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 GCSE results are “fantastique”!
Outgoing Thornton’s French students have ‘beaucoup’to celebrate on GCSE results day. Every single pupil who took GCSE French last term has achieved an A or A*. And it is not just modern foreign languages where Cundall pupils excel – our Science department was in an equally celebratory mood as all pupils taking individual GCSEs in Chemistry, Biology and Physics achieved A* – B grades in each discipline. We are delighted to see 86% of all Thornton pupils achieve A*- C in at least 5 GCSE subjects, a significant achievement for a non-selective independent school. Mr Sample summed up the sentiment: “We are delighted with the calibre of results published today. We are very proud of our non-selective status, and of the work we do to help each and every pupil reach, if not exceed, their own personal goals. In terms of value added, measuring the actual performance of pupils against statistically predicted outcomes, these results represent a gain of 0.5 of a grade per pupil per subject. This figure itself reflects the hard work and application of our pupils and the wonderful teaching skills and commitment of our staff.” Amongst those celebrating at Cundall today was Edward Kettleborough, who achieved a phenomenal 11 A*s and As. Edward, whose ambition is to become a museum curator, can now look forward to studying Latin, English, History and History of Art at A level. All our GCSE pupils have achieved the grades they require for their chosen higher education paths; we wish them every success in their new schools and colleges
Form 6 leavers
The last day of term was a particularly poignant day for those Form 6 pupils who were saying goodbye to Cundall for the very last time, prior to heading off to their chosen public schools in September. After the final whole school assembly of term, the departing pupils were given the customary send-off by the rest of the school before heading down to join parents and staff for the Leavers’ Service in Cundall Church. Afterwards the leavers and their parents enjoyed a celebration lunch in the Dining Room during which many of the youngsters entertained the guests with hilarious anecdotes about their more covert escapades at Cundall. After being presented with their Leavers’ caps, the pupils gathered on the front steps for a final celebratory photo and send-off.
Bongiorno Italia!
Mr Coates, Mrs Conway and the boarders have extended a very big welcome to our newest intake Italian visitors. Marcelo and Pietro arrived on Saturday afternoon, and were swiftly whisked off the bowling alley to get to know everyone. On Sunday they enjoyed a visit to York and a trip to The Chocolate Story followed by a chilled afternoon playing tennis and finding their way around school with Michael and Tim. They are very much looking forward to everything that Cundall has to offer and the new friends that they are sure to make!
Arrivederci Amici!
Despite their excellent grasp of the English, our Italian visitors were perhaps far too polite to tell us what three cosmopolitan teenagers from Milan really made spending a night under canvas in the Yorkshire Dales, but we are fairly sure the rest of their two week stay at Cundall surpassed all their expectations. In particular they would like to extend a very hearty ‘grazie’ to Mrs Keren Watkins for giving them a tour of RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Mr Richard Ingilby for showing them around Ripley Castle, to Mrs Calvert for teaching them to make authentic Yorkshire Fat Rascals, Mrs Hartley for helping them rustle up Yorkshire Rhubarb crumble and Yorkshire Puddings, to the staff who gave them a glimpse of our glorious countryside (and a spot of retail therapy) and to the Telfer, Briggs, Burnett and Edgar families who welcomed them into their homes over the exeat weekend. The exercise has proved a huge success, with many pupils benefiting greatly from the cultural experience.
Getting to know you…
The weekend boarders offered a very warm Cundall welcome to Andrea, Francesco, Stephano and Chiara from Italia! The three boys and one girl are on a two week language immersion trip to Cundall and have a wonderful programme of activities ahead of them, starting with an action packed weekend in the boarding house. They had fun bowling on Saturday night before cheering Mrs Conway across the line on her Cancer charity run on Sunday. This was followed by a visit to the Chocolate story in York before returning to the boarding house to recount their adventures to their families back in Italy via Skype.
Mme Cooke’s noble gesture for the Little Princess Trust
Following the wonderful example of Charlie Banks, Mrs Cooke is now sporting a radically different (and tres chic!) hairdo, since donating no less than 6 inches of her hair to the Little Princess Trust, the charity that makes wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment. Mrs Cooke’s fundraising efforts to date have totalled £368 for the charity but any further donations are still very welcome through her JustGiving page:https://www.justgiving.com/Sandrine-Cooke/. The photos below show Mrs Cooke before and after her trip to the salon.
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”