Shrove Tuesday celebrations
Whilst the Early Years celebrate Pancake Day… The children of Reception and Nursery took part in a pancake relay! The Reception children competed to earn points for their house, and it was a very close contest! Normans got off to a great start on the first run, with George Hill taking an early lead. Tom Moody put the Stuarts out in front with a fine second run. Tudors fought back in the 3rd, with a fantastic effort from Austen Clarke. However, the Stuarts proved difficult to beat and, despite a late surge by Emilia Sample for the Saxons, the Stuarts were crowned Pancake Relay Champions! Well done to Tom Moody, Jack Potter, Harry Baxter and Alfred Abbey! …Leckby celebrate Crepe Tuesday Mme Cooke’s Leckby French pupils from Leckby celebrated pancake day French-style. In the new kitchen, they learnt the names of the ingredients and followed the recipe in French. The highlight of the afternoon was obviously eating the very tasty ‘crepes’. Nutella (a French favourite) was generously generously spread over them and pupils commented: “C’est délicieux!”. All pupils involved had a fantastic time and would like to thank the Friends of Cundall for allowing us to have such a fantastic resource as the new kitchen.
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.
Leckby Business trip to Rudding Park
Once again the Leckby pupils were entertained royally at Rudding Park, enjoying scallops with cauliflower puree as part of the experience. The pupils were particularly taken with the Private Cinema and the Presidential Suite with its bullet proof doors and bomb proof bathroom! Many thanks to Mr Peter Banks for hosting such an insightful and enjoyable day.
A Big Thank-You
Thank you to Eldmire pupil Cordelia Langstaff for her generous donation to the Morocco Expedition Fund. Although Cordelia is not taking part in the trip itself, she has worked tirelessly to raise funds for the Moroccan school the pupils will be visiting and supporting. By making and selling delicious marshmallow and chocolate Twizzler sticks Cordelia has raised an impressive £180.
Leckby cheque presentation
Sarah Ingelby from the charity Tools for Self Reliance very kindly came into full assembly to talk to the pupils about the charity that she works for. She described how old-fashioned tools such as chisels, lathes, planes and hammers are given a new lease of life in African communities and local men are up-skilled with training to become carpenters. Sarah also told the assembled pupils about how antique Singer sewing machines that are either hand driven or pedal powered are serviced so that they are in a full working order and are then given to women in the African countries to enabled them to become seamstresses. The Leckby enterprise company “New Ghetto” handed over their cheque for £370.89 to Sarah, whereupon she told them that “at least one person will be trained with this money, so you have been able to make a direct difference to one person and their family”. To find out more about this worthwhile charity, please look at www.tfsr.org.uk .
St Mungo’s Natty Hat and Silly Wig Day
The whole school showed their support of St Mungo’s charity for the homeless by turning out in an amazingly colourful and inventive array of head gear. Amongst the highlights had to be the organiser of the day’s events Miss Kuit who sported a very avant garde Mohican style wig! Thank you to everyone who helped raise over £220 for St Mungo’s.
GCSE Art trip to London
Last weekend the Thornton GCSE Art group went on a whirlwind trip to London to carry out primary source research for this year’s set task. The trip was enormously inspiring, with visits to the Natural History Museum, the V&A, The Saatchi collection, Tate Britain and Tate Modern packed into the two day schedule. The pupils even had the energy to take in a show – the enormously popular musical Billy Elliot – on Saturday evening. Everyone agreed that the trip was hugely worthwhile, providing plenty of ideas and inspiration for the different topics they have chosen from the exam paper, and Mrs Pearson is very excited about showcasing their final pieces at this summer’s Exhibition.
St Mungo’s Natty Hat and Silly Wig Day
The whole school showed their support of St Mungo’s charity for the homeless by turning out in an amazingly colourful and inventive array of head gear. Amongst the highlights had to be the organiser of the day’s events Miss Kuit who sported a very avant garde Mohican style wig! Thank you to everyone who helped raise over £220 for St Mungo’s. (The longship in the background of the Form 1T picture was made by Archie Turner over the weekend!)
Ski Trip to Alpe d’Huez
31 pupils accompanied by four members of staff enjoyed a fabulous week’s skiing in Alpe d’Huez over the Christmas holiday. They were treated to very favourable weather conditions, with blue skies and fresh snow greeting them on arrival, and staying with them for most of their week-long stay. It was lovely to see boys and girls of all ages on the trip, and of all ski abilities. After a quick assessment by the excellent ESF instructors on the first day, the group was rapidly divided into beginners, intermediates and advanced, each with their own objectives and challenges to ensure they continued to develop their skills throughout the week. The advanced group proved themselves more than capable on some of the toughest runs in the resort and demonstrated great nerve and stamina, setting their sights on clocking the fastest speeds and the greatest distances of the whole week on their final day. The budding “park rats” (the intermediates) favoured the snow park where they could try their hand at the boxes and kickers to slide on and jump over, the softer snow providing a better landing for those who couldn’t quite stomp their landings! The beginners made steady progress, taking the chair lifts ever higher up the mountains until they finally made it onto the “scare chair”. This elusive chair lift had been talked about all week by the other groups and it was quite an experience for the final group. It’s the closest they could get to a roller coaster without being buckled in! The après ski proved just as varied and stimulating with ring-side seats at an exhibition game for the local ice hockey team, bum-boarding , snowball fights and ice skating. Mealtimes were equally enjoyable with colourful recounts of each day’s activities ensuring an endless flow of conversation. It really was a fabulous trip, for pupils and staff alike and Mr Kirby (almost a convert from snowboard to skis!) is certainly looking forward to seeing everyone back on the slopes in 2015.