Form 1 trip to Marrick Priory
Form 1’s much-anticipated weekend at Marrick Priory was a resounding success. After the excitement of the nightline, and many of the children’s first night away from their parents, they all got stuck in to their activities for the day. All the staff were really impressed with the children’s courage while ascending the climbing wall and abseiling down the Priory tower. The children’s listening and teamwork skills were really put to the test during their orienteering task and they also enjoyed competing against the staff in archery competitions. Together the pupils and their teachers celebrated William’s birthday (with the biggest cake they’d ever seen!) and enjoyed a trip to the ice cream parlour on Saturday. Everyone left with fond memories and a real sense of accomplishment.
Form 2 Low Mill Trip
Form 2 had their annual adventure trip to Low Mill. The children really went for it! Many exciting firsts were experienced by the children, including abseiling, caving, team-building games and not forgetting of course those away from home sleepovers. The Form 2 teachers and staff of Low Mill were suitably impressed by the children’s’ willingness to put aside any fears and loved watching their proud faces after each activity. Well done Form 2; all the children deserve to be very happy with their achievements.
Ullswater 2014
The bank holiday weekend saw Forms 3 and 4 venturing into the Lake District, their destination – Ullswater. Arriving in good time meant that the groups were taken away promptly for the first of their activities and for many, this included the traditional jog and dip. Most braved the water, including a few of the staff. The children had an amazing weekend, filled with climbing, abseiling, raft building, gorge walking, canoeing, summiting mountains, team building challenges and camping out. All of the children were pushed and stretched in different ways (sometimes literally) and worked well in teams to achieve their goals. The weather was brilliant, with the only rain occurring during the night whilst we were snug in our beds or sleeping bags. A good wind on the last morning even meant that some groups were able to create hand held sails for their rafts or canoes and covered a great distance on the water. The course instructors were very pleased with the children’s behaviour and general ‘get-up-and-go’ attitude and felt that they achieved more with them than perhaps they would with other children. It was such a delight to hear from another headteacher, who was also visiting the centre, about how polite and friendly our children were. They were a real credit to themselves, their families and the school. It was great to see smiles from everyone as they got off the coaches. They were tired but they had all learnt something about themselves and others and many had experienced at least one new activity during the weekend.
Form 5 outward Bound to Aberdovey
For the first time this year, Form 5 had the opportunity to take their outdoor pursuits a little further afield and travelled to Wales – no passport required! The following quotes are just some of the feedback the accompanying teachers have received: “Fantastic scenery, better than last year” “The activities were similar but required more teamwork and pushed us to a much higher level” “Freedom from the younger children and more opportunities to meet new people” “Friendly instructors who made you believe in yourself” Well worth the five hour coach journey it seems! A fantastic trip for all with many staff commenting on how well behaved the group was over the whole weekend.
Leckby’s Wilderness weekend
Sixteen Upper School students headed to the Borrowdale valley in the Lake District, which is recorded to be the wettest place in England; thankfully the rain held off till the second night. After setting up their tents for the night, the group headed out on a geocache adventure around the valley to find a surprise for that evening. Before it got dark it was time for their first real attempt to cook their food with the trangias. The meal choices were varied from upmarket pasta with pesto and parmesan to some choosing one meal ration packs. Saturday was the truly adventurous day of the trip, with everything packed in their rucksacks to be self-sufficient for 36 hours, including the two trusty trowels! The first scrambling section up the side of the waterfall was enjoyed by all, even if recognition of the fact (for those unsure of heights in particular) came much later. The group finally made it to where they would call ‘home’ for the evening by the side of Sprinkling Tarn. Mr Kirby was very happy with pitching his tent on the island! After lunch the party split into two groups to walk/scramble slightly different ways to summit Scafell Pike. Neither group spent long on the top as it was a bit breezy. The pupils were all tired from the day, so when they got back to their tents they found some energy to cook their tea and crawl into their tents before the rain came in. Overnight the clouds dropped which meant the wind speed increased and the rain was a bit heavier. One tent’s pole snapped in half as it didn’t cope with the change of wind direction and a few groups woke up to find they had pitched their tent in an area susceptible to flooding! After a quick dismantle of the camp everyone then had the task of walking the 4km off the mountain. The motivation was heading to Keswick to buy a well earned fish and chips.
Eldmire Geography fieldwork
The Eldmire GCSE Geographers went on a fascinating exploration to find out about limestone landscapes and the impact of tourism in the Yorkshire Dales. The morning was spent exploring Ingleborough caves with an excellent guide who not only explained the geography of the underground features but also explained the chemistry of how they were made. The group ended up being 80m under the ground and 1 mile into the hill side which is a bit mind boggling for the pupils to truly understand. Exploring the cave system first hand was much better than pictures in a text book and the students gained a lot from the experience. Even the few bashed heads were well worth it! The pupils then headed to Malham, which is a textbook example of a tourist honey spot site, to study the impacts of tourism on the small village and how they are managing it. After a quick ice cream stop, they walked to the famous Malham Cove to look at the surface features of limestone. The pupils were amazed by the crazy climbers working their way up the 70m cliff face. Of course they finished of the day drawing a geography field sketch, which is a must on any geography field trip!
Chess Duo represent Yorkshire in National Finals
Matthew Mairs (Form 3) and Nick Cunningham (Form 4) returned to school this week after a busy weekend representing the Yorkshire Under 11 chess team in the National Counties Finals held in Northampton. County teams from all over the UK featuring some of the strongest junior players in England participated in the event on Saturday 10th May. Both of our players were involved in three matches, with Nick winning two of his individual games and Matthew winning one. Although the Yorkshire team did not achieve a top three finish on this occasion, both boys should be extremely proud of their selection and participation in such a prestigious national event! We at Cundall Manor are very proud of the progress they have made. Well done!
Form 5 interfaith visit
Pupils from Form 5 were given an insight into different cultures and forms of faith when they visited several places of worship in Bradford last week. First on their agenda was a visit to a mosque where they learned about the importance of prayer in a Muslim’s daily life, and about how the mosque serves the whole Islamic community. The second visit was to a Hindu temple where the pupils enjoyed investigating the many colourful deities in the shrines. Finally, after a picnic lunch, the group visited a Sikh gurudwara where they saw the respect paid to the sikh holy book or Guru Granth Sahib. All pupils came away from the visits with a deeper understanding and respect for the different religions, and an appreciation of the many similarities between world faiths.