Summer Fair
It was lovely to see such a fabulous attendance at this year’s Summer Fair. The friends had worked tirelessly to lay on a superb range of activities, entertainments and stalls for all the family, and even the weather made a special effort to be nice for us! The Form competitions were a huge success with the miniature gardens and vegetable characters seeing a spectacular range of entrants. Thank you to all who entered and well done to our winners: George Dunn (Miniature Gardens), Stanley Clarke (Vegetable Characters) and Oscar Staveley (Photography). The Friends would like to extend a huge thank-you not only to all the families who supported the event, but to those who did so much to make the event happen: to all the Friends who manned stalls, to Mrs Partington’s Leckby Business Studies students who provided so many attractions, and to the school catering staff for all their help setting up and helping out on the day; to Mr Bayne for his marvellous balloon creations, to Mrs Saxby and Mrs Sowerby in the Bursar’s Office for all their help behind the scenes; to Mr Lister for the generators, and to Mrs Lister for all the meat for the BBQ.
LAMDA News
Saturday 21st of March was a significant day in the Cundall calendar: not only did Cundall pupils break a Guinness world record but some students also hit an all-time high with their LAMDA results. Despite being cold and tired after a freezing morning on the Astro, all our candidates did exceptionally well and the results are truly outstanding and probably the best we have had for a long while: For Acting Grade 3, Duo: Ellen Watkins, Niamh Watkins, Henry Calvert, Ben Earley, Niamh Wilson and Maya Briggs all passed with Distinction. For Speaking Verse and Prose Grade 3: Olivia Turner, Alannah Creed and Francesca Banks all passed with Distinction. For Acting Grade 6 Solo Bronze Medal: Pippa Adamthwaite-Cook achieved a Distinction. Congratulations to all who worked so hard to achieve such brilliant marks and a special mention for Pippa Adamthwaite–Cook for achieving such a fantastic grade at Bronze Medal level (equivalent to a GCSE.) A big thank-you must also go to Mrs Fearn, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that all our students were well prepared and ready to face the examiner.
Latin Scholars celebrate the Restless Dead
Latin students from Form 4 and 5 recently had a great day out at The Mount School in York. They joined students from other local schools to take part in a series of activities based on the Lemuria festival: the Roman Festival of the Restless Dead. They learned how to appease these spirits by throwing beans over their shoulders and saw a real Roman soldier’s tomb! A popular activity was learning about how Roman soldiers trained, with running, marching and long-jumping (to develop stamina, discipline and strength!).
PP2’s All about Form 1 morning.
PP2 were all very excited to meet their buddies on Wednesday morning. They began by joining Form 1 and Mr Bayne for some outdoor singing before finding their buddies. The children then had the opportunity to ask questions such as ‘Do you get lots of homework?’ and ‘How do you know which lesson to be in?’ Next the Form 1s took PP2 on a tour of the school to show them where to find everything. Everyone enjoyed a play on the field and explored the classrooms before saying goodbye. All the PP2s and Form 1s are looking forward to their Summer party.
Skipathon fundraiser
The Form 4 girls completed a 5 hour skipping marathon to raise money for the British Heart Foundation last Wednesday. The girls organised themselves into teams to skip in shifts of half an hour, ensured that they had a good supply of sugary drinks and snacks, decorated T-shirts to promote their cause and finished the day off with a choreographed skipping display. Every single one of them participated, many having to learn and rehearse new skipping moves during break times. It was great to see them all pulling together, sharing their ideas and supporting each other. We were really impressed with their commitment to the idea and the responsibility that they all took for the organisation of the event. We are incredibly proud of what they have achieved and BHF will be very grateful for the donation, in excess of £570, that we will be able to make.
Lunchtime Concert
Last Friday we enjoyed another lunchtime concert in Cundall Church. Once again, we had some first time performers who had been very stressed in the days leading up to the concert, However, they performed brilliantly and actually really enjoyed the experience and the wonderful sense of achievement which follows such a performance. It is exciting to have another extremely talented boy chorister in Form 1 – well done Jolyon! It was lovely to have performances from across the age range and also a variety of styles and genres. For some, it was their last lunchtime concert at Cundall. Special congratulations go to Sarah Sullivan who sang a beautiful duet with Mrs Dunford (Panis Angelicus) and to the group of form 6 girls (Ellen, Francesca, Maya and Niamh) who had worked hard, learning and practising the song ‘Say Something’ which they performed so competently. We have some talented piano players and singers coming up through the school and it is great to hear the progress which our brass players are making. Henry also delivered a confident and musical performance on his clarinet. Well done to all of our musicians on making this another very memorable and joyous occasion. Many parents were in the audience and they thoroughly enjoyed the ‘oasis of calm’ which these concerts have become!
PP2 Sports Activity Afternoon at Highfield
PP2 had a fun-filled afternoon at Highfield. They took part in a carousel of activities which included running, hurdles, javelin and long jump. The hardest was the triple jump which was quite challenging to master. The children enjoyed making new friends and trying out all of the activities on offer. Before it was time to head back to school the children were all treated to a delicious match tea. The afternoon was great preparation for sports day as well as being great fun.
Boarding House News
It was a healthy combination of work, rest and play in the boarding house this weekend. Following the busy Open Morning, the boarders al headed down to the Summer Fair where they took part in every activity on offer. Then it was off to Thirsk for their supper; a delicious Chinese takeaway. Sunday was a mixture of rest and prep accompanied by a trip to Sugar Mouse in Easingwold, where they each bought a range of delicious energy restoring goodies.