PP1 visit Flamingo Land
Towards the end of April, PP1 visited Flamingo Land Zoo as part of their Animals topic. The children had great fun seeing lots of different animals and even got to hold and meet some creepy crawlies in their Meet a Creature workshop. They even saw a baby camel and a baby giraffe. The zoo staff haven’t named their newest arrivals yet so PP1 are going to have a think for suitable names for them. It was a great day out meeting lots of animals; PP1 came back bursting with useful information and further questions for their topic.
Cundall Election 2015
Election fever swept through Cundall Manor last week. At the hustings on Tuesday the seven candidates presented their policies to the whole school and the polls opened early on Thursday morning. Turnout was over 80% and all voters had a taste of how a polling station actually works. The result was announced to the whole school on Friday morning by the returning officers (James Gordon and Ellen Watkins) with Michael Jimmy’s Luxury Party sweeping to power in the senior school, whilst Hollie Potter led the Happy World Party to victory in the lower school. Congratulations to all the candidates who each demonstrated the value of communicating strong positive messages to the electorate.
The Ullswater Experience
Forms 3 and 4 all enjoyed an action packed and fun-filled weekend in Ullswater. Upon arrival the skies were starting to darken which led to two days of challenging weather that the children dealt with remarkably well. They took part in a variety of activities which encouraged them to step outside of their comfort zone and understand the importance of supporting one another with positive thinking. Activities included gorge scrambling, abseiling, rock climbing, canoeing, trapezium jumps and the annual jog and dip only an hour after their arrival. All in all, the children showed great resilience in tricky circumstances and still left with a smile on their faces.
Form 5 in Aberdovey
Form 5, with Mmes Cook and Hunzinger and Ms Ballantyne, arrived at the Outward Bound centre in in Aberdovey a bit later than predicted, due to a wrong turning near Birmingham (!) but soon settled in and enjoyed an evening of team building exercises involving various leaps and heights. Saturday saw all three groups take to the mountains for a hike and scramble. The force 9 gale necessitated lying flat on the mountainside at one point, but pupils coped brilliantly with both this and the freezing rain! It’s no coincidence that the theme for the weekend was ‘resilience’ and the pupils demonstrated almost limitless reserves of this life skill. Their teachers took note and are already identifying potential prefects and Head Boy and Girl! The day was concluded with an evening camp fire where pupils cooked mussels gathered on the beach during the hike. Sunday was the highlight of the weekend with the notorious jetty jump being attempted by nearly all pupils and even some staff! After a well-deserved ice-cream, a packed coach set off home, only to break down within the hour! Transport gremlins aside, it was a great weekend; plenty of fun was had and pupils’ resilience and stamina were tested to the maximum.
Leckby set sail for Cowes
What a phenomenal week Leckby had in Cowes! The journey, (thankfully shorter than previous coach drives to Salcombe) was painless and of course included a ferry trip across the Solent, instilling a taste of far-flung adventure. The UKSA centre in East Cowes proved to be a perfect choice with comfortable accommodation, an enormous range of sailing craft and fabulous instructors. The weather was the only bugbear: whilst it was always warm and relatively dry throughout the week, the heavy winds proved quite a challenge. After a very enjoyable first day on the water, the budding sailors were then left high and dry on the second day as winds reached over 50mph. Alternative forms of entertainment, in the form of an impromptu rugby match, football games and a very useful classroom session covering all the theory required for the RYA Stage 1 certificate, filled the day. The third day was just as windy but with a little persuasion, the instructors finally relented and allowed the groups onto the water in their larger sail-training keelboats for a half-day session. With just a foresail (the winds were too strong for a mainsail) the pupils experienced the exhilaration of a yacht in full heel and at high speed. The other half of the day was spent messing about within the marina in kayaks – all great fun! The final day at the centre saw the winds calm down enough for another day of dinghy sailing although the afternoon’s gusts did preclude the scheduled racing regatta. Suffice it to say conditions ensured that every single pupil had thoroughly mastered their capsize drill by the end of the day! The instructors all expressed their appreciation of the pupils’ enthusiasm and resilience through the week and were delighted to present them all with their Youth Stage 1 certificates. Indeed, such was their progress, the pupils were encouraged to set their sights not on Youth Stages 2, 3 and 4, but on the more demanding Adult Level programme which the instructors felt the pupils were all ready for. Well done Leckby on a very productive – if exhausting – week on the water. Further pictures are available to view on ourFacebook page (click to open).
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition
On Saturday 2nd May, twenty Eldmire students arrived in the Cundall bus park fully laden and raring to set off on their Bronze expedition. After the promise of sun and warm weather the group were a little disappointed that on their arrival in Bainbridge they were greeted by cold, damp weather; however, in true Cundall style all of the students set off into the wild with huge smiles on their faces. During Day 1, lots of exciting events occurred and one group even came to the rescue of a trapped lamb, much to the surprise of the assessor! That night the rain set in and just as the staff began to fear that the smiles might fade, Tom cheered everyone up, including the teachers, with a fresh batch of popcorn! As the morning of Day 2 dawned, the rain increased and the temperature remained unpleasantly low. However, the students got their bags packed and on their backs without so much as a grumble and off they set once more with their smiles shining out. All of the groups managed to surprise both the teachers and the assessor: Tom’s group arrived in Middleham in record time, and Ellie’s group were not far behind them. Becky’s group though created utter panic for everyone, seemingly disappearing altogether! However it turned out that they were right under everyone’s noses, sticking religiously to their route card. After an action packed weekend, all of the groups qualified and should be really proud of their achievements. It was a tough weekend, with awful weather conditions but, to quote one of our parents, “we breed them tough at Cundall!”
Chick Chats in Pre-Prep
There was great excitement from the Pre-Prep pupils and chirping from chicks as eggs hatched in the incubator. A total of 16 little chicks hatched from the eggs,all making as much noise as possible. Henry Land (PP1) was heard to exclaim “They are giving me a headache and we can hear them in our maths lesson!” Mrs Wick had brought in her incubator to keep the eggs warm for three weeks until they hatched. The children from Nursery through to PP2 were delighted to hear the chirping inside the eggs and to see the chicks pecking out of the shells. Some of the children were lucky enough to see the chicks hatch.
Pre-Prep Gardening and Animal Enrichment
The Gardening and Animal enthusiasts enjoyed a happy time in their enrichment as they not only got to see and hold the chicks but Mrs Rathbone very kindly brought in Bumble her Poodle puppy. Bumble was a delight and sat on Mrs Rathbone’s knee as the children asked lots of interesting questions and then stroked Bumble’s soft fur. James, her son, thought Bumble was so well behaved that she could go to school every day!
Chamber Choir sing Evensong at Keble College, Oxford
Last Wednesday our Chamber Choir joined forces with Stowe School’s Chapel Choir to sing Evensong at Keble College, Oxford. As a school, we have been attending the Stowe Schools’ Choral Festival for the last 12 years and our choir has always made a tremendous impression. As a result, we received a special invitation from the Director of Music at Stowe to go and work exclusively with their choir and sing at an Oxford College. Our day started with rehearsals at Stowe in their amazing new Music School. After a visit to the tuck shop mid-afternoon we set off to drive up to Oxford. There was great excitement on our arrival as we took in the wonder of the buildings which make up Keble College. The chapel is awe-inspiring and beautifully ornate. We organised the seating positions and practised processing in and out of the chapel before going into the final rehearsal. The service started at 6.00pm. The sound was truly stunning as the acoustic in the chapel enhanced the rich, pure tone of the choirs. The repertoire which we had chosen was quite demanding and challenging; it certainly took many of our children out of their comfort zone! Our choir rose to the occasion and performed superbly. Francesca Banks was the soloist in the Magnificat in G by Stanford and gave a thrilling performance. This was a truly amazing experience and a very special event. Well done to all of our choristers on their hard work and wonderful achievement. It is a precious memory which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Videos of the Chamber Choirs performance can be seen by following these links: Cundall Manor at Keble College Part 1; Cundall Manor at Keble College Part 2