CUMNOR HOUSE SCHOOL YEAR 2 THEATRE WORKSHOP

CUMNOR HOUSE SCHOOL YEAR 2 THEATRE WORKSHOP On Monday, Year 2 had a special visitor - Florence Nightingale! We have been looking at the life and legacy of Florence Nightingale in our History lessons, so the boys were very interested in hearing about her childhood, her journey to Turkey and her experiences when she arrived at the hospital in Scutari. They took part in role play activities, pretended to be nurses or injured soldiers and watched as she walked by with her lamp. By the end of the morning, we had all realised the huge impact that Florence Nightingale made in the field of nursing. Mrs Curtis

2 CUMNOR HOUSE U8A TEAM QUALIFY FOR NATIONAL Cumnor House School Boys-U8A: National Schools Rugby Tournament - South East Region On Sunday 7 February The team was placed 2nd in its group (4 points for the win, 2 points for the draw and 7 bonus try points:13 points in total) and has qualified for the National Finals which will take place on Sunday 6 March. 1st KCS - 20 points 2nd Cumnor - 13 points 3rd St Columba's - 11 points 4th Lanesborough - 5 points (top two teams qualify for the National Finals) Game 1 With the score 15-15 at half time, the boys managed to step up and score six tries in the second half to win the match 45-35. A sluggish start with numerous handling errors was soon overcome with multiple dancing runs from Maxwell Williamson who finished the game with a double hat trick. Game 2 Once again the Cumnor team started slowly and failed to convert possession of the ball into tries due to handling errors. With the score 15-10 to St. Columba's at the half way mark, Cumnor started the second half with two quick tries. The team dominated for the next five minutes but our opponents managed to level with the last play of the game. Captain, Laurence Qin, was inspirational throughout and led the defensive line well. Game 3 With the way that results had panned out throughout the day in group 1, it meant that the Cumnor team only needed to pick up the one bonus try point (3 tries) in order to advance to the National Finals. Our opponents, KCS, came into the match highly confident and on the back of two big wins and made a good start. Once again, for the third match running, the Cumnor team made a poor start. We had possession of the ball eight times in the first half and only managed to convert two tries, whilst our opponents converted five tries. The team, however, did fight back and finished the game with our best rugby of the day. The score finished 50-35 to KCS, but most importantly the Cumnor side managed to pick up two bonus try points for their seven tries meaning that they had qualified for the Nationals! Well done to all eight boys in the squad! A massive thank you must go to the parents for their full support throughout the day and also Miss Oldfield who spurred the boys on. Mr Brotherton

3 U10 A Team Qualify for Nationals The U10 A team was outstanding at Epsom for the 2016 regional qualifiers. The sun was shining and it was a perfect day for running rugby. The team started fantastically well beating Lanesborough 35-5 with Gabriel Akomeah, Oliver Springett and Reni Aigbogun breaking the defence on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, Asher Agbinone took a knock to the knee early on and looked on for most of the rest of the tournament. In the next two games Cumnor were dominant in defence and moved the ball well in attack. Daniel Tollit and Jake Dennis were excellent at ruck time and it was pleasing to see M-J Olaniyan, Joshua Williams and Malachi D'Sa play so well and show how much strength in depth there is in Year 5. The final game was against the only other unbeaten team in the group, King's House. After going down two tries in the first half, the team had a stern talking to at half time. They came out like a team possessed; Alfie Morgan-Waller and Nathan Brown were making great line breaks but could not quite beat the last defender. Asher came to life with five minutes to help his team with the physical battle and within seconds he scored an excellent try in the corner. Cumnor were dominating possession and were committed in defence; however, many decisions did not go Cumnor s way and the boys could not cross the try line. Although the game finished up as a loss, the team had done enough to secure their place at the Nationals on 6 March. Well done to all the boys who took part, an outstanding all round effort. A special mention goes to Alfie Morgan-Waller, Daniel Tollit, Gabriel Akomeah and Jake Dennis. This core group of boys was consistently fantastic throughout the four games. Mr Gray SWIMMING SUCCESS! In the Croydon Schools we were the fastest in our round for 11 of the 12 events and in many races we had the two fastest swimmers, therefore winning the top School award convincingly. Nearly everybody who competed should get through to the Finals to be held on Thursday 14 April at Trinity School. Special mention goes to the Year 4s who swam particularly well, especially Alexander Tollit and Ethan Spoerer-Scott. In our heats of the National IAPS Championships, our swimmers swam very well and we had many personal best times. We will have to wait until all of the heats, which are taking place all over the country, have been completed to see who has qualified for the finals. The fastest 16 in each individual race will qualify and the fastest 12 relay teams will qualify for the finals to be held in Crawley on Saturday 7 May. I am very confident that we will have a large number of qualifiers, with the Year 6 team particularly strong and definite potential medallists. Mr Fitzgerald

4 INFORMAL CONCERT The next time you hear anyone saying that 'kids today are only interested in computer games and watching TV' suggest an evening at a Cumnor House Informal Concert. The standard attained by the 50 boys who took part in this week's concert could surely not have been reached by sitting in front of a screen! The evening was predominantly for string players, opening with the String Sextet (too many able boys in school for a quartet) who played a piece by William Walton so beautifully, without a conductor or accompaniment. The soloists, mainly boys preparing for grade exams, then took turns to play, each introducing themselves like true professionals and playing their pieces with confidence. The Junior Bell Band donned their smart white gloves to play Pachebel's Cannon, a piece that most people are familiar with (even the ones who watch TV as it has been used in many adverts). The piece lent itself perfectly to the pure tones of the bells - it was quite astounding to learn at the end that it was the first time they had played it in its entirety! Ryan Davis shared with us a beautiful Shostakovich duet that he has been working on. Thank you to Miss Stephenson who kindly joined him. The evening closed with the String Orchestra. They played Dance from the Brook Green Suite by Holst, not only amazing to listen to but also a delight to watch as the boys showed focus and concentration. For the final piece, the orchestra was joined by the remaining boys from the Super Strings and Cello Ensemble. They played Mali Concertini, filling the hall, not just physically, but with a depth of music that seemed to come from an orchestra twice the size. Congratulations to Mr Sizer for yet another successful evening and thank you to the supporting staff: Miss Secker (Bells), Mrs McGregor (Cello/Double Bass), Mr Wallace (violin) and Miss Stephenson (Violin). The next concert on 23 February promises to be just as entertaining but with a very different flavour when it is the turn of the Jazz Band, Woodwind Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, Percussion Group and Guitar Ensemble. Mrs Magill Epsom Strings Day On Tuesday 2 February, selected boys from the string orchestra were taken to Epsom College for Epsom Strings Day. When we arrived, there were many schools, lots of violins, cellos, basses and violas. We started off sight reading all of the five pieces; With a Hundred Pipers, Haben, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sleeping Beauty Waltz and Magic Carpet Ride. At first the pieces sounded horrible but gradually, as we went through, they sounded much better. During the day we had an enjoyable lunch and a run around and then got back to work. At the end of the day, there was a concert where we played all five pieces. They all sounded fantastic and everyone applauded. Although it was quite tiring, I think that all the boys enjoyed this experience and had fun. Surya Vijayanand - 7R

5 4S Assembly - Sorry & Forgiveness 7S assembly -Values In PSHE 7S have been learning about democracy in Britain and the role of the United Nations. They decided to do an assembly on values and looked at what it means to live in Britain and what British Values mean to them. They described how British values have changed through time from the Magna Carta in 1215 to the present day. The boys acted out the discussions and the signing of the Magna Carta. The boys were in five groups and each group performed two sketches on saying sorry. One sketch was the correct version and the other was the incorrect version. We involved the audience to decide which was the correct version. Two groups had some very funny plays involving basketball and a pillow fight. This was followed by a couple of readings on 'Sorry and Forgiveness.' Afterwards, we conducted a quiz of five questions to see what the audience had learnt from the assembly. If they got the answer right, they won a mini chocolate egg. It was a fantastic assembly enjoyed by pupils of the Lower School, staff and parents. Well done 4S! Miss Sivalingam 7S also considered values which are universal to all nations and expressed their hopes for the future when more values are upheld by all peoples and nations. 7S want to live in a world free from war and terror, racism, torture, the abolition of the death penalty and a world where everyone is free to practise the religion of their choice and to be able to express their ideas freely. They noted the work of the United Nations and demonstrated how each of us, in some small way, can work towards building a better school, community, country and world by listening to each other, respecting differences and mutual cooperation. Many thanks to the parents who attended the assembly. It was lovely to have your support. Miss Smith MARDI GRAS! The boys had a fabulous time perfecting their culinary skills on Mardi Gras, in the new DT room. Having already learnt in class how to make la pâte à crêpe, they carefully mixed together the essential ingredients:- la farine, les œufs et le lait (essential words to be remembered) and fried their very own crêpes. In true French tradition, the boys tossed them high into the air and caught them with skill; ensuring themselves future good fortune for the year ahead. A variety of toppings were added: caramel, sucre, citron, chocolat, orange. Jishnu came prepared and added salsa sauce to his, but he preferred le sucre! Later, the boys learnt about Carnival (carne vale ; goodbye to meat) and watched the festive celebrations in Christian countries, at this time of year, before the beginning of Lent. They also perfected their speaking skills, learning how to order a crêpe of their choice, sweet or savoury, in preparation for possible skiing trips next week and visits to crêperies! Mme Bartlett

6 SPRING BALL - 2016 Dear Parents, I am running a half a marathon in Sierra Leone to raise money to provide for a better future for the children after the Ebola crisis. I would really appreciate it if you could take some time to look at my just giving page for more information and to make a donation to this worthy cause:- http://ow.ly/yfk7y Henna Idnani Mother of Krish 4G More details and an order form can be found on our website or by clicking the link: http://ow.ly/yfmi8 STAR OF THE WEEK Danes Harshaa Kumar 3T Normans Krish Idnani 4G Romans Hasan Razawi 4S Noah Dominguez-Tchetche 4S Saxons Vishaagan Vanigasooriar 3T EVENTS FOR WEEK BEGINNING 22 FEBRUARY 2016 Monday 22 February 1st XV v Parkside (H) 3.00 p.m. Tuesday 23 February U10 A - E v Rokeby & Donhead @ Rokeby 2.30 p.m. U11 A - E v Shrewsbury House (A) @ Almshouse Lane 2.30 p.m. Informal Concert For Jazz Band, Guitar group, Woodwind Group + soloists 7.00 p.m. Wednesday 24 February House Music Competition (Bronze) Thursday 25 February Friday 26 February