Form 5 Mary Poppins Production
Form 5 embarked on an ambitious project to perform Walt Disney’s magical “Mary Poppins” which came to fruition last Thursday night. Most of the songs were included along with as many of the animated animals as possible. After just seven weeks of rehearsal time, the Company performed magnificently to provide the audience with a joyful and toe-tapping evening. Special mention must go to Alannah Creed as Mary Poppins who sang stunningly and also Charlie Black as George Banks. Olivia Turner and Tabitha Cockerill were marvelous as the two children Jane and Michael, looked after and entertained by the kind sweep Bert who was played superbly by Eve Roberts. The whole cast acted and sang its socks off to give Pamela Travers something to be very proud of.
ISA Drama Festival 2015
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the ISA Drama Festival this term. Mrs Riddell has the latest news: “Despite a very early start, eighteen Cundall drama students arrived at School, brimming with enthusiasm, on Sunday 8th March. Initial difficulties with fitting the scenery on the bus were solved by sheer determination and brute force (if you’ve ever tried to fit three children, the dog, the cases and the duvets into a car for a trip, you’ll know what I mean!) This was Cundall’s first attempt to compete in the ISA Drama Festival, a well-established Drama event with a national profile. ISA schools across the country compete against each other for a variety of awards. Cundall Manor took two short productions: an adaptation of the well-known play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Gandhi in the Shed – a comedy based around a family trying to put their unfortunate grandparent into a care home. We had a couple of hours to compose ourselves, dress and put on make-up and then we were on. Schools are given five minutes to set up in an unknown theatre space, in front of an unknown adjudicator and an unknown audience…terrifying! Our senior group performed first, with flawless characterisation and comic timing; the juniors second, using the unfamiliar space with such confidence, you’d think they were a professional touring repertory company! Our performances were well received by the audience and the adjudicator gave us some very useful, constructive criticism, complimenting the students’ ability to characterise and create believable roles. I was extremely pleased with everyone’s performance and I felt very optimistic for the outcome, to be announced after the completion of the southern heats in a couple of weeks’ time. When the results did come through, I was delighted. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory won the Oxford Cup for best junior school production and Francesca Banks added to her long list of performing achievements, winning the Audrey Vowles Shield for best junior girl performer. This is a wonderful result and testament to the talent and dedication of those involved. The pupils had quite a task, competing against some very experienced and specialist drama schools (especially in the senior categories) I would like to thank every student who took part and a really big thank you to Annabel Hartley, Zaila Barker and Pippa Adamthwaite-Cook, who stood in at the last minute.”
Form 4 Music and Poetry Evening
Congratulations to every member of Form 4 who took part in the Music and Poetry evening just before the half term break. The evening offered a wonderful opportunity for these young performers to showcase their talents across a range of arts: the audience of families and friends were treated to virtuoso musical performances, beautiful singing, crystal clear poetry recitals and hilarious comedy sketches.
Francesca does it again!
Hot on the heels of celebrating her award of a musical scholarship to Stowe last week, we are, once again, delighted to bring news of Francesca Banks’ second Scholarship Award! This time the musical supremo has been offered a full Music Scholarship to Uppingham. Again, Francesca has had to practise and rehearse very hard for this award, and according to Uppingham’s Musical Director, gave a very good account of herself at her recent assessment and interview. Uppingham has a very well deserved reputation for excellence in all aspects of music and musical theatre and it is no surprise that Francesca has opted to take up this scholarship rather than the Stowe one, perhaps even less so since Francesca’s two brothers both moved on from Cundall to Uppingham. Congratulations Francesca on another remarkable award!
Lunchtime Concert
Well done to all pupils who performed in the concert last Friday. Once again, we had a wonderful array of music and a lovely combination of instruments and voices. Some children were performing for the first time and some were extremely nervous, but all gave a competent performance and there were a lot of smiles afterwards. It is not easy to perform to an audience – it can feel very lonely and stressful, but the audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert and people always really do appreciate hearing what our children are learning and how they are progressing. It was also extremely cold in the church so extra praise goes to the brass players who had to contend with the low temperature as well!
Francesca wins coveted Scholarship
Stellar singer Francesca Banks has been awarded a full music scholarship to Stowe School. The award marks a huge achievement for Francesca and the pinnacle of her amazing musical journey whilst at Cundall. Francesca first came to the attention of the Music department when she was in Year 3 and already showing strong musical potential. Joining Cundall on a music scholarship Francesca has worked with Mrs Ford and the Music department ever since to develop that potential. The school has been able to provide many opportunities for Francesca to showcase her talent and enhance her performances; she has played Maria in the Form 5 production of the Sound of Music, sung solos in various concerts and Carol Services, of course, featured as a soloist at the Stowe Choral Festival. Over the last 12 years the school has formed a very strong relationship with Stowe School’s Music Department, Mrs Ford taking the choir down every year to take part in the Stowe School Choral Festival. When Stowe announced they were seeking a soloist for their festival, Mrs Ford submitted a recording of Francesca who then had to compete against choristers from around the country to be awarded the coveted role. Francesca’s performance of the solo in Mendelssohn’s ‘O For The Wings Of A Dove’ at the Festival was truly outstanding; clearly attracting the attention and interest of Stowe’s Director of Music and other staff. When invited in front of the Stowe scholarship board, Francesca was assessed by the Director of Music and other members of the school. She had to do a performance in each of her three studies – Francesca is a talented pianist and flutist as well as singer. She also had to endure a Viva Voce (an oral rather than written exam) and obviously performed very well in that. Francesca has always been totally committed to music. She practises hard in her three disciplines, which often involves getting up very early in the morning in order to fit it in before school! She attends Chamber Choir rehearsals and takes her responsibility as Head Chorister at Cundall very seriously. She sings as a member of the Cathedral Choir in Ripon attending weekly rehearsals and services and is a member of the school wind band. She has had to put in extra time to study music theory to gain grade 5 and has worked hard on the background musical knowledge to enable her to interview well as an all-round musician. All in all, Francesca combines a marvellous work ethic, incredible talent and enormous potential. This scholarship award is well deserved and we wish her well on the next stage of her musical journey.
Pre-Prep Nativity
As always the Pre-Prep nativity proved to be one of the highlights of the year. Every child from Nursery to PP2 took part with PP1 acting as the narrators and PP2 playing the various parts in the nativity story. This year the production was entitled ‘Angel Express’ and was told through the eyes of a paper boy. Joseph Horn made an excellent paper boy introducing the audience to each part of the story. Our lovely angels conducted by Gus Living learnt a song to sing for the baby Jesus and we enjoyed their fabulous acting as they transformed from terrible to terrific singing angels. In traditional style we also had Joseph played by Thomas Barker, Mary played by Xenia Nettleton as well as Shepherds, Kings and Innkeepers. All of the children did a marvellous job singing beautifully and speaking in lovely clear voices. Special thanks to Mrs Majewski and Mrs Feeley for designing and making the scenery and to all the Pre-Prep ladies who work so hard to put on a great production.
Form 2 Christmas production
Form 2 gave a sparkling performance of the musical Jack Frost on stage at the Galtres Centre in Easingwold. The children worked hard all term to learn their acting parts with Mr Vale, and to perfect their singing with Mrs Ford. The musical is an extremely ‘Christmassy’ one. Isla Wadsworth played an exuberant Santa; Robin Redbreast, played by William Abbey, found friendship with the ‘bird living next door’, and Hattie Attwood sang soulfully as the sunbeam who became Jack Frost. All the children revelled in their parts and radiated Christmas joy and excitement across the audience. We loved the penguins, the beautiful Koochichoos with flowers in their hair, the brilliant sunbeams and the gentle shiver of snowflakes. The performance included solo singing from many members of the cast, and the courage of these soloists gave the production even more magic. It always amazes us how confident such young children can be on stage, when given the right balance of encouragement and instruction from their talented directors. The children made this musical their own, and are so proud, as are we, of their achievement. Well done Form 2!
House Singing
What a diversity of themes we had in this year’s Christmas House Singing competition. First on stage were Stuarts whose unique take on the highly popular and ‘of the moment’ song ‘Let it Go’ from the Disney film Frozen included a stunning performance from Charlie Wild in a rather fetching ice blue satin full length frock! The Tudors managed to follow that very successfully, with an uplifting song that brought a flavour of both South America and the Mediterranean to the gym. We were treated to sombreros, flamenco dresses and even a rather frisky young bull! The Normans took a more traditional approach with a lovely rendition of the Drummer Boy song, with the added ‘aw’ factor of a full nativity scene performed by the youngest members of the house. Last to perform were Saxons who, like Tudors, brought a bit of sunshine into the gym with a song that combined summertime wishes with festive costumes. Judging this year was in the hands of our peri music teachers Mr Simpson and Mr Ball who, following the traditional criteria of musicality, costume and fun, deemed the winners to be Tudors! Well done everyone, especially Tudors, for treating us to such an entertaining and humorous house singing competition. (You can catch the highlights of their performances on our school YouTube Channel)
Chamber Choir sing with Easingwold Singers
Last Saturday the Chamber Choir joined local choral society the Easingwold Singers for a festive concert of seasonal music in Easingwold Methodist Church. It was a great opportunity for the chamber choir to practise singing with an adult choir ahead of the carol service on Monday evening, and the Easingwold Singers were very impressed by the high standard of their singing. Special mention must go to Francesca Banks and Sarah Sullivan, who performed their solos beautifully. Some of the choir were even lucky enough to win some chocolate in the Christmas raffle!