3 July 2015 | Edited By Michael Streat | Vol 24 No 10 | online at www.woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk

Woodbridgian WeeklyThe Two Gentlemen of Verona

Colour and movement, agony and ecstasy: the classic mixture of Shakespeare, Year 9, Williams and Mayes. Under a perfect sky in the heart of Suffolk a happy audience was transported to Italy and beguiled by love, loss, laughter, a hint of cross-dressing, a remarkably docile dog, and, in the end, a happy ending (of course). That clever playwright - he wasn’t just sonnets and tragedy, murder and woe... thank goodness... and once again the Chapel Lawn was able to celebrate one of his comedies full of honourable intensity, misguided enthusiasm, hapless idiocy, and honest love (not always honestly bestowed, it has to be said...).

Many congratulations: to a cast brilliantly attuned to the nuances of its task and expertly in character whether in front, to the side or behind its audience; to the technical team which made light of gradient, grass and gremlins, and which bedecked both set and actors quite beautifully with an impressive eye for design; and, as ever, to our marvellous directorial duet.

For more photos, please check out the School’s facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/woodbridgeschoolA trailer of the show will be available on the School’s facebook early next week. Don’t miss it.

The concerto concert

People will ask: ‘were you there for the Concerto Concert in the summer of 2015?’ What an astonishing evening. I was there – and like those many with me, could not have felt more privileged. Jack Popay opened with Neruda’s Trumpet Concerto in E flat – his clarity of tone bringing out the best in an unfamiliar piece with plenty of drama and vitality.

Jack is off soon to play with the Royal Marines Band, and then the National Scouts’ Orchestra. No wonder they were keen to invite him!

Michael Xu’s stunning performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor followed. As with Olivia da Costa’s equally mesmerising performance later, the work was performed from memory – a feat hard to imagine in itself, let alone when carried off with such extraordinary maturity and virtuosity. Michael’s playing was breathtaking, his interpretation full of suspense, energy and emotion. It really was a triumph and he deserved the ovation.

Eva Hilger’s second movement from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D opened the second half of the concert with a gentle beauty that calmed the soul. Her lyrical interpretation drew warm applause and helped change the mood from the intense and often rather darker Beethoven before.

And then Olivia and Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor. No escaping the opening bars: passion, and a sense of loss which is never far away despite moments of lighter orchestration. Olivia sought out the emotional core of the piece wonderfully: the four so-familiar movements flew by, referencing each other while introducing new ideas at every turn. This was a glorious performance.

Indeed it was a glorious and quite magnificent evening from start to finish. Our thanks and admiration go to the four soloists, to the conductors, and to the fine orchestra which included many amongst the music staff as well as fellow pupils.

A trailer of the concert will be available on Woodbridge School’s facebook very soon. Stay tuned! Woodbridge School’s facebook - https://www.facebook.com/woodbridgeschool

The Piano Concert

In a joyously unfettered display of music-making, some three dozen pianists embraced four grand pianos, eight piano stools, and sixteen compositions in combinations of four and sixteen hands to truly wonderful effect… yes, it was the annual Piano Concert in which solos are taboo and teamwork essential. With Mr Stafford’s compositions applying the most energetic of parentheses, this was an evening to revel in, encompassing as it did Royalty, sabres, gavottes, the seasons, waltzes, polkas, comedians and samba. A heady mix brought off brilliantly.

Riotous applause, and this vote of thanks, to the thirty-odd pupils and eight staff for such excellent entertainment.

Cory is cutting her hair

Or more precisely, readers: https://www.justgiving.com/Cory-is-cutting-her-hair/.

This is the place to visit to support Issy Cory’s excellent fundraising mission on behalf of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT). You can find out more behind her compelling motivation, brilliantly expressed in front of the school at this week’s assembly, and about the charity by following the link.

Please do support Issy and this very important cause.

Junior Maths Olympiad

Many congratulations to Brendan Bennett who secured an impressive merit (including one near-perfect solution) in the fiendishly difficult Junior Olympiad, a competition for the top performers from the National Junior Maths challenge.

Classroom to Boardroom for our Y11 students

Its 6am and our Year 11 weary-heads jump out of bed with anticipation. For this is the day they travel to London to deliver their business presentation to a board of directors and CEOs in 1 Canada Square Canary Wharf. It’s the final day of the Classroom to Boardroom programme!

Our Year 11 pupils, recently recovered from their GCSE exam marathon, have enjoyed a superb week of debating, working in teams and problem solving. They were asked to help develop the design ideas for the expansion of the Canary Wharf development which will be built to accommodate the forecasted 1m rise in population in the London area over the next 10 years.

When Canary Wharf was first conceived it comprised of office accommodation in the main but our students’ brief was to deliver a proposal that included all kinds of buildings and services fit for life in the 21st century, making the most of the available technology. Ideas were thrashed out over three days, some rejected and many included finally leading to a presentation to be delivered to the board. The presentation, which included a performance from every student on the course, lasted for nearly one hour with a Q and A session for a further 45 minutes from the board.

The board comprised: Howard Dawber, Strategic Advisor, Canary Wharf Group; Brad Goodall, Chief Operating Officer at ENTIQ; Michelle Moore a development consultant; and Ian Jones who is the General Manager, Intel Technology UK, accountable for Intel’s strategic relationship with UK government and industry. Their feedback was thorough and incredibly complimentary, even stating that “it was better than some professional pitches from start-up companies looking for financial backing”. The team adopted their own brand image taking on the company name Vita (life in Latin) and incorporating it throughout their pitch. The brand image particularly impressed the board for its real world credibility, as did the brand identity development which, had this been a real pitch, would have created well-differentiated identities for Vita as a company.

The pitch revolved around many themes for life in London. For transport, commuter pods, environmentally friendly bikes and an electric car sharing schemes were sited; for health care, interactive cyber consultations would be used instead of having to visit a GP practice; for education, high rise schools with green roof areas for sport and play were envisaged in order to save on land costs. All suggestions carried the theme of saving the environment and energy in their design concepts. Piezoelectricity could be generated from pavements to harvest kinetic energy from walking pedestrians. The electricity generated from the foot traffic would be used to provide all the electricity needed to supply up to 38,000 homes. To draw all the ideas together an app was also suggested. As this is a real programme for the development of London some of the ideas presented may even be used.

All in all this was a fabulous opportunity for our Year 11 students to experience a real life working week, which involved some pressure to produce their own ideas and see them through in a realistic way. It certainly has helped all those involved grow in terms of independence and confidence and, on refection, it’s probably a better way of getting work experience than shadowing for students of this age group.

If you would like to know more about the Classroom to Boardroom programme please seek out the opinion of a participating student or if you are in Year 10 and wish to sign up for next year please email jwright@woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk

SPORT UPDATE

Adult Art Class

The Adult Art class is intended for parents and friends of the school and has been going for several years now. If you are an absolute beginner or an experienced artist you may like to join our group.

We are able to work in a wide range of 2D materials, including block print making with use of the school printing press, clay modelling, pot building and glazing.

Venue: Woodbridge SchoolTime: Tuesday 1.45 – 4.15 (The new term begins Tuesday 8 September)

If you are interested and would like more information, please contact Mrs Pauline Carr at paulineacarr0@gmail.com or ring 01394 210027

Sports Day update

Sincere apologies to all the athletes concerned, and to our readers… a gremlin or three have been discovered in the Sports day spreadsheet for calculating results, and I have some changes to report:Many congratulations to Amy Graham who joins Sarah Barker as first equal in the Junior Girls’ event; many congratulations also to Daniel Norman who takes first place in the Year 7 event, with Hal Ottley (our apologies) and Hugo Thomas now tied a whisker behind in second; and as a result of these changes and other corrections made, many congratulations to 7H who are now winners of the form competition, from 7B, then 7T and 7J tied (sorry 7J!); and… delayed drum roll…

Many congratulations to the new overall champions: Annott, Burwell and Willard all tied on 865!!! Unprecedented!!! What are the chances (now there’s a problem for the holidays…)?.... Then… Seckford (841). With results that close the re-scrutiny has, I am told, been intense (in tents?).

Speed cycling

Many congratulations to Louise Farthing who was the fastest female over 250m (just 15.81s! – and only a couple of seconds behind the winning adult male) in the cycling speed trial organised as part of the visit of the Aviva Women’s Tour to our district recently. Joseph Young, Cycle Suffolk project coordinator with Suffolk Sport, said: ‘We might just have found our next Victoria Pendleton – Louise was exceptionally quick!’.

Louise is pictured with her prize: a very stylish cycling racing top.

More Tennis Success!

U13B Girls’ Tennis County Finals

Our brilliant and unbeaten under thirteen B team rounded off the season as Suffolk Division 2 champions thanks to an outstanding performance in the end-of-season county finals.

The team of Freya Huxley, Sophie Graham, Saffron Holliday and Annabel Yates had previously qualified thanks to victories over RHS, Ipswich High and Orwell Park. In the finals their first match was against Westley School, and our well-balanced team eased to victory by 4 rubbers to 2 to earn a place in the decider against Brandeston Hall B team. This was a fantastic match, the best of the season, with the two strongest teams giving their all. Each rubber was tightly contested: entertaining rallies, exciting shot-making, and close finishes... The doubles in particular were of the highest quality: Freya and Sophie, and Saffron and Annabel, can be very proud of these matches, let alone the singles victories which followed. And so it was that Woodbridge won the final in “straight sets” to become worthy winners of the Suffolk title. And the season’s tally? Victories in 27 of the 30 rubbers, and when sets were lost they were lost by one service break only: a truly dominating season from the U13B girls. Well done!

South Suffolk rounders tournament

The end of the season for the under twelves – could they crown a successful campaign with a South Suffolk laurels?It all started well… a great victory over Copleston High School with us winning 8½ - 2, Emma Hendry, Poppy Fletcher and Maud Peel starring (including Maud’s brilliant double-out in the field); then another against RHS… Harriet Petley and Joanne Garnett played excellently in the field to hold them to 1½. Our 6½ did the trick, Freya Huxley, Flo Scott, Amy Graham and Emma among the scorers. Farlingaye next proved to be exciting: tight fielding and strong batting held sway… great stumpings and good calls from Katie Bye and Sarah Barker; Joanne played well in the deep field; their 3 proved insufficient as our girls replied with 9. And so to the semi final against Ipswich High. Tough… tense… half rounders only (but quite a few)… was it to be enough? Just! By ½!

The final – Ipswich School… This was so tight and, although we made some errors in the field, we kept their score down to 5½ , within reach. However the nerves were a little frayed and the tide turned against us… the pressure mounted… and suddenly it was all down to the last ball, with one rounder in it and Maud at bat… a hit… second base … a mis-field… a sprint… but a recovery and a stumping. Agony! So close! But a great performance nonetheless and the girls can end the season delighted by all that they have accomplished, including second across South Suffolk!

OW NewsLondon Universities Cup

OW Ben Bell has recently captained the Imperial College Hockey team to be crowned champions of the London Universities Cup and League, a fantastic achievement.

WSPA ALERTS

WSPA IS ON FACEBOOK

Parents, please take a moment to look at WSPA’s excellent Facebook page for all your forthcoming events: https://www.facebook.com/wspanet.co.uk

The AGM - 21 September 2015

Everyone welcome. Please could any current parent who would like to be considered for any of the posts of Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer notify the school by 7 September. If you are not currently on the committee and would like to know more about what a role in 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 acclaim, the WSPA Ball swings into action, set for 30 April next year (not 21 May as previously suggested!) – the May Day bank holiday weekend. Details to be announced in due course; for now all you need to is put this date in your diary, too.

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.

We wish all our readers a

very happy and successfful

summer holiday.