Category: Woodbridge News

The Abbey was pleased to be able to offer ‘An Introduction to Digital photography’ as an after school club for the first time this term. Under the guidance of Ruth Leach, the student photographers completed a basic Digital Photography Course, learning how to get the most from their cameras as well as how to read the light and how to compose the elements of their pictures in an engaging way.

We are proud to enter eight pictures into two local photography competitions under the category ‘The Heritage of Thomas Seckford’. Well done photographers and we look forward to learning more next term.

Science Museum Comes to Woodbridge
Inspiration to Schools Across the County

Over a thousand pupils from primary and secondary schools across Suffolk have been gathering at the Seckford Theatre and Abbey Hall this week for an inspiring series of science shows from the Science Museum. Materials, bubbles, magnetic forces, the human body… interaction and fascination in equal measure! The Science Museum has a real talent for bringing the subject to life and getting young people excited about how science works. In a wonderful rolling programme of shows to capacity audiences, children from fifteen different local primary and secondary schools, including our own of course, were wowed, amazed, enthralled and entertained.

It was fantastic that we as a School could share the experience so widely, and our thanks go to the members of the Science Museum for their time, expertise and outstanding work, and to Miss Cousins for orchestrating the whole magnificent occasion. We now just hope the shows will have inspired pupils from across Suffolk to consider science as a part of their futures.

In the first minutes of 4 August 1914, with the expiry of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith’s ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Belgium, the British found themselves at war. Future Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the moment; “Along the Mall from the direction of the Palace the sound of an immense concourse singing ‘God save the King’ flouted in. On this deep wave there broke the chimes of Big Ben; and, as the first stroke of the hour boomed out, a rustle of movement swept across the room. The war telegram, which meant, “Commence hostilities against Germany”, was flashed to the ships and establishments under the White Ensign all over the world.”

A hundred years later the outbreak of war, and the hostilities that followed, have not been forgotten. Never Such Innocence is an organisation that drew together many of the commemorative threads to ensure that all of Britain’s young people had an opportunity to engage with this reflective process. At the forefront of this was their nationwide First World War art and creative writing competition.

On May 21, 2015, after an opening address by NSI founder Lady Lucy French, great grand-daughter of the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, Field Marshal Sir John French, Jonathan Kajoba took to the stage in the Jones Day conference rooms, London, to receive his runner-up prize from Brigadier David Ross CBE.

Jonny’s entry Shellshock had caused quite a stir amongst the judges, who commented on how incredibly evocative it was of the feelings of those young soldiers who found themselves unwittingly in Flanders, rifle in hand. Jonny’s considerable smile lit up the room as he received a truly deserved round of applause from, assembled audience, invited dignitaries, and, of course, proud mother and proud history teacher; well-done Jonathan.

On Thursday 23 April The Abbey’s Year 4 pupils went to the School Farm Fair held at Trinity Park in Ipswich – here are some short reports of their experience.

George Na Nakhorn: Trinity Park got its name from the three Suffolk stone statues, three also means tri. We went into a big barn and saw lots of animals. I held a duck and it fell asleep in my hand. Afterwards we looked at some horses and beagles.

Caitlyn Maggs: We saw a helicopter taking off. After that we went to the potato council, we answered 5 questions and got to eat some potatoes. Then we went to a barn and held some ducklings and chicks. It was so much fun at the School Farm Fair.

Ada Marson: There were hundreds of buses there from different schools. First we went to the food tent – there were lots of different stands. There was an Otley college stand – they talked about worms. There was an electricity stand where you had to find all the dangers involved with electricity. There was a milk stand and they had a cow that you could milk. Then we saw all the farm machinery and went to the potato council and had to get 5 questions right. Then because we got all the questions right we got to eat some potatoes. We also got a puzzle. We also saw sheep being weighed.

Arun Nayar: When we got there we went into a big tent and we looked at stalls. The first stall my group went to was a stall with seeds, we got to try the seeds, they were nice. Then we went to a stall about worms –  it was interesting. After  awhile we went outside. We went to a stall where we had to match the food to the crops. Then we went to a Weetabix council. I had a race against George to see who could build the highest Weetabix tower.

Amy Thornley: We went to a bee- keeping tent and we felt a big bit of an unpopulated hive. Next we saw a real hive in a bit of glass, the queen bee was painted with a hint of yellow so we could locate her. We saw the queen bee laying eggs in her hive, she managed to lay 1 in 5 seconds. This was just the start! We went to see the animals – there were cows, pigs, sheep, goats, lamas, and even chicks that you can hold. The sheep were the best, they were soft, cute and woolly!

Amelie Field: My favourite bit was when we were all watching a dog show whilst we were eating lunch. My favourite out of all the dogs we saw were the Labradors and the Spaniels. I loved to see them jump over the gate to get a toy.

Joshua Turner: My group went to hold the ducklings first. It was great fun, they even went to sleep in our jackets! They were all so warm and furry. Afterwards we had lunch. It was really nice. While we were eating we were watching some dogs performing.

Sophie Fry: We went to the munchy seed stall, the electricity stall, the olive oil stall and the potato council. We held chicks, stroked dogs, saw alpacas, baby piglets and lambs. Then we went back to school, it was an eventful day!

Pupils at the Abbey have been busy practicing their musical instruments and many decided to participate in our Practice-a-Thon and Music Festival which raised a stunning £884.87 for the CLIC Sargent  charity which helps families of children and young people with cancer.  This is a terrific achievement and pupils should be commended for their efforts.

The Abbey, the Prep School for Woodbridge School held the inaugural Woodbridge Junior Young Musician of the Year competition on 1 May.  We were delighted to welcome thirty-one participants from sixteen different Suffolk schools, all aged eleven and under to be adjudicated by Clio Gould, Leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music.  The level of music making was extremely high, and our distinguished adjudicator was very impressed by all the young musicians. Each participant received a certificate and a written adjudication, but there could only be three prizes.  These were awarded to Amelie Clark from Mellis CEVC Primary School who came third playing the flute, Nina Varadarajan from Bealings Primary School who came second playing the piano and Etiane Cheung from Ipswich Preparatory School who came first, also playing the piano. A number of other performers were highly commended and all showed great potential.

The fourteenth annual Woodbridge School CCF Suffolk Cadet Target Rifle competition was held at Middlewick ranges Colchester on Saturday 2 May, and featured teams from Framlingham CCF, Suffolk ACF, Essex ACF and Woodbridge School CCF. The aims of the day include preparing teams for the forthcoming 7 Inf Brigade competition, introducing new shooters to the sport, and of course competing for the Suffolk Challenge shield.

The Woodbridge eight of Toby Young, Jack Popay, Will Woods Ballard, Alistair Jeffreys, Wesley Howseman, Isaac Young, Rob Hayward and Fergus Odam, triumphed over Framlingham College, winning the event by a magnificent 22 points. Also taking part and producing very good scores (strength in depth… an impressive aspect of shooting at school) were: Louis Alexander, Saxon Gallo, Dylan Howseman, Oliver Hood, George King, Miles Budden and Matt Strudwick.

Our first athletics meet this Saturday saw some excellent performances in the fresh winds at RHS.

The Year 9 team was much depleted due to various reasons. However those who stood in: Year 7 Annabel Yates in 800m and Year 8 Maud Peel in the 200m, were real stars. Chloe Outen narrowly came second in triple jump with 9.10m – just 7cm short of first place gained on the last jump; Amelia Brown was first in discus while Eleanor Berridge came 2nd in shot. In the end the team finished a very creditable fourth from six.

The Year 8s did one better, finishing third out of seven. The top results were: Amy Graham first in the 800m with an outstanding time of 2.37 and first in javelin with a throw of 28.43m; and Joanne Garnett first in discus with a throw of 22.99m.

The Year7s came first and dominated their group, with firsts from Vicky Burrows in high jump, Annabel Yates in discus and Sophie Graham in javelin with 30.11m. Many thanks to the gap students and Laura Graham who came along to help manage the team (and roar on her sisters’ dominant performances).

Score: Won 13-8

This was a cool and calm display of rounders against St Felix’s year 10s and 9s. We put St Felix into bat and kept their scoring to a minimum with two of their players being given out on the same ball, which is a great achievement. One player was caught and then one was stumped at second. Harriet Spence and Mollie Biddle took some great catches during the game and our fielding was quick getting their players out at second and first post. They finished on 4.5 after their first innings but we responded with half or full rounders from Millie Cave, Flora Johnston, Chloe Outen, Maddie Felton, Mia King, Mollie Biddle and Katy Garnett. We finished 3 rounders ahead of them and it was all to play for in the second innings.

However, we dominated in the field and got all their team bar one out and there was some great quick fielding to stump a number of their players out. When batting, Eleanor Berridge scored a great half rounder and Zara Lye stepped up to the plate and scored a fantastic rounder (being a lefty has great advantages in this game!) amongst others scoring.

Although we need to work on our placement of the ball when hitting we can be very pleased with this result. Well done girls!

On Thursday, 23 April 2015 Year 5 became journalists for an afternoon and interviewed Noel Hunt and Zeki Fryers from ITFC.  Year 5 actually called themselves The Abbey Press! The Abbey Press  asked them what they did when they weren’t training for their big matches. The reply from them both was the electronic game, ‘Fifa!’ They said it was weird to see themselves on the computer game.

Here is a scoop you wouldn’t find in The Sunday Times, The Sun or even The Daily Mail – neither of them thought of football as a sport they would be playing professionally. It turns out Hunt wanted to be a vet and Fryers had a dream of being an athlete running against Usain Bolt!

We asked them many questions, but here is one more: we asked them who was the hardest player they had come across? Fryers replied that for him it was Falcao  and the old Italian Captain Callivaro.

To be up close to players we usually see from a distance was a privilege.  We were also lucky enough at the end of the interviews to be able to get their autographs. We would like to thank Noel Hunt and Zeki Fryers for coming to visit us at The Abbey and ITFC for allowing them to come.

By James H, Harvey G and Samuel B