Upper School Team building
The first day of term started with a challenge for the Upper School as they headed to Ripley Castle for a team building day. With mixed age groups, everyone had to work closely and forge new friendships with students they perhaps didn’t know as well as their own peers. Half of the day was spent on the High Ropes course, 50 feet in the air, walking on beams or climbing up poles, where they had to take ‘leaps of faith’ to trapezes. They had to use team work to climb Jacob’s Ladder and to tightrope round the ropes course. The afternoon was spent playing team games which included wearing blindfolds to negotiate a maze, transporting eggs without dropping them and walking the plank as a team, to name a few! The day was won by the team which included Head Girl Ellie Jolliffe, but everyone enjoyed chocolate at the end of the day. Any ice was well and truly broken.
ESB success
Last year’s PP2 (this year’s Form 1) are rightfully looking very pleased with themselves after receiving their certificates from the English Speaking Board. They all did tremendously after working so hard.
Canada Expedition 2015
The end of a hard working GCSE exam term for Thornton was rounded off by an amazing expedition to Canada, the cost of which trip most of the students had covered themselves with their own sterling fundraising efforts. On arrival in Canada the group, accompanied by Mrs Hall, Miss Stovin and Mr Kirby, spent the day exploring the quay in Toronto and finding their bearings, followed by watching an evening baseball game hosted by the Toronto Blue Jays. Thankfully Mr Kirby was on hand to explain the rules! The students then headed 300 miles north to Temagami in the lakes, where they spent eight fabulous days canoeing, wild camping, cooking for themselves and carrying all their worldly possessions with them! The scenery was amazing where they saw beavers, snapper turtles, chipmunks in their camp and a fleeting glimpse of a bear. The food was excellent as it had been individually prepared for each person to cook on the camping stoves. The evenings were spent swimming and cliff diving and eating marsh mellows round the campfire. Mosquitoes were the size of hornets (that’s the size they felt like at the time of being bitten!) but Cundallites are made of tough stuff so the group just got on with it! Once back in Toronto the group took in the sights of the CN Tower, the Baseball museum, the Toronto Museum and the Science Museum. They had a fantastic day at the zoo and an amazing highlight of the trip was seeing Niagara Falls and going on the Maid of the Mist which took them a mere 10m away from the foot of the falls. With the exchange rate being in the UK’s favour, many squeezed in some retail therapy. All the pupils really enjoyed their final fews days together before they all moved on to their new schools this term.
Top honours for Hannah
Congratulations to Form 4 pupil Hannah Barkerand her two ponies on a truly amazing summer: Hannah was crowned champion at the Royal International Horse Show, when she and her pony My Little Sweetheart beat off the competition in the 128cm Championships at Hickstead. Hannah then teamed up with her second Ballybur oh Jessie to win the National 128cm Championship at the Scottish Home Pony International , before then becoming 128cm Supreme Championship at the Scope Festival of Showjumping at Stoneleigh. Clearly Hannah is keeping up the family’s show jumping reputation (both her grandfather and uncle have won international acclaim in the sport) and we wish her continued success.
GCSE Geography fieldtrip
On Tuesday 8thSeptember ten Thornton pupils who are taking GCSE Geography went out into Swaledale to investigate how Cogden Gill changes as it moves downstream. The weather was kind and conditions were perfect for collecting fieldwork data. Pupils will now use this data to complete their Geography GCSE controlled assessment, worth 25% of their final grade.