Category: Woodbridge News
What a time we had!
Thursday at the turning circle: five in the morning doesn’t feel so early when the weather is good and the Coach drivers Chris and Martin are so cheery and welcoming. Many roads, one ferry and thirteen hours later we arrived in Cologne to a friendly welcome and fine dinner at our splendid Jugendherberge. The perfect journey preluded a perfect tour!
Friday dawned beautiful – indeed the weather throughout our stay was glorious – unbroken blue skies and crisp summer sun to banish any wintry chill. The walk across the Rhine towards the soaring Gothic masterpiece that is the Cathedral could not have been more inspiring: the breath-taking space once inside quite overwhelming. And to think we were not simply tourists here, but guests, choristers for Midday Prayers (after a quick busk outside!). And the acoustic. Oh my goodness… voices rising higher and higher, further and further. What a privilege to perform there; what a memory. Quickly followed by a dizzying ascent to the top of one of the dreaming spires for views to horizons barely contemplated below. And there was a trip to the famous Chocolate Museum as well. What a day… so far! Because soon after we were off to Heimersheim to perform in the ancient Pfarrkirche St Mauritius. A beautiful setting in which a small but perfectly formed and immensely appreciative audience delighted in the Chamber Orchestra’s brilliant performances and the Choir’s equally mesmerising repertoire. And our reward was a fabulously convivial dinner in the local Hotel zum Stern – no mean feat feeding forty famished folk so (e)fficiently.
Saturday took us to Bonn and a rendezvous with Beethoven (or at least his death mask, his birth house and a host of fascinating memorabilia besides). The Namen-Jesu-Kirche was fabulous: over three hundred years of history, beautiful spaces, glorious decoration, and another splendid acoustic. Lily used her fluent German to brilliant effect while the orchestra rehearsed to encourage passing trade to return for our concert. And another busk in the market square elicited great applause and one besotted baby, transfixed by Miss Weston’s conducting and the choir in full voice. The evening concert was majestic, presented this time to an audience worthy of its quality – the pews were full and the appreciation rapturous. It was a wonderful event and our thanks go once again to our hosts for such kindness and generosity.
Sunday meant Koblenz, an enormous statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, a cable car ride above a misty confluence of the Moselle and Rhine to a castle-topped hill across the waters. And then a quick trip to Andernach for our final concert to be given in the extremely modern Kreuzkirche – unprepossessing from the outside in its concrete carapace, but beguilingly spacious and beautifully wrought on the inside with glorious stained glass and finely panelled woodwork. The welcome was every bit as warm and welcoming, and the audience passionate and plentiful. The concert performances of orchestra and choir were as good as they had ever been, and with an acoustic just a little softer than on previous occasions the musicianship was even more brilliantly presented. Indeed, in response to Millie’s lovely speech in excellent German, the residents were moved to say that they had not hosted such a fine concert in all their long memories, their long and heart-felt applause testimony to the truth of that claim.
Marvellous.. and then it was Monday and a journey equally smooth to bring us and our wonderful memories safely home.
Many, many thanks to Mr Milton, Miss Weston, Mr Turner, Miss Alzapiedi, Mrs Hornsby and Mr Cole for their organisation, conducting (of course!) and care; and many more congratulations to our wonderful orchestra and choir for performing so well, and for being such a pleasure to tour alongside.
To celebrate Chinese year of the pig, our Year 8 and Year 9 pupils put on a fantastic performance of singing and tongue twisters in Mandarin for the audience at the Ipswich Chinese New Year Show, which took place on Sunday 10 February. They also had the chance to sit in the audience and enjoy watching other performances. The ACCE founder and organiser of the show, Mrs Lydia Tse, was very impressed with our pupils, and so was the rest of the audience. The pupils were awarded a certificate for their fantastic effort and, of course as part of Chinese tradition, a red money packet for good luck with the new year.
Stunning.
Sumptuous.
And deeply original.
The shock of arrival was magical: such a beautiful staging, such glorious detail, and such wonderful costumes.
And the surprises kept coming, not least Kathryn Clements’s brilliant choreography so astonishingly brought to life by the cast, but in particular by Tom… I tend to resist naming names in production reviews – especially as so much of what Miss Mayes and Mr Williams bring to the stage is ensemble based – but Tom’s performance was quite exceptional. His dancing alone compelled the viewer; but, without words, that he spoke through movement and expression so well of his angst was all the more remarkable. And the ambiguity created by casting him ‘the girl’ captured all the more tellingly the human scope of the fable. Around him the ensemble wove its spell of desire, despair and derision. Our quartet above guiding the old lady’s story; a preacher at odds with the Word; angels and clowns, harlequins and charlatans, acrobats and a majorette (very fine work!), and the most surgically relaxed knife thrower one could have wished for. And still more visual delights: the black and the white offering the most dramatic contrast to the red, teasingly introduced and vividly unmissable.
The story is chilling, the ending at best uneasy; but this production of The Red Shoes transcended such disquiet to leave the audience moved, beguiled and hugely impressed. Many congratulations to the cast, to the directors, and to the backstage team for an outstanding evening’s entertainment!
This week a Careers Lunch took place, this time for those interested in Finance and Recruitment. Many thanks to Paul Lewington, Laurence Denvir and Jim Marshall for giving up their time and talking to our students about their career paths and passing on tips for their futures.
Miss Norman Reports: This week England is focusing upon raising awareness around Children’s Mental Health. 75% of mental illnesses start before a child reaches their 18th birthday, while 50% of mental health problems (excluding dementia) take root before the age of 15 years. From the tragic story of Molly Rose whose suicide was linked to viewing harmful internet content, through to discussions being held in parliament on the effects of social media and mobile phone technology upon children’s wellbeing, the importance of acknowledging and re-examining this area cannot be clearer.
Over the summer holidays, Woodbridge School enabled me to complete my instructor training in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). This is an internationally recognised training course that is designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill- health in young people from ages 8 to 18. Subsequently, I have been able to extend this superb training initiative to 22 pastoral staff at Queen’s House, The Abbey and the Senior School to ensure that our teachers are able to spot the early signs of mental health issues, tackle the stigma surrounding it, and protect those young people who might be at risk of harm, guiding them towards appropriate support. More staff are signing up to complete the Youth MHFA two day course to ensure that they feel confident in dealing with the issues that come their way, offering reassurance to our pupils that they are not alone and that it is ok not to be ok. The Government’s plan to ensure that every school from 2019 has at least one member of staff trained to deal with mental health is a crucial one; Woodbridge School recognises that just one member of staff is not enough in a region classified as the weakest for accessing external support. It reminds our parents and pupils just how important mental health and well-being is within education.
Next term, I would like to extend the MHFA training to parents and those in our community who are interested in completing this certificate. There will be a voluntary donation to complete the training with proceeds going to a charity chosen by our pupils that supports mental health. If anyone would like to find out more about what the course entails or register interest then please do not hesitate to contact me at snorman@woodbridgeschool.org.uk.
National finalists for the first time in 30 years!
Many, many congratulations to our dedicated and resourceful cadet team, brilliantly led by Flo, which came an exceptional third in the Eastern Region competition hosted at RAF Honington, taking away two trophies, and earning their place in the National Finals at RAF Halton in early March.
Our cadets swept all before them in the Drill Competition element of this very prestigious event, winning it outright for the fourth year in a row, and this time following up with a series of top four finished in many of the other elements to come a very fine third overall, behind reigning national champions and winners Kimbolton (though second, by a very distant 20 points, to our team in the Drill!), and Oundle.
The competition last weekend involved some 40 schools, all vying for the honours, but few could compete with our magnificent fourteen. The National finals streamline this down to the top twelve schools in the country… no pressure, then!
The next month may just contain a little more drill, first aid, aircraft recognition, shooting, acquisition of RAF knowledge, and solving of devilish command tasks…
The team: Flo, Oliver, Henry, Tash, Kit, Poppy, Joanne, Amy, Sophie, Lucy, Charlie, Toby, Luke and Annie
On Wednesday 30 January ten CCF Royal Navy cadets enjoyed a great day afloat aboard HMS Trumpeter, a P2000 patrol vessel. After negotiating the ice and Ipswich traffic we were soon aboard and underway. After passing through the locks, we enjoyed an early morning passage with the winter sun beating down on the deserted River Orwell. The cadets were all enthralled by the experience of being on such a boat and hearing about naval operations that the crew had been deployed on. Once clear of the river mouth, the two Caterpillar 800hp engines were opened up, and the fuel consumption increased to 350 litres per hour as we sped across the North Sea at 20 knots. Each cadet took turns on the helm and were able to manoeuvre the boat at speed before we returned to the river and to warm up below decks. A great experience and insight into life in the Royal Navy was had by all.
When art transcends experience it is at its best.
Just dance; no words, save for lyrics.
And yet every time a story told more powerfully for the singularity of medium. We experienced the dance, but we lived the emotions, expressed through a floating hand, a glance, a turn or roll, a coming together or a parting. All eyes on the stage; no time for reflection or idle meandering of mind or thought. This was an evening of pure energy and exuberance channelled through stunningly imaginative choreography and intensely graceful action.
Mrs Simpson reflected on the commitment and passion of the dancers, and alluded to the relative inexperience of some. Who would have known? Such poise, from the first dance to the last; such confidence to seek out the audience and connect through eye and body.
Matthew Bourne’s choreography tells stories through dance with breathtaking and often heart-wrenching clarity – if you are ever offered the chance to see one of his ballets, take it: and I found myself just as beguiled tonight in our dance show. Mesmerising, captivating and truly lyrical; many, many congratulations to all twenty-five dancers and choreographers, to the backstage crew, and to the impresario Mrs Simpson.
Encore!
Huge congratulations to Honor who has received a bronze medal for Giant Slalom in the Trofeu Borrufa in Andorra today, at her very first international competition representing Great Britain. What an achievement!
On Friday 18 January, Year 10 pupils had the opportunity to visit Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge for a Year 10 Open Day. The day included a talk about the Cambridge admissions process, a tour of the college, lunch in Hall, and sample lectures and activities. These included a discussion about plague and the opportunity to do a scientific experiment. There was also time to explore Cambridge itself, including the Backs, where the colleges slope down onto the river.
The next FitzGerald event will be a moot (mock law trial), which will be held in the presence of a retired Appeal Court Judge, the ex-Recorder of London and an Old Bailey judge. This will be on Friday 1 March, in the Science Lecture Theatre, from 2.15 to 4.00pm. Parents are most welcome to attend – please email Miss Wright (awright@woodbridgeschool.org.uk) if you are hoping to come.