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.
Eldmire survive their first D of E expedition
Three teams of Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award candidates set off into the Yorkshire Dales for their practice expedition. Starting at Semer Water they camped overnight at Thoralby, before moving on to their final destination of Wensley. The groups all showed excellent team work and, for some more than others, it was their chance to brush up on their navigation and camp craft skills which should stand them in good stead for their forthcoming assessed expeditions.
Upper School’s Summer French Trip
Hot on the heals of celebrating the fantastic success of this year’s GCSE French students with them (every single pupil achieved an A or A*!), Mme Hunzinger treated a group of current Upper School pupils to a week’s excursion in France as part of their own language and cultural enrichment. Their first port of call for the group, accompanied by Madame and Mr Liley, was the much loved Chateau de la Baudonnière where the programme included an extremely muddy assault course, bread making (yes, even this can be great fun), the ubiquitous French lesson (the bar has been raised ….), fencing, archery and canoeing (aka swimming in some cases). Evening activities included a photo mystery treasure hunt, lots of games, a fabulous sports tournament, aeroball and murder in the dark (although don’t ask too much about that one…). The group also enjoyed a trip out to the large market at Julouville and played and picnicked on the beach in the sun. The second part of the trip centred on Paris, where the students enjoyed two jam packed days of sightseeing. Highlights included visiting the Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame, Sacré Coeur, Montmartre where our girls (and Charlie!) were all pestered to be painted; the Eiffel Tower and lots of walking to look at Le Petit Palais and Le Grand Palais which (like the Eiffel Tower) were built as part of the Exposition Universelle and now house exhibition halls and museums. The group managed a shortish (i.e. not long enough) rest at the Louvre and its pyramid and marvelled at its beauty while catching the sun’s rays. They also spent some time at the Place de la Concorde, formerly Place de la Révolution, (the largest square in Paris and home of the infamous guillotine where Louis VI was beheaded) and saw the Obelisk that was originally located at the Luxor temple in Egypt and which replaced the guillotine once the Reign of Terror had ended. The Jardins des Tuileries offered a welcome break before the group walked 1.9 kms along les Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe, where they paid their respects and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier and the eternal flame. There was just time in the whistlestop tour to view the Invalides (built as a hospital to house war veterans) where Napoleon is entombed and also stop off at the Trocadero, named in honour of the Battle of Trocadero. Mme Hunzinger is full of praise for the pupils in her and Mr Liley’s care: “All in all, the experience was a hugely educational but lovely week in the company of young people whose parents should be very proud. A refaire !”
Upper School are Standing Tall
Standing Tall is an organisation which aims to teach students about the importance of first impressions, self-esteem, body language and confident posture. Upper School pupils had a great day when the Standing Tall team came to Cundall. There was loud music, a cat walk format and they all learned how to walk tall, how to express a happy and confident persona and how to create a great first impression in an interview or when meeting new people.
Salcombe Sailing Week
Leckby enjoyed a typically British summer week down in Salcombe this year. The sunshine welcomed the group to the south coast and everyone was excited by the prospect of topping up their northern tans. Gusty winds and low water put their sailing skills to the test from day one and there were more than a few who ended up in the water, or in the mud! The weather turned on Wednesday, bringing a harsh reminder of just how cold it can be in England, especially in the water. Lightning on Thursday put a quick end to sailing that day, and driving the group into the classroom to look at sailing theory and rope work. A great week was had by all; everyone got fully involved in the sailing, kayaking, raft building, team games and famous ‘wet night’.
Thornton Leavers’ Dinner
The whole of Thornton, their parents and their teachers enjoyed a lovely evening at Rudding Park last Monday. It was super to see the students in their finery, enjoying a formal dinner in the splendid surroundings of one of Rudding’s traditional private dining rooms. After the delicious meal, Head Boy and Girl Will Shaw and Pip Edgar conducted a very amusing Awards Ceremony before Mr Notman and Mrs Hall presented each student with their Cundall memento box. The night was rounded off with much photo taking and farewell bidding. Thank you to all who attended and to Mr Peter Banks who hosting us so wonderfully.
Silver D of E Expedition
Eleven Thornton students went out on their silver Duke of Edinburgh expedition last week to the Whitby area. It was glorious weather for the three days they were out there, which kept them happy even if it was a mission for some to find shade along the route. The bikers set out from Danby in the North York Moors and the walkers set off a little further north in a village called Liverton. Their routes took them to Runswick Bay, where that evening they cooked their tea down on the beach. As the bikers were mainly on country lanes for the duration of the trip, their main worry was tackling the hills in the area whilst the walkers had to deal with other challenges, which included battling with overgrown paths and crossing streams with broken bridges. But in true Cundall spirit they all came out fighting, even if they had a few scrapes and scratches. The second day saw both groups head through Whitby, to the perfect campsite at Beacon Farm complete with its own ice cream parlour! The third day saw both groups heading for Robin Hood’s Bay where they had a bit of time to relax at the seaside. Throughout the routes they had some spectacular views of the coastline. It was a perfect trip to finish off their time at Cundall together.
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.
Leckby’s Wilderness weekend
Sixteen Upper School students headed to the Borrowdale valley in the Lake District, which is recorded to be the wettest place in England; thankfully the rain held off till the second night. After setting up their tents for the night, the group headed out on a geocache adventure around the valley to find a surprise for that evening. Before it got dark it was time for their first real attempt to cook their food with the trangias. The meal choices were varied from upmarket pasta with pesto and parmesan to some choosing one meal ration packs. Saturday was the truly adventurous day of the trip, with everything packed in their rucksacks to be self-sufficient for 36 hours, including the two trusty trowels! The first scrambling section up the side of the waterfall was enjoyed by all, even if recognition of the fact (for those unsure of heights in particular) came much later. The group finally made it to where they would call ‘home’ for the evening by the side of Sprinkling Tarn. Mr Kirby was very happy with pitching his tent on the island! After lunch the party split into two groups to walk/scramble slightly different ways to summit Scafell Pike. Neither group spent long on the top as it was a bit breezy. The pupils were all tired from the day, so when they got back to their tents they found some energy to cook their tea and crawl into their tents before the rain came in. Overnight the clouds dropped which meant the wind speed increased and the rain was a bit heavier. One tent’s pole snapped in half as it didn’t cope with the change of wind direction and a few groups woke up to find they had pitched their tent in an area susceptible to flooding! After a quick dismantle of the camp everyone then had the task of walking the 4km off the mountain. The motivation was heading to Keswick to buy a well earned fish and chips.
Eldmire Geography fieldwork
The Eldmire GCSE Geographers went on a fascinating exploration to find out about limestone landscapes and the impact of tourism in the Yorkshire Dales. The morning was spent exploring Ingleborough caves with an excellent guide who not only explained the geography of the underground features but also explained the chemistry of how they were made. The group ended up being 80m under the ground and 1 mile into the hill side which is a bit mind boggling for the pupils to truly understand. Exploring the cave system first hand was much better than pictures in a text book and the students gained a lot from the experience. Even the few bashed heads were well worth it! The pupils then headed to Malham, which is a textbook example of a tourist honey spot site, to study the impacts of tourism on the small village and how they are managing it. After a quick ice cream stop, they walked to the famous Malham Cove to look at the surface features of limestone. The pupils were amazed by the crazy climbers working their way up the 70m cliff face. Of course they finished of the day drawing a geography field sketch, which is a must on any geography field trip!