The Flagpole

For the start of this half term an updated Bus Briefing document was published. We are continually monitoring the routes and seeking to make improvements to the services we provide. In particular we want our pupils to arrive at school in good time to ensure that they make the best possible start to the day. To facilitate this, we have revised the timings on five routes by approximately five minutes - the routes affected are: the S1, S3 (temporary change due to ongoing roadworks), S5, S10 and S12.

Click here to see the updated Bus Briefing.

In addition, we have added new bus stops to the following routes, the S2, S5, S10 and S12.  Typically, these additions are at the beginning or end of the route and do not affect other timings.

We hope that these changes will be well received and make for a more positive start to the school day.

We will continue to monitor all routes and will make further amendments if or when required.

If you have any queries please contact the bus team at buses@princethorpe.co.uk.

Mrs Gill Price
Buses Team 

With the cold weather setting in, just a reminder that school jumpers are available from the School Shop.  The school jumper for girls is red in Years 7 and 8 and green for Years 9 to 11.  The boys' school jumper is black.  Sixth Form students wear a plain dark coloured jumper.

Written permission from home is needed to add items to the school fee account.  Cash, cheque or card payments are of course welcome.

Nicola Browne
Uniform and School Shop Manager

The College takes the safety of pupils, staff and visitors very seriously and we have taken various measures to minimise the risk of an accident involving a vehicle.  Please take care when driving on campus particularly at busy times such as the start and end of the business day. In particular please do not stop and let passengers alight on the road in the playground, this causes traffic to build up and is unsafe.

In the morning we would highly recommend that those travelling by car endeavour to be on site before 8.20am to avoid getting caught up in the arrival of the buses.

For busy times we usually have staff managing traffic on site and all drivers are asked to co-operate and to follow instructions.  Our aim is to make it safe and as easy as possible for everyone.

The College has updated its risk assessment on the management of traffic on site to ensure the safety of pedestrians and vehicle which you will find here.  Parents are asked to review this document and to discuss with their children, how to keep safe.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar

Please see below our current vacancies:

• Foundation Director of Sport
• Teacher of Latin - part-time
• Teacher of Mathematics
• Graduate Sports Coach (2020-2021 academic year)

Full details and how to apply are available via the following link: Join Us

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.

In the light of last week's flooding in the local area it might be helpful for everyone to be familiar with the arrangements should there be significant rain or snowfall. Where possible and if it’s safe to do so, we always remain open, even if we have to end the school day earlier than usual.

Should there be bad weather overnight, we talk to the bus companies a little before 6.00am and they brief us about their ability to operate our services. The Headmaster then makes a decision about whether the school will open.

Information will be available via the channels detailed below:

• The home page of the website www.princethorpe.co.uk will normally be updated shortly after 6.00am.
• We will also post on the College Twitter page @PrincethorpeCol and Facebook Page www.facebook.com/PrincethorpeCollege shortly after 6.00am.
• If there is likely to be disruption we will send text messages to parents’ mobiles and the mobiles of pupils who use the buses, usually by 6.30am. Please note that we are not able to receive text replies on this service. 

If you want to look online at reliable weather forecasting, then www.weather.co.uk and www.metcheck.com are both sites which we use. In the case of flooding, then www.environment-agency.gov.uk is also useful. If you look under Flood and then use the river search word Leam, that will give you a good idea of the conditions around Princethorpe and the surrounding villages.

Usually, website updates are made in the course of the day, but if the school is likely to remain closed for a further day the same process will take place on the second and subsequent days. Should we have to close in the course of the day we will send text messages to let you know arrangements.

Where possible, we will make sure that our main number 01926 634200 is staffed or carries a recorded message.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar