Category: Woodbridgian Weekly
We had a fantastic day with our Year 11 and 13 artists and photographers at Tate Britain and the V&A last week, rounded off with a great meal at Pizza Express; huge kudos to the team there for serving 42 pizzas in just 15 minutes!
The trip was designed to spark new ideas for the Externally Set Task, with the resulting work on show this summer.
Big thanks to Mrs Chapman-Ross for organising the trip, and to Year 13’s Angus, Mrs Parker and Mr Hutch for their support – and of course, thank you to our students for their brilliant enthusiasm in the galleries.
Two of our students share their experience of the day below.
Year 13’s Sophie E
“In the morning, we went to the Tate and experienced two exhibitions: Lee Miller and Constable and Turner. Lee Miller’s retrospective exhibit mainly focused on women and friendship; as well as this, there was an exhibit on the Holocaust which showed us a heart‑wrenching side to the tragedies that occurred. Constable and Turner let us experience a fascinating labyrinth of detailed paintings which many of us took interest in and admired for the full hour.”
Year 13’s Isobel
“In the afternoon we went to the V&A. It was incredibly inspiring to see so much original artwork in person. The wide range of art definitely helped influence new ideas and techniques. We left feeling motivated and excited to create new work.”
Last Tuesday, A Level Drama students had the absolute pleasure of taking part in a workshop with Gecko’s Associate Director Helen Baggett. Helen spent three hours with students, taking them through Gecko’s various devising techniques, and encouraging them to create bold and exciting work within an ensemble.
Year 12’s William shared his experience of the workshop.
“I found the workshop incredibly useful and very enjoyable. It gave me an excellent insight into the world of professional theatre and taught me a wide array of devising techniques.
Applying some of these techniques to my A level devised practical has already greatly heightened the quality of the work, and as time goes on, I’m bound to use even more of what I learned in the workshop.
Beyond its educational value, it was also extremely fun. I found that doing such intensive activities with my peers brought us all closer together and allowed us to get to know one another better.
Overall, it was a brilliant and has definitely improved my A level Drama experience.”
Year 7 to 9 Drama Scholar and Enrichment students were lucky enough to take part in a workshop in School last week, hosted by Old Woodbridgian Jamie Saul. He created a fantastic session where participants were asked to explore the process of adaptation, and tasked with writing, rehearsing, and performing short scripts based on Lord of the Flies.
Working together, it was a thoroughly enjoyable workshop during which they collaborated and supported each other, being creative and having great fun!
Sharing more about the workshop, you can read Year 8’s Miles’ report.
“Working with Jamie was an amazing opportunity. He showed us a range of warm-ups and talked through each one.
The novel we were working on was Lord of the Flies by William Golding; it was a very interesting novel to adapt and perform, because although there are many serious moments, there are also lots of very funny ones – which helped release the tension.
I really enjoyed how Jamie sent us off in pairs and gave us different genres of performance, such as radio presenting, silent performance, or using the audience as a ‘jungle’.
As a Drama student at Woodbridge, this workshop has been an amazing opportunity to advance my skills in preparation for upcoming shows.”
The Boys’ Hockey fixture program got underway this week with much anticipated matches against Fram College – no better way to test yourself in the opening matches of the season.
Woodbridge U14A vs Framlingham
A big U14A squad (made up of Year 9 players) showed their intent from the moment they arrived at the astro for their pre-match prep. Excellent skills and decision making in the warm-up continued into the opening minutes of the game – one in which the boys would relish playing against a newly selected England U16 squad member. Woodbridge put all their new principles into action, building beautiful attacks and creating chances.
From the opening minutes our midfield showed their class, Joseph and Otto H being big players in the middle while Josh and Alfie P were dominant with carries and passes on the flanks. Our early chances were denied but frustratingly Fram scored two well placed goals against the run of play in the first half, before Joseph’s slick skills and cracking shot proved too much for the GK to deal with.
Going into half time, Woodbridge felt they had an opportunity and were playing the better hockey. The defensive shape and discipline were sound with the boys learning their roles and responsibilities fast. Dylan and Otto P-S were confident and composed in the back line, tackling and passing well, guided by super goalie, Olly B. The forwards, led by Dex, Giles, Theo and Michael kept leading into good spaces and complemented each other well, creating more chances and ‘so close’ moments. Otto H was the player who took one of these chances with a great shot to draw the teams level. Woodbridge kept the subs rolling to give as much playing experience possible to the whole squad.
Framlingham took the lead again using their opportunity at a penalty corner well, scoring a clinical drag flick from a re-award. Our team, however, did not believe they were beaten yet and kept pushing, making for an even more exciting final ten minutes, entertaining the ever-growing line of spectators.
The game came to a fitting climax when Woodbridge had a couple of penalty corners on the final whistle. It looked like the equaliser was already on the scoreboard as Otto’s hit headed towards goal, and then out of nowhere the GK’s diving stick appeared to take the ball away from the bottom corner. A match highlight to end a match full of highlights! The win was not to be this time, but the future for this young team looks very bright indeed.
A number of players stood out and would be worthy Players-of-the-Match, however, this time our midfield stars, Otto H and Joseph share the honor.
Woodbridge Junior Teams
On Wednesday, our Year 7 and 8 boys also hosted Fram College. It was a tough day for most of our teams, results not being on our side, but as they say “you do not lose while you are learning”.
The Junior 3 and 4 boys enjoyed their matches and were full of enthusiasm at the end, despite the scoreline flattering their opponents. The Junior 4s in particular had lots of attacking opportunities with the Fram GK putting in a magical performance. One spell including a triple save denying Year 7’s Joshi and Year 8’s Arthur and Will all in one go. A lovely match moment followed with Arthur having to high five his opponent for superb skill.
The Junior 1 team started off very strong with co-captain Max being dominant in midfield. A couple of early chances and a penalty corner strike were denied by Fram. A crash ball beat our press, resulting again in a frustrating goal against the run of play. This shifted momentum Fram’s way, dominating the rest of the half with power carries and power passing.
Woodbridge were punished for falling into a dribbling game with one-on-one turnovers leading to goals and further opportunities for the opposition. Despite this, Year 8’s Jack and James were making promising debuts for the team while Year 7’s Charlie showed his class wherever he played.
Half time was a time to regroup and remind each other of our style of play and to move the ball around. The boys did this brilliantly at times using the width, feeding the forward and recycling the ball well to deny Fram possession and make chances, wonderfully saved by a top GK. Fram did score two more goals in the half, but this time they had to work a lot harder for it. Charlie scored our first goal of the season, thanks to a great bit of high defending by himself and James to win the turnover and get the subsequent shot away.
It was not the win the team craved, but after a somewhat disastrous first half, the second half showed the ability of the group, making small technical and tactical adjustments to perform to their best. Player-of-the-Match was Year 7‘s Charlie.
The Junior 2 team delivered the match of the day for Woodbridge. Lovely passing and connecting with each other, determined defending, and absolute 100% effort saw the team go toe-to-toe with Fram. The game was end-to-end, with both teams creating chances and forcing saves from the respective goalkeepers. It was all even at half time – so all to play for.
Fram got the goal they wanted but our team kept pushing, again having the better play at the end of the game, showing fitness and ever-growing desire. A number of penalty corners on the final whistle gave Woodbridge the opening they needed, but ultimately it was not to be as the final decision and touch just didn’t work out.
Our thanks to all the parents who came to support the matches. Not a day of results for our boys, but definite learning, growing and players showing resilience and a lot of promise for the season ahead.
Last Thursday 15 January, we were once again the proud hosts of the final Suffolk Schools Cross Country Trial; this is the county round of the English Schools’ Championships which is the national schools’ event, governed by the English Schools Athletic Association (ESAA). The major event, which will be run in March, was founded in 1925 and incorporates the whole of England providing the platform for all school athletes to compete within their own counties from grass roots to elite levels. Athletes represent their schools, progress through a system of county and regional qualifiers to reach the national championships.
From the trials run last week, sixteen athletes across the competing schools in each race, are then selected to run for their county at the regional race, in our case of course Suffolk, at the Anglian in Northamptonshire on 31 January. For our minors age group their journey will end here, however for our Junior, Inters and Senior categories (Year 8 and above) runners are then chosen in each age group (plus four reserves) to run for Suffolk. This happens across the country where each area develops their strongest county team to compete at the All-England schools where they fight it out for team medals and individual England Vests! This event will take place this year in Sefton Park, Liverpool on 14 of March.
For our Suffolk trials held at Woodbridge School, the rain came down and never left us for the entire day and with the freezing conditions in the lead up the weeks before it led to some testing cross country. Even without the use of our infamous ‘kill hill’ there were muddy ups and downs, long hilly drags and some twists and turns towards the end, enabling a great display of sprint finishes where athletes battled it out against the odds, and one another, to get in their top 16.
Woodbridge School’s Cross Country teams, staff, parents and grounds team proudly welcomed their guests, and everyone came together as the brilliant team that they are. Students were even helping each other when needed no matter what age group, even with all the individual pre-race nerves, it was great to see. We even had our OW and Inter Counties team medallist, Iwan Fothergill join us in his university holidays, to help all our Woodbridge runners get through their warmups and to the start lines.
We congratulate every athlete and offer a massive thank you to marshals, officials, staff and parents that assisted in the hosting of the event. It was a successful day for Woodbridge School athletes with 50 competing across the age groups.
Our athletes won five individual medals and celebrated 13 top 10 finishes!
Suffolk team announced
The Suffolk teams were announced for the Anglians yesterday and we are proud to say that 20 of our athletes have been selected to run for Suffolk on 31 January, with another three on the short reserve lists.
Well done to every athlete and good luck to those racing at the regional round!
Full results
Gold medal winners:
- Year 9’s Dex
- Year 8’s Chloe
Silver medal winners:
- Year 10’s Digby
- Year 9’s Alexandra
- Year 7’s Sofia
Minor Girls:
- 2nd – Year 7’s Sofia
- 4th – Year 6’s Ava
- 8th – Year 7’s Florence
- 12th – Year 7’s Sophia
- 20th – Year 7’s Issy
- 36th – Year 6’s Ziyu
Minor Boys:
- 18th – Year 7’s Max
- 21st – Year 7’s Kaydon
- 24th – Year 6’s Charlie
- 28th – Year 6’s Archie
- 35th – Year 6’s Sam
- 39th – Year 7’s Aiden
- 61st – Year 7’s Fletcher
- 76th – Year 7’s Millar
Junior Girls:
- 1st – Year 8’s Chloe
- 2nd – Year 9’s Alexandra
- 4th – Year 9’s Ella K
- 5th – Year 9’s India J
- 12th – Year 9’s India B
- 35th -Year 9’s Imogen M
- 48th – Year 8’s Tati H
- 56th – Year 9’s Honor
- 66th – Year 8’s Juno
Junior Boys:
- 1st – Year 9’s Dex
- 9th – Year 9’s Josh
- 13th – Year 8’s Oliver
- 15th – Year 9’s Olly R
- 16th – Year 8’s Archie
- 41st – Year 9’s Oliver B
- 63rd – Year 9’s Theo
- 64th – Year 8’s Harry
- 65th – Year 8’s Miles
Inter Girls:
- 4th – Year 11’s Romilly
- 7th – Year 10’s Alice
- 22nd – Year 10’s Grace
- 29th – Year 10’s Marina
- 30th – Year 10’s Millie
Inter Boys:
- 2nd – Year 10’s Digby
- 4th – Year 10’s Hamish
- 13th – Year 11’s Jago
- 19th – Year 10’s Oscar
- 34th – Year 10’s Harry
Senior Boys:
- 6th – Year 13’s Angus
Last week, Drama scholarship and enrichment students enjoyed a live production screening of The Importance of Being Earnest in Seckford Theatre, complete with the usual cookies and hot chocolate!
Being sensible can be excessively boring – at least Jack thinks so! While assuming the role of dutiful guardian in the country, he lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy takes on a similar facade.
Unfortunately, living a double life has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to love. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate.
Max Webster (Donmar’s Macbeth; Life of Pi) directs a joyful and flamboyant reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy. Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Doctor Who) is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) and Hugh Skinner (W1A; Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) in this hilarious story of identity, impersonation and romance.
Year 9’s Clem shares her thoughts on the screening and discussion that took place the next day.
“The Importance of Being Earnest is a brilliant and satirical comedy that plays with the ideas of society and identity.
It is set in the traditional late Victorian period, but the National Theatre production added modern twists to make it more interesting and relatable for a modern audience.
The set design was mostly traditional at the start, but it was cleverly changed into a countryside setting; this helped to show the contrast and juxtaposition between the characters and their different lifestyles.
I think this play was particularly enjoyable because of its unusual use of humour to mock society and its ridiculous rules on marriage. I also found it especially interesting how the play presented the different attitudes of the characters depending on where they lived. Overall, the performance effectively used humour and creative staging to highlight how silly and exaggerated social rules were at the time.”
Clash of the Chess Titans begun in School this week, a match for Year 12’s Rowan and Nikolai, two of the School’s strongest players, competing to discover who is indeed, the best Chess player in School!
Rowan and Nikolai played their first game of six on Wednesday, surrounded by the noise of their fellow students in a packed dining hall. Nikolai prepared a surprise variation in the opening, but Rowan had checked Nikolai’s online games and had seen him use that variation before, so was prepared in case it happened. As a result, Rowan did extremely well in the opening, putting Nikolai under time pressure in addition to creating other problems for him on the board.
With each player having 10 minutes plus 1 second added for every move they make to play the game, Rowan took the win, with only 12 seconds left on the clock, and Nikolai was down to 2 seconds.
Both of these students of course are taking this competition very seriously, and so we await the second of the six games next week with much anticipation and excitement.
It’s been a busy week for Netball, as the first fixtures and tournaments of the term have taken place. With some of our players new to Senior School, they were taking to the court on behalf of Woodbridge for the first time – it was exciting and intense! But whether a single match or tournament, the players all gave their all in somewhat chilly conditions at times, and enjoyed their experiences.
On Monday, our U12A team, made up of Year 7’s Issy, Florence, Lily, Darcey, Bronte, Chloe, Lucy, Chloe, Sofia and Sophie, played away to Farlingaye. It was an impressive first match for our U12s, they played a super game which ended with a win for Woodbridge 20-2, well done to all of our players, Issy was chosen as the opposition’s Player-of-the-match with Darcey and Sophie voted Players-of the-match by their teammates.
On Wednesday, our U13B team of Year 8’s Katherine, Daisy, Nina, Emily, Hollie, Kitty, Iris, Georgie, Tati, Bella, Abigail, and our U12B team of Year 7’s Chloe, Bronte, Coco, Emilia, Vivienne, Sophia, Lola and Emma, headed to Framlingham to play against their U13A and B sides respectively. The U13Bs started a little slowly but came into their own more in the second half of the match showing great character. A loss of 27-3 but lots of progress made. A well-deserved Player-of-the-Match went to Katherine.
Our U12B team played against Framlingham’s U13B side tremendously well, coming out as winners with a score of 16-2. Congratulations to our opposition Player-of-the-Match, Sophia, and Player’s Player of the match – Chloe.
And lastly, but by no means least, our U14B team of Year 9’s Elle, Pip, Ella, Clem, Kirsty, Lilia, Isabella, Jemima, Honor, Imogen and Maizie played in the local league tournament together. Unfortunately, they came away with a loss, losing 1 and drawing 2 matches, but against mainly A team opposition they fought incredibly hard.
Well done to all of our teams and players, it’s been a great week of Netball, and we look forward to future matches as the term progresses!
Surrounded by over 225km of ski slopes, some of our Year 11 and 12 students spent six brilliant days in La Plagne, France just before Christmas – not only enjoying the stunning scenery, but taking daily tuition at the local ESF ski school.
As well as developing their ski skills, they also had a film night, a quiz, went bowling and attended the opening night of the ski season.
Everyone enjoyed a jam-packed few days, and Year 12’s Freya shares her experience and thoughts on the trip below.
“Each day, we skied for three hours in the morning, stopped for lunch, and then returned to the slopes for a further two hours in the afternoon.
We were supported by excellent instructors who helped everyone build confidence and improve their technique, with access to a wide range of blue, red and black runs suitable for all abilities.
The weather was cold and wintry, and the snow conditions were very good, making skiing enjoyable throughout the week.
In the evenings, we took part in a variety of activities, including bowling, a quiz night, a film night (watching Cool Runnings), visiting a pizza restaurant, and spending free time in the town centre.
On the final day, awards were presented: Year 12’s Bea received Most Improved, Year 12’s Ed won Best Crash, Year 11’s Harry was awarded Best Skier, and I received Happiest on the Slopes.
Overall, the trip was an unforgettable and a really funny, enjoyable experience. Thank you to all of the teachers who made the trip possible.”
In the freezing conditions of Sunday just gone, our athletes (having long trained for this event, and through the Christmas holidays too!) took to the start line in their various age groups at the Suffolk Cross Country County Championships at Holbecks Park in Hadleigh – one of the first main races of the 2026 calendar.
Runners across the country in the same week, would be competing in their local county race, and those U13 upwards compete for the top 6-8 finishes in their age group, hoping for county selection to run at the prestigious UK Inter Counties Cross Country, which is once again at the infamous course at Wollaton Park in Nottingham on 7 March.
U11s
TheU11 Girls and Boys kicked off the day, attacking the frozen conditions with their usual resilience. Woodbridge School had one girl and three boys competing – and all four came home in the top 10 with a Gold medal in tow for Ava! Huge congratulations to this young, tenacious team of Year 6 students:
U11 Girls:
- Ava – 1st place
U11 Boys:
- Charlie – 4th place
- Archie – 7th place
- Sam – 9th place
U13s
Running for her club, Year 8’s Chloe Berry achieved another gold for her club in the U13 category with a whopping lead of just under a minute clear of second place. Year 7’s Florence was also an impressive 7th girl in the same age group!
Year 8’s Oliver L came home in a superb second place achieving a Silver medal, four seconds shy of the leader. This is such a significant improvement and testament to his relentless hunger to do well and training in the last four months.
U15 Girls
The U15 Girls kicked off the longer of the courses run on the day and in the face of much adversity they prevailed once again in the true Kenyan style formation:
- Year 9’s India J – 3rd place
- Year 9’s Ella – 4th place
- Year 8’s Alexandra – 6th place
All securing qualification for their Suffolk county team in March.
U15 Boys
Our U15 Boys followed promptly afterwards and powered home:
- Year 9’s Dex – 1st place
- Year 10’s Hamish – 3rd place
- Year 10’s Digby –6th place
- Year 9’s Josh – 10th place
Again, the top six from this race will all qualify to run for Suffolk.
U17s Women
The U17 Women’s category is another strong one and Year 11’s Romilly powered home in 3rd place securing a Bronze medal for her club Bury Pacers. She also goes through to the Inter Counties.
U20s Men
Our final athlete, Year 13’s Angus had the absolute race of his season so far and showing no signs of letting up, crossed the finish line in a brilliant 2nd place. His true grit was obvious from early on and through gritted teeth, to fend off a competitor attempting to close in on his hard earned position, he managed to cover the last 100m in a super speedy 13 seconds! Well done Angus for such a great achievement!
Finally, huge congratulations for all our runners who got out there on Sunday – the terrain was tough, the conditions were brutal but once again Woodbridge School students’ running tenacity prevailed.
Good luck to all our qualifiers representing Suffolk in March. Such a proud moment to be able to run for your county!