The Flagpole

It always impresses us just how much our pupils achieve in addition to their academic studies. So many regularly take part in co-curricular activities, managing the demands of training, competing, performing or even fundraising in addition to their busy school lives.

Assistant Head, Co-Curricular, Neil McCollin is keen to hear of pupils’ endeavours so that we can celebrate their commitment and dedication, so do please continue to share their news.

Over the summer holidays:

New Year 7 pupil, Amy Robinson, spent the summer cricket season playing for Warwickshire U11s playing against teams including Northamptonshire, Lancashire, Worcestershire to name a few. Her super summer of sport was rounded off with Amy being named ‘Player Of The Year’ and receiving the Warwickshire Bear Award. Amy was presented with her award by Laura MacLoed who is Director of Central Sparks and capped for England over 100 times.

Year 11, Alexander Hammond took part in the England Men’s Goalkeeping development Camp at the National Football Centre St George’s Park. The camp was an opportunity for a select few of England’s up and coming keepers to showcase and develop their skills under the guidance of FA England Head of Goalkeeping, Tim Dittmer and Sam Meek, with a view to being selected to play for the National Squad.

Three Princethorpe pupils made this summer’s Futures Cup tournament run by England Hockey. The pupils all train at Performance Centres and were selected to play in one of the six squads that compete in the Future Cup competition. England Hockey’s national age group coaches attend the tournament to select for the England U16 and U18 squads. Lower Sixth Formers, Evie Phillips and Lara Tripp-Smith played for Mercia Lynx U17 squad and Year 11, Tom Hollis made the Mercia Lynx U15s team.

Good luck also to Year 10, Harriet Boyd who is competing in an international mounted games competition this weekend.

Well done to them all.

Princethorpe College is offering pupils the opportunity to take part in the Salters’ Institute Chemistry Club, an online, interactive learning platform for 11-14-year-olds. The Chemistry Club aims to demystify chemistry and showcase the breadth and depth of chemistry as a subject and future career.

Providing daily new and engaging content on topics that involve chemistry including: Medicine, Cosmetics, Emotions, Oceans and the Environment, the platform offers pupils the opportunity to grow their independent knowledge and interest in the subject.

Teacher of Chemistry, Jo Smith, comments, "The Salters’ Chemistry Club aims to increase the accessibility of chemistry for young learners at the start of their secondary education, a time when chemistry is perhaps not on their radar. It is a great tool that promotes independent learning and offers additional subject knowledge and support in a fun and engaging way. We will be introducing the club to pupils in the classroom and through our STEAM initiative."

Anyone interested in finding out more should visit https://salterschemistryclub.co.uk/register to register.

The Co-curricular calendar has started very well this term, so many thanks to all the pupils who are attending the activities and the parents who are supporting this; staff are thrilled to have the numbers. We have had to make some further tweaks to the programme so please find attached here the most up to date Co-curricular programme. This version now supersedes the printed version in the calendar and is also available on the MySchoolPortal Princethorpe - Co-curricular page. The major changes are: 

• Beginners Archery is now full with new places being available in the Trinity term; 
• Photography will start after half-term with Miss Plenderleith;
• After no climbing last year, this club has been inundated with interest. If pupils wish to be added to the rota please see Mr Bower as he is organising a 6 week rotation of sessions for pupils to join;
• Table tennis will start in the Lent term; 

Following Mr Hester's letter in Friday 10 September, you will be aware that Year 8 and 10 have had to pause their competitive fixtures against other schools. This has now been extended to Year 9 as well. This will be reviewed at regular intervals and an internal programme will be put in place until we are able to continue with our competitive fixture list for these age groups.

For all sporting information, please use www.princethorpesport.co.uk or MySchoolPortal to know when the fixtures are, their venues and whether pupils have been selected. This term pupils must continue to arrive in school in full Princethorpe sports kit on the days when they have their Games afternoons.  

Neil McCollin
Assistant Head - Co-Curricular

Please click on this link to view the DofE Parents’ Information Evening video, information booklet and enrolment form on MySchoolPortal.

The deadline for enrolment is Friday 15 October (half term).  Please complete the form and submit the £50 deposit as soon as possible.  Instructions regarding payment of the deposit can be found at the back of the Information Booklet. I will be in contact after half term to explain the next steps and hand out course materials.

Here is a reminder of the eligibility criteria: 

Award Stage        Age Requirement 
Bronze                  Year 9 
Silver                    Year 10 
Gold                     16 years old (must be in the Sixth Form) 

Will Bower 
Head of Outdoor Education – DofE Manager 

Please continue to prioritise signing off your volunteering, physical and skill sections.  Many have already completed their award in full.  Guidance can be found on a DofE Completion email sent to you and your parents, the advice documents below are also available on MySchoolPortal.

For help, please refer to this eDofE Completion Guide and the Electronic Assessor Report Guide. You may also find it useful to refer to the Temporary Changes Summary or Gold Temporary Changes Summary documents.

The Y10 Bronze eDofE lunchtime drop-in clinic continues this week on Thursday 1305 in LG01.  The Y11 Silver clinic will start next week.   I will aim to hold the Certificate Presentation Evening in February 2022.  However,  the final deadline for completion for those aiming to move from bronze to silver is October half term, for those stopping at bronze it is Christmas.

The postponed Bronze Group B Qualifying Expedition will take place on Saturday 25 8.30am - Sunday 26 September, 5pm.  I am very much looking forward to seeing group B out on their final expedition.

Will Bower 
Head of Outdoor Education – DofE Manager