The Flagpole

Welcome to the first Flagpole of the 2017-18 academic year and a special welcome to all parents new to the school. As I write, we have just finished three very productive staff training days; these allow us to both prepare for the year ahead and also to focus on how we can deliver the best possible education to all the children in our care.  

Over the holidays we had over a hundred pupils and staff safely return from the South Africa Senior Sports tour and the Lourdes trip. All had a fantastic range of life-changing experiences which I am sure they will never forget. We look forward to many trips and excursions this new academic year which include the History and Politics trip to Moscow and St Petersburg this half term, the Ski trip at Easter and the Costa Rica expedition next summer.

We are launching a variety of new initiatives this year including an exciting new “study skills and resilience” curriculum which we are integrating into the house tutoring system across all year groups. We are also putting in a variety of workshops and seminars for parents with the aim of helping you to support your children both in and outside school. On this theme, we have produced a set of guidelines and expectations which I will be asking all parents to read and agree to.  One particular area we will putting more resources into is the use of mobile phones and social media and how we can work together to help your children to learn, manage and control their use of the readily available technology which we know can have both positive and negative effects on their lives.

You will be aware that each year we steadily develop our campus and improve our facilities. I hope that your children will soon tell you about the superb upgrade of our main theatre and the new Outdoor Classroom by Switzerland which has been made possible through the help of our wonderful Parent Teacher Association.  Later this year we will be seeking planning permission for a suite of new Science laboratories and I will keep you informed of developments in this next major building project.

Another area of the school we have been quietly building up over the last twelve months is our careers and higher education department. Under our wonderful new Head of Careers, Jacqui Quinney and her team who work closely with all staff, we have a new careers curriculum being integrated into the Life Skills and guidance sessions and again this year we will be running a major Careers Fair aimed at pupils from Year 10 upwards; please keep Saturday 17 March 2018 free in your diaries. As in previous years, we will be asking parents and OPs who feel able to, to help by giving a talk on their career or profession.

As I expect you will be aware by now, we are extremely pleased with the public examination results achieved by our pupils a few weeks ago both at A-level and GSCE. We strive hard to ensure that each member of the College’s community makes the most of their own talents. At A-level, over 80% of all grades were A*, A, B or C, with top performers Nick Bonsall and Alana Eckland achieving 5A*s and 4As between them. We are also delighted that the overwhelming majority of our Upper Sixth leavers gained a place at the university of their choice, with a small but significant number gaining exciting employment positions, including some extremely sought-after apprenticeships. We wish all our leavers well for the next phase of their education and look forward to welcoming them back on Friday 3 November to the annual Prize Giving at the Butterworth Hall in Warwick Arts Centre. I hope that many of you will be able to attend this special occasion – further details will be sent in due course.

At GCSE we had many stunning results with two thirds of all grades at A*, A or B. There were many distinguished performances, the best individual results being from Mollie Dibb, Amy Field and Tom Warne who achieved 26 A*s and 8 A grades between them, with a further 18 pupils achieving 9 or more A* or A grades. Princethorpe pupils performed well in all the core subjects but we are particularly delighted with our best ever English results with 55% of pupils achieving A* or A grades. Results were also strong in the creative subjects with 83% of Art entries graded A* or A.

Princethorpe is certainly not an examination factory - when pupils leave, they do so with so much more than an examination certificate - but we do take great pride in trying to ensure that all our pupils achieve the very best possible academic results.

In future editions of The Flagpole, we will be giving some more feedback on the parental questionnaire from the end of last term. On the “satisfaction” part of the form we were delighted that you scored almost all areas at over 80% “very good” or “good” (with many over 90%). However, there were a few that were just below 80% - “opportunities for parents to become involved in the school”, “the quality of food” (which as a regular eater in the refectory surprised me) and “the way parents’ evenings are run”. We are looking closely at these as well as any area where any parents, no matter how small the number, rated us as “poor”. We are determined to ensure that we strive to make the school the best it can be and this feedback is key to our planning, so thank you again to all the parents (about 65%) who took part.

Finally, I hope that you and your families have had a peaceful and happy summer and look forward to seeing you over the course of the year.

With all best wishes 

Ed Hester
Headmaster 

With just ten weeks to go the countdown to the College's Entrance Exams for admission in September 2018 has begun. This year the exams for Year 7 to 10 entry will take place on Saturday 11 November from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

Our friendly Admissions Team has been kept busy over the summer accepting registrations from prospective parents.  The deadline for registrations is ideally Friday 6 October, to enable the seeking of references from junior schools.

There are plenty of opportunities for prospective pupils and their parents to visit the College before Entrance Exams, including our Open Afternoon on Sunday 24 September from 2.00pm to 5.00pm and Open Morning on Thursday 2 November from 10.30am to 12.30pm, when pupil tour guides will be available to show visitors around the school.  All our Year 6 Taster Days are now fully booked, but places are still available for a Year 7 and 8 Taster Day on Monday 2 October.

Comments Melanie Butler, Assistant Head, Marketing, Admissions and Communications, "Parents and pupils will still have plenty of time to prepare and opportunities to visit the College in the run up to the exams.  The results will be out at the end of November, making for an exam-free Christmas holiday, which has got to be good news."

For more information on the admissions process click here to visit the Admissions Update newsletter.

If you have any queries relating to admissions please feel free to email the Registrars at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call them on 01926 634201.

Princethorpe College is celebrating another year of excellent exam results. 

This summer 25% of all A-level grades were A* or A and 80% of grades were C or better; at GCSE over 25% of pupils received at least seven A* or A grades and an impressive two thirds of all grades were the coveted A*, A or B. 

Ed Hester, Headmaster, said, “Our students have worked so hard and we are incredibly proud of their achievements.” 

A-level summary results: 

• 92 candidates
• 25% A* & A
• 80% grade C or better
• 100% pass rate

Amongst the high fliers were Head Girl Alana Eckland who achieved all A*s and As and will be studying medicine at university and Head Boy Lloyd Ellis who is going abroad to study History at Utrecht University. Charlotte Morton, Alistair Robinson, Nick Bonsall, Josh Horswill, Marcio Zheng, James Ireland and Jack Dennis also achieved all A* and A  A–level grades.

At GCSE there were many distinguished performances, but the best individual results were from Mollie Dibb, who achieved ten A*s and one A grade, and Amy Field, who achieved nine A*s and two A grades.   

Princethorpe pupils performed well in all the core GCSE subjects but the College is particularly delighted with its best ever English results with 55% of pupils achieving A* or A grades.  Results were also strong in the creative subjects with 83% of Art entries graded A* or A. 

GCSE summary results: 

• 131 candidates
• two thirds of all grades A* to B
• over 25% achieved at least seven A* or A grades
• 55% of pupils achieved A* or A grades for English

Headmaster, Ed Hester, continued, “All credit goes to our pupils and staff for their commitment and hard work.  The College goes from strength to strength and our 2017 A-level and GCSE results are very strong indicators that the school’s academic achievements across the ability range continue to go from strength to strength.

The Development Office, now in its second year, has been delighted with the initial response to the 50 + 10 Bursary Fund. The fund aims to provide at least ten fully funded bursary places for children who would otherwise be unable to benefit from a Princethorpe education.

We are delighted to tell you that we have several donors to date, including some families who gift regular amounts each month. With further gifts pledged over the next seven years, we have been able to offer our first full bursary place in addition to a Sixth Form bursary.

The cost to wholly fund one child for a year at Princethorpe is approximately £12,000, however through regular giving, small gifts from many supporters, soon add up to make a real difference. For every 84 families who make a regular gift of £12 a month, we can offer one full bursary place to a child and change their life for the better.

Over the summer holidays, parents will have received a Making a Difference flyer which shows how cutting back on coffee, can help to transform young lives. For example, forgoing three lattes or cappuccinos, would mean a £12 a month donation, making a real difference.

You can read more about our ‘Cut the Coffee, Change a Life’ campaign here and learn how to make a regular donation today.

Please consider joining those families who already give monthly donations. With your help, we can achieve our goal of becoming a truly inclusive school. Follow this link to make a donation today.