going one better to score 49 in hurdles and Javelin, Nathaniel Gun scoring 40 points in 200m and discus, and Oscar Butcher 36 points in 200m and triple jump, but of course the success of the team comes down to consistent high performance from all – and so the congratulations do indeed go to everyone for a brilliant day.

Last weekend saw Woodbridge students taking part in the RHS team racing regatta held at Alton Water. This event attracted around 25 teams from schools and local sailing clubs around the East of England to battle it out in the RS Feva and the Firefly classes. The wind, varying in direction and strength all day, tested the team’s abilities in a wide variety of conditions. Team racing is a lot about tactics and being new to team racing as a school it was a steep learning curve for many of our students, both in the Junior RS Feva and Senior Firefly teams. Whilst we did not come away with any medals it was a great experience for both our teams, and left many looking forward with anticipation to events later in the term.

On Sunday 26 April 25 skiers from Woodbridge School competed in the ERSA ski competition at Ipswich Dry Slope. The weather was variable, with sun and hail, the competition organisation was excellent and the competitors all performed brilliantly. Four of our teams came away with medals.

U19 boys’ team of Sam Newman, Tom Harper, Harry Nicholson and Freddy Simpson took bronze position.

U14 boys’ team of Alfie Glendinning, Ben Oates, Saif Toubassey and Josh Ralph also finished in bronze position.

U16 girls’ team of Katherine Bye, Beth Turner and Charlotte Bowers took bronze as well.

The stars of the day were our U19 mixed team of Lucy-May Turner, Chris Grainger, Jasmine Baumbach and Matt Bye who took gold!

A big thank you to our captains, Chris and Lucy-May, who looked after the younger team members so well and to all the parents who turned up to support and help.

Next competition is ESSKIA in September.