13 Mar 2015 | Edited By Michael Streat | Vol 23 No 9 | online at www.woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk

Woodbridgian WeeklyTHE FASHION SHOW; AN ALTERNATIVE

PERSPECTIVEGlorious, bold, exciting, noisy and full of energy – not least thanks to Robert Hayward’s inspired son et lumière to ‘settle’ the audience into their seats. And thereafter it was non-stop entertainment, with YoungMinds, the evening’s charity, centre stage from the start thanks to Daisy and Holly’s introduction.

For many years I have sat in the audience, beguiled and impressed by the panache of our sixth formers as they put aside their fears and launch themselves onto the catwalk. That they succeed is of course self-evident, wonderful, and… a great relief! But does it come easily? This year I was door-holder-open in chief backstage and had the chance to find out… Here indeed were the raw emotions: nervous pacing, anxious tweaking, mad laughter, frenzied dancing and strutting-practice; crazy changing (question: how long does it take a seventeen-year-old boy to get into a full suit at the start of a school day, because it can be done in about 17 seconds if they’re due on stage?); harum-scarum stairwell descents (parkour has nothing to add…) and corridor-running; Ms Carter popping up to offer consoling thoughts such as ‘we have no-one on stage, I need three NOW’, probably meaning the three who had just sprinted past me shedding the previous costume to the acolytes following in their wake. It was all hands to every pump, but terribly genteel really: lots of ‘excuse me’ and ‘thank you’, ‘no you can’t go there’ and ‘your label’s showing… let me’. And it really was glorious, and hugely enjoyable – I hope the audience had as much fun!

So first the thanks and congratulations: to Daisy Hyland and Holly Abbott, organisers in chief who were just brilliant, and showed astonishing sang froid throughout; to Ms Carter, Mrs Woodmansee, OW Jenny Armitage, Mrs Brown, Mr Hillman, Miss Edwards and Rob Hayward, the tech team and everyone else caught up in the tentacles of organisation – amazing; to the shops (without which etc etc) Little Luxuries and Just Hair for their astounding work with the models, and Fanny & Frank, Kings of Suffolk, Chattertons, Vintage Angels, colleen & clare, Laura Jane, Urban Vintage, Anna, Phoebe & Flo, Coes and of course 17 – our very own Millie Buckley and Jonny O’Grady who received thunderous applause for their debut and truly excellent collection; and to the models in all their swagger and variety – brilliant and nerveless in the face of any obstacle!

And second, thank you to the audience for its heartfelt and enthusiastic response, both to the event, and in support of YoungMinds to the tune, we

hope, of over £3,000. We, and they, are truly grateful.

The Jail and Bail event arranged by Home-start Suffolk Coastal raised almost £5,000 for the charity’s work. Mr Tetley has raised £1,425 (at the time of writing) towards the cause.

Thank you very much for everyone’s support. If you want to see how Mr Tetley was arrested, press the play button on the video to open it in a new window.

JAILBIRDS PAY THE PRICE – FOR CHARITY

Our pupil, Joseph Brierly has been invited by the pianist, John Paul Ekins to play a short solo at John Paul’s NSPCC Charity Concert on Saturday 18th April at St Mary’s Church, Woodbridge from 6:30pm.

For further details, please contact Lynette Chapman at 01473 738510.

NSPCC CHARITY CONCERT

Congratulations to Frances Poulter, who successfully auditioned for a place on this Summer’s National Schools Symphony Orchestra course.

FRANCES POULTER RECEIVES AN OFFER

FROM NSSO

Not an evening of easy viewing… but an evening of sustained and taut emotion, pain and self-disgust played out with unremitting intensity and integrity.

First, The Devoured: the tragic reflections of a Holocaust survivor-father, left bereft of wife, and children. Where does fluid and graceful dance fit in such a tale? Loss: fleeting ghosts, memories, wishes. And the inexorable rhythm of the prose, full of guttural repetition? To mimic the macabre locomotive transportation, the trademark for this particular descent into the Inferno. Our quartet carried the play off brilliantly: the fear, the anguish, the anger – so much anger, and above all the disbelief at the mass-madness rained down upon the victims.

And as for madness… 4.48 Psychosis explored - madness? Depression? Psychosis? Dangerous to label, and with the audience no more than inches from the action (and for much of the time masked, quite literally, from reaction as surrogate doctors and nurses, voyeurs on a desolate scene of confused delirium) any labelling risked prompt and very personal reassessment through a stolen glance and searing eye contact with one or other of the cast. There was no escape, for patient or witness, in this compelling and fascinating interpretation of a seminal work by our outstanding trio.Congratulations all seven; you deserve something to cheer you up – and talking of seven, and being cheered up, why not put aside an evening on either 25 or 26 March to join The Secret Seven, our A2 drama to round of the term’s viewing? All welcome!

AS DRAMA

More than 160 pupils from eight schools took part in one of three first rounds of the Association for Language Learning’s annual “Have Your Say Competition” at Thomas Gainsborough School, Great Cornard on Tue 10 Mar.

Poppy Fletcher and Christine Evans, and Miranda Woods Ballard and Jennifer Clare took part, with Poppy and Christine going through to the final in May. Well done to all four who did outstandingly well in a hard-fought category where they performed dialogues in French, which they completed in their own words.

HUGE SUCCESS AT THE “HAVE YOUR SAY COMPETITION”

We had our second Careers Lunch on Friday 6 March. This time the focus was on CVs, interviews and making yourself stand out to future employers.

We were lucky to have parents Carl Thomas of Locri Recruitment, Gillie Tomlinson, Asset Manager in London, Rupert Reed, Head-hunter at Godliman Partners and business owner, as well as Harvey Woop, an OW with an impressive and varied career which at the moment has led him into being the Director for the Clean Rivers Trust. The students lapped up the information and found the lunch very useful in helping them to think about how to present themselves and how to stand out from the crowd. Many thanks to all involved.

CAREERS LUNCH

THE WOODWIND AND BRASS COMPETITION

This year’s event was adjudicated by the internationally-renowned flautist Philippa Davies, who had kindly stepped in at the last moment to replace the equally-famous Anna Noakes; Anna was caught up in a film-score recording.

Miss Davies was full of admiration for our pupils’ enthusiasm and the way their talent emerged in the higher classes; she was also very pleased to see some pupil-led ensembles. Although there wasn’t much time in this very full day to give individual verbal feedback, her written notes for each pupil were full of encouragement and pertinent advice, and she also managed to chat informally to a number of those with specific queries. Congratulations to everyone who took part; to the teachers who worked so hard to prepare their pupils; and in particular to the following, who gained Honours or Merit:

Woodwind under grade 3: winner Lucy French, saxophone, with Merit

Woodwind grades 3-4 winner: Sarah Barker, flute, with Honours; Honours also to Medomfo Owusu, flute

Woodwind grades 4-5 winner: Libby Martin, flute, with Honours:

Woodwind Grades 5-6 winner: Imogen Bacon, flute, with Merit: Merit also to Madeline Upton, oboe, and Francis Norman, treble recorder.

Brass: around grade 3: winner: Alfie Franklin, trumpet, with Merit

Brass grades 4-5: winner: Daniel Knight, tuba, with Honours, Merit to James Phelan, trombone

Junior Ensemble: winners: The Flute Choir, with Merit

Intermediate Ensemble: winners: the Senior Recorders, with Merit

Woodwind grades 7-8: winner: Isabella Pincombe, oboe, with Honours, Honours also to Harrison Perkins, alto sax.

Intermediate Brass: winner: Ianthe Hill, with Merit

Advanced Brass winner: Lewis Chinn, trombone, with Honours; Merit to Fergus Odam, cornet, Owen Butcher, trombone & Francis Norman, euphonium

Senior Ensemble: winners: the Senior Brass Ensemble, with Honours; Honours also to Isabella Pincombe & Alice Fisher, oboe duet

Open Solo: joint winners, with Honours: Lewis Chinn, tuba & Isabella Pincombe, oboe; Merit to Amélie Brüggen, flute

The Woodwind Cup was awarded to Isabella Pincombe and the Brass Cup to Lewis Chinn.

SPORT

The U13A team had a string of successes at the South Suffolk Tournament, beating

Kesgrave 15-2; the Ipswich High School B team 11-1; the Ipswich High School A team 9-8;

RHS 9-3; Ipswich School A team 5-3 and the Ipswich School B team 13-0.

But those six wins didn’t come easy; this was

such an exciting yet nail biting afternoon of

netball. We had beaten all the schools playing

in the tournament in our league fixtures, so

had everything to prove.

Lucy Hudson, Katherine Bye and Maud Peel

showed how strong they are in defence letting

only one goal in. Emma Hendry and Millie

Buchanan had some great interceptions in the

centre of the court. Amy Graham showed her

cool, calm and collected side and fed some

amazing balls into the circle and Joanne

Garnett converted everything, amazing!

Bust still not satisfied with these wins, the

team also beat Orwell Park in a school fixture by 21-10

having led from the start. Well done girls!

NETBALL

BOYS HOCKEYU18s v Trinity School, CroydonScore: Woodbridge won 3-3 (3-0 on penalty flicks)The game started at a reasonable pace with Trinity dominating possession and territory in the first quarter. The opposition scored with a deflection from a hopeful hit into the circle. As the half went on, Woodbridge started to claw back possession and take control of the game. The second half saw Woodbridge now completely dominating to take the lead by 2-1, only to throw the advantage away and fall behind by 3-2 just as all looked set fair. However, with just three minutes to go Ed Robson completed his hat-trick (he’s now scored 20 goals in 6 games) to send the tie to penalty flicks.

Trinity missed the first three flicks with Woodbridge scoring their first two. This meant the deciding flick was now down to the hat-trick hero, Ed Robson. Cool and calm under pressure, Ed sent the ball top left to send Woodbridge through to the next round. Another brilliant achievement from the ever-increasing talent of the U18s!

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

WSPA FISH & FLICKSThe perfect end to a busy week – dinner with friends and a film to follow. That’s what the WSPA thinks too, so set aside the evening of Friday 20 March for a night at the Riverside! IT’S NOT SOLD OUT – despite what the website inadvertently indicated recently.

“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” with most of the original cast, plus Richard Gere for the ladies……

The film will start at 8pm. Meet in the bar from 6.30pm with food at 6.45-7.00pm. Book individual tickets @ £22pp by clicking here. The food is bread, oil and olives on the table followed by a choice of Moules (three different sauces), Thai Green Fish Curry or Pan Roasted Hake, coupled with a glass of wine - and your cinema ticket of course!

For more details please visit http://wspanet.co.uk/

Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 March

Chamber Choir & Ahrensburg Choir Concert, St Mary’s Church,

(Mon 16), Aldeburgh Church (Tues 17), 7.30pm

Thursday 19 March

Gala Concert, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, 7.30pm

Wednesday 25 & Thursday 26 March

The Secret Seven, Seckford Theatre, 7.30pm

Saturday 16 May 2015 – London Coach Trip – ticket sales and details will be announced soon, so get your computer warmed up for a quick online response.

WSPA LONDON COACH TRIP

NEWMARKET NIGHTS We’re pleased to announce the iconic and incredible Madness will be returning to Newmarket Nights on the 26 June for a unique evening of live music and racing, and the WSPA can’t wait to join in the fun...

For the WSPA to secure seats for what is likely to be a riotously popular occasion, we need your bookings by 21 March.... minimum 20, so spread the word and persuade a friend!

Tickets are £60 per head. Transport included and entry to the “nice” end.Coach leaves Senior School turning circle at 16h00 returning after 00h00 - way past bed time. Click here for more information.

Booking is on a first-come-first-served basis ONLINE ONLYONLINE BOOKING LINKS BELOW:If you wish to purchase tickets, please click here.Once purchased the tickets are non-refundable unless: either (bizarrely) we fail to make the minimum 20 bookings, or the event is cancelled for reasons beyond our control, in which case you will be refunded without deduction.