The Flagpole

All pupils should know the date and time for their upcoming speaking exam. They must check with their MFL teacher if they have forgotten. The same rules about GCSE and A-level exam attendance apply. It will be very difficult to rearrange within the permitted speaking exam window. It is therefore essential that pupils check with parents that no medical appointments etc are scheduled at the same time. 

All speaking exams are conducted internally, recorded digitally and then sent to the exam board to be externally assessed. For iGCSE it is worth 40 marks and comprises 25% of the qualification. For A-level it is worth 72 points and comprises 30% of the qualification.

Any issues please contact Stella Keenan at stellakeenan@princethorpe.co.uk

In the week before May half-term (Monday 23 to Friday 27 May) we will be conducting an internal examination week. For this period pupils will not be in normal lessons but will instead be using the time to revise and to take a series of assessments across their subjects. All year groups will continue to have their Games afternoon during this period.

For Lower Sixth students and Year 10 pupils we will be using the opportunity to begin preparations for public examinations next summer, helping them to become familiar with the formality of examinations and to have a taste of an examination hall environment, alongside any individual exam access arrangements. In order to allow for multiple papers, Lower Sixth will start their examinations on Friday 20 May.

For Years 7 to 9 the experience will be less formal and papers will be shorter in length, with pupils working in classrooms throughout and engaging in practical Art and Technology sessions. Their assessments will provide the chance to revisit content and to demonstrate how much they have learnt this year.

All pupils should plan to revise in preparation for these assessments and will receive generic advice from the school alongside specific guidance from each subject. After half-term we will publish results and give feedback so that all pupils know how to improve in their future studies.

Arctic Star by Tom Palmer

Based on a true story set in the Arctic at the time of the Second World War, this action-packed novel gives the reader a vivid picture of what the crew went through, and how they kept going.

Arctic Star features three young friends who are Royal Navy recruits, and follows them on the perilous journeys they make escorting merchant vessels across the Arctic, delivering supplies to the Russians. The sea is wild and treacherous, icy cold, and they are hunted through the waters by German battleships, planes and submarines. Faced with terrifying enemy attacks from both air and sea, as well as life-threatening storms, will all three boys make it home again?

There is a huge amount of information and atmosphere in this short book, and the climax of the story is the deadly battle between HMS Belfast and the Scharnhorst, which will have readers on the edge of their seats, but full of compassion and sympathy for all the men caught up in this terrifying field of war. It wasn’t until 2013 that the men who served on the Arctic Convoys in WW2 were properly honoured for their bravery.

Year 7 have been reading Tom Palmer’s book After the War during their English class library sessions and will get the chance to meet him when he visits Princethorpe on Thursday 12 May.

Exams Summer 2022

Individual exam timetables can now be viewed on My School Portal by parents and pupils under the heading Exam Timetable; room allocations will appear nearer the time.

Exam clashes have been adjusted for most pupils and these are now showing on the portals. For any questions about your summer exams please email examinations@princethorpe.co.uk or pupils can come and speak to the Exams Office staff in Room S38 on Upper Pugin.

Shellagh Dodds
Examination and Assessment Manager

Pupils and parents in Year 8 are reminded that the following textbook needs to be returned to their Science teacher by Friday 10 June 2022:

Year 8 - Smart Science textbook.

If a textbook has been lost, a charge will be made for this book.