The Flagpole

The start of work to create a brand-new state-of-the-art Science Centre at Princethorpe College was officially marked with a turf cutting ceremony.

The new building situated on the College campus to the north of The Limes building, will house ten laboratories, serving Biology, Chemistry and Physics teaching at the school. It will ultimately transform the College’s entire campus allowing other areas to be redeveloped and departments clustered within the main school building.

The turf cutting took place on Tuesday 1 March with the Headmaster, Ed Hester, and incoming Heads of School, Pratheesh Prabakaran and Freya Mills, donning hard hats and hi-vis jackets to perform the official ground-breaking ceremony. They were joined by Trendgrey Construction Ltd MD Nick Henderson, Foundation Assistant Head, Alex Darkes, Chair of the Old Princethorpians Association, Peter Rollason and long-standing VSOP, Mary Wheildon.

The new £8 million Science Centre is due for completion in mid-2023, ready for opening at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year. Trendgrey Construction moved onto site just over a week ago and have already established a large self-contained compound and the access road for the construction traffic at the back of the tennis courts in preparation for the real work commencing.

Comments Ed Hester, Headmaster, "The start of the construction work marks a key milestone for the College. This new building will provide cutting edge, state-of-the-art Science facilities and help inspire future generations of Princethorpe scientists, engineers, researchers, chemists, doctors and more. In a demanding world, where scientific progress is essential, we need to provide the very best facilities for teaching and learning to stimulate the intellect, ambition and creativity of our pupils. This tremendous new building will enable us to do just that."

Adds Alex Darkes, Foundation Assistant Head and Project Manager, "After years of planning this is a very exciting day for us all here at Princethorpe. It won’t be long before we start to see some big changes on site as Princethorpe’s vision for the future starts to become a reality."

Staff and pupils have had a great time celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 3 March. One of the English department and Library's highlights of the year, it is always a great opportunity to share the joy of books.

At Tutor Time the whole school community took part in a ‘Drop Everything And Read Challenge’ including Mr Hester, Headmaster, whose book of choice was Bob Mortimer’s autobiography And Away. In their form rooms pupils pulled out their favourites and settled down to read.

At Lunch there was the Big Book Swap outside the Refectory where pupils could choose from a selection of donated books to take away to read.

Across the day Year 7 and 8 pupils received a free book, Boy Missing by Sophie McKenzie or The Last Word by Ben Bailey Smith, their special World Book Day gifts were given out during their English lessons. This week pupils have also been enjoying a Tutor Time World Book Day quiz.

Of course, the book fun doesn’t stop there, as the College has a regular pupils’ book club that meets weekly to swap stories and share news of their favourite authors alongside a custard cream or two. Then there is the Library’s Book of the Month, this March it is The Crossing by Manjeet Mann, providing a regular insight into different authors for readers across the school community. Parents can even get in on the act by coming along to, Head of English, Mr Kerrigan’s Parents Reading Group that meets monthly in library. They are currently enjoying The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak.

We had a busy day but everyone enjoyed World Book Day.

Following a rigorous selection process Princethorpe College is delighted to announce the new Heads of School. Our congratulations go to Freya Mills and Pratheesh Prabakaran who will take on these senior roles after the Easter holidays.

Competition for the positions of Heads of School was fierce, and Freya and Pratheesh were appointed after taking part in a series of tasks and presentations and an interview with Headmaster, Ed Hester, and Head of Sixth Form, Ben Collie.

The positions of Heads of School are the most senior student roles in the College, they are the leaders of our pupil community and provide an important link between pupils and staff.

Reacting to the news of their appointment Freya said, “I am delighted to have been chosen for the role of Head of School. I feel honoured to have the opportunity to represent the student body and I am excited by the prospect of the work we can do.”

Pratheesh added, “It is a privilege to be selected as Head of School. I am really looking forward to working alongside Freya with the wider Prefect Body. Both of us are excited to use our roles to implement positive change.”

The full Prefect team will be announced shortly, and the Prefect Inauguration will take place on the last day of term, Tuesday 5 April. The Prefects will begin their new roles after the Easter break.

Our Sixth Formers play an ambassadorial role within the school and at high profile public events such as Open Days and Entrance Exams, led by the Prefect team they act as role models for the wider school community.

The Oxford University Computing Challenge is an invitational event for those who finish in the top 10% of the UK Bebras Challenge. Both challenges test skills such as logical thinking, pattern identification and decomposition as well as computer programming. The challenge encourages pupils to develop their skills one stage further and consists of a range of tasks and programming challenges to solve.

Year 8 pupil, Daniel Ovens Gibbs competed in the Intermediate section this year against just over 6,650 pupils who had qualified for this year’s competition. Daniel finished in the top 3%, achieving a Distinction grade for his submission. A simply super result, especially considering that Daniel was up against pupils in Year 8 and Year 9.

Head of Computer Science, Adam Depledge said, “This is a fantastic achievement by Daniel. Computational thinking is an incredibly useful and powerful skill and Daniel has shown he has mastered it to a level well beyond his years. Daniel’s score was well over twice the average, and that was against the most talented pupils studying Computer Science. It’s great to see his abilities recognised in such a prestigious competition and we look forward to seeing what he can accomplish in the future.”

Year 8 were out planting trees on Wednesday 2 March as part of their Outdoor Education lessons as they work towards the John Muir Discovery Award. In the morning 8TY were busy digging holes for new beech trees down on the front drive. They measured and marked where the trees were to be planted, then lifted the turf, dug the holes and carefully manoeuvred the 4-year-old trees into position. In the afternoon 8TX carried on the wet and muddy work.

Outdoor Education and the John Muir Discovery Award are new additions to the Year 8 timetable this year. The conservation award is a recognised scheme that encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment and over the course of the year pupils have been participating in different activities, enjoying discovering and exploring Princethorpe’s green landscape.

Over 220 pupils, parents, invited guests and staff gathered together on Thursday 17 February for the College’s annual Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Celebration Evening.

2020-21 had been a challenging year for Outdoor Education, what with the pandemic restrictions and two years of expeditions to complete. Working within the DofE temporary expedition flexibilities, by the end of the year 363 pupils, some 40% of the school population, had completed their qualifying expeditions, an incredible achievement. Completing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a big undertaking, with the Gold Award taking at least 450 hours of commitment. Across the school, Princethorpe’s pupils had shown initiative, personal discipline, and good humour in order to get to the finish line.

Will Bower, Head of Outdoor Education, began the evening by summarising the last year, speaking about the positive impact exposure to the outdoors has on us all. He spoke about the College’s commitment to Outdoor Education and the variety of activities pupils take part in, from orienteering and climbing to the programme of walks and new initiatives such as the John Muir Award, as well as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards scheme. He talked about the legacy of the Duke of Edinburgh and how he hoped that the Duke would have been pleased with pupils tenacity over the last challenging year.

Then the College was delighted to welcome special guest, Alan Stapleton from 10:10 Ventures, an experienced outdoor instructor to help celebrate pupils’ achievements. In a passionate speech Alan spoke of the value of outdoor education, what it has taught him and the impact it has had on his life.

The evening also offered a chance to thank all the staff and students whose commitment makes Outdoor Education here at Princethorpe such a success, including Simon Robertson, Assistant DofE Co-ordinator, and the DofE Ambassadors, Ciaran, Ben, Ishbel, Emily, Jack and Joe who have taken a leading role in promoting, guiding and mentoring DofE participants at Princethorpe. They have been fantastic in helping younger pupils to select their activities and complete their awards.

Across the evening, pupils were presented with their Bronze, Silver and Gold Award Certificates to mark the completion of their Awards.

Also in attendance on the night were Richard Lea from our expedition partners, Peak Pursuits, and David Arundal from DofE Central Office. We were delighted they were able to join us in celebrating pupils’ achievements.

Thanks also go to the wider school staff for their help and support of pupils taking the awards. Last year 48 teachers volunteered a combined 200 days on expeditions alone, not counting all the hours put in by the wider community of staff.

Head of Outdoor Education, Will Bower, commented, “The Awards celebration was a positive and fun evening and superb opportunity to get together to celebrate the achievements of our young people. I am staggered by the breadth of their endeavour to do their Awards and do them well! The DofE temporary changes allowed pupils to help out those close to them, and this was a brilliant response to the restrictions of the pandemic. Allowing new section ideas that could be completed at home, or online made an enormous difference, enabling so many to continue with their award. I hope pupils have enjoyed the challenge and that their experiences will serve as a steppingstone to future endeavours.”

There is still time for anyone who has not quite completed their award to get it finished. Pupils are encouraged to attend the Tuesday lunchtime eDofE drop-in clinics for help.

More than half of the Elements for Princethorpe’s new Science Centre have already been snapped up by generous benefactors, who will now see their name engraved on an element in the striking Periodic Table display situated upstairs on the first floor.

At a projected cost of £8 million, the College is committed to raising a proportion of the funds needed for the new Science Centre through fundraising. There are many ways for individuals to get involved, from smaller donations for names on a Brick, Periodic Element or Paver to more significant donations for naming equipment and laboratories. The aim is for the Princethorpe community to join together to make the vision for Science a reality, regardless of the size of your support.

The Periodic Table Elements are proving to be a popular choice, but there are still plenty available. Why not choose one for your family? Or a Brick or a Paver to leave your mark on Princethorpe College for generations to come.

For more information, and to take advantage of this one-off opportunity, please visit the school website here or contact the Development office at makingadifference@princethorpe.co.uk. Donations can be paid over a period of months please contact the Development Office for more information.

Princethorpe College pupils and staff were invited to mark the beginning of Lent in a series of Ash Wednesday services, on Wednesday 2 March. Held virtually at Tutor Time and then in person in the Chapel at lunchtime, the services offered an opportunity for contemplation and reflection.

Father Alan Whelan, MSC, led the services, reminding us that Lent is a time for Christians to reflect, pray, fast and think about others, and that an overriding theme to Lent is the importance of forgiveness. He spoke about the period of Lent and how the 40 days is a time for Christians to reflect and put their faith into practice asking, ‘What are you going to do for this season of Lent?’