Conker Cup 2014
What a sight it was to see the whole of Main and Upper School take to the quad for the inaugural whole school conker competition just before the exeat weekend last month. Equipped with the requisite conker on a string (all 200 of which were patiently prepared by Mr Bayne and his team of able Teaching Assistants!) every single pupil took on another pupil from another house in a knock out competition. It was good to see that age offers neither advantage nor disadvantage in the battle for conker supremacy as younger pupils pitted their skills against older pupils to whittle the field down to just two competitors from each House. These final eight competitors then faced each other one morning break time just before half term in the Conker Cup final, where again, older pupils found themselves being challenged by some of our youngest competitors. Huge congratulations go to Form 1’s Harvey Auckland who took on Thornton pupil Pippa Cook to win the Conker Cup 2014.
Halloween disco
As the sun went down and dusk fell on Cundall Manor, all manner of ghost and ghoul, witch and wizard, vampire and werewolf made their way to the darkest recesses of the school gym for the annual spectacular that is the Halloween Disco. Organised by Thornton and Mrs Hall, the Halloween Disco is a major event in the Upper School Expedition fundraising calendar and it was wonderful to see so much effort going into the event and so many children supporting it. Mrs Hall is very proud of the Thornton crew who decorated the gym, ran the tuck bar, and laid on an array of attractions for the children including a ‘tattoo’ parlour, nail bar and glow stick stall. Special thanks must also go to Mr Smith for all his help and support, ex pupils Will and Louis Shaw for their fabulous disco, Mrs Edgar for running the photo booth, and Miss Creed for keeping the dancing going! Thank you too to all those who attended and helped Thornton raise over £400 for their summer expedition.
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.
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.
Macmillan Big Coffee Morning
What an incredible start to the week last week. Whilst the rest of the school joined Mr Sample for morning assembly, the Form 4 parents joined their children for cake and coffee. The Big Coffee Morning was in support of Macmillan Cancer Support, a cause that touches the hearts of so many of our families, and the strength of feeling towards this cause was evident not only by the number of parents who attended, but by the sheer volume of cakes and biscuits that had been so generously baked and donated for the event. Such was the generosity of our multi-talented bakers that the Form 4s had to host a second cake stall at the end of the day to clear the cake pantry! A huge thank you to all the bakers and buyers who helped us raised a superb £424.45 for Macmillan.
Form 2 visit the Synagogue
Form 2 enjoyed their trip to the Sinai synagogue in Leeds where they learned about Judaism and looked carefully at their magnificent Torah Scrolls. They were amazed to hear that these scrolls took six years to write and that after being read for perhaps as many as 70 years, they will be buried in sacred ground rather than thrown away. Our thanks goes to Mr Michael Barrie who so kindly worked with Form 2 throughout the morning and who taught them all so much.
Our Harvest Festival Services
Pre-Prep children and their families enjoyed a lovely harvest festival service in Cundall Church last Thursday. The church looked beautiful decorated with sunflowers, fruits and vegetables all generously donated by the parents. Thank you to Mrs Blair, Mrs Lee and Mrs Scagell for arranging them and decorating the church. The theme of the service was team work at harvest time and the children excelled themselves with some enthusiastic and tuneful singing and a version of the Little Red Hen told by all of the children. Amelia Lee and Charles Calvert both read poems in lovely clear voices and the service was rounded off with the presentation of the harvest gifts. Amelia Lee, Oliver Lee, Archie Blair and Charlie Blair then took the harvest gifts to the care home in Boroughbridge. With the proceeds of the collection from their Harvest Festival Service Pre-Prep have come up with a novel way of helping the farming community at large; through Christian Aid they are providing a farming community in Africa with ten chickens, a goat and two piglets. The chickens will provide eggs, a valuable source of nutrition and income; the goats will provide milk to drink and sell, as well as fertiliser for crops; and rearing pigs will provide an income during the low harvest season. On Friday, it was the turn of the Main and Upper School to come together to celebrate harvest time and to reflect upon how lucky we are to be so well provided for. It was heart-warming to see so many parents join us for this special service; Topcliffe Church was positively bulging at the seams. The two choirs sang beautifully and the congregation heartily. There were other accomplished poetry recitals by George Rycroft, Jemima Telfer and Matthew Greenwood, as well as an assured Bible reading by Sophie Lake. The service was made even more special this year by the Form 2 pupils who shared with the congregation their own poems about harvest. A huge well done and thank you to all our pupils and parents for making our Harvest Festival services so special.
Form 1 visit the Yorkshire Museum
On Thursday, Form 1 took their first trip out to the Yorkshire Museum in York. The excitement actually began with a trip on a Park and Ride ‘bendy bus’ which dropped them right outside the Museum Gardens. Once inside the pupils undertook their first workshop where they learned all about the life of a Roman Soldier. They got to handle objects that were 2000 years old before dressing up as soldiers playing Roman games, taking the test to see if they could even become a soldier, and making their own charm. Even a trip to the toilets in the basement of the museum led to the discovery that a Roman soldier’s skeleton was found when the toilets were built. When the group went outside, there was a chance to practise some Roman drill formations. The children quickly understood these and created various formations including the infamous tortoise with their shields above their heads. After a quick bite to eat, the children then had a chance to build their own mini catapult. This was a real problem-solving activity that even had the teachers stumped but some catapults were made and they did actually work. The children did themselves proud and the museum were very complimentary of their behaviour and their enthusiasm during the visit.
Form 3 Macbeth Workshop
Form 3 enjoyed a stimulating morning of drama and discussion when they attended a Macbeth workshop last Tuesday. The children were deeply engrossed and focused during the whole entire morning. It was a fantastic opportunity for them to be involved in acting out and explore this classic Shakespearean drama in a fun practical way; they were all very enthusiastic and willing to dress up and get involved. It was a pleasure to witness the children in a different light allowing their Macbeth characters to flow. Well done to all form 3 children and particularly to Finn Baker who played a fantastic Macbeth!