Category: Woodbridge News
This was the final match of the season and the league decider. Ipswich School had won the South Suffolk Tournament so we were particularly motivated.
The girls started very well. With a slight change to our usual formation with Georgie at GD and Nancy at C we held Ipswich well for the first half of the match, playing some patient and well thought through netball, coming infront, passing effectively and keeping the strong Ipswich attack in check in defence with Selena, Georgie, Isabel and Nancy turning over the ball a number of times. Up front, Charlotte H and Charlotte C moved and shot well in the circle, and at half time we were still very much in touch at 7-10. Unfortunately the 2nd half saw a number of errors creep into our game, allowing Ipswich to get into their stride and tease out a greater advantage. Our girls’ work rate was excellent throughout and this was a performance with some real areas of strength and positivity, but in terms of victory it wasn’t to be as Ipswich took the honours by 12-27.
This squad has been a pleasure to work with over the season with great work rate and desire to learn. They have a huge amount of promise for the future; well done girls.
Returning to the school next month is OW Lucy-May Turner. Lucy-May is a second year Fine Art student at York St John University, and she is venturing back on 25 April to showcase her very first solo exhibition.
The last two years have seen Lucy-May experiment with materials and techniques to find herself as an artist. The exhibition is work from her current project in which she has been looking at distortion using high-end imagery from magazines which are bright, bold and vibrant. She would love your support – everyone is welcome!
The exhibition will be held on 25 April 2019 from 6-7pm in the Art Department.
It was marvellous!
Friday’s concert in St Edmundsbury Cathedral was as magnificent as the setting.
Beethoven – the first symphony – composed by a young man… conducted by a younger one! Lewis – here he stood as a Year 13, yet he had the poise of a past master, the calm authority of someone far more experienced; and an orchestra in front of him at the top of its game. The music soared, the melodies sang and danced, the audience sat in rapt attention. And that fourth movement, with, in Lewis’s own words (yes, he wrote the programme notes as well!), its ‘brazen ending’! No wonder we stood – not just for Beethoven, or the orchestra, but also for Lewis, for youth, for passion and for virtuosity.
Follow that.
No sooner said than done, sir.
Mozart’s Requiem. Oh my goodness. The soloists – Miss Weston, Amy Lyddon, Jonathan Hanley and Kieran Rayner – breathtaking! The orchestra, led my Mrs Scott-Smissen – outstanding! The chorus – well, to say we enjoyed ourselves would be a start… to say we are all no doubt humming away even now, and still sent a-tingle by the memories, would be to get a little closer. And the audience agreed – once more brought to their feet at the close in celebration of all that is wonderful about the best of music played in the mightiest of settings by the finest of musicians. Woodbridge School at its best. Thank you, St Edmundsbury Cathedral for your hospitality; thank you – and congratulations! – to Mr Turner, Miss Weston, Mrs Stafford and all the performers for an unforgettable evening.
Haydn reports: On 17 March, a team of 11 Woodbridge boys travelled to Wisbech Grammar School and competed in a total of five games. Our first game was against Ipswich School, who went on to win the tournament. From the start, we unfortunately played with a more relaxed attitude which led to Ipswich scoring several tries. After the first game we changed our approach and played with a higher level of intensity. Although we ended up with a loss, we played well and took the positives from the game.
Our next game was against Wisbech with whom we have a competitive history. We came onto the pitch with a whole new attitude which resulted in us playing a much better game, with better ball handling, avoiding contact, and using the width more. The end result was 24-0 to Woodbridge – a very satisfying win to say the least.
We then went on to play Oundle, a game that concluded with a disappointing loss, especially as we had scored the first try. We played to our strengths and tried to target their weaknesses which overall made a good performance for the match.
After qualifying for the Shield, we played Robert Clack School in the semi-final, winning 12-5. This was more of a 15s style game because of the pure aggression shown by their team. We exploited the fact that they lacked certain skills by putting the ball wide and simply running around them.
Our final game was against The Perse; this was a brutal and tiring game as we were down to our last 7 men with a number of injuries.
On the whole, we played some good rugby and we are proud of the effort and time that we put in.
The run in to the finish for the league is proving exciting for the U13A team!
Against Ipswich High things could hardly have been closer: it was always going to go to the wire and we knew we had to win to give ourselves a chance in winning the league. We were down at quarter time 4-7 with the High gaining the early advantage but with some great attacking play and determination from Maddie, Steph and Esme we pulled our way back to draw level at half time. Libbie gained the measure of her GA and Ada was brilliant as GK. Ruby was, as ever, active around the whole court and did a fantastic job feeding the circle along with Izzy, Maggie and Chloe, helping them get the ball up the court. We went into the last quarter four goals up… could we hold our nerve? Yes, thank goodness and victory was secured by 22-20! It was a close run thing with only two goals in it but there were huge sighs of relief on the sidelines.
Next was Ipswich School… and another thriller…. full of pressure… and nerves. Although we were always chasing the game we had some fantastic periods of play and the girls did themselves and the school, (and Mrs Johnson!), (and all the parents on the sidelines!) really proud. Maddie showed her utter determination and worked well in the attack with Ruby, Esme, Steph and Izzy. The defence of Maggie, Chloe, Ada and Libbie showed that they work indomitably well together too – indeed no one’s effort ever flagged. In the end, though, Ipswich squeezed out the win by 15-14, so our A team now have to play our B team and score lots of goals to win the league. Now there’s a prospect!
The annual Staff vs Leavers football match is always an eagerly awaited contest and the large crowd on Tollers were treated to a gladiatorial epic. The Leavers took an early lead when Chisom outjumped everyone at a well delivered corner to powerfully head home from close range; was a thrashing on the cards? The Staff showed great resolve to thwart the early running of their much younger counterparts; Messrs Denvir, Capjon and Patten were strong at the back while Messrs Wright, Simpson and Walsh provided the steel in midfield. With half-time approaching a terrible mix-up in the Leavers defence led to a catastrophic own-goal and the sides went in at the break all-square. The second half saw a number of good chances at both ends but it took a very good goal to break the deadlock: Joe turned neatly on to his favoured right peg and unleashed an unsaveable shot into the far corner. Once again the staff came back as Mr Walsh fired one in-off the post to bring the score back to 2 – 2. The Staff were then awarded a penalty kick with some sections of the crowd accusing Mr Smith of simulation. Up stepped the “Inbetweener” – Mr Cotton – who saw his penalty well-saved by the excellent Ali. It wasn’t long before the Leavers found themselves in front again when the unlikely footballer Oliver W pounced upon a defensive error. But once again the Leavers were pegged back as Mr Denvir forced home a scrappy third after a goalmouth scramble. More chances came thick and fast at both ends with fatigued bodies (mainly Staff) being pushed to their limit. With time seemingly up, a Leavers’ long throw was not dealt with and Seb slammed home from close range with what turned out to be the last kick of the game. This was a game fought in excellent spirit and was superbly refereed by James; the final result 4 – 3, well played the Leavers!
The 1st XI hockey boys finished their season with a clinical performance against Langley. The match was played at a somewhat sedentary pace in the first half, allowing Woodbridge to put together a good passing game and score four textbook goals. The combination of excellent build up play in midfield to get the ball up the pitch, good forward leading and positioning and careful final passes did the trick. Woodbridge’s conversion rate was excellent and they made full use this time round of their chances. Oli B, Charlie M (2) and captain, Toby were the goal scorers in the first half, with Langley managing one in response rather against the run of play. The second half was quieter by contrast, but Joshua and Saxon (2) were on target to round off some fine team moves and rubber stamp a convincing victory.
Well done and thanks to each player for their commitment and effort in the season. So much progress was made and a true team was the result. Passion! Power! Persistence!
Congratulations to our four Year 13s who finished their Woodbridge School hockey career on a very positive note. Toby, Ollie, Dom and Saxon… you will be missed.
Won 41-25
We were delighted to come out on top in this high-scoring game: but it was a close run thing at first! Annie and Victoria fed some fantastic balls into the circle, and Saffron and Flora defended our defensive third brilliantly. Nell and Libby worked well in their usual partnership to score a goal after goal – so important for the league position – and Sophie H, and Amber held their nerve in the defensive circle. Well done, on a great afternoon… one more game to go!
Miss Norman reports: The splendour of P G Wodehouse’s ‘World of Blandlings’ was brought to life for the annual Reading Aloud competition which took place in the Seckford Theatre. Under the careful eye of Dr Renshaw, George and Guy took to the floor to introduce the group of pupils in Years 7-9 who had been carefully chosen by their class and teacher to represent their group. Few see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to nominate a reader and so all of the participants are worthy of praise for their skill at characterisation in bringing Wodehouse to life.
7A Finlay
7B Zander (winner of Year 7)
7C Charlotte
7D Rose
8A Oliver (winner of Year 8)
8B Isobel
8C Evie
8D Jasmine
9E Chase
9F Lizzie
9G Elise (winner overall)
9L Maddy
The student judges (a perfect mix of Emma, James, Myles and Poppy) were impressed by the confidence and assurance which each of the readers brought to the stage. It was a challenge to choose year group and overall winner but the judges were able to determine that Zander (Year 7), Oliver (Year 8) and Elise (Year 9) just had the edge with Elise taking the overall title.
I was delighted to co-judge with my sixth form team and extremely impressed by the high standards that were in evidence. A wonderful evening for everyone.
This was semi-finals week… my goodness Mr Ben Parry, our adjudicator for the forthcoming final, has a tough job!
Many,
many congratulations to all those who have competed in this term’s
competition. Our juniors have set the standard with exuberant and
talented performances which hint of things to come; our intermediates have
shown the flowering of genius in all its variety; our seniors have simply
astonished us with their virtuosity, musicianship and courage.
Three stellar afternoons.
And now for the super-nova evening to come (I hope that’s an appropriate astronomical analogy… it’s a good thing, be sure!)
So, welcome all:
Thursday 28 March
School Hall
6pm for Junior and Intermediate classes, and their adjudication; an interval to draw breath, and then
8pm for the Senior class and a final adjudication
Be there and be bowled over!
We are delighted to welcome Mr Parry to make all the difficult decisions: he is supremely well qualified – artistic director of the National Youth Choir, erstwhile director of music at St Paul’s Girls’ School London, and now assistant director of music at King’s College Cambridge – and his wisdom will, I am sure, add enormously to what augurs to be a marvellous celebration of the many and varied talents of our wonderful musicians.