Category: Woodbridge News
Please join us at what looks set to be a wonderful concert on Saturday April 2, 7.30pm in the School Hall. Sea Fever features a swashbuckling array of nautically inspired British songs from Vaughan Williams to Benjamin Britten. Chris Dollins (baritone) and Frances Ringer OW, and graduate of the London School of Music (piano). Tickets (£8) available on the door or via 01394 387041.
Host families are required for seven French students (all between 13 and 14 years old) for eight days from 4-12 February 2016, as part of the French exchange. A small remuneration package is available. Please contact Mrs Chandler if you are able to accommodate one or more students.
The poet, Jean Sprackland, said, “Learn a poem by heart and it becomes part of you. Speak a poem aloud and you become part of its life in the world”.
Poetry By Heart is a national poetry competition for Years 10 to 13 now in its fourth year. On Tuesday the first round took place in school. Each participant chose two poems from a wide-ranging anthology, and recited them before an audience made up of supportive friends, English teachers and a clutch of Year 9s who clearly have the competition in their sights next year! The five participants recited poems by Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, Robert Burns, William Henley and Jacob Polley, to name a few. Their fantastic efforts can be viewed online. The winner and runner up will be announced in Assembly on Monday, however Mrs Davis would like to thank all five who took part – Sam Bryant, Hazel Brown-Balaam, Daniella Elman, Jamie Saul and Lia Schreiber – and also Rhiannon Humphreys who, although not a competitor herself, joined the five others, contributing some inspired reading of poems of her own choice. She said, “This is a venture that will grow and grow and these students will have certainly inspired more to participate next year. Woodbridge is a school where students are willing to take a risk, knowing that they will be encouraged and recognised for the efforts that they make.” Deputy Head, Miss Norman added, “Listening to poetry for half an hour was a wonderful indulgence.”
Monday lunch, 1.10pm till 2.20pm &
Tuesday after school, 4.15pm till 5.00pm
Drop in sessions open to everyone, we will discuss:
- how to revise,
- use of revision timetables,
- different techniques,
- dealing with stress etc.
Should student feel they need any extra support, please contact Mr Patten and he can arrange a specific session based on student’s needs.
Congratulations to all the children in Queen’s House who received certificates today. Effort certificates were awarded to Ernest, Freya, Barnaby, Olive and Elizabeth. Table Manners certificates were awarded to Scarlett, Amalie, Emilia, Arwen and Ike.
On Wednesday we were privileged to welcome Monty Halls to come to speak to Years 6-12 about the importance of developing leadership skills in young people. Monty is a former marine who went on to do a Marine Biology degree and is best known for his three BBC2 series ‘Great Escapes’, where he lived on the west coast of Scotland and Ireland with his dog Reuben. He also presented the multi-award winning series ‘Great Barrier Reef’.
Monty spoke about his life and career, including working with Nelson Mandela for a year, sleeping in a scorpion filled cave and being attacked by a Tiger shark!
However, his main focus was on how important it is for all young people to received leadership training. He told the students how, in a survey of over 400 top business leaders, over 90% felt leadership should be formally developed at school. His key message was that everyone has the capacity to lead and he challenged the archetypal image of a leader as a dominant ‘alpha’ personality but instead asked students to think about how there are very different approaches to effective leadership.
At Woodbridge School we want all our students to leave feeling they have the capacity to lead so we are looking to pilot a leadership course, developed with Monty Halls and various other independent schools, to help develop this confidence.
Monty was effusive at the end of the day:
“It was my great pleasure to visit Woodbridge to speak to the students about the importance of their own leadership development. The school is showing real drive and initiative to make sure that leadership – such a crucial life skill – is introduced to all students. Woodbridge is very much at the vanguard of creating meaningful, progressive, accredited leadership training for every young person that attends the school, and I look forward very much to working with them (and indeed learning from them) in the future.”
Our pupils found this talk an enlightening experience:
“I found it extremely useful listening to someone who has taken the same career path that I am hoping to travel on”
Matthew Sutton
“It was encouraging to discover that someone who had such little military experience was so successful in his field”
Phoebe Cook
“Varied as our aims and goals were, he was a fascinating and personable man with words of wisdom for everyone”
Gabby Zins
“He is an inspiring man who definitely helped me realise that leadership can come in many forms and that our path of life is not set in stone”
Abi Crane
“It was very interesting to hear about his experiences in his field because he talked to us as equals”
Matthew Bye
“I found it a truly enlightening experience. It was a great opportunity to learn not only more about leadership, but also what we can expect going into a life in the armed forces and general life after school- a very worthwhile experience!”
David Spray
“I enjoyed talking to Monty and learning about his own life through the armed forces and university. It has definitely give me a good idea what to expect in the future”
George Cory
This term, in PSHE, the Reception children are thinking about their emotions and how to cope with feeling sad, happy, worried, excited etc. Biscuit and Eileen are visiting each week to tell stories and talk to the children about their feelings. Today the children listened carefully to Biscuit as she told them how she had once broken her Mum’s best vase and how worried she had been. They had lots of ideas about what she should do.
Emily Hauser in conversation
Thursday 28 January, 7.30pm
Woodbridge Library
‘For the Most Beautiful’ is a brilliant debut novel, re-imagining Homer’s ‘Iliad’ from the perspective of the women who were there.
The author is Emily Hauser who grew up in Woodbridge, studied in Cambridge under Mary Beard and is now pursuing a PhD at Yale University. In her brief visit home from the USA, Emily will be visiting us to talk about her novel. Come and meet her!
Tickets £5 with refreshments. Tel: 01394 388890
Emily will also be visiting the school on the same day to talk to our Classics students in Y10 and above.
Many congratulations to Y7 Tobias Juszt who was part of the IES (Ipswich East Suffolk) Hockey U14 Boys’ Team that won the Suffolk Youth League Championships, earning their Gold Medals after a long and successful season. Congratulations also to Y9s Oliver Juszt and Alex Weir-Simmons who have made it into the Suffolk County Hockey squad for the second year running and have even been asked to play up a year, joining the U15s.
