The Flagpole

As we come towards the end of another very busy term, I would like to thank you all for your support. With the significant number of children and staff affected by sickness, combined with the sharp cold spell, I think we are very ready for our Christmas break.

The run up to Christmas is always special in a school and this year we have enjoyed our excellent PTA Christmas Fair, the College Feast Day with House Singing Competition, the wonderful adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Christmas Lunch, Christmas Quiz, Christmas Jumpers, Christmas Service and our rousing final community Carol Singing in the Sports Hall – always a great way to end the term.

Lime Walk News
On a sad note over the Christmas holidays, following inspections by independent tree specialists and Rugby Borough Council, we will be starting a removal of some of the Lime trees along the Lime Walk.

The trees, which date back to the early days of St Mary’s Priory, are aged around 150 years and have reached the end of their natural lifespan and there are signs of disease developing. The removal of some of these unhealthy trees will unfortunately compromise the remaining trees, which will ultimately lead to the phased removal of all the trees along the avenue over a period of time. 

We know that this news will be upsetting to the Princethorpe community as the Limes are a much loved and integral part of the Princethorpe skyline. However, a planned programme of replanting will begin elsewhere on the campus to commemorate the trees and the part they have played in the school’s rich history. Plans for landscaping and improving the area for school use will be shared as soon as they become available.

Parental Survey
An enormous thank you to all parents who completed our recent survey – I know you invested a significant amount of time in this and it is hugely appreciated. I have included the overall satisfaction ratings for the main sections in the appendix to this letter, which can be viewed here; these were calculated by looking at each statement and looking at the % who “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with each statement, or rated a particular area as “good” or “very good”.

Whilst we would aim for 100%, we feel these scores are very positive generally – the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate (ISI) use 80% as a benchmark figure and the majority of ours were above 90%.

Notwithstanding this, I and the Senior Leadership Team have read through each and every comment. We have put them into categories and will be drawing up action plans as appropriate next term and will bear these comments in mind in our communications with you and as areas to further develop. One of the drawbacks of course to making the survey anonymous is that we can’t feedback to you individually on the specific points raised.

There are a few specific areas I would like to comment on:

Parents’ Evenings – whilst a number of parents feel strongly that they would like to move these back to face-to-face, when we polled parents last term, a clear majority (72%), preferred to keep them on-line.

Uniform – again whilst some parents feel very strongly that there should be some major changes, only 7% of parents wanted a major review of uniform. In the Sixth Form, whilst some felt there should be a specific uniform (8%) – the vast majority wanted to keep the ‘dress code’ approach, which we do review on an annual basis.

Food – one of our lowest ratings was the “quality of food” with a 72% satisfaction rate. Reading the feedback, a lot of parents commented on the fact that whilst there are good healthy options, their children were choosing less healthy options too regularly, which the on-line payment system highlights. This is something we will think carefully about, discuss with Holroyd Howe and create a parent focus group to help us look at.

Reporting – the statement “I feel well informed about my child's performance and progress” had an 85% satisfaction rate, but there were a number of comments on this. We are currently reviewing the school’s reporting policy and again, next term will be asking parents to join a focus group so we can pick your brains as to the sorts of things you would like to see.

Parental Involvement – there was a very good number of parents who would like to offer their help, which is really encouraging. Thank you! Of course, the survey was undertaken anonymously so sadly we don’t know who you are, we will therefore follow this up with a specific parental involvement questionnaire in the New Year.

Pupil Survey
As you may know within the last few weeks, we also conducted a major pupil survey whereby each pupil gave feedback on all of their subjects. I have fed back to the pupils in an assembly, but again we were very happy with the feedback. Some key overall results were:

• 88% of pupils agreed/strongly agreed “lessons are enjoyable”
• 93% of pupils agreed/strongly agreed “I feel well supported by my teacher”
• 88% of pupils agreed/strongly agreed “I have a good relationship my teacher”

On the ICT front there were only 8% pupils who disagreed that “using my device helps my learning” which was very encouraging as we move towards having all pupils with laptops after Christmas.

Of course, we have been able to drill down into the data to look at individual subjects, classes, and teaching groups and compare boys, girls and the different year groups responses. This allows us to focus our efforts where extra help or support is required. Again, all the pupils' comments will be read by the senior team and heads of department – with over five and a half thousand responses this is an enormously important aspect of us listening to and hearing the “student voice”.

Digital Wellbeing Survey
Enormous thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response to my letter last week on this hugely important area. There will be more information regarding further support for parents in the New Year.

Staff News
At the end of term, we say thank you and goodbye to Madeline Hughes who has taken a maternity cover in the English department for Jess Proudlock, who is now returning. Many thanks too to Miranda Kihlstrom, one of our amazing estates team who work so hard to ensure the school can look after all our pupils safely. We also say goodbye and thank you to Karen O’Connor, our Assistant Librarian – Karen has quietly been a real stalwart helping and support children and staff in this key area of the school for the past nine years.

In other staff news, following changes within the Learning Support team earlier this term, we look forward to welcoming Natasha Warwood as our new Head of Learning Support and SENCo at the start of the Lent term.

Natasha joins us with a wealth of experience from Bilton School in Rugby, where she has worked for 23 years as a Teacher of PE and SENCo.  

As we all know, it has been a demanding term in many ways and we all need to try to take advantage of the holiday to find time to rest, recuperate and re-charge our batteries. Particularly for those involved in the summer public examinations, next term will fly by; our pupils have had much support and guidance regarding how to structure their revision and studies at this time and I know parents of Year 11 and Upper Sixth will be keen to ensure there is a good balance of work, rest, play and quality family time over the Christmas holiday period.

And finally….
I’m not sure how many letters I have written as Head of Princethorpe… but this is definitely my last one as I move to take up my new position as Foundation Principal. Many thanks for the messages of goodwill that have been sent in and gifts – that is very kind. One of my key initial tasks, alongside steering us through the ongoing choppy waters, will be to develop and start delivering a strategic vision and plan that takes the Princethorpe Foundation forward over the next ten years or so and I will be sharing this with all parents in due course.

I have spent some considerable time with Grove du Toit this term to ensure he will be able to settle into his new role as Head of Princethorpe College as quickly as possible. He really is first-class, and I am really excited to be handing over to him, twinged with a little sadness of course as I have been very fortunate to have loved my time here as Head.

Very best wishes to all our families for Christmas and the New Year and a final thank you on a personal note for the support that you have given and continue to give to the College.

Ed Hester
Headmaster