The Flagpole

The College was proud to see five Princethorpe pupils competing in the England Athletics Age Group Indoor Championships in Sheffield last weekend. The event took place over two days at the English Institute of Sport, with pupils representing their athletics clubs.

Their performances were all outstanding, and it was clear that these pupils have been training hard. Each and every one of them put in personal bests over the weekend, breaking school records, and we were really delighted for them all.

Year 8, Grace McCollin competed in the 60m sprint. In the heats she ran a personal best of 8.37 seconds. She then ran in the 60m Hurdles qualifying for the semi-finals where she achieved another personal best of 9.69 seconds.

Year 8, Penelope Jones also ran in the 60m Hurdles qualifying for the semi-finals where she ran a personal best of 9.65 seconds.

Year 9, André Onyekwe took 1st place and the gold medal in his age group for the High Jump. André simply soared through the air jumping 1.82m, a personal best and a new school record. André also competed in the Long Jump placing 5th with another superhuman leap of 5.43m.

Year 9, Olivia Monk ran in the 60m sprint where she finished in 6th place in 7.96 seconds a personal best and new school record. Olivia then took on the challenge of the 200m, finishing in 7th place in 26.49 seconds with another personal best and new school record.

Lower Sixth Former, Cam McGregor ran in the 400m finishing just out of the medals in 4th place in 48.84 seconds, also achieving a personal best and a new school record.

We are all looking forward to watching this next generation of young Olympians develop, it is going to be a really exciting summer of sport!

Princethorpe’s runners had an excellent outing at the Midlands Regional ISA Cross Country at Bedstone College on Wednesday 2 February, winning five out of the six team competitions. Lots of top ten finishes helped the U16 Boys, U16 Girls, U14 Boys, U14 Girls and the U12 Boys teams all place first, with the U12 Girls not far behind in second place. It was a really super set of results.

For the U16 Girls, Kate Pomerleau put in a strong performance for Princethorpe to finish in 2nd place, with Grace Darcy and Ava Farren hot on her heels in 3rd and 4th place. The U16 Boys also ran well with Ben Smith finishing 2nd, Felix Batty 4th and Guy Dawkins 7th.

In the U14 Girls race Martina Grace had a confident run and crossed the line in 1st place with Evie Marston just behind in 2nd and Lily Hunter in 6th. For the U14 Boys Charlie Atkins finished 2nd with Jesse Esler 3rd and Toby Iley 10th.

Then in the U12 Girls race Rosa Davis finished 3rd and in the U12 Boys race William Smith came 4th and Ollie Hawkins 8th.       

Head of Outdoor Education and PE Teacher, Will Bower, said, “It was brilliant to be back at Bedstone after the event didn’t take place last year. There were lots of excellent performances and it was great to welcome some new runners to the team. We had red vest after red vest crossing the line at the front of the field; our runners took on the arduous terrain and did very well.”

Many congratulations to all who took part.

The ESAA Championship, at Hopwood Farm in Kent, and the ISA National Championships, at Worksop College, are up next and the College will have a strong squad running at both competitions.

It's exciting times for cross country!

Congratulations to Princethorpe’s equestrian teams who placed first and second in the Bloxham School Eventer Challenge Championships at Washbrook Farm last weekend.

The eventers and their hard-working support crew of parents have been competing all winter and had been extremely successful in qualifying two teams for the series championships that took place on Sunday 13 February in really challenging conditions in Aston le Walls.

The 90cm team finished first overall and are now reigning champions – an amazing result against some really experienced teams. Well done to Lower Sixth Former, Lottie Paybody, Year 11 pupils, Claudia Newman and Sophie Glover and Year 9, Jess Hedgecock.

The 80cm team of Year 9 pupils, Grace Paybody, Emily Glover, Jess Hedgecock and Year 8, Rosie Moreton, just got pipped at the post to finish in second place.

The championship saw scores from the day added to points earnt over the series to determine the final placings for the league. Thank you to all of the competitors that have managed even one outing this year, riding for their school. We are really proud of all their achievements but also and more importantly their sportsmanship as the winter weather requires real dedication to keep horses fit and in training.

It’s a fantastic finish to the season and it is all looking promising for Princethorpe’s inter-school two-day event on our home turf in May.

The deadline for the acceptance of places for September 2022 entry to the College is fast approaching. Over the last couple of weeks, a good number of acceptances have been coming in, but parents wishing to accept a place are reminded that they need to send their signed Confirmation of Acceptance Form and £300 deposit back to Mrs Vanessa Rooney, the Registrar, by Thursday 3 March 2022 please, to secure their child’s place.

Please be aware that we can only guarantee places that are accepted by the above deadline date.

Do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or queries about the admissions process, the Admissions Team will be available throughout half-term on 01926 634201/262/297 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

The College production of Matilda Jr was a truly magical show. The Clarkson Theatre was filled full of the smell of rebellion as our talented cast of revolting children (many new to the College this year) told the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dared to take a stand and change her own destiny.

The fearsome Agatha Trunchbull, played by Chloe, was delightfully diabolical while Mrs Wormwood, played by Lauren, was a real class act. Miss Honey, played by Megan, was touchingly sweet and Nigel, Lavender and the kids were all just spectacular, full of vibrant energy and enthusiasm. Matilda, played by Year 7 Amelia, was truly terrific. A super huge well done to them all.

We are all still humming along to those awesome songs. Congratulations to everyone involved, on stage and behind the scenes and especially to the Directors, Mr Cowlishaw and Ms Newborough. We just can't wait to find out what their plans are for next year!

This term pupils in Year 11 and the Lower Sixth have been putting their physics skills to the test in the British Physics Olympiad online challenges. The challenges go well beyond the standard curriculum and are a valuable enrichment experience for pupils and are designed to stretch the best.

At the beginning of February our top Year 11 physicists tackled the online Intermediate Physics Challenge, a multiple-choice quiz that taxed their knowledge, understanding and problem-solving prowess. Their results were outstanding with two pupils, Harry Fitzpatrick and Joseph Newborough securing the highest accolade of Gold, and many others receiving Silver, Bronze and Commendation awards. 

Then 13 Lower Sixth students took part in our most successful online Senior Physics Challenge yet (the first one was only last year). Harry Hewitt, Oscar Page and Josh Apaya all received Gold certificates, a really fantastic achievement. The remainder received Silver or Bronze awards - the first time all have successfully achieved one of the top tiers within the competition. 

Head of Physics, Dan Lee, commented, “The British Physics Olympiad Challenges are well respected tests. They encourage participants to approach problems with an open mind, taking the principles of physics and applying their learning to the real world. Our pupils all did very well, congratulations to them all.”

Pictured are some of the certificate winners.

As part of our Sixth Form CoRE programme we welcomed a number of Old Princethorpian speakers into school on Thursday 17 February to talk about their journey post-Princethorpe and the different career paths they have taken.

The 'Careers Carousel' offered the Lower Sixth the opportunity to broaden their awareness and knowledge on a range of careers relevant to their interests and aspirations and the event was designed to help students make more informed decisions about their future work options.

The Lower Sixth each attended three of the short talks, gaining insights into some of the different options available to them as they think about their next moves.

Our thanks go to all the OPs who supported the event including:

• Harvey Broadbent - Product Design (Positive Outlook Clothing)
• Ben Oliver – Psychology (Positive Outlook Clothing)
• James Ireland - Mechanical Engineering (with Red Bull Internship)
• Jacob Stone - Medicine (Qualified)
• Carmen Simpson - Physiotherapy (Qualified)
• Zoe Hyland - Psychology (Nursing)
• Etienne Callaghan - Business Management and Entrepreneurship (Broadcast Media)
• Charlie Rooney - Sports Science (Army)
• Lucy Coulson - Law (Barrister)
• James Carney - Real Estate (Property Asset Management)

Later this year the Lower Sixth will also participate in an Interview Skills day, where they will all prepare their CVs and then take part in short mock interviews providing them with the opportunity to perfect their interview technique, sharpen communication skills, presentational qualities and their ability to respond to feedback.

Individual red and white carnations were hand delivered by Sixth Formers to classrooms across the College on Monday in celebration of St Valentine’s Day.

In the preceding weeks Princethorpe’s Sixth Form students had been busy promoting the charity fundraiser in aid of the British Heart Foundation. On the Friday afternoon, Princethorpe’s very own Cupids, began preparing the flowers, delicately wrapping and handwriting personal messages for the anonymous gifts, ready for their surprise deliveries. There were red carnations for that special someone and white carnations as a thank you to a great friend.

This year the Sixth Formers have raised £280, all of which will be donated to help the British Heart Foundation.

On Tuesday 15 February, Year 7 visited the local Sikh Temple, called a Gurdwara, in Leamington Spa. Pupils have been studying Sikhism in their Religious Studies lessons this term, so this was a great opportunity to see Sikhism as a living faith and hear about Sikhism from a member of the local Sikh community.

Pupils listened to a talk on the background of the Sikh faith, including the story of the Gurus who founded Sikhism, and then spent some time in the main prayer hall where the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Scriptures, are read out. The prayer hall was not being used during the pupils’ visit and as the Holy Scriptures are treated like a living Guru they were able to see them at rest in their room. Staff were really impressed with how respectful and reflective all the pupils were.

It was an excellent, informative trip, many thanks to the Sikh community for allowing pupils to visit their temple.

Fisher have been crowned champions of the annual House University Challenge, after winning all their matches in this year’s competition.

Princethorpe’s University Challenge is a popular annual House event, based on the long running TV quiz show. In the College’s University Challenge, teams are required to have representatives from each year group and the pupils face questions on subjects that include science and nature, music and popular culture and food and drink. Across two weeks the House teams took part in three matches as they faced each other in turn.

Quizmaster for the competition was as always, our very own Jeremy Paxman, House Activities Leader, Jess Newborough, asking the infamous starter for 10 and follow up bonus questions.

Playing for Fisher this year were: Year 7 pupils, Noah Cowlishaw, Harry Prance and Hartley Fielding; Year 8 pupil, Daniel Ovens-Gibbs; Year 9 pupils, Luke Abrahamson and Issy Farrow; Year 10 pupils, Matthew Carr and Chloe Henderson; Year 11 pupil, Amy Hogg; Lower Sixth Formers, Jack Henderson and Freya Mills and Upper Sixth Formers, Greg Burford and Ben Scares.

After the final match Ms Newborough commented, “Thank you to all of the pupils who have participated in this year’s competition. It is very different being on stage to when you are in the audience or watching at home. The questions were challenging, and the matches were all exciting. Well done to everyone who took part.”

Thanks also to all the staff who have helped support the competition.

The final results were as follows: 1st Fisher, 2nd More, 3rd Austin and 4th Benet.

This year we were delighted to be able to introduce eighteen new students to an OP Friendly Face during the Michaelmas Term. In universities across the UK, as far afield as Edinburgh and Exeter and Nottingham to Plymouth, the students enjoyed the benefits of a welcoming friendly face whilst settling into their first year.

The scheme links past pupils established at university with first year OP students. Providing a friendly, familiar face to meet up with over a coffee (compliments of the OPs) or having someone to call in their new uni town or city, does, we know, make for a smoother experience in those first few weeks away from home. 

Many of the current Upper Sixth are receiving their offers and will shortly be choosing their first and second choice destinations and we will shortly be contacting them with more information, to introduce them to the OP Friendly Faces scheme and to the benefits of joining the Old Princethorpian Association.

Former Deputy Head Girl, OP Lauren Mason, who left the College in 2021, has already volunteered to help.  She comments, "I am a current student at Cambridge (first year), studying Natural Sciences at Selwyn College. I would love to be a friendly face to anyone coming to Cambridge from Princethorpe, and am looking forward to getting involved."

Comments OPs Secretary, Melanie Butler, "We now have OP Friendly Faces in around 35 university towns and cities and are hoping to expand on that again this year so we can get more of our leavers matched up for the new academic year. Understanding where our current Upper Sixth hope to study will help us plan for next year's scheme."

All leavers and their parents are automatically given free membership of the OP Association and are welcome at all of our events. They can also sign up to join PC Connect our online alumni community to stay in touch with the school.

For more information, please email oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk.

The latest issue of The Old Princethorpian, the Princethorpe Foundation’s termly e-newsletter for past pupils, staff and parents, old and new, has just been published and was mailed out over last weekend. 

The newsletter aims to keep our alumni in touch with each other and news, developments and events across the Foundation. It includes the latest Foundation and College news, and plenty of news and updates from OPs across the decades.

Coming up soon is our popular Pub Meet at Inside the 22, in Rugby, on Friday 4 March and then the 75th Anniversary Open House at Crackley Hall School on Saturday 19 March. Full details can be found in the Events section on Princethorpe Connect here: connect.princethorpe.co.uk/events

We hope our alumni enjoy reading the newsletter and finding out what is going on in the alumni community. The next edition will be published in May.

You can read the newsletter here: www.oldprincethorpian.co.uk