Mr Bayne brings the Gruffalo to life
Mr Bayne surprised Pre-Prep on Friday by telling them a story. He choose the story ‘The Gruffalo’ which all the children enjoyed listening to. To add to the excitement Mr Bayne had brought with him some props made out of balloons. Some children had the opportunity to become the characters from the book and they had to act out the story with the help of Mr Bayne. Everyone in Pre-Prep would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Mr Bayne for entertaining them so magnificently with his story.
The Cundall Go Kart Race
The Go-Kart Race No Summer half term break would be quite the same without the whole school first running the gamut of the Cundall Go Kart entries. From highly engineered bespoke vehicles and especially adapted motability scooters, to dustbins and barrels, all manner of vehicle took to the slope of the playing fields for the perennially, wonderfully, heart-stoppingly mad-cap dash to the bottom of the slope. This year’s 37 entries were supreme in their variety and their speed, with both the 11 second barrier and the track record being smashed! Congratulations to first second and third placed karters James Green in ‘Second to None’, Sandy Turner in ‘GB’ and Guy Atkinson in ‘Lewis Airway’, and to all our other fearless contenders.
The Cundall Walk
There were plenty of wagging tails around school on the last day of last half term, as almost as many dogs as children set off for the annual fundraising walk around the beautiful countryside surround the school. Sadly for the dogs, they were not invited into the gym for the wonderful tea time treats that awaited the two legged companions. Thank you to the catering staff who laid on such a wonderful spread – and to Mrs O’Neill for the gorgeous AstroTurf cake!
A message from Romania
Fee Ruddy has asked to share everyone at Cundall the message she has received from a lady called Mimi who co-ordinates the distribution of the items received from Yorkshire Aid Convoy. The photos show the Romanian children wearing the school uniform we sent them through the charity. “Dear Yorkshire Aid Convoy I received this email with the children from school. They are in the new uniforms from you and they are very proud and happy. I was yesterday at school and the teachers said to me that those of the children who received uniforms were so, so happy. Some of the boys were so sweet thinking that I was bringing you again at them with balls and sports equipment. We laugh and I told them to be paciente (sic) and to wait until next year. ….Everybody was very happy with all the goods; I was very happy for everything because all the goods were so SPECIAL !!!All our love to you and Allison, all our gratitude and love to everybody !!! Mimi”
An Evening of Fundraising at Jaipur Spice
Upper School parents, pupils and staff all gathered together for a wonderfully sociable evening at the Jaipur Spice in Easingwold just before half term, to boost the fundraising effort for this year’s summer expedition to Morocco. Many thanks to everyone who attended, who donated prizes for the raffle and indeed gave so generously to all of the evening’s fundraising activities.
Story time in Pre-Prep
Are you sitting comfortably…. All of Pre-Prep, from Nursery to PP2, had a wonderful morning listening to stories. Their special visitors were Lamby and Jude from Little Lamb Tales. Jude told the children some traditional stories: stories she wrote herself featuring Lamby and stories that she created with the children’s help. All the children thoroughly enjoyed these special workshops which also incorporated the topics that each year group are studying this term which range from ‘Toys’, ‘The Carnival of the Animals’ and ‘The 1970’s’. The morning has inspired the children to write their own stories in class and at home.
Pre-Prep take to Judo
All of Pre-Prep had the opportunity to take part in a taster session of Judo this week. Clive Greenhalgh and his Judo team showed the children some basic moves which the children then had a go at themselves. They all enjoyed this experience. If any of the children would like to try Judo, Clive comes to school as part of our Saturday school programme in Pre Prep and teaches the children from 11.15am – 12.00noon. If you would like more details please see Mrs Clarke.
Form 2 visit White Quarry Farm
Form 2 visited White Quarry Farm as part of their study of “Habitats” in Science. The day started with a treasure hunt, guided by Mrs Fawcett, to educate the children about the farming environment. Then came a very special treat. Armed with sweep nets, the children explored the freshwater wildlife in the farm’s large pond. It was a veritable underwater micro-safari which much waiting to be discovered and marvelled. The children had an enjoyable and fulfilling time.
Summer Fair
The weather couldn’t have been more fitting for a traditional summer fair. The cloudless skies and sunshine brought families out in the droves to join in the fun of the fair, and to make this year’s one of the most successful fairs ever. The Friends had put a wonderful array of stalls, activities, old fashioned fairground rides and Chair of the Friends Susan Edwards would like to thank the whole committee and everyone else who helped out for making it such a special day. Particular thanks go to Joanne Brooks who ran the inaugural Cundall Crufts, to Paul and Lucy Evans who provided the fairground rides (to Jack and Tom Hill for their quick thinking and tractor driving skills in retrieving the fairground cavalcade from the bottom of what turned out to be a steeper slope than anticipated!) and to David and Kate Lister for providing the meats for the BBQ. Well done too to Daisy Hynd and Zoe Austin for winning the sweetie jar, and to Tilly Ruddy for correctly name Lester the teddy bear!
The AstroTurf Appeal Mega Marathon
With bleary eyes, and a barely risen sun the first two teams took to the hockey pitch at 5am for what would be the first match of a truly incredible twelve hour hockey marathon. The day would see over 200 players – mums, dads, pupils and ex-pupils– in a mind boggling array of kit, take to one of the three pitches to do their bit for Mrs Walkland’s fundraising marathon. The Old Farts v Quadreceps displayed as much sartorial innovation as they did sporting skill. Tom Dale baked in a wet suit, Grayson Maguire squeezed himself into a netball strip, and James Gordon protected himself in full cricket gear including helmet! Mr Bourne Arton played in full batman garb and Mr Turner in a rather fetching tutu! At the opposite end of the age groups Mega Men (Form 1 boys), Golden Girls (Form 1 girls) and Golden Girls (mums and Pre-Prep staff) all played each other, with the Form 1s giving the mums a run for their money and showing how fit the children are compared to their parents! What was particularly great to see was so many spectators and supporters throughout the day, and so many novice players who really rose to the occasion. So far the Office has received over £11,000 of sponsorship money from the day. You can see the current overall total on our JustGiving page (click here).