Category: Woodbridge News
As the final deadline arrives for applications into this year’s UCAS and with it any remaining decisions about what to study and where are committed to paper, we are delighted to report that our students have already started receiving some wonderfully tempting offers.
In particular, Oxford and Cambridge Universities have just simultaneously announced theirs, and our congratulations go to Wolff Lambert (Classics at Oxford), William Emery (Music at Oxford, an open offer underwritten by St Hugh’s College), Emily Barker (Mathematics at Churchill College, Cambridge), Abigail Crane (Natural sciences at Homerton College, Cambridge) and William Clarke (History and politics at Girton College, Cambridge).
While many of our students must continue to wait for now, some have already received offers from all the universities to which they have applied, including Pierre Blackburn, Stuart Evans, Alyssa Hedley, Abraham Hew, Jake Jay, Ben Kelly, Millie Leith, Tom Lomas, Caragh Paul, Georgie Saunders, Kieran Saxton, Will Wells and Oliver Whiting. Others have heard good news for some of the more unusual degrees, for example: Gabby Harvey has an offer for a degree at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in singing, which is very unusual for someone so young; Harrison Perkins is choosing between music (saxophone) at Trinity or King’s London; Rachel Prowse has unconditional offers from St Andrews and Edinburgh for French; James Briggs, with his career in mind, has an unconditional offer for police studies at York St John; and Charlotte Sheehan and Nancy King have secured recalls on the long haul to drama school.
What diversity – what imagination!
Suffolk school pupils have been treated to an exciting Chemistry show.
More than 200 students from St Mary’s Primary School in Ipswich and The Abbey went to see the show at the Seckford Theatre in Woodbridge. The show was put on by Stephen Ashworth, a reader in the chemistry department at the University of East Anglia. Dr Ashworth has given lectures in science all over the world.
Ambra Calver, Chemistry Teacher and STEM co-ordinator at Woodbridge School, said: “A huge thank you to Dr Ashworth for his fantastic Kitchen Chemistry show. The explosive experiments and interesting demonstrations on household objects left pupils with a real excitement for science.”
The Woodbridge School Junior Riders travelled to the Easton & Otley College Easton Campus to contest the NSEA Grass Roots Show Jumping Regional Final on Saturday 6 January 2018.
Sasha Reid started the day off by taking 2nd place in the 40cms Championship.
This was then followed by the Team of Isla Appleby (Yr 8), Lily Waterer (Yr 8), Sophia Waterer (Yr6) and Eve Marson (Yr5) winning the 60cms Championships with Lily, Eve and Sophia taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th place as individuals respectively.
The same team then went on to contest the 70cms Championship class and completed the double by winning. Lily Waterer finished the day in Style taking the win as the individual with Sophia taking 4th, Eve taking 5th and Isla taking 6th place.
This was the first time this team had competed at any Championships level.
The riders had qualified for the Championship in September 2017 by winning the qualifying classes at the Tendring Hundred Riding Club hosted show.
Mr Goddard reports:
Last Saturday five Woodbridge School Athletes represented Suffolk County (as opposed to Suffolk Schools) at the South of England Inter County Cross Country in Oxford.
Amy Goddard finished mid field in the U13 girls race, and as fourth home of the eight Suffolk athletes, counted towards the Suffolk A Team result with the team finishing a highly creditable ninth.
Charlie Turner competed a year up in the U15 boys. Charlie was tumbled to the ground at the ferocious start, but despite blood from a few spike wounds, picked himself up and worked through the field to finish in the top third. As second Suffolk runner home he helped the team to a 15th place finish.
April Hill showed a glimpse of her old self, running a year up in the U15 girls as she continues to gain fitness after missing most of 2016 and early 2017 with injury. April was competitive throughout the race finishing second for Suffolk in 23rd place, and only about 20 seconds (over the 4km course0) off a top ten finish. The team again did well to finish ninth.
Nathan Goddard followed his recent Suffolk Schools victory at Culford this time finishing first Suffolk home in 26th place despite running a year up in the U17 men. Nathan was 57 seconds behind the winner over 5km and the first few are the same names that dominate the Nationals. The Suffolk team finished 12th.
And Ruby Vinton: wow! Ruby has entered her first senior school cross country season by competing a year up and blazing an unprecedented trail. Fresh from her win at the England Schools’ XC Cup Final two weeks ago, this race seemed likely to provide a sterner test. Or so we thought… Under orders to follow the lead pack, Ruby soon realised that two athletes were getting away and so with adults holding their breath, she set off in pursuit. Surely on catching the leaders Ruby would settle… Not a chance, she ran past the leaders and eased away to become Champion of the South by 7 seconds, all a year young. An outstanding effort and achievement! Congratulations to Ruby from all at Woodbridge School.
It’s also worth mention that the Suffolk U13 Boys’ team won the South of England team title (despite no Woodbridge School athletes this time!), to indicate just what a bright future there is for our Suffolk youngsters. All part of an impressive end to the first half of the cross country season, with a long awaited Christmas break to recharge ahead of some major races between January and March.
Despite freezing conditions at The Jays, Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 9 December; the Woodbridge School riders excelled at all levels to land three County Titles in Show Jumping.
The younger team of Sophia, Eve (9) (both still at the Abbey) with team mates Lily and Alex did faultless rounds to be narrowly beaten into 2nd place in the 70cms Show Jumping NSEA Suffolk County Qualifier. Lily, however, produced a super round to win the class and be crowned Suffolk Champion and qualify to represent the school and Suffolk at the NSEA County Show Jumping Championships. Eve was also placed 3rd individually.
The next level caused problems with no single School finishing on a zero score; but the Woodbridge School team of Ada, Perdi, Lily and Alex completed on a score of 4 to win, be crowned Suffolk Champions and qualify for the NSEA County SJ Champs next April. Alex was also placed 4th individually.
Woodbridge had one team to compete in the 90cms competition of Ada (11), Alex (12), Perdi (11) and Olivia (12). This is a new height for this team and they all rode with excellent skill to produce 3 out of 4 immaculate clear rounds. The Class finished with Woodbridge taking the win on a zero score and again be crowned Suffolk Champions and qualify for the NSEA County SJ Champs in April 2018. Ada was also placed 5th individually.
The children are very lucky to receive two training sessions a week provided through the School. This gives the opportunity for every child to train at least once a week if they have other school commitments. The training is geared around practice for competing as well as technical improvement. The children work really hard and this is really paying off, producing such consistent results. They also have a lot of fun.
The NSEA County Championships are held at Bury Farm, Bedfordshire in April 2018. The Woodbridge riders will be representing the School and Suffolk at the Championships.
Full results:
70cms
Individual winner Lily on Annabelle;
Eve on Big Ben was 3rd;
Team of Lily, Eve, Sophia and Alex were 2nd.
80cms
Team of Ada, Lily, Alex & Perdi won and qualified;
Team of Eve, Lily, Sophia and Lolly were 5th;
Alex riding Faith the Third was 4th.
90cms
Team of Ada, Alex , Perdi and Lolly won and qualified;
Ada was 5th individually.
Many congratulations to William Emery, John Xu and Brendan Bennett on their certificates for some very good solutions in the Senior Kangaroo, the international extension paper those who do extremely well in the national mathematics competition are invited to sit.
This term has been very exciting one for the art department; three new members of staff have joined the department (Miss Ross, Mrs Parker and Mr Holden), the students have studied a new curriculum, new extra-curricular initiatives have been set up and the students have loved the new computer and photographic facilities. We have had the artist Ian Wolter in to run a workshop on how to make a life sized ceramic head, the GCSE and A-Level students prepared for and completed their mock exams in great style, and most recently we had the artist David Shillinglaw in to paint a 40 m2 mural. The only guidelines given to the artist were that the wall should celebrate the hand made as well as art made digitally; we want to remain a department that loves both these polarities and everything in between. The resultant mural is arresting in its bright colours and thought provoking in the words, quotes and thoughts that accompany the motifs. Please see images of the finished wall on our art department Instagram (@woodbridge_schl_art_department).
Photo Credit: Colette Smith
Such range; such scope; such skills on show. The concert began with a richly deserved encore of Holst’s St Paul’s Suite by the Chamber Orchestra, played recently and so beautifully at the Library Chamber Soirée. A joyful dance of a piece with Asian cadences to supplement the English folk. Glorious – and a great hint at what lies ahead for the Abbey’s musicians… many of them next to perform under the guise of the Abbey Chamber Choir. They did themselves proud, measuring up excellently to the exalted company they followed. Two pieces sung with a wonderful clarity of line. The Saxophone Ensemble brought more seasonal cheer and foot-tapping familiarity in their terrific two-hander; and Mr Turner’s first performance leading the Concert Band brought the first half to a close with joyful and expert renderings of three staples of the repertoire – the Sleigh Ride benefiting greatly from the delightful and hectic percussion part.
After the interval what better than the Swing Band to get things moving again – and playing without Mr Shepherd to boot. A self-guided triumph; and plenty more seasonality for the audience to enjoy as well! Mrs Seed’s Percussion Ensemble built on a fine tradition forged over the years with Mi Milagro, the marimba and drums enhanced by rhythmic clapping – a first by my recollection. Great fun. As was the Brass Ensemble in its trio of Christmas specials: they even wished us a Merry Christmas, and all that jazz.
And then something perhaps even more impressive than all that had gone before: the first movement of Beethoven’s First Symphony with the Symphony Orchestra. Good heavens. A big piece; and a big performance which grew in stature and confidence and ended with fittingly long and loud applause.
A marvellous evening to celebrate a term of fine music-making by our very talented pupils.
Over 60 competitors from across the country played on Sunday in the 17th edition of the Woodbridge Junior Chess Open. The Under 8 section was won by Aayush Dewangan from Maidenhead, but the Woodbridge champion, playing in his first tournament was Lade Laguda. Charlie Williams also performed with great credit in this tournament. The Under 10 section saw Theo Pommier win the Woodbridge title, losing in the final round to overall winner Roxolana Chaban from Bromley. The Under 12 section saw a fantastic performance from Marina Pommier who was Woodbridge champion but second overall to England international Adam John from Bury. The Under 14 to Under 18 section saw some very high quality chess, with Jaden Jermy and William Bradley sharing first place. Woodbridge winners were William Smith (Under 18) and Samuel Prior (Under 14) in his first tournament.
Abhi Durbakula, Rowan Kent and Marina Pommier all qualified for the London Junior Under 12s to be held at Christmas.
The Classical Association is a national body which represents Classicists from universities and schools. They recently held a competition, in which pupils had to write a poem or create a piece of visual art inspired by an original artefact from the Greek or Roman world. With considerably over two hundred entries from schools across the country, Woodbridge has done very well indeed.
In the poetry category, Felix Vogel (Yr 13) and Caitlyn Maggs (7D) both received a special commendation. (See below for their poems.)
In the Art category, Arthur Green (7D) was awarded third prize, and will receive £50 in book tokens.
Felix, Caitlyn and Arthur’s work will be on display at the Classical Association Annual Conference in April and will also be published in the book which will accompany the exhibition. Five other pupils have also been selected to have their work published and put on display. They are:
Isobel Goudy (8Y), Sophie Fry (7A), James Williams, George Na Nakhorn and Abhiram Durbakula (all 7D).
The judges said that the quality of the entries was “terrifyingly high”, but they were really impressed by the Woodbridge entries. They specifically stated: “Congratulations to everyone for their stellar efforts”.
This is a most impressive achievement on the part of our pupils and we are very proud of the fact that so many top academics will see their work on display at the April Conference.