Halloween cake stall
Thank you to everyone who supported the Friends’ Halloween cake stall both with purchases from the stall and with wonderful contributions of appropriately themed cakes and treats.
Form 6 Chateau Trip
Just before half term, Mme Hunzinger, Mr Sample and Mrs Edgar had the absolute pleasure of taking Form 6 to the Chateau de la Baudonniere for a week of language immersion and cultural enrichment. After a long but smooth journey, the group settled into the wonderful chateau, nestled deep in the heart of the Normandy countryside, that was to be their playground, classroom and home for the ensuing week. The pupils tried their hand at a variety of activities on site, from circus skills to canoeing, archery to animal management, bread making to photography – and of course the muddiest assault course in the world! They also enjoyed excursions to the local market, Mont St Michel, Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches and the Bayeaux tapestry. All bar the latter two excursions were conducted entirely in French and all the pupils showed great listening skills and understanding, their confidence in communicating in French visibly improving as the week progressed. Further highlights of the week were the talent contest, where Cundall spirit and talent was as evident and varied as ever, and the French supper evening, where every single one of our pupils partook of ‘escargot’ with varying degrees of enthusiasm! The chateau trip really is a wonderful opportunity for pupils to grow their confidence and skills in mastering a foreign language, and also to enjoy a week away from home and in a new environment. Madame, Mr Sample and Mrs Edgar cannot praise Form 6 highly enough for their impeccable conduct, enthusiasm and ‘joie de vivre’ throughout the trip.
Cundall Girls Excel in County Hockey Competition
Our U16 hockey girls went to the U16 county championships on Monday 13th October as winners of Hambleton and Richmond Area. After the group stages in the morning they went in second place to the semi-finals at Queen Margaret’s School. They beat Scarborough College in the semis and went on to meet St Peter’s in the final. This was a hard battle with both teams showing signs of fatigue but Cundall fought on and won by one goal, to become U16 County Hockey Champions. This is a truly remarkable achievement for our girls who are selected from a much smaller cohort than their final round counterparts, and as such is testament to their individual sporting calibre. We wish the team every success as they progress to the North of England semi-finals.
PP2’s Good Work Assembly
PP2 shared their fabulous work during PP2 Good Work Assembly. They told their parents and the other Pre-Prep pupils about Big Write and how they use VCOP (Vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation) to help them become amazing authors. The children use ‘Writing superheroes’ and Sophia Dallas gave a superb performance as Victoria Visualiser who helps the children add interesting vocabulary to their writing. PP2 shared some Maths games that help them to become speedy when working out calculations mentally. Finally the children shared their topic work from this term’s topic about the Island of Coll. This work included map work, work on weather and some detailed portraits of Mary Queen of Scots who they have been learning about in History. Good Work assembly was rounded off with a rocking performance from EYFS who had made their own musical instruments this week. They rocked out to a bit of Status Quo. The teachers, particularly Mrs Living, really got into the swing of it! Well done to PP2 and EYFS.
Form 3 experience the BBC’s Ten Pieces
Form 3 has recently visited The Ritz Cinema in Thirsk to watch a new BBC film called Ten Pieces. This is an inventive and immersive film with the mission of inspiring a generation of children, mixing performance, live action and animation to explore the wonders of classical music. One of the key aims of the Ten Pieces project is to encourage children to develop their own creative responses to the classical music they hear in the film. Form 3 have already been studying and writing their own pieces of “Machine Music” this term, tying in with one of the pieces in the film, John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine. We look forward to planning further follow-up projects and using the DVD version of the film to inspire future lessons.
Form 4 Maths Morning
Last Tuesday Form 4 participated in an exciting maths activity morning. Throughout the session groups of four children rotated around nine very different sets of maths/logic problems. The tasks were a mixture of independent and team work. Despite the difficulties and challenges that the children encountered with some of the problems, they all had fun in applying their maths knowledge.
Cundall Ladies’ Lunch
The Cundall Manor Ladies’ Lunch at Swinton Park last Thursday, was another resounding success. Ladies were entertained by Patrick Macbeth playing jazz on the piano before lunch whilst, after the delicious meal, Francis Macbeth provided the piano accompaniment to Ione Cumming. Mother to Form 5 pupil Alexander Cumming, Ione is an extremely talented opera singer whose stunning performance had the whole room mesmerised. Friends of Cundall chairwoman Mrs Susan Edwards said a few words about the year’s fundraising and the many exciting events the Friends have in the pipeline. Susan and the Friends Committee would like to pass on their sincere thanks to Felicity Cunliffe Lister and staff at Swinton Park for making the luncheon so successful.
Pippa’s Baking Club
It is fantastic to see our Upper School pupils taking on responsibility for their own enrichment as Pippa Cook leads the way in the baking room. Having already gained her Food Hygiene Certificate, Pippa has organised a programme of baking and is instructing and working alongside her peers to create delicious cakes. Mr Bayne managed to get hold of one and stated that they were the best cakes that had been made in the kitchen. (Watch out Mr Kirby, someone is out for your crown!) The young bakers are intending to use this opportunity to raise funds for their Canada Expedition at the end of the school year.
An Oriental Treat in the Boarding House
This weekend the Chinese boarders were set a challenge. They had to plan and prepare a Chinese meal for eight people. They started the challenge by speaking to their parents and asking for traditional recipes that they could cook here. They then set off to York and their favourite Chinese Supermarket, Chi Yip, to gather all of the ingredients needed. Gabriella, Tim and Lucy then had two hours to prepare their food in the school classroom kitchen. They made a delicious Chinese Hot Pot accompanied by a divine egg fried rice. It was wonderful and very spicy, too spicy for some! We are very much now looking forward to the Nigerian challenge even though Michael Jimmy is not!
GCSE Geography Field trip
On Tuesday 7th October sixteen Thornton pupils who are taking GCSE Geography went out into Swaledale to investigate how Cogden Gill changes as it moves downstream. Conditions were perfect for collecting fieldwork data unlike their first attempt on the Monday which resulted in very soggy pupils returning to school due to monsoon like conditions! Well done Thornton we got there in the end.