The Flagpole

With just nine weeks to go, the countdown to the College's Entrance Exams for admission in September 2023 has begun. This year the exams for Year 7 to 10 entry will take place on Saturday 5 November from 9.00am to 4.00pm.

Our friendly Admissions Team have been kept busy over the summer accepting registrations from prospective parents. The deadline for registration is Friday 30 September, to enable the processing of applications and seeking of references from junior schools.

There are still plenty of opportunities for prospective pupils and their parents to visit the College before the Entrance Exams, including our Open Morning on Thursday 22 September from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Our Open Morning will allow prospective families to look around the school and experience school life. 

Our Year 6 Taster Days are also a great way for your prospective pupils to really experience Princethorpe. Our Taster Days typically involve four lessons, a question and answer session with some of our current pupils and the chance to talk to the Headmaster, Mr Hester.

We have three sessions available on Tuesday 13 September, Thursday 15 September and Tuesday 27 September for those who are in Year 6 and have not had the chance to attend a previous Taster Day.

All our events are by appointment. To book your place click here

If you have any queries relating to admissions please feel free to email the Admissions Team at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call them on 01926 634201/297.

Thanks to the hard work of the construction team and plenty of fine weather, work on Princethorpe’s new Science Centre continues to make great progress. The project has now reached week 26 of the build, so it is almost halfway through.

The College’s new Science Centre is situated at the top of The Lime Walk. Due to officially open in September 2023, the 10 teaching laboratories will provide state of the art science facilities for the next generation of pupils to come through our doors.

Work started back in mid-February, and by the end of the Trinity Term the steel framework was in place. Since then, Trendgrey Construction Limited’s dedication has helped the build make significant progress. A lot of the super structure brick work is now complete, particularly at the west end. Inside on the ground floor, the beam and block floor is laid and the partition walls are going up. The drainage works are finished, and the first fix of the electrical and mechanical works is underway. The rafters for the main roof are also being installed. Shortly, the roof trusses will be craned in and the focus then will be to get the building watertight.

In the first few weeks of term, pupils will be asked for their help in collating material for a time capsule that will be buried in the entrance hall of the new building and then we will be looking forward to the topping out ceremony.

As you can see in this latest time lapse clip, it’s all very exciting for us all here at Princethorpe!

https://vimeo.com/745816313/91a081ff71

Princethorpe College is celebrating another year of excellent exam results.

Out of a cohort of 127 students who completed their A-levels, BTEC and Extended Project Qualification this year, 45% of all A-level grades achieved were A* or A with overall 95% of grades at A* to C. Impressively, 34 high-flyers achieved three or more A*or A grades; special mention to Freya Caine, Sebastian Dibb, Caitlin Mason, Ben Scares and Ciaran Smith who all achieved four A*s.

At GCSE Princethorpe pupils also performed well, from a cohort of 127 pupils over half (54%) of all entries received the coveted 9, 8 or 7 grades and 39 Year 11 pupils achieved eight or more 9, 8 or 7 grades. There were many exceptional personal achievements, with stand-out performances from Oliver Llewellyn, Dina Parmenter, Amy Hogg, Joe Newborough, Harry Kelly and Daisy Southgate, who all achieved an outstanding seven or more grade 9s.

Ed Hester, Headmaster, commented, "We are delighted with the excellent results our Sixth Form students and Year 11 pupils have achieved against a backdrop of unprecedented challenges over the past two years. Their results reflect their hard work and perseverance, all credit goes to our pupils and staff for their commitment, collaboration and hard work."

He continued, "We are proud of their academic achievements, but all these pupils have many other fine qualities: kindness, respect and a strong sense of right and wrong, which will be tremendously important for them as they move on to the next phase of their lives. We congratulate them all on their well-deserved success."

Don’t miss your last chance to leave your mark on Princethorpe’s new Science Centre.

Most of the Elements for Princethorpe’s new Science Centre have 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. They have proved a popular choice, so why not choose one for your family? Or choose a Brick or a Paver to leave your mark on Princethorpe College for generations to come.

The College is committed to raising a proportion of the funds needed for the new Science Centre through fundraising. There are many ways in which individuals can get involved, from smaller donations for names on a Brick, Periodic Element or Paver to more significant donations for naming equipment and laboratories. It’s fantastic to see the Princethorpe community joining together to make the vision for Science a reality.

The closing date for donations is Friday 30 September so don’t miss out. 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.

At the start of the summer holidays six pupils competed for the Warwickshire Schools Team at the English Schools Athletics Championships. Then, Upper Sixth Former, Cameron McGregor, Lower Sixth Former, Lucy Randall, Year 9, André Onyekwe, Year 9, Olivia Monk, Year 8, Grace McCollin and Year 8, Penelope Jones travelled up to Manchester to compete in the event. 

It was such a fantastic achievement for these pupils just to be selected to compete, but to have six athletes reaching the standard was super exciting for us all here at Princethorpe College and we were proud to have had the most pupils ever to be selected from one school for the Warwickshire team.

The young athletes competed in the 400m, Javelin, High Jump, 100m, Hurdles and Long Jump respectively and we are delighted to share that Cam ran an outstanding race to claim the Gold medal in the 400m while André soared over the bar to also take Gold in the High Jump. Lucy also threw a personal best in the Javelin. We are hugely impressed with their commitment and dedication to their sports and are incredibly proud of them all. These young people really are up there with the top athletes in the country for their events and we are really looking forward to seeing them achieve more athletics success this school year.

Friday 2 September was an exciting day for the new Year 7 pupils who are joining Princethorpe College this academic year.

For this latest generation of Princethorpians, the Activity Day was all about meeting their new classmates, familiarising themselves with the layout of the school and getting a feel for the sorts of lessons they can expect. It was also a great opportunity to generally ask questions, allay any fears and ease their transition to secondary school.

Our incoming Year 7s arrived looking excited and a little bit nervous. During their action-packed day they participated in fun team building activities including a scavenger hunt, took part in Science or Technology lessons, a Year 7 Chorus rehearsal and enjoyed an afternoon Games lesson.

We saw plenty of smiling faces and it was clear that everyone was making new friends. It was a flying start to secondary school that will have helped them get ready for the beginning of the Michaelmas Term.

Princethorpe College is welcoming plenty of new faces this Michaelmas Term, as in addition to all its new pupils, the school also has a number of new staff members who are joining, or who have recently joined, the College.

Pictured here on their Induction Day our new staff enjoyed an informative and busy start to their time at Princethorpe. Together they bring a wealth of new experience to the school and we extend a very warm welcome to them all.

Joining the College teaching staff are:

Madeleine Hughes - Teacher of Endglish
Joe Jackson - Head of Boys’ Games
Ed Musson - Teacher of Computer Science
Megan McDonagh - Sports Coach
Gabor Toth - Teacher of Mathematics
Harry Walters - Teacher of PE and Games
Milly Hemmings - Learning Support Assistant
Georgia Newborough - Graduate Teaching Assistant

Joining as trainee teachers are:

Megan Harcourt - Trainee Teacher
Farah Khan - Trainee Teacher
Lucia Mander - Trainee Teacher
Chloe Smith - Trainee Teacher

Joining the College support staff are:

Anthony Bocking - Evening Caretaker
Dekk Brain - Senior Estates Technician
Sally Chadwick - Library Assistant
Chella Franklin - Academic Systems Co-ordinator
Molly Geehan - Marketing, Admissions and Communications Assistant
Catherine Lewis - Archivist
Claire Phillips-Gore - PA to the Deputy Head (Pastoral) and Pastoral Office Manager
Neil Wotton - Evening Caretaker
Sara Young - Health and Safety Manager

On the last Sunday of the Trinity Term over 40 Sixth Formers and 12 staff laced up their walking boots and took on the challenge of walking 24.7 miles for the charity Mary’s Meals.

Starting at the Queen’s Head Pub in Meriden they followed the official Coventry Way route for 17 miles to Ryton before finishing with an eight-mile loop back to Princethorpe College. Thankfully the weather remained clement on the day, so conditions were kind to our wonderful walkers.

First over the line was recent OP and Estates Assistant James Walker, completing the distance in seven hours on the dot, he was followed swiftly by Ben Hardy, George Landreth and Oscar Page. They were followed home by a procession of weary but jubilant walkers.

Organiser of the event and Assistant Head of Sixth Form, Mr Rod Isaacs, commented, “As always, there was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie along the route. Everyone was helping each other and keeping focused on the aim to raise as much money as possible for impoverished children around the world.”

Through the College’s fundraising, 622 children at Makalanga Primary School, in Malawi, are already receiving a daily meal in school each year.

Thanks to the generosity of so many, over the years Princethorpe College has raised well over £110,000 for Mary's Meals, from sponsored cycle rides and welly-wanging to cake sales and the PTA’s Burn’s Night Quiz, as well as our epic Sixth Form sponsored walks.

Thank you so much to all who walked and to everyone who has donated, it was a truly herculean effort Of course, with the start of a new school year, the fund raising begins once again and if you would like to help get us of to a good start then you can make a donation here.