The Flagpole

We are delighted to announce that Rebecca Iley has been appointed to the new role of Head of Business Services for The Princethorpe Foundation.

A qualified management accountant and teacher, Rebecca joins us from Activate Learning FE College Group in Banbury, where she has worked for the past ten years, most recently as Director of Business Engagement and Employability. She has also held positions within Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance for ten years.

She impressed the interview panel with the combination of her education and commercial experience and her ability to juggle an extensive work portfolio, alongside her busy family life and volunteering commitments, including being Director of Banbury Chambers of Commerce and Chair of Governors of a local Catholic primary school.

Rebecca is no stranger to the Foundation as her three children attend Princethorpe College in Years 7, 10 and Lower Sixth.

She will take on her new role in October, enabling a handover with Foundation Bursar, Eddie Tolcher, who is retiring in December, although he will continue to support the work of the Foundation.

Ed Hester, Foundation Principal, comments, “We were looking for someone with exceptional personal qualities and abilities, with a wide range of skills, who was aligned with our ethos, and we have found just that in Rebecca.

She came top of a very strong field of shortlisted candidates and the interview panel was unanimous in support of her. We are absolutely delighted that she has agreed to join us, and I am sure she will make a real impact in this new role, which will be instrumental in helping us deliver our strategic plan for the Foundation.”

Comments Rebecca, “I am thrilled to have been offered the role of Head of Business Services. To have the opportunity to be part of an educational Foundation that I truly believe in is both exciting and a great privilege and I look forward to working closely with Ed and the team.”

Princethorpe is celebrating after bringing home a bumper haul of 18 medals from the Independent Schools Association’s (ISA) National Track and Field Athletics Championships. The event was held on Monday 17 June at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Princethorpe took a team of 18 athletes from Years 7 to 11; the pupils had all qualified for the Nationals at the Regional Championships earlier in the season. It was an excellent opportunity for them to compete against high calibre opposition at a pre-eminent event.

Princethorpe’s medal haul included Gold medals in eight events. Grace McCollin stormed down the track to win both the Year 10/11 100m and 80m Hurdles in explosive times of 12.35 and 11.94 seconds respectively. Georgie Sowter took Gold for her fantastic throw of 26.58m in the Year 8/9 Javelin while Marisa Lumani claimed Gold in the Year 8/9 Shot with a super throw of 9.07m. Emily Divers won Gold in the Year 7 100m Sprint running the course in 13.74 seconds while Sophie Crawford took Gold after throwing 26.50m in the Year 7 Javelin.

Grace McCollin, Penelope Jones and Lauren Tebbatt helped the Midlands Year 10/11 Girls' Relay team finish first in the 4x100m Relay competition, earning themselves Gold medals. While Emily Divers and Ellie Gane were part of the winning Year 7 4x100m Relay team that also claimed Gold.   

Penelope Jones claimed a Silver medal in the Year 10/11 200m Sprint finishing in a super time of 26.82 seconds as did Sophie Crawford after throwing 7.83m in the Year 7 Shot.  

Penelope Jones earned herself a Bronze medal in the Year 10/11 Long Jump, jumping a fantastic 4.57m. Then, Lauren Tebbatt threw 24.96m in the Year 10/11 Javelin to win Bronze, while Louis Reynolds claimed a Bronze in the Year 8/9 80m Hurdles, running 12.56 seconds. Ava Sheppard threw 15.56m in the Year 7 Discus to earn herself a Bronze medal while Rufus Jones threw 26.18m in the Year 7 Javelin for Bronze.  

A number of pupils only just missed out on medals after finishing in fourth place.

Foundation Director of Sport, Lee Cassell, was delighted commenting, “A huge well done to all of our athletes for an excellent performance. They responded so well to the top-class competition they faced. Their tenacity, determination, good humour and camaraderie made for a fantastic experience for the whole team, we are proud of them all.”

Competing for Princethorpe were, Year 7s Ava Sheppard, Ellie Gane, Emily Divers, Rufus Jones and Sophie Crawford; Year 8 Marisa Lumani; Year 9s Georgie Sowter, Jo Sheeran, Lizzie Nichols, Louis Reynolds and Max Kiely; and Year 10s Lily Hunter, Lauren Tebbatt, Penelope Jones, Grace McCollin, Conor Horan, Mark Message and Mia Brander.

For Year 11, Wednesday 19 June was an important day. With their public examinations finally finished, pupils and their families gathered in the College Chapel to celebrate the end of their GSCE year with a Year 11 Thanksgiving Service.

Led by Father Alan Whelan, supported by staff, including Heads of House and members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Thanksgiving Service included emotional readings that reflected the aspirations the College holds for Year 11's future. Pupils performed celebratory music and the mood was one of optimism for the journey ahead. A plea for continuing kindness and generosity of spirit underpinned all the messages in the speeches.

Mrs Beth Sharpe, Deputy Head Pastoral, thanked all the parents for their support of the College and read a moving extract from a Denis Waitley poem called Roots and Wings. Grove du Toit, Headmaster, continued the thanks to the parents before inviting them to join with staff for refreshments after the service.

It was wonderful evening of celebration and we wish all our Year 11s a relaxing summer break before they turn their attentions to the next step of their life journey.

29 pupils from Year 7 visited the National Space Centre in Leicester on Tuesday 18 June to recognise their effort and achievement in Science.

Supported by Lower Sixth STEAM Ambassadors Jack and Niamh, their day began with a Tetrastar Workshop that involved pupils working together in teams on a mission to Mars. Taking on the roles of engineers, drone pilots or medics, they carried out a series of experiments before returning safely to Earth.

Pupils then had time to explore the museum galleries, viewing a huge variety of spacecraft, a real piece of the Moon and taking the opportunity to try out the interactive exhibits covering cosmology, space exploration and the universe.

After lunch and a compulsory visit to the gift shop, the day concluded with the Planetarium Show ‘Astronaut Education’, where pupils discovered what it takes to be an astronaut and the dangers of space travel.

Pupils really enjoyed their visit. Sophie Crawford said “I really enjoyed the planetarium as I learned a lot about the intense training that astronauts go through. I also loved the workshop as we got to do tasks that real astronauts would have to perform.” Sam McCormick added, “I enjoyed the workshop at the start of the day because it had many fun elements like the simulators.” While Neil Kiteley said, “The National Space Centre was a great trip I really enjoyed it and want to go again.”

It was a fantastic day of learning and staff were impressed with Year 7's excellent engagement in all the activities. A great trip enjoyed by them all.

Princethorpe College held a mock election on Monday 17 June, as the UK prepares for the upcoming general election. The event gave pupils a unique opportunity to learn about the democratic process in Modern Britain and pupils entered fully into the spirit of election, with voting conducted with gravity and decorum.

We didn’t have pupils getting truly into the campaigning spirit and running as candidates, instead Tutors Groups spent time in their life skills lessons finding out about the established political parties’ values and beliefs. On Monday, they took turns to line up and vote for their party of choice, everyone having the chance to register before putting their X on their voting slip and posting it into the ballot box.

Teacher in charge of Politics, Greg Lyttle, took on the role of Returning Officer. He was supported by, Challenge Curriculum Co-ordinator, Julia Lindsay and the Lower Sixth Form Politics students in the mammoth task of counting all the votes.

Our mock election highlighted the importance of the individual vote in the process of democracy and gave pupils a taste of the drama and excitement of an election day.

Greg Lyttle explains, “Democracy is an important British value and we wanted to educate College pupils on how people participate in the democratic process in the UK. The mock election gave pupils an informed introduction to the process of democracy.”

And 95 of our Sixth Formers will have the chance to take part in this important democratic process for real in just a few weeks.

Pupils from across the College were invited to the Sixth Form Lecture Theatre on Friday 21 June, by Assistant Head - Co-Curricular, Neil McCollin, to recognise their contributions, commitments and achievements.

All of the pupils had risen to the challenge of the College’s ethos; they had done their best in different ways, both in and outside of school. Some had been nominated for academic achievement; others invited along for their contributions to sport or drama; some for charity or community work and others for their commitment to school.

Mr du Toit congratulated every one of them and thanked them for the many ways that they enrich College life.

They are pictured here along wth the staff who nominated them after enjoying a celebratory buffet lunch. A huge well done to them all.

More information is available here.

In the second of two Foundation workshops, our Lower Sixth historians visited Crescent School on Tuesday 11 June for a discussion on all things Tudor. The Sixth Formers ran a session focused on the portraiture of Elizabeth I and the power of imagery during the Tudor period. Year 5 were fascinated by their insights and had lots of their own ideas to contribute to the discussions. It was a wonderfully engaging way to deepen their understanding of this key historical period.

Their teacher, Mrs Symons said, “The workshop was fantastic. The Sixth Formers were so well prepared and engaged our children beautifully. They should be so proud of themselves. They really were great ambassadors for Princethorpe.”

It was such great learning for them all. 

Pupils from Princethorpe College put in outstanding performances at the Warwickshire Schools Athletics Championships helping the Eastern Area take both the Junior and Inter events. College athletes claimed five first place finishes, seven seconds and six thirds across all the events.

In total, 18 College athletes took part in the competition that was held in Leamington, on Saturday 8 June.

For the Inter Boys, André Onyekwe took 1st place in the High Jump while for the Inter Girls, Grace McCollin claimed 1st place in the 80m Hurdles. Olivia Monk earned herself two 2nd place finishes in the 100m and 200m and Penelope Jones took a further two 2nds in the 80m Hurdles and the Long Jump.

For the Junior Boys Louis Reynolds was 1st in the 80m Hurdles and 3rd in the Javelin, while Isaac Nelson was 2nd in the Javelin. Will Smith claimed 3rd in the 1500m, Max Kiely 3rd in the Triple Jump and Will Harvey 3rd in the Shot.

For the Junior Girls, Marisa Lumani placed 1st in the Shot and the Discus and 2nd in the Hammer. Dami Ajagunna was 2nd in the High Jump and Georgie Sowter 3rd in the Javelin and the Discus.

It was a fantastic effort from them all.

An amazing 11 pupils were then selected to represent Warwickshire in the Mason Trophy Inter-County competition on Saturday 15 June, by far the most from any Warwickshire school. There, they displayed real determination and commitment, using their incredible talent to compete strongly against quality opposition in some appalling weather conditions. Together they helped Warwickshire become Champion County for the second year on the run.

Congratulations to them all:

• Louis Reynolds – 80m Hurdles
• Isaac Nelson - Javelin
• Dami Ajagunna - High Jump
• Marisa Lumani – Shot and Hammer
• Georgie Sowter - Discus
• André Onyekwe – High Jump
• Oliva Monk – 100m and 200m
• Lily Hunter – 1500m
• Grace McCollin – 80m Hurdles
• Penelope Jones – 80m Hurdles and Long Jump
• Lauren Tebbatt – Javelin

Princethorpe has a familiar face joining its Admissions Team. OP Georgia Newborough has returned to the College to take on the role of Assistant Registrar. She will be working alongside Catherine Rogers, our Registrar, assisting families who are interested in entry to the College for September 2025 and beyond.

Georgia knows Princethorpe well, having attended the school as a pupil from 2012 to 2019. She went on to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of York before spending a year back at Princethorpe working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Her knowledge and experience of the school, from both sides of the fence, positions her ideally to advise prospective families with children looking to join the school.

She starts her Admissions journey welcoming and supporting pupils new to Princethorpe when they visit us next week for their Induction Day. She will then be working alongside Catherine as the Admissions team prepares for the new school year and their next big Open Event, which takes place on Sunday 15 September 2024 from 2.00pm to 5.00pm.

You can get in touch with Admissions by email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call 01926 634201/297 and they will be happy to help you.

What a finale we had to this year’s Forensic Science Club. Over the course of the Trinity Term, our Year 8 crime scene investigator trainees have been busy learning all about different forensic science techniques, from fingerprinting and blood splatter analysis to footprint evidence and soil samples, as well as how to process a crime scene and handwriting analysis.

After a body was found in the cellars, the pupils were called upon to investigate, reviewing witness statements, examining the crime scene and collecting and analysing evidence. Year 8 donned their protective clothing and set off to search the school for evidence. There was plenty to find, as the careless criminals had left many, many clues! It was a deadly mystery, but they were more than up for the challenge.

Science Teacher, Sam Curtis, was impressed by them all, commenting, “All Princethorpe’s trainee forensic scientists passed their assessment with flying colours, piecing together the evidence to solve the mystery and recover the stolen diamonds. They certainly weren’t fooled by all the double crossing going on.”

Well done to all the super-sleuthing scientists who took part!

Nine Lower Sixth Physicists visited the National Mathematics and Science College to compete in this year's West Midlands Physics Olympics. Working in thirteen teams, made up from pupils of three schools, they competed in three rounds of challenging problems.

Round 1 was estimation and included questions like 'How much energy is needed to heat water for a bath?', 'How many balls of string would be needed to form a hoop around the entire Earth?' and 'What is the power of the Sun?'. Round 2 consisted of seven extended problems requiring strong mathematical ability, logic and perseverance with questions such as 'Calculate the resultant force on a satellite's solar sail' or 'Calculate the maximum velocity of a cyclist freewheeling down a hill'. Round 3 was a pop quiz with sections that included identifying Physics Noble prize winners, name the famous physicist picture round and codebreaking to find the physics equation.

The pupils enjoyed the experience and were certainly pushed out of their comfort zones, through working in teams with pupils from other schools, tackling difficult problems that pushed them beyond the constraints of the standard A level curriculum and demonstrating resilience.

It was an excellent effort by them all.

The English Department hosted a Scholastic Book Fair from Thursday 6 to Tuesday 11 June. The books arrived in their special display cases and caused much excitement for all. Their brightly coloured jackets and bold titles catching the imagination of all who visited Mrs Moon's classroom. On offer were a range of books for Years 7 to 9, with a mix of fiction and non fiction.

As always, the book fair was very popular, as there really is nothing like the sight, feel and smell of a new book. Thank you to everybody who supported the fair, we hope you enjoy your new books.

Huge congratulations to our valiant Lower Sixth walkers who took on the challenge of walking 24 miles in 7 hours on Sunday 9 June. 

As always, our Lower Sixth were walking in aid of Mary’s Meals raising money to feed the children of Makalanga Primary School in Malawi. Remember just £19 feeds one child for a whole year and you can still support their fundraising here.

Oscar Reynolds, Seb Bainbridge, Lachlan Greig, Xander MacRae and Calan Byrne were first home, completing the distance in 7 hours and 32 minutes.

We had a few tender feet in school the following day after a really superhuman effort from them all.

Well done to the 26 walkers, we are incredibly proud of you all.

Princethorpe's Language Ambassadors visited, Foundation Prep School, Crescent School on Monday 10 June to host an interactive MFL workshop. Mrs Keenan and Ms Galano had organised for the Year 10 pupils, supported by Lower Sixth prefects, to visit the school to inspire and engage pupils in their learning. Working in four groups the Year 10s delivered French and Spanish activities on the topics of dates, sports, food and the weather.

Year 5 were excited to work with the Year 10s and really enjoyed the structured, interactive sessions that built on and practised the vocabulary they have been learning in their specialist MFL lessons with Mrs Day. There were plenty of smiles all round as the youngsters enthusiastically engaged with Princethorpe's pupils, answering their questions and playing matching games.

It was a fantastic learning experience for them all. 

Congratulations to all the Year 10 pupils who have completed their Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Qualifying Expeditions. An amazing achievement by them all.

Unaccompanied and self-sufficient they spent three days trekking and camping in the Peak District working together in teams to achieve their expedition objectives.

Bronze Award and Gold Award participants have their Qualifying Expeditions upcoming, with the Year 9 Bronze groups walking through the Cotswolds this weekend and the Lower Sixth Gold students completing their expeditions in the Lake District next weekend.

Make sure you follow @PC_Outdoors on X and the College Facebook to see regular updates on the walkers' progress.