Category: Woodbridge News
Two Woodbridge School riders have qualified from the Easton College JwS Arena Eventing which took place on Tuesday 27 September.
Ada Marson riding Rolly Rascal in the 70cms.
James Brown riding il Darco G in the 1.10m he was also 4th in the 1m qualifying him for the NSEA Plate Championships at Keysoe.
The course was incredibly long and very testing. In the 70cms, sadly not a single School team completed to qualify and only a few individuals jumped round. Woodbridge had a young team of Alex Ryder-Davies, Olivia Lubbock, Tess Walker and Zoe Newman. This was the Team’s first dip into this level, and despite not completing they all rode well and have learnt a lot for future competitions.
Ada Marson was an Individual as her pony had only just come back into work after injury time out. Ada jumped a clear round to claim her qualification place of 2nd place.
The course continued to cause problems in the 80cms and 90cms with few teams completing.
James Brown and his iL Darco G, who like Ada’s Rolly Rascal had been off some time with injury, came back with a good round in the 1m to take 4th place, and then an accomplished round in the 1.10m to claim 2nd place and his qualification for the Championships.
Again, the Woodbridge riders were able to produce the goods in a very tough competition.
The School now has a superb representation at the NSEA National Champs which take place from Friday 21 October to Monday 24 October, including:
The Dressage team, 80cms Show Jumping Team, Regional Points Show Jumping Team, and Ada Marson and James Brown as individuals in the JwS Arena Eventing.
Out of 92 GCSE students in total:
- 96.7% achieved five A*-C grades including English and Maths
- Just under a quarter of all GCSE Grades were A*
- 62% of students obtained one A* or more in their GCSEs
Neil Tetley, Headmaster, said
“This is an outstanding set of GCSE results and maintains our excellent standards of recent years. I would like to congratulate all students and staff for their hard work and commitment this year, they should all be very proud of their achievements.”
Out of 89 A Level pupils in total:
- 82% achieved A*-C grades
- 98% achieved A*-E grades
- 53% achieved at least one A* or A grade
- 36% of pupils achieved UCAS points equivalent to 3 A grades
Neil Tetley, Headteacher at Woodbridge School, said:
“Congratulations to all A Level pupils on achieving brilliant results after two years of hard work and dedication. As well as excelling academically, all pupils have developed into confident, independent and well-balanced young adults who should be very proud of their achievements. We wish pupils all the best as they leave us for their chosen university and career paths.”
Last Sunday over 70 players from across the region converged on our sports dome to compete at the Suffolk Megafinal. I’m delighted to report that there were some outstanding performances from our school players: Rowan Kent won the Under 7 section with 6 wins from 6 games; Marina Pommier was Suffolk Under 9 Suprema with a 100% score too; Thomas McNally was Under 12 champion, scoring 3.5/6; William Smith produced an outstanding performance to win the Under 15 title and come equal first in the Under 14-18 section scoring 5/6 alongside Lai Chun, who, being older, was crowned champion in the Under 18 category.
There were many other outstanding performances on the day with numerous qualifiers for the next stage of the competition, the Gigafinal held in Manchester in July. With an overall first prize of no less than £2000 on offer in the Terafinal in August, our boys and girls will be extremely keen to do well in Manchester…
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.
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 G scoring 48 points from her events of 800m and javelin, sister Sophie G going one better to score 49 in hurdles and Javelin, Nathaniel G scoring 40 points in 200m and discus, and Oscar B 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.
Friday 6 May saw the CCF’s Biennial inspection. Our inspecting officer was Air Vice Marshal (Retired) Nigel Maddox. After initially meeting the OCs of the sections the Air Vice Marshal listened to lecturettes delivered with panache by selected cadets talking on topics ranging from Exercise Combat Cadet, RAF course, RN field day and DofE. He then went to see the contingent on parade and inspect the quarter guard and the front rank of each section. Whilst the warm sunshine was lovely for the spectators, it was tough for our younger cadets to have to stand still for so long; they coped remarkably well.
With the contingent inspected and fallen out to their duties the Air Vice Marshal, guests and spectators were treated to displays by our corps of drums and Army section. Senior cadet Verity Jackson then led a tour of the cadets’ training activities, taking in the zip wire, obstacle course and low wires along with air rifle shooting, cooking in the field, signals and much else besides. The Air Vice Marshal even went head-to-head with Mr Tetley on the paintball stand; diplomatically, the Headmaster let him win.
With training complete, everyone reconvened in the Dome to see the much-anticipated RAF drill display. With a large crowd waiting in anticipation the lights went off and music from ‘Thriller’ began. In total darkness the drill team, each member lit up with fluorescent lights, performed their display with no words of command and without fault. Brilliant: it was something no one had seen before and was definitely worth the wait.
The Gun Run, the finale to the Trower Trophy, brought the day to a dramatic close: 1 Platoon from the Army section were the victors by a whisker, though not by enough to win the Trower Trophy outright. RAF’s A Flight and 1 Platoon share the Trophy this year. At final parade the Air Vice Marshal praised the contingent as a model of professionalism and enthusiasm, and in turn was delighted to receive gifts from Verity to thank him for his time and very generous words. All in all it was a wonderful day; once again our cadets did us proud!
The Reception children have started their new topic All Creatures Great and Small. They have learnt about animals and their young and lifecycles. Our role play area is a The Pet Shop and the children have been learning to use money in practical situations. The creative area has enabled the children to extend their knowledge independently creating butterflies in mixed media.
Woodbridge School had a record five pupils, all from Year 9, represent Suffolk at England Schools National Cross Country Championship on Saturday 5 March in Nottingham. 44 counties each sent their best 8 athletes, so over 350 of the fastest children in England were competing in each race. The races are so competitive that there are often a half-dozen athletes crossing the line in a single second. The setting was perfect: cold but sunny conditions on an undulating but not too muddy course.
Suffolk finished 16th in the Junior Boys and 20th in the Junior Girls. Nathan G finished an amazing 25th with George R 260th in the Junior Boys, while Sarah B finished 88th, Amy G 192nd and Millie B 297th in the Junior Girls.
There are just two cross country fixtures left for this winter, the Inter Counties in Birmingham on Saturday 12 March and the East Anglian Prep Schools Cross Country Championships which Woodbridge School is hosting on Sunday 20 March. Please come and support your school as defending champions at this final event!
Congratulations to Rowan Kent (Under 8) and Marina Pommier (Under 9), Jake Cartwright (Under 12) and Lai Chun (Under 18) who became Suffolk Chess champions yesterday. Indeed Rowan, who is not yet 7 won his tournament with a perfect score of 6 wins from 6 games! Great credit also goes to the other Abbey and Woodbridge students who took part. There were numerous other good performances and it was particularly encouraging to see so many students in the younger age groups taking part.
Staying on chess and the final four of the Year 7 Mileham shield have been decided. This tournament, which has been running throughout the Lent term has enabled all Year 7s to take part. Congratulations to Tobias Juszt, Talia Fawcett, Thomas McNally and Jake Cartwright for getting this far.