11 September 2015 | Edited By Michael Streat | Vol 25 No 01 | online at www.woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk

Woodbridgian Weekly1st British Boat 2nd Overall in the International Cadet World Championship

Our Year 10 pupil, Archie Penn, has returned from a very successful sailing summer. Since his selection to the GBR Cadet Sailing Team for the World Championship, Archie has completed the pre-event training with his team mates, which included taking part in the Flanders Youth Regatta in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, where he just missed out on a podium finish with a 4th place overall in a 30 boat fleet. The racing on the open sea with big waves, was very exciting and set him up well for the challenge of the World Championship.

Held on the beautiful Lake Garda in Northern Italy in early August, the World Championship attracted over 125 boats from 13 countries around the world. The top sailors from each country competed in the main World Championship series, where Archie with crewmate Hazel Whittle secured 2nd place overall, won the first U16 trophy, and was the top British boat.

Just 3 weeks after returning from Italy and having taken part in a local regatta at Waldringfield, the Cadet class reassembled for its National Championships at Torbay, in which Archie performed consistently again, to finish in silver medal position, this time by just 2 points as the series went to a last race decider.

As a result, the RYA has invited Archie to “transition” into the bigger 420 racing dinghy and he is looking forward to a full programme of training and racing through the autumn and winter at various locations around the country.

Keen Filmmakers Receive ‘Oscar’ Awards

Many congratulations to Year 9 pupils, Myles McEvoy and Luke Townshend, who won an award for the ‘Best Film About Healthy Living’ at the Live Well Suffolk Oscars, a competition organised by Live Well Suffolk. They produced the film as part of the Sudbury and Cornard Young Filmmakers course. Their film entitled ‘Helping Joe’ was a comedy with a serious message to educate viewers to the levels of salt, sugar and fat in our foods. They also won an ‘Oscar’ for best use of props.

During the summer holiday they both attended the summer film school. Myles won an award from Off-Shoot Films for script-writing and acting in their film entitled ‘Hacked Off’ a story of how the 2015 General Election was hacked by school pupils! Luke and Myles helped to produce the film from conception to final cut, this included script-writing, directing, acting and editing - quite a feat in only five days.

Woodbridge Stars

It’s not just about the stars – the A* grades at A level or GCSE; it’s about so much more – and in particular the opportunities created at whatever level of attainment. But before this sounds any more like I am about to say that everyone’s a winner…

It has been a very impressive year for our leavers with their results opening the doors they wanted to a wonderful and impressive variety of universities, colleges, art schools, gap year or employment placements and more. Overall, the results themselves were some of the best in over a decade. Nearly 90% of our leavers achieved A*-C grades and over a quarter secured at least three A or A* grades. Indeed the average points score was equivalent to three A grades. No wonder then that about a fifth of all grades were A* and a quarter A grade. Five pupils leave for Oxford or Cambridge, another for the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (one of only 8 successful applicants from a field of over 4000 – and one of the youngest); we have medics and engineers; artists, designers, linguists and scientists; leavers are off to study the humanities, social sciences, political sciences and more.

Particular congratulations must go to Ella Hooper for her four A* grades at A level; also earning four A or A* grades at A level were Michael Xu (including two more at B to make six in all), Christy Chan and Jaime Fernández-Pontes Viñuela; twenty one candidates secured three A or A* grades, with Lorna Bennell, Becky Garnett, Ella Kiley and Adele Macpherson each getting three at A* and Abi Buchanan, Ella Carter, Fergus Cooney, Hugo Davis, James Davis, William Farthing, Alice Fisher, Eva Hilger, Alistair Jeffreys, Liza Kyago, Olivia Lucas, Fraser McKee, Ben Morgan, Mustafa Omer, Veronika Pryagaeva, Andrew Webb and Carly Zhou a combination of A* and A.

This year’s Year 13 has a tough act to follow, but many have started exceptionally well, with Chloe Agar, Imogen Bacon, Poppy Hill, Angel Lim and Emma Wellesley Wesley all securing the equivalent of four A grades, and Ella Burdett, Flora Douglas, Phoebe Goddard, Seb How, Polina Koshel, Sascha Lutzenberger, Audrey McBride, Cara Pan and Matthew Sutton the equivalent of three each.

GCSE results were every bit as impressive and record-breaking for us: well over half the grades were A* or A, with about a quarter A*. A whopping 40% gained an average of at least all A grades and ten students obtained at least 8 A*s: Jasper Beaumont and Sophie Read (11), Alexander Appleton, Laura Graham and James Bellhouse (10), Jakob Hatfield and Madeline Lord (9), Isabel Farr, Laura Lindsay-Smith and George King (8).

Many congratulations, also, to these eight who also gained ten or more A and A* grades combined: Miles Budden, Sam Garrington, Florence Gidney, Tom Lowe, Frances Poulter, Katharine Townshend, Rowena Wilson-Smith and William Woods Ballard.

Father Time

Oh Hans, you should have listened. Was seven years’ stolen life worth an eternity in the souls of gamblers? And what about you, Godson to Father Time, you should have

listened too... though perhaps for you it was better to have loved and lost?

Bitter endings to two tales so beautifully told: mesmerising, enchanting, and completely engrossing.

Music and dance; song and speech; pathos and humour - Mr Williams’s retelling of The Brothers Grimm’s two tales

captured with glorious clarity the hearts of the stories, and the cast brought to vivid life the words on the page.

Sublime puppetry, meticulously planned set and costumes, and Kathryn Clements’s wonderfully subtle choreography added lustre to what proved to be a gloriously popular and successful show in Edinburgh, a show which gave a triumphant and equally impressive reprise on the home stage of the Seckford Theatre this week. Kick yourself if you missed it - and take a peek at the video trailer to rub salt in your wound. And for those of us lucky enough to have enjoyed the performance either side of Hadrian’s Wall? Well, for us, all it remains is to thank and applaud

once again the cast, the crew, the directors and the author of such a magical show.

to watch the trailer

Maths Summer School

Emily Barker reports on her amazing mathematical experience this summer:

With up to seven and a half hours of maths a day, the UKMT summer course was hard work. Almost everything revolved around the subject, and even our film evening turned out to be a documentary on Fermat’s Last Theorem. Our biggest course was six hours on knot theory, thankfully not all in one day, led by the very enthusiastic and, like all the other tutors, very inspirational Andrew Jobbings, with a vast majority of the time spent on knot puns. We also covered a range of other fields from geometry and number theory to dissection and listing infinities, expanding our knowledge far beyond that normally taught in the classroom. There was a range of other activities to do in the evenings and whilst many people opted for yet more mathematical puzzles and the like, I’m glad to say I spent a lot of time playing football, rounders and, naturally, socialising. And of course, the unbelievably good food played an essential role in ensuring the week was as enjoyable as it was informative. The course widened our horizons and gave us a taste of higher education and future opportunities, refuelling our enthusiasm and curiosity in the subject.

Trekking in Kilimanjaro

Mr Penny has been trekking in Africa…

‘I spent 8 days trekking on the slopes of Kilimanjaro using the Lemosho route. This is the longest route but gives you the best chance to acclimatize to the altitude, a notorious problem on Kilimanjaro, as there is nothing else around that is within 1000m as high. The African guides were superb and enforced a strict “pole pole” (slowly, slowly) on the whole trek to give us the best chance of summiting. We left high camp (4600m) at half past midnight after a brief sleep, ascending through the night. About three-quarters of the way up we witnessed the spectacular dawn and sunrise way above the clouds. After a brief rest at Stella point on the crater rim we finally reached the summit (5895m) at 8.30am. It was extremely cold on the way up as there was a very strong wind but the effort was worth it for the sense of achievement and the spectacular scenery.’

Not bad, Mr Penny!

MUSIC UPDATETo Our Generous Audiences

Many thanks to you all for your very generous contributions to the leaving collections from last year’s astonishing array of concerts. The grand total (nearly four grand!) was a wonderful £3898.75.

Success in the Associated Board Music Examinations

Congratulations to the following, who were successful in the Associated Board music examinations taken at the end of last term:

Grade 1: Robin Alexander, piano ; Lucy French, alto sax with Merit;

Grade 2:Grace Childs, Charlotte Dinwiddy, Sophie Graham, Petronella Powell, Beth Turner, Neve Walker & Lauren Wilkes, singing; Madeleine Cheshire, Laura Golding & Annabel Yates, singing and Guy Seagers, clarinet, all with Merit; Ianthe Hill, singing, with Distinction;

Grade 3: Eleanor Petheram & Miranda Woods Ballard, singing and Myles McEvoy, piano; Poppy Fletcher & Bethany Wakefield, singing and Charles Tetley, guitar, all with Merit; Emily Cook, singing with Distinction;

Grade 5: Amy Knight, viola; Jonathan Ferguson, percussion with Distinction;

Grade 6: Lewis Chinn, piano; Joshua Cole, alto sax and Gabriella Zins, clarinet, both with Merit; Gabriella Zins, singing with Distinction;

Grade 7: William Clarke, trumpet;

Grade 8: Hugo Davis, cello and Harrison Perkins, alto sax, both with Merit; Joseph Brierly, piano and Rhiannon Humphreys, cello, both with Distinction.

More Music Success

Many congratulations to the musicians who took part in the Suffolk county music courses this summer which culminated in a wonderful gala concert on 6 September. Playing in the Youth Orchestra were: Harrison and Joshua Cole, Georgia Dawson and William Emery; and in the Suffolk Young Strings Brendan Bennett, Charlotte Dinwiddy and Nathaniel Gunn.

A Summer Music Journey

Rhiannon Humphreys has been busy this summer: with the Enfield Musicians playing her cello (one of forty, alongside sixteen double basses – what a fine sound that was!) in July at the farewell to a longstanding and much admired member of the Enfield Music Service EMS; alongside her father with the Choir of Christ Church Southgate singing at Westminster Abbey in August (better still, she was one of the quartet in the Stanford Te Deum); and as one of a duet – and bridesmaid – at a wedding. Wonderful!

Music Ensembles

If you are interested in joining the below county music ensembles, please contact John Penny at jpenny@woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk - County youth orchestra - Suffolk young strings- County ensembles for wind/brass and percussion

SPORT UPDATEMore Sailing Champion

Congratulations to Oliver Phelan and James Phelan who came first in the racing series, RS Tera class Association at Aldeburgh Yacht Club in July and August respectively.

Tennis Coaching

Harriet Petley received daily individual tennis coaching sessions from the Australian tennis coach Bob Brett at his tennis academy in Italy during the summer holiday. Bob has spent 24 years on the ATP circuit coaching tennis players such as Boris Becker, Goran Ivaniševićand Marin Čilić.

One of the Best U15 Female Cricketers from Across the Country

Flora Johnston was selected to be in the annual England Women’s Development Programme U15 squad and spent a week at Shrewsbury School in August with 38 of the top players in England and Wales. This is her first step towards an International career.

FORTHCOMING EVENTSSpeech DaySaturday 12 September, 10.00amThe Dome

Whole School Open Day DaySaturday 26 September, 11.00am - 4.00pm

Queen’s House The Abbey Senior School1.30pm - 3.00pm 11.00am - 2.00pm 1.00pm - 4.00pm

CAREER CORNERCareer in Architecture

If you are looking to train as an architect part time and funded by Ingleton Wood, please send your CV to Mr Jonathan Eddy at jonathan.eddy@ingletonwood.co.uk. You would need to attend an interview and complete a task in Ingleton Wood’s office environment before being appointed.

Further, any trainee would benefit from continuous training making them a very competent architect early in their career. Ingleton Wood also trains Chartered Surveyors and Mechanical and Electrical Engineers amongst other professions.

WSPA ALERTSThe AGM - 21 September 2015

Everyone welcome. If you are not currently on the committee and would like to know more about what a role on the committee might entail, please contact the outgoing Chairman Ed Blackmore: edblackmore10@gmail.com

THE WSPA LONDON COACH TRIP

One for your diary: 21 November! Bookings will open early next term to give everyone a fair chance! First come first served.

The WSPA Ball

Back by popular demand - the WSPA Ball - date is set for 30 April (May Day Bank Holiday weekend). Details to be announced in due course so for now all you need to do is put the date in your diary.

THE WSPA QUIZ - 9 OCTOBER 2015

Teams of up to eight (don’t worry: if you arrive in a much smaller group further teams will be made up on the night - a great way for you to make new friends!) - £7 per head. A booking form will go up on the WSPA website in September to give all parents a chance to get involved.

THE WSPA GOES TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIOS

More details to follow next term: we are planning for a trip to Watford on the first day of the Christmas holidays (Thursday 17 December)! Another date for the diaries.

OW ALERTSHockey v OWs 1st on Sunday 13 September has been postponed until further notice.

LOCAL ACTIVITIESCollecting for Refugees

All Saints Church, Kesgrave is collecting clothes, toiletries, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, coats, shoes, toys and anything that might make the refugees lives a little more comfortable until a long term solution can be found. For details, please visit All Saints Church, Kesgrave’s facebook or call Sonia Adams at 07810 208749.

Rachel Joyce to Visit Woodbridge

Have you read ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’? And did you love it?!The author, Rachel Joyce is coming to Woodbridge to speak about this wonderful novel and her other titles as well as introducing her latest book, a collection of short stories called ‘A Snow Garden’. The event will be at Seckford Hall Hotel on 13 November - perfect for the run up to Christmas!