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
Form 1’s trip to Marrick Priory
Form 1 had a great time at Marrick Priory this weekend. Despite the changeable weather, the children got on with the activities in true Cundall spirit and did not moan at all. As a result, they had a fantastic time building shelters, firing arrows, crawling through tunnels, descending through the roof of the building to the floor below, climbing walls, completing a low ropes course and devouring ice cream. It was a real pleasure to take the group and they were a credit to themselves and the school. Tiredness did kick in towards the end with one child falling asleep during our last meal there. They all deserved the day of rest that the bank holiday Monday provided.
ESB excellence
Just before breaking up for the Easter holidays, pupils in Forms 2 and 4 completed English Speaking Board (ESB) examinations that tested a range of their speaking and listening skills. The children, parents and teaching staff worked hard to prepare these very challenging and exacting exams; each child is judged by an independent assessor whose standards and expectations are phenomenally high! We are delighted to report that the two year groups posted a wonderful set of scores with all children passing with flying colours! Indeed, 52% of Form 2 pupils and 58% of Form 4 pupils achieved a Distinction, the Board’s highest level of attainment! The assessors told us afterwards that this is an unprecedented level of achievement so well done to all for their hard work and commitment in producing such an excellent set of results. The photograph shows the children who achieved the level of Distinction in their ESB exams.
Dazzling designs from DT
Every year Mr Coates and his DT students put together some fantastic work in their GCSE classes and this year is no exception. Tom Dicken had everyone dazzled with his design and production of an impressive, fully functioning guitar. Josh Hall created a fully functioning Art Deco radio and other designs included a gun cabinet, (Sam Youmans) A Table, (James Green) A Chair, (Morgan Gray) and a superb Dog Kennel (Harry Hodgson). All of these amazing designs will be on display soon for all to see. Well done guys, great work!
Duke of Edinburgh Silver Practice
On Friday 24th April, eleven Thornton students set off for the edge of Dalby Forest, with their bikes, ready to complete their practice silver expedition. The first night was spent relaxing and enjoying the luxurious campsite; there was even time for a quick game of duck, duck, goose! Then, early on Saturday morning the teachers were woken up to sound of Sam and Harry merrily cooking themselves bacon for breakfast in preparation for their journey ahead. By 7:30am all of the students were on their way to Goathland, unaware of the steep hills which were lying in wait for them. They all conquered these and still managed to have huge smiles on their faces! Unfortunately the temperature plummeted at the end of the second day and that, coupled with the heavy rain, meant that we all set out for Whitby in search of chips and somewhere warm to shelter. By bedtime the smiles had returned though and the students had an early night ready for day 2. Day 2 was far more eventful and eventually led to all of the students realising that the moors around Whitby are not suited to an expedition on bikes! Chains were broken, gears and brakes failed, and there were more punctures than the cyclists would care to count. However, still this did not dampen their determination and spirit, and all of them seem raring to go for the real expedition which will take place in June. Well done Thornton
Form 2’s Highlights at Low Mill
Form 2 enjoyed their fun-filled adventure at Low Mill near Askrigg. We took part in an exciting programme which included canoeing, caving and abseiling as well as two very beautiful evening walks. The skilled instructors and cooks kept us safe, happy and extremely well fed. Highlights included putting our faces in the lake to ask the fish for permission to canoe, squeezing down the natural underground slides when caving, and dangling off the edge of a viaduct like Spiderman whilst abseiling. Many thanks to everyone who helped make the weekend such a success.
New Life in Reception
Children in Reception have welcomed some visitors to the classroom! Currently resident in Mrs Jones’ room are an abundance of tadpoles and 5 very tiny but very hungry caterpillars! The children are studying the topic of ‘Growth’ and are eagerly awaiting the transformations into frogs and butterflies!