Category: Woodbridge News

Many congratulations indeed to Saxon who has succeeded in achieving his Duke of Edinburgh Gold award – while still at school!  It takes considerable effort to achieve the award at any stage (indeed we have just recently heard from an OW who has completed some eight years after leaving us); to do so as a sixth former is exceptional and Saxon joins a very select group of Woodbridgians who have shown the extraordinary dedication and sense of public service this demands.

Congratulations to Victoria, Laura, Saffron, Hope and Medomfo for achieving their Bronze award!

The dinner is always a top notch event.  From the exquisitely presented apéritifs to the mouth-watering courses that follow, topped off by coffee and home-made petits fours, the whole meal is worth it in itself.  To eat so well in such good company is a fantastic bonus.  Many thanks to Clare Kneebone and the School’s wonderful Catering Department for ensuring such a great event.

This year, we dined in the school hall (which in case you haven’t been back recently, no longer has a stage, but a balcony instead and the old lighting gallery has gone too.  The lighting has been improved but the dark wood panelling and the honours boards are as they ever were though).  Tables of eight dotted the room and I was seated with the youngest in the room, who left Woodbridge from 2005 onwards.

The most senior OWs that evening were Michael Taylor (1943) and John Sayers (1949) who were the only leavers in the forties present.  It was also good to catch up with stalwarts of the Old Woodbridgians, Ken Bailey (1963), David Houchell (1964) and Paul Jenkins (1967).  They are always great company!  As are my ex-colleagues who are OWs: Jim Hillman (1983), now head of IT at the School with his wife Alison (1984), now head of chemistry at the School (née Tyndale-Biscoe) and her sisters Isobel (1986), now Director of Sixth Form and Head of Careers, and Penny (1989) who also teaches but in another school not too far away.  They also are great supporters of the OWs and always good value at events.

There was a good representation of those who left in 1988, a mere 3 decades ago: Pippa Lewis, Sandra Jarvis and Jenny Garnett, along with James Harper (whose eldest son will become an OW next summer) and Matthew Leguen de Lacroix.  Matthew’s name is not one to forget quickly and though I never taught him I remember him as a good Burwell boy (when Miss Pendal was in charge) and a tutee in the sixth form of Mr Marsh, then head of modern languages.  Perhaps not surprisingly, Matthew now lives in France so it was especially good to see him at the dinner.  As it happens, Mr Marsh has moved to France this year, having retired from Bedford School and secured an Irish passport.  Sandra and Jenny have several OWs in their families and are huge supporters of the School, and along with Pippa we had a very jolly chat.

The newest OW to attend was Alistair Jeffreys (2015), with older brother Marc (2013).  They are both loyal BT men but got there by different routes, so we had a really interesting conversation about the pros and cons of university degree versus apprenticeship with a degree, both routes leading to the same opportunities at BT.  Katherine Gomm (2009) attended with her brother Chris (2007), neither of whom I had seen since they left.

The most senior OWs on my table were Helen Rothwell (2003 – she left to explore pastures new in the sixth form at Framlingham College, but that’s a long time ago…), with friends Rebecca Payne and Louise Lewis (née Clarke) who were in the same year as Helen and left in 2005.  Helen talked very passionately about her work in Canary Wharf working in marketing for Barclays Bank.  It sounds like there is a lot more to marketing than we might think; she would be a great advocate for that sector talking to senior pupils at school thinking about career options.  Louise and Rebecca have both gone in to medicine, though different specialisms: Louise in general practice and Rebecca in geriatrics.  We talked about their siblings and parents and it was very good to reminisce.

The highlight was that Louise had brought a photograph of the same three when they were in Year 10 (4th Form in old money) and excited at the prospect of their first RAF Battle of Britain Dinner in this same hall.  Photos of old friends and events are worth keeping as they bring so much pleasure decades later.  I was particularly impressed that Louise produced said photograph in its frame as it is clearly treasured.  If you have not yet joined the new OW Network, do so and you can see the photo of Louise, Helen and Becky.

A big thank you to staff who came for drinks (Mr Streat and Miss Gill) even though they could not stay for dinner; OWs really appreciate seeing staff that they remember from their school days.

So, another exceptionally convivial evening and I look forward to seeing a good representation of those OWs who left in 1989, 1994 and 2004 attending the OW dinner next year.

I know that a couple of hours in the Dome at Woodbridge listening to speeches and applauding the year’s prize winners is not everyone’s dream Saturday morning.  But now I am retired I can choose not to attend, except that as OW president I am invited and so it seems churlish not to accept.  I was honoured last year to have a prize for French awarded, bearing my name, so I was keen to see who followed the worthy first winner, James Bellhouse (2017).

I was thrilled to discover that the French prize went to Gabriella Zins (2018) whom I knew to be another worthy recipient, simply from seeing her in language competitions, on exchanges and study trips not just in France but also in Spain.  Gabby is going on to study chemistry at Birmingham University, not surprisingly with a year abroad included; I hope she will choose France for that.

What I had not realised is that my youngest tutees in my last year of teaching had left school and they were both prizewinners too.

Alyssa Hedley (2018) won the Psychology Prize and will go on to study that subject at the University of East Anglia.  It was good to hear of the many other accomplishments she developed over her time at Woodbridge, including acting (she was a hilarious librarian last time I saw her) and playing the flute, on which I heard her play a solo at Snape Maltings.  She also helped out as a classroom assistant at Thomas Wolsey School in Ipswich.

Adam Wildbore (2018) won the Hewlett Cup for all-round contribution to school life.  In addition to A levels which are leading him to Exeter University to study geography, Adam managed to complete his gold Duke of Edinburgh award, was a sports leader and managing director of Young Enterprise, represented the school and the region in a range of sports and spoke at the Model United Nations in Paris.

I was so pleased that the final remaining members of B-GBB and the winner of the French prize were so successful at school and it was good to see these fresh new OWs once again; I wish them all the very best for their degrees and beyond.

Anna Crawford always had lots of energy.  At school, in the CCF, medical degree then army career beyond.  She certainly needed it and all her sense of humour when trying to liaise with a good number of her year group, the King’s Head, and me.  The simple plan was to have a tour of the school then repair to the King’s Head for refreshments and ultimately a buffet supper.  After what felt like a thousand messages on the Facebook messenger thread, all was set for the Saturday.  But Anna found herself on Friday night in a broken-down car in Yorkshire, which put paid to her attendance.  The group photograph on the chapel steps shows 15 OWs who left a mere two and a half decades ago.  We had assembled at ‘The Holly Bush’ (now a lowly yucca).

GBB, Sarah Wray (Davies) (still known as Sid), Rachel Brazier (Meister), Emma Lawrence (Holland) (who has taken over her mother’s bakery – it was always good to have a Holland in your class as the cakes were amazing at the end of term), Liz Parkins (Stephens) (who had come all the way from Cornwall, as smiley as ever for the visit and has been using her A level French in her children’s school), Sarah Seaford (Helier) (who apologised unnecessarily for leaving after the fifth form), Andrew Grimbly (who helps in rail management in the north west), Louise Peirson (Cordy) (who works and lives locally with her family), Jeremy Laight (formerly of School House and still looking cool with his characteristic smile), Helen Ward (who is now an educational psychologist and hasn’t lost any of her sense of fun), Alwyn Morris (polymath English teacher, writer, musician, property developer), Gwen David (now a Clinical Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, having also taught at Dundee), Kip Morton (former RAF fighter pilot and now barge restorer and proud father of the one toddler on the tour), Giles Meehan (who now teaches maths locally), Dan Webster (who used his A level French when driving round France sourcing oak beams from the 16th or 17th centuries).  Actually one OW left more recently than the rest but Chris Ward (1997) on the right, came along to support big sister Helen and see her old school mates again.  He has gone in to construction after a career in the RAF.

There were endless reminiscences about queuing for lunch, the changing rooms, how Boarders managed to gain entry to the music school at the weekend and of course the Cedarwoods (where generations of first formers started their school career under the stern eye of Mrs Nicholls). They were happy to discover that a part of the Cedarwoods still stands by the Dome (to house drama costumes), where they remember having RE lessons with Mr Kelly in a Portakabin.

Having toured the whole site, and thoroughly chilled down, we repaired to the King’s Head, which many had not been back to since school days.  The Barrack Room filled up with 16 more of the year group: Stephen Hudson (who was the only one of the group to have attended the OW Dinner and who had joined the Royal Anglian Regiment after university), Will Penkman, still a serving officer, Adam Lawson (still working in the City), James Heathfield (who became a consultant engineer after a degree at Cambridge), Polly Durrant (Hardiman) (who is expanding her empire from the Ufford Crown in conjunction with her husband and her brother, OW Will Hardiman), Adam Barlow (now distinguished in the world of conservation biology having picked up a relevant PhD on the way), Lizzie Ferguson, Karen Virr (Haynes) (who knows the school of today very well), Rob Leith, Seth Lord (glad of his GCSE French as he is restoring a property over there), Faith Manning, Fiona Mullins, Charlotte Ridout (I think my only tutee to have attended university in my home city of Dundee), Graham Tollit, (who is back in London after working in Singapore), Stephen Walker (who I was glad had managed to be persuaded to attend) and Hannah Wilson (having arrived just in time from Glasgow, where she is completing a language teaching diploma and putting her French and Italian to good use as well as possibly her English language skills…)

Some staff joined us for the evening.  Hannah brought her mother, Mrs Wilson who knew a lot of the year group from their teenage years and who used to be matron of Queen’s House when it was a girls’ boarding house.  Miss Theasby, formerly Head of Classics was also in attendance as was Mr Garfath-Cox who had taught many of this year group for maths.  Miss Gill who is still at the chalk-face as Head of Geography also joined in the jollities which went on till late in the evening.  OWs always like to meet up with staff who had taught them; there were so many memories shared of sport, CCF, lessons, field trips, the Norway trip and life in the boarding houses.  Photos of this year group reunion are on the new OWNetwork.

Fables and Fairy tales

We all know the stories… don’t we?

It’s wonderful to be captured unawares, and right from the first moments so we the audience were caught – by a freeze-frame quartet: ensembles at the ready, caught, in their turn, between books and their own imaginings…

And then a moment of reflection – a clever device to introduce both cast and intention as we saw our stars-to-be on the big screen, preparing to tread the boards: the usual thespian route of stage to screen turned upside down.

And thereafter it was the joy of performance: The Golden Goose (was anyone else waiting for a golden egg?) caught me unawares – I didn’t know the story! That laughter should win the day was as it should be (though, as with the best fairy stories, it’s dark laughter at heart, just to keep you on your toes).  Rumpelstiltskin ran and romped, and the weaving was done to perfection… but what else was captured by the intertwining threads?  Ah yes; nothing is simple.  And nothing was simple for the misused and wishful Catskin either.  So nearly everything lost, but everything won in the end (though the old man may disagree): our happiest ending?  The Hare and the Hedgehog, and the defeat of hubris, looked set fair to trump it – victory to the underdog and lots of laughter on the way… only for a tragedy to tip the balance and draw the worst from the best.  And so the moral of our night exploring the medieval imagination is?  Modesty, humility and dignity in your victories; and much the same in all your trials and tribulations!  Yes, please!  And what a fine example our cast and crew set: terrific in their endeavours, marvellous in their performances, and dignified in their gratitude for their audience’s warm, lengthy and well-deserved applause.

Congratulations to our National schools ‘A’ chess team of Oliver, Saif, Marina, Katarina, Jake and Toby who on Wednesday night qualified for the National stages of the competition by winning a quadrangular match at The Bishop’s Stortford High School. The team won all three matches, against our own B team and THBHS A and B teams 4-2, 4.5-1.5 and 6-0 respectively. Oliver and Toby won all three games, but every player came up with valuable points when needed.

Unfortunately the B team lost its three matches, but narrowly missed a draw against our own A team and were close to winning against TBHS ‘B’, losing 3.5-2.5. The team was Sam, Thomas, William, Milo, Henry and James. All games were played in fantastic spirit, and the majority lasted close to the full 1 hour time limit.

Don’t forget the Woodbridge Junior Open is scheduled for next Sunday 2 December, with entry forms available from Mr Hunt or outside B1.

Last week three of our pupils, Daniel (as one of the shortlisted poets), Joshua and Tara as guests, attended the awards ceremony for the Armistice 100 schools poetry competition at Lincoln University.  Daniel takes up the story: 

This was an amazing event with the Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy and Imtiaz Dharker, poet, artist, filmmaker and Queen’s Gold Medallist for poetry, announcing the winning poems of the competition.

I was so pleased to be chosen as one of the few that were highly commended, receiving a certificate and the anthology book of our poems. It was also great to listen to the winning poems and hear what other students have written about such an emotional and important subject: such great ways of writing about it that were truly inspiring.

Lincoln was a lovely city and university, really beautiful at night by the river, with the cathedral looking benignly down from the hill. The ride back was lots of fun too. Who doesn’t love being stuck at Peterborough for two hours? Still, all in all, it was an amazing experience and I’m so glad we were able to attend.

All the winners from Woodbridge Young Poets 2018 had the opportunity, as part of their prize, to read their poems at the Poetry in Aldeburgh Festival, which this year took place from 2nd to 4th November. On a bright chilly Sunday afternoon they filled the Peter Pears Gallery with the twin wonders of youth and poetry. The audience was spellbound by the readers from both Junior and Senior categories. Violet’s winning poem in the Junior category, ‘The Tower’, seemed particularly fitting in the space as it considered the effect of place and architecture on the human heart, Aldeburgh being a place of world renown poetically. All those who read there will realise how special this opportunity was and no doubt feel glad they took it.

Last Saturday, Woodbridge School had the privilege of hosting the Regional round of the England Schools’ Cross Country Cup.

The Cross Country Cup is a prestigious England Schools’ team competition in its 38th year, where teams of six from Year 7 and 8 compete for honours in the Junior Category and teams from a combined Year 9 and 10 compete in the Inter Category.  Any of the 8000 senior schools in England can enter the competition which has three rounds, County, Regional and National. Only the top 27 schools in England, three from each of 9 Regions, qualify to compete at the Nationals.
Woodbridge School had all 4 teams competing in the Regionals on Saturday, after they had qualified in the County round. And what a proud day it proved to be, where all of our athletes raced to form, with some outstanding individual performances and some fantastic team news.

Looking at individual highlights first :

In the junior girls Ruby V picked up where she left off last year storming to victory in the first race of the day. Well done Ruby!  In the inter girls April H finished a strong third behind two young ladies who were 5th and 10th at the England Schools’ Cross Country in March. Such was the standard of competition. Saving the best for last, our inter boys were outstanding at the front of the race with Woodbridge vests filling 2nd 3rd and 4th, with Charlie T followed home by George W and Kit E L respectively.

Ultimately of course this is about the team and our junior teams both performed as well as we had hoped, with both the boys and girls teams finishing a credible 8th.  Our inter girls fought for every place and were justly awarded third place to gain their ticket to the finals.  And our inter boys closed their scoring with Henry D in 14th and were therefore well deserved winners on the day against the very best of Suffolk and Essex. An amazing achievement by these young men.

You may well be aware that Woodbridge School is hosting the National Final of this event on Saturday 24 November. Many of the best school athletes in the country will be in Woodbridge to compete for team honours, and it will be an incredible spectacle not to be missed. How wonderful, therefore, to have two of our very own teams on the start line.

Full results from our excellent athletes on Saturday:

Junior Girls – 1st Ruby V, 26th Eloise R, 40th Issie M, 43rd Sophia W, 47th Millie J, Nancy A unfortunately had to pull up with an injury

Junior Boys – 30th Jonny E L, 31st James H, 37th Edward B, 41st Moses M, 47th Jonjo W, 61st Ethan R

Inter Girls – 3rd April H, 14th Molly M, 20th Jess E, 21st Bea T, 25th Amy G, 27th Anna J

Inter Boys – 2nd Charlie T, 3rd George W, 4th Kit E L, 14th Henry D, 32nd Edward R, 34th Tom T.

Well done to everyone that competed and many, many thanks to the Grounds Staff for all of their meticulous preparation, and to parents, staff and students, all of whom helped make the event a successful day.

For the first time ever, the National Schools Cross-Country Cup is coming to Suffolk with Woodbridge set to host this highly competitive sporting event next Saturday 24 November. This is a huge honour and we are very excited about such a large and prestigious event being hosted in the school grounds.

Organised by the England Schools Athletic Association (ESAA), the competition final will include pupils from some of the top sporting schools across the country. The national final is an incredibly competitive event and a highlight in the cross-country calendar; any of the 8000 secondary schools in England can enter this competition and after a County and Regional round of elimination it is only the top 27 schools left to battle for team honours. Woodbridge has two teams competing in the event- the inter boys and the inter girls. It is an amazing achievement for them to have got this far and we very much hope the school community will come along to support our teams on the day! The first race starts at 1pm. Parking will be available on the school site until 12.30pm, but St Mary’s school will open their field opposite the Senior School top gate to accommodate late arrivals.

Pictured here are our two competing teams- the inter girls (minus Bea Thomas) and the inter boys. Good luck to all competing!