York and Ainsty Hunt
We welcomed horses, hounds and riders to Cundall Manor last week for the York and Ainsty Hunt’s annual ride out. It was lovely to see so many turn out on such a sunny morning, and to see many of our pupils joining in on their ponies.
Form 3’s Italian Week
During ‘Around the World’ week, Form 3 had a fantastic time learning all about Italy. The week began with ice-cream tasting where a wide variety of authentic gelato was tested including salted caramel and pistachio; needless to say chocolate was the overall favourite! The children used all the information that they had learned to then create their own ice-cream advert and design their own packaging. Throughout the week the children took part in a carousel of activities including pasta art, independently researching Italy using a variety of sources and, of course, pizza making. The aroma of freshly baked pizza tempted all who came our way! Finally, the children had been set a homework challenge to make a model of a famous Italian landmark. The entrants were incredibly varied and imaginative. Models included a cucumber Leaning Tower of Pisa, an edible Mount Vesuvius and even a Pope in a soap! Prize winners will be announced by the end of the week.
Chocolate Cake Race
A wonderful afternoon on Friday saw the annual Chocolate Cake Race and infamous Vale Run take place. In perfect running conditions boys and girls from throught Main and upper School set off for their two laps of the whole school campus whilst the Vale runners ventured out onto Mr Swier’s fields and then complete the remainder of the chocolate cake race a distance of approximately 3 miles in total. The winning house that got to indulge in the fabulous cake at the end was Stuarts. In the Vale Run the winners of the respective cups were: Main School Boys Freddy Wharton Main School Girl Ruby Pettifer Upper School Boys Ben Mewes Upper School Girls Amalia Watkins In the Pre-Prep Chocolate Cake Run, there were winners in each year group as well as an overall house ranking: Reception 1st Thomas Higgs Saxons 2nd Ruby Cartwright Tudors 3rd Saskia Simpson-Daniel Normans PP1 1st Tom Moody Stuarts 2nd Alfred Abbey Stuarts 3rd Harvey Mercer Saxons PP2 1st Monty Woodhouse Stuarts 2nd Joseph Horn Normans 3rd William Keens Tudors Overall House Results for Pre-Prep: 1st Saxons, 2nd Tudors, 3rd Stuarts, 4th Normans
PP1 Outdoor Area
Last week PP1 were delighted to explore their new outdoor area. With giant sandpits and tunnels to play in, there is lots for us to do. PP1 would like to say a huge thank you to the men for all their hard work building our new outdoor area. Now all we need is some sunshine so we can enjoy learning outside too!
Pre-Prep’s We Love Books Week
What an incredible and exciting week it has been in Pre-Prep. The children didn’t just celebrate World Book Day, they spent the whole week immersed in books to help them to love reading and to inspire them to be authors and illustrators. The week has been jam packed with fun activities. Each morning and some afternoons mums came in and read their favourite stories. Thanks to Mrs Mahan, Mrs Blair, Mrs Sturdy, Mrs Wilkinson, Mrs Collier and Mrs Aston who all entertained all the children What great storytellers! Former pupil Jake Grafton Telfer also came in to read the story The Book With No Pictures and had the children from Nursery to PP2 and the teachers in stitches. (Click here to watch the video.) Just before World Book Day, PP1 had great fun recreating and acting out the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. In small groups the children took on the role of a character and one person became the narrator. It was wonderful to watch each play and see how the children told it in a slightly different way. We even filmed the plays and all the children became film stars for 5 minutes. Well done everybody.
World Book Day
On World Book Day itself the Pre-Prep pupils and staff arrived at school in some fabulous costumes from dragons to dinosaurs and princesses to pirates. Nursery described their characters to each other and Reception brought in their favourite story and read it to the class. PP1 explored the story of the Three Bears and made delicious porridge. PP2 read four books which included Tabby McTat and wrote adverts for homeless animals. PP2 also wrote their own stories this week using George’s Marvellous Medicine as inspiration. They read their versions entitled George’s Marvellous Machine to the rest of Pre-Prep in assembly. Well done to PP2 for some amazing writing. It was lovely to see so many novel and inspirational costumes throughout the whole of Main and Upper School too. The whole of Pre-Prep also had a ‘draw a book cover’ competition in which the children had to design a new cover for their favourite book and write an explanation of why they particularly liked their chosen book. Congratulations to everyone for their fabulous drawings and explanations, but particularly to our winners: Saskia Simpson-Daniel (Reception), Emilia Sample (PP1) and Gus Living (PP2):
Boarding House News
The boarders had yet another fun filled weekend with a trip to the bowling alley in York on Saturday night. Victory went to Tim with Uxua following very closely in second. Sunday was a trip to the Kayll household for an absolutely splendid Sunday lunch. Beef and Yorkshire puddings to die for were followed by scrumptious desserts and rounded off with fun parlour games. All the boarders and the Houseparents would like to extend a huge thank-you to Sally and her lovely family for being so hospitable. We will be back!
Form 3 Tudor Day
Last Friday, Form 3 continued learning all about the Tudors by travelling back in time and experiencing some aspects of Tudor life on their visit to Barley Hall. The children started the day by dressing up in traditional woollen Tudor costumes and being separated into groups to start their activities. Some children spent the morning under the strict instruction of a Tudor teacher in a traditional classroom where they learned how to write using a quill and brushed up on their Latin phrases. The other group took a tour of the house and learned all about what it would have been like in the Tudor times and how to set the tables correctly for a Tudor banquet. They also had a chance to make some Tudor soap using animal fat and added herbs to make it smell more pleasant. The children came together at lunchtime to dine in the Great Hall where they feasted at long tables and then switched over to do the same activities the other group had experienced in the afternoon. Luckily no-one needed to use the Tudor toilet as modern ones were available! The children really enjoyed entering into the Tudor spirit and a lot was learnt from the day.
Form 2 World War II experience
Form 2 went to Murton Park on Thursday 26th February. They learned all about what it was like to be an evacuee during World war 11 and enjoyed taking cover in an air raid shelter! There were lots of domestic jobs to do which even the boys were enthusiastic to help with!
Harry’s trip to Downing Street
As part of Rays of Sunshine’s Christmas celebrations, Form 3 pupil Harry Young and his family were invited down to 10 Downing Street. Harry was greeted by reindeer outside the building before being welcomed into the house. After rigorous security checks, Harry was then able to enter the grand library where he mingled with Samantha Cameron and he even got to have a chat with the Prime Minister himself! After that all the families gathered together to have a meal along with many other famous faces. Harry said the day was really special and he returned to school eager to share his story and photographs with the rest of Form 3.