Letter From The Headmaster
Having ended the Half Term in gale force winds we were, I am sure, all looking forward to a good Half Term break and a continued receding of Covid cases and measures. Despite the ongoing tensions, not many would have anticipated the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has, of course, dominated much of our thoughts recently and it is an anxious time for us all. We started the week with a whole school assembly when I discussed some of the details of what is happening and we prayed for the people of Ukraine, for all those caught up in conflict and for the world leaders to do all they can to resolve this terrible situation. We have shared some useful resources with our staff and tutors have had discussions with tutees this week – whilst we do not want to overly dwell on the conflict (and there are so many other positive things going on at school) we do also need to allow pupils the time and space to discuss and share their feelings.
I thought it may be useful to share some ideas with parents about:
How to talk to your children about the Ukraine/Russia conflict
Parents and teachers up and down the country, and indeed the world, will likely be facing similar questions at home from their children concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Questions like: What is the war about? Why are Russia and Ukraine fighting? I'm scared there will be war in our country, will that happen? Is this the start of World War Three? What can you do to help Ukraine? – are likely to be common.
These are questions none us may have expected to have to answer and may not have a good reply for. Naturally, we want to protect our children from the horrors happening in Ukraine but we also have a duty as parents to educate them about the realities of life.
So what do we say to our children about the conflict?
What information should we give them and how much information is too much? There's a fine line between educating and frightening children in this situation, and a big difference in what you tell a five-year-old to a 12-year-old.
Leading Child Psychologist Dr Alison McClymont and Dr Jane Gilmour, Consultant Clinical Psychologist Great Ormond Street Hospital, recently gave their responses to a national magazine.
I have summarized their advice here and recommend it to you. If you have any concerns or queries about any of this, please do contact the school.
Collection of Donations to Help the People of Ukraine
Watching the situation unfold leaves us all feeling powerless to help and so I am delighted that, via Mrs Hardware in school, we are helping a local organisation who are sending out a lorry next week to Ukraine and we are asking for donations to support those caught up in the war.
We are asking for donations to be in the following three specific categories that are already in very short supply:
1. Foodstuffs: Dried foodstuff eg Cup a Soups, tinned food.
2. Toiletries: Toothpaste and toothbrush, bodywash, wet wipes, tissues, shower gel, nappies, sanitary products.
3. Clothing: Balaclavas, thermal vests/pants, socks, tights, snoods, fingerless mittens and gloves.
How to donate
If you are able to donate, please send in any of the above items, bagged up, with your children in the morning or bring them at the 4.00pm collection by car. This should be done on Tuesday 8 March and Wednesday 9 March only, with the items being taken to the Sports Hall.
Moving on to other matters, the second set of mocks for GCSE and A-level have gone well this week and it is another very busy half term in the run up to Easter. I am delighted to announce that we have appointed our new Heads of School – Freya Mills and Pratheesh Prabakaran – who will the lead the Prefect Body who will be appointed over the next couple of weeks and we are looking forward to getting the whole school together for the first time (indoors) in over two years for our Prefect Inauguration Ceremony on Tuesday 5 April.
Sleep
Having done quite a bit of research on sleep and its impact on both adults and our pupils, we are certain that for a significant proportion of the Princethorpe community, their physical and mental health and wellbeing would be improved with better sleep patterns.
Along with Paula Greig, our Senior Matron, I presented a talk on this key subject on Wednesday to highlight some of the key issues. If you were unable to attend the talk live, it has been recorded and you can watch it here – it lasts for about 30 minutes.
We will be following this up in school with the pupils by collecting and sharing some key data in presentations.
Staffing Changes
You will be aware that over the past two year a number of staff have contracted COVID and some, sadly, have had longer term health problems as a result. One of these is Anna Fennell-McLoughlin, a wonderful teacher in the Modern Foreign Languages Department. She has been absent from school now for well over a year a half and sadly has recently taken the difficult decision to resign from Princethorpe. We thank Anna for the great work she undertook and the really positive impact she made on the whole Princethorpe community and we wish her well for the future.
Simon Robertson has also been adversely affected by COVID recently and after a period of reflection has decided to step down as Head of More House to aid his recovery and wellbeing. Simon – who continues as a Biology teacher - has been a key pastoral leader at Princethorpe for twelve years and was previously Head of Year 10 and Year 11 before leading More into the new phase of vertical tutoring. We thank Simon on behalf of the huge number of parents and children who have benefited from his support. We are currently recruiting Simon’s replacement and hope to be able to announce the new Head of More within the next two weeks.
It was so good to see Year 8 and Year 9 parents in school on Thursday for the 360 Review Evenings and workshops and I would like to thank all parents for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Questions like: What is the war about? Why are Russia and Ukraine fighting? I'm scared there will be war in our country, will that happen? Is this the start of World War Three? What can you do to help Ukraine? – are likely to be common.
These are questions none us may have expected to have to answer and may not have a good reply for. Naturally, we want to protect our children from the horrors happening in Ukraine but we also have a duty as parents to educate them about the realities of life.
So what do we say to our children about the conflict?
What information should we give them and how much information is too much? There's a fine line between educating and frightening children in this situation, and a big difference in what you tell a five-year-old to a 12-year-old.
Leading Child Psychologist Dr Alison McClymont and Dr Jane Gilmour, Consultant Clinical Psychologist Great Ormond Street Hospital, recently gave their responses to a national magazine.
I have summarized their advice here and recommend it to you. If you have any concerns or queries about any of this, please do contact the school.
Collection of Donations to Help the People of Ukraine
Watching the situation unfold leaves us all feeling powerless to help and so I am delighted that, via Mrs Hardware in school, we are helping a local organisation who are sending out a lorry next week to Ukraine and we are asking for donations to support those caught up in the war.
We are asking for donations to be in the following three specific categories that are already in very short supply:
1. Foodstuffs: Dried foodstuff eg Cup a Soups, tinned food.
2. Toiletries: Toothpaste and toothbrush, bodywash, wet wipes, tissues, shower gel, nappies, sanitary products.
3. Clothing: Balaclavas, thermal vests/pants, socks, tights, snoods, fingerless mittens and gloves.
How to donate
If you are able to donate, please send in any of the above items, bagged up, with your children in the morning or bring them at the 4.00pm collection by car. This should be done on Tuesday 8 March and Wednesday 9 March only, with the items being taken to the Sports Hall.
Moving on to other matters, the second set of mocks for GCSE and A-level have gone well this week and it is another very busy half term in the run up to Easter. I am delighted to announce that we have appointed our new Heads of School – Freya Mills and Pratheesh Prabakaran – who will the lead the Prefect Body who will be appointed over the next couple of weeks and we are looking forward to getting the whole school together for the first time (indoors) in over two years for our Prefect Inauguration Ceremony on Tuesday 5 April.
Sleep
Having done quite a bit of research on sleep and its impact on both adults and our pupils, we are certain that for a significant proportion of the Princethorpe community, their physical and mental health and wellbeing would be improved with better sleep patterns.
Along with Paula Greig, our Senior Matron, I presented a talk on this key subject on Wednesday to highlight some of the key issues. If you were unable to attend the talk live, it has been recorded and you can watch it here – it lasts for about 30 minutes.
We will be following this up in school with the pupils by collecting and sharing some key data in presentations.
Staffing Changes
You will be aware that over the past two year a number of staff have contracted COVID and some, sadly, have had longer term health problems as a result. One of these is Anna Fennell-McLoughlin, a wonderful teacher in the Modern Foreign Languages Department. She has been absent from school now for well over a year a half and sadly has recently taken the difficult decision to resign from Princethorpe. We thank Anna for the great work she undertook and the really positive impact she made on the whole Princethorpe community and we wish her well for the future.
Simon Robertson has also been adversely affected by COVID recently and after a period of reflection has decided to step down as Head of More House to aid his recovery and wellbeing. Simon – who continues as a Biology teacher - has been a key pastoral leader at Princethorpe for twelve years and was previously Head of Year 10 and Year 11 before leading More into the new phase of vertical tutoring. We thank Simon on behalf of the huge number of parents and children who have benefited from his support. We are currently recruiting Simon’s replacement and hope to be able to announce the new Head of More within the next two weeks.
It was so good to see Year 8 and Year 9 parents in school on Thursday for the 360 Review Evenings and workshops and I would like to thank all parents for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Ed Hester
Headmaster
