The Flagpole

Princethorpe College Art Scholar, Helena Lintott, has been awarded a first place in the Independent Schools’ Association’s prestigious National Art Competition. Her entry, Self Portrait, won the Key Stage 4 Drawing class.  She is the latest in a long line of gifted College artists to have had their work recognised in this way.

Her lifelike piece a stunning, photo-realistic, drawn self-portrait was part of her coursework for her GCSE Art examination. Helena comes from an artistic family as her father trained as an illustrator and Helena has clearly inherited his skills.  She is now in Lower Sixth and is studying Art at A-level.

Helena was not the only College prize-winner in this year’s competition.  Also receiving national recognition were recent Upper Sixth leavers Tom Barnes - Runner-up in the Key Stage 5 Sketchbook class and Oliver Mottershead - Runner-up in the Key Stage 5 2D Art Individual class with his piece Memory, Isolation, Decay. Former Year 11 Lauren Hill also received Highly Commended for her entry, A Day at the Beach, in the Key Stage 4 Textiles Individual class.

Former Crackley Hall pupil, Charlie Ferguson, who is now in Year 7 at the College, was also successful with his piece, Humming Birds, judged Runner-up, in the Key Stage 2 2D Art Individual class.

The National competition followed on from the Regional Midlands competition which took place back in September where the College received the following results:

KS5 Painting: 1st Oliver Mottershead, 2nd Tom Barnes, Highly Commended Nicola Sykes

KS5 Drawing: Highly Commended Tom Barnes

KS4 Painting: 2nd Alys McWilliams

KS4 Drawing: 1st Helena Lintott

KS4 Textiles (Art): 1st Lauren Hill

Readers will be familiar with Alys’ striking painting which was used as the front cover of last summer’s edition of The Pinnacle magazine.

Princethorpe College Head of Art, Paul Hubball, applauded the winners, “These prizes are a reflection of the talent we have within our school. This is the first time that we have won the Key Stage 4 Drawing category and Helena’s work is exceptional, it reflects the hours of work she put into it. We are looking forward to seeing the work she produces this year.”

All of the artists are to be congratulated on their success.

Image shows Alys McWilliams (left) and Helen Lintott with her winning drawing (right).

It was all systems go on Saturday 11 November as Princethorpe welcomed some 300 children to take the Entrance Examinations for September 2018. Seamless organisation made the day run smoothly with candidates being efficiently organised into eighteen colour coded groups when receiving their day’s timetable.

Headmaster, Ed Hester welcomed girls, boys and parents before members of staff and Sixth Formers ushered the prospective pupils to their respective ‘base camp’ classrooms for the day.

Papers were sat in English, Maths and Free Writing alongside an online CEM test of verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning.

With regular comfort breaks (involving Princethorpe’s legendary cookies), as well as a hot meal provided in the middle of the day, the prospective pupils were well supported at every stage before being reunited with their parents at 3.45pm.

Comments, Melanie Butler, Assistant Head - Marketing, Admissions and Communications, "We played host to over 300 prospective pupils across four year groups which made it our largest ever exam session. Feedback from parents and candidates alike has been very favourable indeed, which bodes very well for next year's intake."

"The marking machine swung into action, even before candidates had left the building on Saturday and the Admissions Panel sat last week to decide on who will be joining us in September."

Over the last few days the top achieving academic scholars have been invited back to interview with the Headmaster and Assistant Head - Co-Curricular, Greg Hunter, has also been interviewing selected all-rounder scholars.

Results will be posted, first class on Thursday 30 November. The deadline for acceptances is Monday 5 March 2018.

Our thanks go to all the pupils, prefects, parents and staff who helped in the run up to the exams, on the day and, last but by no means least, those who helped mark the papers so efficiently.

Princethorpe College swimmers were making waves at the start of the month when they took part in the Midlands ISA Swimming Championships. Held at Walsall Baths on Thursday 2 November the super squad swam well across all the different disciplines. Competing against twenty schools from across the region, many of whom have their own dedicated school pool, the Girls’ team were delighted to finish in first place and win the Midlands Championships, the Boys’ team finished not far behind in a very creditable third place overall. These results mean that the College has qualified for the National Championships which will take place early next year, in January, at the prestigious London Aquatics Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The boys put in a solid performance across all the year groups with highlights that included Year 7 Harry Kelly coming 2nd in 25m Butterfly, the Year 7 boys taking 2nd in the Freestyle Relay and Year 8 Edward Sharpe coming 2nd in 25m Breaststroke. The Year 9/10 boys swam strongly to place second overall as a team, with Year 10 Toby Rigg taking 1st in 50m Freestyle in a time of 29.97 and Year 10 George Ward coming 2nd in 50m Breaststroke. The Year 9/10 boys also claimed 2nd in the Freestyle Relay and Medley Relay races.

For the girls, Year 8 Jess Mackenzie outclassed the competition winning both the Individual 25m Freestyle and 25m Butterfly races. Year 9 Lucia McCosker-New took 1st place by just 0.04 of a second in the Year 9/10 50m Freestyle and then claimed 2nd in the Year 9/10 Individual Medley. Year 10 Evie Nicholas was blisteringly fast to finish a clear three seconds ahead in the 50m Backstroke. The Year 9/10 girls also claimed 2nd overall for the Freestyle Relay and Medley Relay. For the Senior Girls Caitlin Newport was a clear 1st in the 50m Breaststroke whilst Jasmine Rigg took 2nd in the Individual Medley. The Year 11, 12 and 13 girls also finished 2nd in the Freestyle and Medley Relays. The Senior Girls and the Year 9/10 girls both won their groups overall.

Director of Sport, Neil McCollin commented, “These results are a fantastic achievement, the result of many long hours of training for our pupils with their swimming clubs. The ISA Championships are a superb opportunity for our swimmers to showcase their skills in the competitive school environment. Princethorpe is always a force in the water and I am looking forward to the National Championships early next year.”

Qualifying for the Nationals and pictured in the images are left to right:

Caitlin Newport, Jess Mackenzie, Toby Rigg

Lucia McCosker-New, Evie Nicholas

Princethorpe’s Youth Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) committee, who champion charitable efforts at the College, got the chance to meet inspiring Mary’s Meals founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE face to face in London on Thursday 9 November. The committee of Sixth Formers, accompanied by Rod Isaacs, Assistant Head of Sixth Form, travelled to Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church in Kensington for an evening celebrating the Catholic Truth Society’s 150th year of publishing, where Mr MacFarlane-Barrow was the keynote speaker.

During the evening the committee were given the opportunity to speak to Magnus and to tell him about the fundraising undertaken by the College. They were also lucky enough to listen to his speech, where Mr MacFarlane-Barrow explained how the life-changing charity came to be founded. He explained that he never set out or planned to create a charity, but how the idea just gradually came upon him.

Mary’s Meals has a mission to provide children with a meal every day and by so doing, to benefit their education. One of the main messages in Mr MacFarlane-Barrow’s speech was that measuring success should never just be purely based on statistics, that instead it’s really about helping as many people as possible, across the globe, that are in desperate need of food, to improve their education.

In his speech Mr MacFarlane-Barrow also talked about getting younger people involved, about trying to plant a seed in the minds of young people to encourage them to help organisations, like Mary’s Meals, continue their amazing work. It was a point that particularly resonated with the SVP committee who were then really delighted and honoured to receive a special mention from Magnus for the SVP’s and College’s fundraising efforts.

Sixth Former Erin Dunn-Morgan said, “All the SVP committee agreed this was an inspiring evening that helped to solidify why we fundraise for this incredible charity. We hope to continue the good work for the rest of this academic year and on in to our future as well.”

A link to the SVP committee’s fundraising page, where you can find out more about the work of the charity, is here:

https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/

Princethorpe College pupils Toby Convey and Tom Lomas, who are both in Year 7, are in final rehearsals for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s seasonal stage show A Christmas Carol which opens on Monday 27 November in Stratford-upon-Avon.

In the production Toby plays Bob Cratchit’s oldest son Peter, along with two other minor parts, and Tom plays his brother, Joe Cratchit, and a Caroller.

There has been no ‘bah humbug’ in the run up to the opening night, as excitement has been building for both boys. Toby Convey says, “Rehearsals have been great, to start with we had to travel to London twice a week and now we are rehearsing daily in Stratford.” Tom added, “I am really enjoying it and can’t wait for the shows to start.”

The production of Charles Dickens’ festive tale of redemption, compassion and charity features a number of well-known stars including Phil Davis (Quadrophenia, Vera Drake, Poldark and Riviera) who takes the lead as Scrooge and Gerard Carey (who has just finished Half a Sixpence in the West End) who plays the boys’ father, Bob Cratchit.

The Princethorpe schoolboys have worked together before, they were last seen playing Oliver and the Artful Dodger in their junior school, Crackley Hall’s Summer Spectacular at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington in June this year. 

Tickets for their performance are still available from https://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/

Crackley Hall School Celebrates ISI Inspection Report

Crackley Hall School in Kenilworth has received the highest possible ratings across all criteria from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) following an inspection in October 2017. The report, published today on the ISI website, consists of two elements, a focused compliance inspection, encompassing statutory standards, and an educational quality inspection evaluating pupils’ achievement, including their academic and personal development.

Headmaster, Robert Duigan, comments “We are thrilled with the report which is a real vote of confidence for everything we do at Crackley Hall. I am delighted that the hard work of pupils, teachers, support staff, parents and the wider school community has been so resoundingly acknowledged and the positive impact that a Crackley education has on our children’s lives has been recognised.”

Mr Duigan continues, “Being rated as ‘excellent’ in terms of both pupil achievement and personal development shows we are a leading prep school and demonstrates the incredible talent, commitment and professionalism of our staff and the outstanding attitude and approach of our pupils.”

During the inspection, the ISI inspectors observed that, ‘Pupils’ attitudes to learning are exceptionally positive. They are enthusiastic, curious and very supportive of each other’. The report also comments that, ‘Pupils from the Nursery onwards make excellent progress’, and ‘Pupils achieve excellent results’ in entrance exams for senior schools and ‘a high proportion gain scholarships for academic success, music, drama and sport’.

The contribution of a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular provision was also recognised with the inspectors impressed that, ‘Pupils achieve at a high level in sport, music, drama and art as a result of making the most of the very rich range of opportunities available to them.’

Pupils’ personal development was also judged as ‘excellent’ with inspectors recognising that ‘From an early age, pupils demonstrate a strong sense of right and wrong’. They judged that, ’The pupils’ social skills are exceptionally strong’, ‘behaviour in the school is exemplary’ and ‘At all levels they display genuine care and concern for each other’.

The ISI Inspectors also noted that, ‘As pupils leave the school, they are well-prepared for the next stage of their education and ready to take on their future challenges as capable, resilient and confident young people’.

Mr Duigan concludes, “At Crackley Hall we are committed to providing our pupils with an outstanding all-round education, instilling in our children life-long learning skills in addition to offering them excellent academic, sporting and creative opportunities. I am very proud that ISI Inspectors have so comprehensively recognised what we do.”

The ISI is the Government-approved body responsible for the inspection of independent schools and they consider every aspect of the provision. A copy of the full report is available from the ISI and the school websites.

Over the Michaelmas half term Princethorpe’s U15 Boys and U14 Girls hockey teams travelled to the Netherlands for the first leg of this year’s annual Hockey Tour. The exchange trip, organised by hockey coach Mr Dexter, is a regular item in the school’s calendar and over the years thousands of pupils have participated in this celebration of hockey, and enjoyed each other’s country, culture and company. 

The six-day tour had an early start on Saturday 14 October but that allowed for a stop off en route in the beautiful city of Bruges in Belgium, where pupils had the chance to explore the sights, wander along the river and of course taste the chocolate!  Then it was on to the De Hopbel Hockey Club where the tour party were greeted warmly and whisked away by their Dutch hosts to enjoy such family delights as traditional ‘sprinkle sandwiches’.

In addition to four days full of training and tour matches the pupils and their hosts managed to squeeze in plenty of fun. Highlights included, a six-man bike race around a local woodland, tasting local Dutch ‘croquet’ cuisine and a visit to explore the cobbled streets of local town Den Bosch.  

All the practice proved profitable, with the boys remaining unbeaten on tour, with results of 6-0, 7-2 and 7-0, and the girls’ team doing just as well with match results of 2-0, 0-2, 3-0 and 2-1. Princethorpe College was delighted to retain the Boys’ Cup and this time to win back the Girls’ Cup and, at the end of tour presentation, the team captains Alex Whitelaw and Anneliesa Douglas were pleased to accept them on behalf of all of the players.

Year 10, Oli Thomas said, “I will certainly remember this school trip for all the amazing memories it has given me. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I would like to thank the coaches and our Dutch hosts who helped us have such a fantastic time full of wonderful experiences.”

The College looks forward to once again welcoming our Dutch friends back to Princethorpe next May for the return leg of the tour.

Our thanks go to Mr Dexter and all of the staff involved in supporting and running the trip.

Please click on the team photo and scroll to the next image to view a short video from their tour. 

To read a tour report by Oli Tomas click here.

On Tuesday 14 November Princethorpe College’s Year 10 and 11 Drama pupils were treated to a day of devising with Sean Holland from the world acclaimed touring Theatre Company, Frantic Assembly. The company’s work includes collaboration with The National Theatre's acclaimed play, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time.

Frantic Assembly are at the cutting edge of the industry, with their bewitching blend of physicality, design and sound-tracking. The workshop followed on from pupils' recent enrichment visit to see the company’s latest production (a joint venture with the Australian State Theatre) Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell.

Aileen Cefaliello, Head of Drama, commented, “Sean worked the pupils hard physically and mentally. He pushed and challenged them to the very maximum, they used muscles I'm not sure they even knew existed!”

The workshop included devising techniques in creating stage imagery, stunning technical lifts and building narrative sequences.

Aileen continued, “It was heartening for the pupils to grasp that even professional theatre companies and actors venture on a journey of the unknown when devising and that the destination does not always need to be known when you are in the early stages of creating new original work. Trust, support, contact and human connection were the words of the day, there truly was nowhere to hide, I was even lifted to the heavens myself at one point!”

"It's great to work with young people that throw themselves (quite literally) into something new," Sean enthused, "each individual had a moment beyond their comfort zone and pushed through it to make some real gems of physical material. I look forward to coming back to work with the pupils again."