George’s Tetrathlon selection
Congratulations to George Rigal who has been selected to represent the North of England in a Pony Club Junior Tetrathlon against Scotland, Wales and Ireland being held at Windsor Horse Show on May 17th and 18th. The competitors will be presented to the Queen in the Main Arena for Prize Giving, which is very exciting!
Form 2 on the Home Front
Form 2 very much enjoyed their experience of The Home Front at Murton Park on Monday. The day began by crowding round a wireless in a 1930s kitchen to hear the announcement of war, and highlights included taping up windows to protect them from shattering before taking safety in an Anderson shelter, learning how to put on a gas mask and working as a team to put out real fires with a hand pump! The children were amazed at how washing was still done by hand and with a mangle in the 1940s. They cooked with rationed ingredients and even made their own butter. Rag rugs were part of our “Make do and Mend” experience too and the children found they were pretty good at it.
Further success at the Harrogate Festival
Over the last few weekends a number of our music students have taken part in the Harrogate Festival. They all performed extremely well in front of the audience and adjudicators. The pianists were: India Lawrance Harriet Pettifer Daisy Hynd Matilda Ruddy They all played both solos and duets. The singers were: India Lawrance Alannah Creed Poppy Allister Sarah Sullivan Francesca Banks The children gained a lot of confidence by participating in the festival and all received certificates with Merits, Commendations and Distinctions. A special mention must go to Alannah who came 3rd in the Solo Singing Boys and Girls Year 6 class; and to Sarah who came 3rd in the Solo Singing Boys and Girls Year 7 class and 2nd in the Solo from a show, film or musical by Sherman and Sherman or Strouse and Charnin for Year 7 class. Poppy came 1st in a large class of Year 5 children singing any song by Jenkyns and winning the Sands Gold Medal. Francesca was the winner (with Distinction) of the Vocal Duet, Year 9 and under class. Congratulations to all!
Cundall’s new cookery room
There have been the most wonderful smells drifting across Cundall Manor School this week….chocolate, pancakes, cookies and buns. All made by the pupils in our beautiful new kitchen. We are the proud owners of a fantastic new space all thanks to the generosity of The Friends, Mr & Mrs Greenwood, a few other kind benefactors and, of course, the site team. The new kitchen is fully equipped with two hobs, two ovens (Bake Off style!) and a stunning range of colourful utensils. The pupils who have used the kitchen so far (and they range in age from our youngest Main School pupils to our oldest Upper School ones!) have been very excited. There is doubt that everyone who uses it will benefit enormously.
Chess Success
Congratulations to Patrick and Nicholas Cunningham and Matthew Mairs on their recentinclusion in the Yorkshire chess team to participate in the North of England Counties Chess Championships. Representing the Under 9 team, Patrick won two of his three games, helping the team achieve a very creditable fourth place finish. Not to be outdone, older brother Nick and Matthew represented the Under 11 team and helped their team achieve a very impressive second place and silver medal finish! Superb results for our boys to be part of. Patrick, Nick and Matthew now look forward to representing Yorkshire again in the next stage.
Harrow, here he comes!
Massive congratulations to Monty Powell who has secured a much coveted scholarship to Harrow School. We are delighted to announce that following his recent visit to Harrow School, where he sat no less than 4 days of exams and interviews, Form 6 pupil Monty Powell has been awarded a place and a scholarship at this hugely prestigious Public School. This is the first time in Cundall Manors 50+ year history that a pupil has been offered a place at Harrow, much less an academic scholarship. It is testament to both his academic flair and exemplary work ethic. Well done Monty!
Form 4 visit York
Form 4 enjoyed a full day out in York on last Tuesday. The morning and early afternoon were spent at Barley Hall where the children completed a tour of the Tudor building as well as participating in workshops on Arms and Armour and Tudor Medicine. This was followed by a short walk across the city to the Jorvik Dig where the children had the opportunity to develop their archaeological investigation skills. Next was a much needed ‘pit-stop’ at Pizza Hut and then the day concluded with an eerie ‘Ghost Walk’ where the children, together with some of their parents, heard a series of chilling tales of supernatural happenings at various places in the city!
Form 3’s Trip to Barley Hall
Hot on the heels of Form4’s hugely successful visit, Form 3 enjoyed a day out at Barley Hall in York. Naomi Cooke takes up the story: “As soon as we go there we met four people dressed up as Tudor people. It was really funny! They then told us to go inside Barley Hall, so we did. We went into a really big hall – they told us it was called the Great Hall. We saw that there were lots of clothes piled up on the benches; we all had to dress up in the clothes to look like Tudor children. Afterwards, we got shown around by Master Paul and he taught us how to set a table for dinner in Tudor times. We then made some soap out of sheep’s fat, water and herbs. We had lunch in the Great Hall and then got taken to a different part of the Hall, this time by Master William. In the school room we had a go at writing in Latin using quills and a pot of in. It was quite tricky to avoid getting blobs of ink on the page! We also did some maths using Latin numerals. That was our fantastic day at Barley Hall!”
World Book Day
Last Thursday was a colourful day. Pupils from Pre-Prep all the way up to Thornton dressed up in costumes reflecting their favourite literary characters in a mass celebration of World Book Day. At the top end of Upper School, the theme appeared to be ‘Fairy Tales’ and girls and boys alike entered into the spirit of the theme with gusto. It was an extraordinary sight seeing Mr Sample teaching in full costume (Long John Silver?) and Mrs Ballantyne (Miss Haversham) and the rest of the English department leading by example. In Main School, the costumes were as varied as they were plentiful, with some amazingly colourful and inventive creations on view. In Pre-Prep, the theme was ‘Where’s Wally?’ and it was lovely to see all the children in their costumes. After a competition to design a new outfit for Wally, the winners were Joely Kay, Xenia Nettleton and Imogen Newbould, well done girls!
Harrogate Festival of Speech and Drama
Congratulations to all the students who took part in The Harrogate Festival of Speech and Drama last weekend. The competition was stiff, with Cundall competing against some very experienced and skilled performers from specialised drama schools and other establishments from all over the north of England. Henry Calvert wowed the judge with his confident and humorous performance from the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and received a distinction, closely followed by Ben Early, who achieved a commendation for his well-pitched portrayal of the Pied Piper. Francesca Banks also excelled, achieving a distinction for her reading and poem and Niamh Wilson and Niamh Watkins performed brilliantly, both receiving a commendation. Just as we thought Cundall had peaked, Alannah Creed triumphed in her reading class, winning first place and a trophy, and Jake Telfer followed up his success last year by winning distinctions in all three of his classes. Laura Aspinall bravely went solo and was commended for playing the role of Martha from The Secret Garden and not to be out done, Charlotte Hoggan and Cordelia Longstaff also did well, achieving a commendation from the judge. Finally, Quentin England and Shanna Majewski rounded off a very successful weekend with their very enjoyable (and unusual) piece called Skungpoomery by Ken Campbell. Many thanks to parents and pupils for giving up your weekend and thank you also to Mrs Fearn for producing such well- prepared performers and entertaining drama.