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.
Boarding House News
The weekend boarders had an amazing time at Beamish Wild high ropes adventure course. They spent a whole two hours climbing, balancing and jumping over a variety of treetop obstacles. They all agreed that the 45ft jump at the end was adrenaline fuelled and a good end to the course! The holidays are coming…. Olivia and Tabby are so proud of their handiwork! Together with Niamh, Ellen and Mrs Wick, they did a beautiful job of decorating the new advent calendar for the Boarding House. Great work girls! All we need to do now is fill it with goodies.
Ross reports on his Summer Maths Masterclasses
Following his exceptional performance in the UK Maths Challenge last academic year, former Thornton pupil Ross Sullivan was invited to take part in the National Mathematics Summer School at St Anne’s College, Oxford: “I recently spent the week in Oxford at a Mathematical Camp organised by the UK Mathematics Trust. Myself and around 45 other students spent the nights at Saint Anne’s College and walked a minute or two down the road to the newly-built Mathematical Institute each morning for a full day of maths. We took part in group sessions led by professors at Oxford and got the chance to explore some interesting mathematical concepts. The material was challenging and intense and I had a fantastic time and made many good friends. The experience is one I will not soon forget and it opened my eyes to the options that maths can present further down the road in life.” Congratulations Ross and good luck on your continued Maths studies.
Boarding House News
This weekend was the first chance for our new overseas boarders to relax, take a breath and come to terms with every new thing that they’ve encountered since arriving in the UK and of course Cundall Manor. Did they get plenty of rest? No! Did they have a great time? Yes! They had great fun exploring their new surroundings and made full use of all the facilities that Cundall boasts: they played tennis, football, pool, went swimming, watched DVDs, surfed the net, skyped their families and ate a range of new and exciting foods. Steven, Pol, David and Daniel showed their competitive natures when we went bowling on Saturday night – Daniel was the clear winner with Pol close in second place. But the best thing about the whole weekend was that four boys, who had never met before, ended up firm friends. Now that’s Cundall spirit! Gracias! Thank you very much to the Wild, Sullivan, Fawcett, England, Tribe and Powell families for so kindly donating uniform for our visiting Spanish boys. David and Pol are with us for the Michaelmas term and have already settled well into the Boarding House and their Eldmire form groups. With their new uniforms, they feel very much at home with their new Cundall family. Mrs Kayll gives the boys an impromptu lesson in tie tying!
Sports Report – week ending Sunday 6th September
Cundall Manor girls started the new sports year on a positive note: we hosted Giggleswick with back-to-back hockey matches and recorded an unbeaten afternoon of results. The Under 13 girls began proceedings with the biggest win in the form of an 8-1 victory, which the Under 14s then followed up with a 3-1 victory. The closest match was left until the end, with the Under 15 girls drawing 2-2. On behalf of the whole sports department, Mr Liley would like to thank all parents, in advance, for their support of the girls and boys at the fixtures and remind everyone of our excellent reputation as supporters, who forever encourage our own children and applaud the good play of both teams. Furthermore, Cundall Manor School prides itself on producing strong competitive teams and therefore any requests for absence from a fixture need to be communicated, in advance, to the Joint Heads. This does not guarantee that permission will always be granted as only under special circumstances will an absence be authorised. Many thanks for your continued support.
Chateau trip
What a fabulous trip we had to the Chateau de la Baudonnière. Form 6 managed to squeeze a varied selection of activities, ranging from canoeing and fencing (not at the same time) to the now famous mud (stinky slime) course. The sight of our bedraggled form 6 covered head-to-toe in mud not recommended for a face-pack, and still raising a smile, was fabulous. The ‘bread making’ was great fun and some super Eiffel Towers and hedgehogs arose from the dough. The pupils’ patience at trying circus skills was impressive and it was very encouraging to see their success following such effort. During the canoeing (aka swimming) two of our canoes managed to spend most of the morning going round in circles rather than in a straight line, much to their and our amusement! One of the highlights was the time spent with the baby animals although we had to be vetted on leaving the mini farm to ensure no cutie had found its way into a random pocket. Our excursions were without incident this year. The market enticed our pupils into buying the usual items such as watches (whose is still working?!), caps, food but also this year Will Barker has to be commended on his more upmarket choice of African wood sculptures. Sol impressed us all with his bartering skills at the market and many bargains were to be had. Form 6, true to their word, did not purchase any of the cute fluffy bunnies or tiny chicks for sale. Our talent show was entertaining, however next year’s form 6 shall have to put in more weeks of practice beforehand. Many thanks to ‘Gabiscon’ (Gaby, Issy and Connie) though who were commended on their performance. On another evening, our French soirée saw the return of the stereotypical berets and stripy tops and the pupils, and possibly parents, had obviously gone to much trouble to put everything together. Eating the snails produced some super photos and it was great to see so many rising to the challenge. The trip to the D-Day landings beach at Arromanches provided an opportunity for the children to reflect on the bravery of our soldiers, many of whom gave up their lives for us, and the 360 degrees cinema was indeed very moving. A rapid stop-off at one of the British War cemeteries reminded everybody about just how young some of the soldiers were. Much French was heard throughout the week; many of Form 6 really impressed us all with their determination to use French and it is always lovely to see how much their confidence and comprehension of spoken French improves as the week passes. This year’s party were particularly quick to realise that the sooner they had told the staff what every item of cutlery and crockery was on the table, the sooner they could actually eat! Surely a better way to learn French vocabulary! A special moment was also had when, whilst at a service station back in England, an elderly couple approached us to comment on the super behaviour of some of our young people. This is what makes Cundall pupils so special and Madame is very proud of them. Madame would personally like to express her gratitude to Miss Stroud and Mr Woods for accompanying her and the children. Their great company and continual hard work caring for our pupils was very much appreciated.