September Lunchtime Concert
What a great start to our concert series this year. Many congratulations to all of our musicians who performed on Friday. It was very early in the term to ask people to perform, but we were treated to a wonderful and varied programme and it was so exciting to see the enthusiasm and talent of so many of our children. It was lovely to have so many parents, grandparents and friends with us in the church and also to see quite a large number of children who came along to hear and support their friends. Once again, for some children it was their very first performance and the sense of achievement and pride afterwards was evident for all to see! We were lucky enough to hear a world-premiere of Hattie Attwood and Poppy Edwards’ own composition ‘Rings on their Fingers’ which was full of energy and joy! We also had an introduction to the amazing Chinese instrument the guzheng, with a virtuosic performance by Gabriella Lei. Well done and thanks to you all. The comments from parents and visitors afterwards were hugely complimentary and you made many people extremely happy!
Upper School’s Summer French Trip
Hot on the heals of celebrating the fantastic success of this year’s GCSE French students with them (every single pupil achieved an A or A*!), Mme Hunzinger treated a group of current Upper School pupils to a week’s excursion in France as part of their own language and cultural enrichment. Their first port of call for the group, accompanied by Madame and Mr Liley, was the much loved Chateau de la Baudonnière where the programme included an extremely muddy assault course, bread making (yes, even this can be great fun), the ubiquitous French lesson (the bar has been raised ….), fencing, archery and canoeing (aka swimming in some cases). Evening activities included a photo mystery treasure hunt, lots of games, a fabulous sports tournament, aeroball and murder in the dark (although don’t ask too much about that one…). The group also enjoyed a trip out to the large market at Julouville and played and picnicked on the beach in the sun. The second part of the trip centred on Paris, where the students enjoyed two jam packed days of sightseeing. Highlights included visiting the Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame, Sacré Coeur, Montmartre where our girls (and Charlie!) were all pestered to be painted; the Eiffel Tower and lots of walking to look at Le Petit Palais and Le Grand Palais which (like the Eiffel Tower) were built as part of the Exposition Universelle and now house exhibition halls and museums. The group managed a shortish (i.e. not long enough) rest at the Louvre and its pyramid and marvelled at its beauty while catching the sun’s rays. They also spent some time at the Place de la Concorde, formerly Place de la Révolution, (the largest square in Paris and home of the infamous guillotine where Louis VI was beheaded) and saw the Obelisk that was originally located at the Luxor temple in Egypt and which replaced the guillotine once the Reign of Terror had ended. The Jardins des Tuileries offered a welcome break before the group walked 1.9 kms along les Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe, where they paid their respects and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier and the eternal flame. There was just time in the whistlestop tour to view the Invalides (built as a hospital to house war veterans) where Napoleon is entombed and also stop off at the Trocadero, named in honour of the Battle of Trocadero. Mme Hunzinger is full of praise for the pupils in her and Mr Liley’s care: “All in all, the experience was a hugely educational but lovely week in the company of young people whose parents should be very proud. A refaire !”
Sports Report
The term continues to be busy with both weekday and weekend. The girls continued their hockey success from the previous week with the Under 11s beating St Martin’s 4-3 whilst against Silcoates School the Under 13s won 5-0 and the Under 12s won 7-0. The Under 11s also sent a team to Scarborough College and narrowly lost 2-3. On Saturday the Under 13s hosted touring side The Downs School from Bristol and had an excellent match. Whilst leading 3-1 at half time, they were eventually narrowly beaten by 3-5 in what proved to be a superb game. There was also continued success for the boys in rugby with the Under 13s recording a resounding victory over Barnard Castle by 63-5. The Upper School also got their season off to a winning start at Under 14s with a 36-17 victory over a St Peters XV. At Richmond House the Under 11s battled valiantly in a 12-21 loss, whilst the Under 10s (having to play the new continuum laws for the first time) lost by 6 tries to 9. The Under 12s had a special treat this week when they competed in a triangular fixture with Barnard Castle and Yarm, as a curtain raiser for the Barnard Castle and Yarm senior game, at the very impressive 25,000 seater stadium that is the home of Mowden Park RFC in Darlington. The first game against Barnard Castle was a hard fought affair with the hosts running out 1 – 3 winners, whilst the match against Yarm finished 0-1. Finally, on Sunday, the Under 13s competed in the Durham School Parling Trophy tournament where they found themselves in a tough group. Despite losing their first two games narrowly, they finished strongly by winning the final pool game against The Downs School, Bristol.
Going down the garden to eat worms…!
Pre-Prep pupils in Miss Abbott’s Saturday activity enjoyed a morning of all things worm-related. They made wormeries and collected worms, and also made worm cakes with chocolate cornflakes and jelly worms!
Pre-Prep’s Apple Saturday
Pre-Prep kicked off Saturday mornings withApple Saturdayas part of this term’s Saturday theme of ‘Nature’. The children found out that there are over 2,500 different types of apples. Using fruit supplied from Mrs Clarke’s garden the children tasted apples, made delicious apple crumble, printed with apples and – best of all – tried apple bobbing. There were some very wet, but very giggly children who found out that (especially with missing teeth!) apple bobbing is quite hard!
Upper School are Standing Tall
Standing Tall is an organisation which aims to teach students about the importance of first impressions, self-esteem, body language and confident posture. Upper School pupils had a great day when the Standing Tall team came to Cundall. There was loud music, a cat walk format and they all learned how to walk tall, how to express a happy and confident persona and how to create a great first impression in an interview or when meeting new people.
Cundall’s Book Worms
This week, Form 2 have been the first of our Junior Forms to visit The White Rose Bookshop in Thirsk in order to discover and select new books for their classrooms. They enjoyed a story time which introduced some new popular reads before hunting out a selection for us to bring back to school for their Form rooms. Well done to the children for choosing so enthusiastically and also especially for respecting and supporting one another in their choices of favourites. Thank you to Mrs Sue Lake for welcoming us so warmly, guiding the children with their choices and generally creating an extremely happy and industrious morning for us all. Children in Forms 1, 3 and 4 can look forward to enjoying their visits in the next few weeks of term.
Ice Bucket Challenge
Congratulations to Mr Liley, Mr Crossley and Miss Reah for being such game participants in Mr Sample’s Ice Bucket Challenge. Any further donations to MND can be made by texting ICED55£3 to 70070
Cundall’s newest PADI divers
Congratulations to India Clements and Joshua Johnson who have achieved their PADI Open Water Scuba Diving qualification. The two underwater adventurers completed the theory and practice scuba diving course during Saturday school but had to also undertake a series of open water dives to fully qualify. They completed the requisite four dives at the Capernwray Dive School, passing with flying colours. India, who hopes to pursue her diving in a career in marine biology, summed up the experience: “The quarry where they did our open water diving was amazing. The water was really clear and we could see some really big fish and all sorts of sunken items – including a plane! The instructors were brilliant – so kind and knowledgeable, and really inspirational.” Joshua added “It was brilliant. The highlight for me was the submerged Thunderbirds IV full scale model and the Helicopter!”
Form 1 celebrate their ESB success
What a lovely way for our new Form 1 pupils to start the year. They are the very happy recipients of the certificates they earned from their ESB presentations last term. It was a tremendous set of results with children gaining Merits and Distinctions all round. Well done Form 1!