The Flagpole

Princethorpe College’s Junior Boys Athletics team are celebrating after being crowned champions at the Midlands Schools Combined Events Regional Championships, at The Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton on Saturday 27 June. Their win qualifies the boys for the ESAA (English Schools’ Athletics Association) National Combined Events Championships that will take place in Bedford in September.

Ben Smith, André Onyekwe, Anjola Okusanya and Vincent McNevin all put in outstanding individual performances in the five athletics Combined Events: 80m Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot Putt, High Jump and 800m. Individually, Ben finished in 2nd place overall after an excellent run in the Hurdles setting a new school record of 14.1 seconds. André was 4th overall setting a new school record in the High Jump at 1.71 metres. Vincent broke the school’s 800m record running 2.15.6 minutes to finish in 5th place overall while Anjola won the Shot Putt to finish in 8th place overall. Together the boys’ formidable individual results ensured the Princethorpe Junior Boys claimed the team win.

Director of Sport, Lee Cassell, said, “The boys were incredible. They have been training hard this term with limited opportunities to compete. On Saturday they faced teams from across the Midlands and really rose to the challenge. Their team win is a fantastic achievement and I can’t wait to see them compete at the Nationals in September.”

It was an impressive performance by the boys.

Congratulations to Amelia Burgess and Olivia Rawle, who have both been awarded the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) Grade 8 Gold Medal in Acting.

Gold is the highest medal awarded by LAMDA and will have taken years of training to achieve. Their examinations in Acting are designed to develop the skills necessary to communicate dramatic text to an audience and for their Gold Medal exam Amelia and Olivia will have had to prepare three monologue speeches of between four and five minutes each from published plays.

Amelia performed scenes from Medea by Euripides, Once in a Lifetime by Kaufman and Hart and Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell.” She was awarded a Distinction and clearly impressed her examiner who commented, ‘You obviously enjoy bringing characters to life’. Amelia said, “It feels amazing to have completed all of the grades and I can’t quite believe I managed to receive a Distinction at Grade 8. Mrs Buckingham, my teacher, has been fantastic throughout and I wouldn’t have been as successful without her.”

LAMDA Teacher, Kathy Buckingham-Underhill, added, “Amelia has been taking LAMDA lessons since Year 7 and we are very pleased that she has finished her studies on such a high. Amelia has consistently had high marks in her examinations, a direct result of her diligence, ownership and understanding of the tasks involved. I am delighted she has achieved a Distinction.”

Olivia, who took her examination virtually from home, performed scenes from Amateur Girl by Whittington, Our Country’s Good by Wertenbaker and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. She was awarded a Merit and her examiner commented, ‘You are a sensitive actor’ with ‘a confident stage presence’.

Congratulating Olivia, LAMDA teacher, Chris Carpenter said, “I am very proud of Olivia. She has had to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the acting process and the characters she has portrayed. Her hard work has been rewarded, well done Olivia.”

The College congratulates both girls on their achievement.

As a fabulous finale to the end of the school year, Princethorpe College hosted its very first Fashion Show and it was a fantastic affair. Featuring four collections, Trash Fashion, Tie-Dye, Upcycle and Gold, Teacher of Design and Technology (Textiles), Miranda Porter and her team of fashionistas really wowed their virtual audience.

Fashion Academy has been a new co-curricular club for the College this year, with pupils meeting on Thursday evening to explore techniques, develop designs and make garments. Pupils from Year 7 and Year 8 have enjoyed the opportunity to create and transform clothing into exciting, new, on trend styles.

Many of the club attendees also took part in a full day workshop on Activities Day, designing and making a stunning garment in ‘Gold’ in just one day.

The Fashion Show was rehearsed and recorded on Tuesday morning and then streamed to the whole school as part of the final assembly of the school year. Our new young designers debuted their pieces in style in a slick and stunning spectacle.

Mrs Porter, commented, "I am so proud of everyone, they all worked so hard to bring the show together and it was simply amazing."

Fashion Academy has been a sensational success and will be returning as a co-curricular club next year, this time for pupils from Year 7 to Year 10.

Last Sunday 4 July, 27 students and 15 staff from Princethorpe College trudged a total of just over 885 miles to raise money for the charity Mary’s Meals. For the thirteenth consecutive year our Sixth Formers laced up their walking boots and took on the challenge of walking 24 miles.

Starting in Meriden they followed the Coventry Way route to Ryton before finishing with an eight-mile loop to finish back at Princethorpe College. Thankfully the weather remained clement on the day so the conditions were kind to our wonderful walkers.

Elizabeth Boyes, Anthony Convey, Zara-Skye Drinkwater, Ben Scares, Ciaran Smith and Pablo Scopes along with Charity Prefects Joe England and Hannah McBride were first across the line in a time of 8 hours and 20 minutes and they were followed home by a procession of jubilant finishers.

Organiser of the event and Assistant Head of Sixth Form, Mr Rod Isaacs, commented, “As always, there was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie along the route. Everyone was helping each other and keeping focused on the aim to raise as much money as possible for impoverished children around the world.”

Through the College’s fundraising, 622 children at Makalanga Primary School, in Malawi, are already receiving a daily meal in school each year.

So far this year Princethorpe College has raised £11,082.90 for the project and there is still time to support our Sixth Form walkers. If you would like to donate, please visit:

www.marysmeals.org.uk/princethorpe-4-makalanga

Thanks to the generosity of so many, over the years Princethorpe College has raised well over £110,000 for Mary's Meals, from sponsored cycle rides and welly-wanging to cake sales and this year an amazing PTA Virtual Burn’s Night Quiz, as well as our epic Sixth Form sponsored walk.

Thank you so much to all who walked this year and to everyone who has donated.

What a finale we had to the Forensic Science Club after school on Tuesday 27 June. Over the course of the Trinity term, our Year 7 Princethorpe Police Department trainees have been busy learning all about different Forensic Science techniques, from fingerprinting and blood splatter analysis to footprint evidence and soil samples, as well as how to process a crime scene and hand writing analysis.

Last Tuesday they took part in their final Crime Scene Challenge. After an unexpected break in, Year 7 were called upon to investigate, reviewing witness statements, examining the crime scenes and collecting and analysing evidence. The pupils quickly donned their protective clothing and started to search for evidence. There was plenty to find, as the careless intruders had left many, many clues – there was even a body in the cellars! It was a deadly mystery but Year 7 were more than up for the challenge.

Acting Head of Science, Faye Roberts, was impressed and commented, “All Princethorpe’s trainee forensic scientists passed their assessment with flying colours, piecing together the evidence to recover the stolen diamonds. They certainly weren’t fooled by the double crossing going on between all the suspects.”

A huge well done to all the super-sleuthing scientists who took part!

Princethorpe pupils stepped into the mystical east as they explored Japanese traditions and culture in a series of themed activities for this year’s House Activities Day. Held on Friday 2 July, the biggest event of the House year is always a real favourite with pupils who go all out to win the house points up for grabs.

After an introductory Japanese tea ceremony hosted by House Activities Leader Sensei Jess Newborough, pupils set of in their form groups to work on a series of activities and challenges all around the school. From Nana’s Food Experience to the Rickshaw Challenge, being put through their paces by the Karate Kid or taking on Takeshi’s Castle, folding origami in the Buddhist Retreat or racing Mario Kart style, it was a non-stop day full of fantastic fun.

After all the challenges had been completed, the school came together for a finale on the Close. Mrs Newborough, thanked everyone for their participation commenting, “We have had a fabulous day, it has been great to see everyone getting involved. The atmosphere has been amazing.”

A huge well done to everyone for taking part and a massive thank you to those who made the day possible especially House Activities Leader, Jess Newborough, the House Activities Co-ordinators; Hannah Carminati, Kieran McCullough and Jack Forsythe and to our stalwart Sixth Form House Captains who all worked so hard to make House Activities Day so much fun.

House Activities Day 2021 concluded with one final popular Japanese pastime, Karaoke as the Houses sang along first to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and then much to pupil’s delight the football anthem Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)!

What a fantastic day we all had!

Congratulations to the winners of Princethorpe's 2020-21 Creative Writing Competition. 

Earning a Bronze Award are Bella Ward (Year 7) for her dystopian theme-park thriller A Glitch in a Fantasy and Andrew Gordon (Year 8) for his story about a war veteran adrift in time, The Lost Hero.  Our Silver Award winners are Anna Johnson (Year 8) for her Medusa-inspired story Hunted and Dylan Williams (Year 8) for his Sci-Fi adventure, The Pocked Man. Taking the Gold Award are Alexa Holland (Year 7) with her reflective composition Who am I?, which featured in The Flagpole in January here, and Amélie Friess (Year 11) for her supernatural horror You're Still Typing, which you can read here. 

Well done to all the entrants on their creativity and hard work; there was certainly a lot of talent and commitment on display. Certificates and prizes were presented to our worthy winners in the final assembly of the school year on Tuesday 6 July.

Lower Sixth Form student Ishbel Kempton has gone the extra mile with her Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) after her research into ‘Depression’ sparked her to run a half marathon for the mental health charity Mind.

Ishbel has always been interested in Psychology and is enjoying studying it at A-level. Fascinated by how the brain works she decided to explore her interest further in an EPQ. An independent research qualification that allows students to explore their interests and passions.

Ishbel chose to investigate the question “Whether medication is the best treatment for depression?” and while undertaking her research interviewed psychiatrists and psychologists. Ishbel explains, “The research interviews were really interesting, especially the compelling examples the professionals gave of those affected by mental health problems.” In fact, Ishbel was so moved by those stories that she decided to run the Herts Half Marathon to raise money for the Mental Health Charity Mind. At the start of June, Ishbel completed her run in just under two hours raising a fantastic £540. She continues, “I am so pleased with how much we raised for such a great charity.”

Ishbel’s EPQ research conversations with professional psychiatrists and psychologists clearly inspired her, and in more than one way, as they also subsequently led to an invitation to write a blog post on her interest in psychiatry for the Royal College of Psychiatry website, where she explains why she is now determined to pursue a career in psychiatry and make a positive difference to people with mental health disorders.

Despite our hopes otherwise, this year’s Induction event for pupils joining the school in September once again had to be a virtual evening event. However, that didn’t stop the College from offering a very warm welcome to the prospective pupils and their families.

Headmaster, Ed Hester, Deputy Head Pastoral, Beth Sharpe, and Head of Transition, Sue Harris were all on hand on Wednesday 30 June to share plenty of helpful information all designed to facilitate the children’s transition to their new school. The pupils had friendly messages of encouragement from the College’s Head Boy and Head Girl, Anthony Convey and Caitlin Mason, and helpful advice from current Year 7s, Conor Horan and Lily Hunter.

After the main presentation, our new pupils also discovered which College House they will be joining and had the chance to meet their new Head of House.

Headmaster, Ed Hester, said, “We hope everyone found the virtual induction event helpful and informative, we can’t wait to welcome our new pupils properly into school. Your new Tutors and I are very much looking forward to meeting you. For now, I encourage everyone to enjoy the summer as it won’t be long before we are all back to school.”

The Year 7 Activity Day takes place on Friday 3 September 2021 and we look forward to seeing our new pupils then. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly Admissions Team at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or 01926 634201/262/297 if you have any outstanding questions at all.

We were delighted to welcome Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School on Tuesday 29 June for some fantastic Outdoor Education fun. Their youngsters enjoyed three exciting activities, including exploring the campus in orienteering with Miss Callan, tackling the towering climbing wall with Mr Bower and fine tuning their athletics skills on the playing fields with Mr Holtom. Then it was off to the Outdoor Classroom at lunchtime before an extended cross-country walk returned them to their school.

It was great to work with them and we hope they all enjoyed their day!

The latest issue of The Pinnacle has just been published, showcasing yet more of our pupils' excellent work. First published back in 2010, across the years the Pinnacle has celebrated our pupils at their best. This bumper edition includes success in Science, Maths and Computing Challenges, news of independent research project achievements as well as excellent examples of da Vinci work. There’s also coverage of the wonderful GCSE and A-level Art, and innovative Product Design and Fashion projects which were featured in our Summer Art, Photography and Design Show in June.

A double-sized Minnacle is included too, with equally impressive work by Crackley Hall pupils from Nursery to Junior 6 and Crescent pupils from Reception to Year 6. It's wonderful to celebrate their talents too!

Copies will be sent to parents as part of the summer mailing.

Click here to read The Pinnacle and click here if you would like to read The Minnacle.

Our Upper Sixth are all now officially Old Princethorpians, having completed their time at Princethorpe College, albeit in unexpected and unusual circumstances. To help them stay in touch and make the most of being an OP we encourage them all (and their parents) to sign up to Princethorpe Connect - our online alumni community for former pupils, parents and staff. 

We are always interested in hearing from past pupils about their achievements and next steps, but becoming a part of the Old Princethorpians network has other advantages too. OP Friendly Faces is a special scheme that offers our newest OPs a familiar face to welcome them to life post Princethorpe, at their new university. The initiative links past pupils now established at university with first year OP students, providing a friendly face to meet up with over a coffee (compliments of the OPs) or having someone to call in their new 'uni' town or city will, especially in these socially distanced times, make for a smoother experience in the first few weeks away from home. 

Our Upper Sixth Leavers have received information on the scheme but the best way to register for OP Friendly Faces is through Princethorpe Connect.  Joining Princethorpe Connect also offers all OPs the chance to network with the OP community, to read exclusive news articles, sign up for events (such as our pub meets, brunches and reunions), purchase merchandise from the online shop, support fundraising campaigns and see our private photo galleries. 

Leavers can connect in five simple steps: 

Step 1 - Click this link to go to Princethorpe Connect 

Step 2 - Go to 'Create a profile...' in the centre of the screen 

Step 3 - Register with your home email address (not your Princethorpe one) and please tick the box to give us permission to email you! 

Step 4 - Your registration will be reviewed and approved by the Community Admins as soon as possible 

Step 5 - Once approved your Princethorpe Connect profile will be live and ready to go! 

Comments OPs Secretary, Melanie Butler, "We have OP Friendly Faces at Universities across the country and we know the scheme has helped past students settle successfully into their new uni towns. After Results Day when we know where our new OPs are heading, we will start matching them to this year’s Friendly Faces." 

If you would like to find out more (either as a Friendly Face or a new undergraduate) you can also email oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk.