The Flagpole

The College is preparing itself for its Entrance Exams Day tomorrow, Saturday 9 November, with over 250 children due to sit the exams across four age groups. 

Comments Melanie Butler, Director of Marketing, Admissions and Communications, "This year we have had high levels of interest and, following a successful Open Afternoon in September and Year 6 Taster Days, the registrations have continued to flow in. We know that positive recommendations from current families will have played a large part in this success."

"We wish all the candidates the very best of luck, and look forward to seeing them bright and early in the morning!"

Arrangements for the Entrance Exams Day (11+, 12+, 13+ and 14+) are as follows:

Saturday 9 November 2023 - 9.30am to 3.45pm

Candidates are requested to report to the College between 8.45am and 9.30am; it is advisable that candidates should not arrive prior to 8.30am. Please enter the school via the Pupils’ Entrance in the playground. Candidates should wear comfortable clothes and bring a coat. The day is planned to give plenty of time between the exams for breaks, a hot lunch and time to play outside if the weather allows.

The examinations will end at 3.40pm or 4.20pm for those with agreed access arrangements, refreshments will be available upon collection of the candidates.

Thanks in advance to all the staff and students who help on the day.

Three Princethorpe Upper Sixth leavers have been awarded top honours in the Regional ISA Art Competition, a testament to the depth and range of talent in Princethorpe's Art and Photography Department. 

Gifted artist, Lara Cutri, was awarded first place in the Painting Over 16 class. Lara’s winning painting, titled The Sky, was part of her coursework for her A-level Art examination. It features the rituals associated with the Mexican Day of the Dead, when the gates of heaven open and souls return from the sky to their families on earth. It is a striking portrait and a well-deserved winner. Lara also earned herself a Highly Commended for her compendium of drawings in the Over 16 Sketchbook class. Her sketchbook submission, The Kiss, was of an incredibly high standard and showcased excellent examples of a range of techniques.

Then, talented photographer, Emilia Case took second place in the Photography Over 16 class for her stunning and atmospheric photo (In)Dependence. Her picture was one part of her triptych that was presented at the College’s Art Show in the summer that used high-powered LED lighting to feature the eyes. The photo is an original unedited work, part of her personal investigations into understated emotions. It was first-rate work and worthy of its recognition in the competition.

While exceptional draughtsman, Alexander Matheson, was rewarded with a Highly Commended for his brilliant lifelike work, a stunning, photo-realistic, drawn portrait titled Lara, in the Over 16 Drawing class. Alexander has been a skilful sketcher throughout his years at the College and is deserving of this public recognition.

Paul Hubball, Head of Art and Photography, comments, “Many congratulations to Lara, Emilia and Alexander. Their pieces were exceptional and the product of many hours of work. It is marvellous to see their talent recognised and rewarded in this way. Schools are allowed to submit only one entry in each competition class, so to have had four pieces recognised is a truly excellent result.”

Lara’s work now goes forward to the National Competition at the ISA Autumn Conference, which takes place in Kenilworth in November.

A huge well done to them all!

In October, talented students from Princethorpe College participated in the 2024 UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Senior Challenge, a prestigious national competition that celebrates the top young problem-solvers in the country. This challenging competition, held under formal exam conditions, requires students to tackle a series of multiple-choice questions. The papers are then marked externally by the UKMT, with the highest-scoring participants awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold certificates.

Targeted at Sixth Form students, Princethorpe selected 34 skilled mathematicians from both the Lower and Upper Sixth to compete in this year’s challenge. The demanding nature of the competition is designed to stretch and sharpen mathematical thinking, and the College is thrilled to announce exceptional results.

Special congratulations goes to Upper Sixth Former, Ollie Hutton, who earned a Gold certificate and was recognised as the school’s top performer. Additionally, Lower Sixth student Zach Hawkins achieved a Silver certificate and was named the best-performing student in his year group. Ollie’s outstanding performance has also secured him a place in the prestigious Senior Kangaroo Challenge.

Our congratulations go to all who were awarded certificates:

Gold certificate: Ollie Hutton

Silver certificate: Zach Hawkins, Jack Fleming, Anjola Okusanya, Sam Elden, Dylan Williams, Amelia Chard, William Gower and Blessing Katanda.

Bronze certificate: Leo Flannery, Xander MacRae, Alex Lawrence, Arjen Randhawa, Sean Birtley, Harry Richards, Heather Allen, Annabel Brimley, Ben Heywood, Thomas Leret, Daniel Taylor, Isabel Barnes, Jamie Capelett, Mia Samra, Joe Woodward and Louise Gambling

Well done to all who participated, and many thanks for your excellent efforts. We hope you found the experience both challenging and rewarding.

Theo Scoutas
Post 16 Mathematics Co-ordinator

On Thursday 7 November, the Design Technology department took 32 A-level Product Design and Fashion students to London to explore, experience and be enriched by creative collections of the design and made world. Students visited the Design Museum and the V&A Museum, in Kensington, both leading museums devoted to contemporary design and decorative arts.

At the Design Museum, Product Design students took part in a workshop focused on Chair and Seating Design, they analysed a number of chair designs before generating and modelling their own. They then attended the Design Maker User exhibition at the Design Museum before heading to the V&A to visit the Design and Furniture exhibitions.

The Fashion pupils attended a workshop at the V&A where the students were inspired to design male/female fashion outfits from the V&A’s vast collection of objects. Demonstrating that creativity in fashion can be inspired by the world around them. They also chose a fashion garment from the V&A’s collection and redesigned it to a topic of their choice e.g celebrating your personal identity and heritage, making formal clothes informal, making fashion design gender neutral or designing for body confidence. Finally, they chose one of the designs to create a 3D garment on a mini mannequin, thinking about the silhouette, fabric, components and colour. They ended with a mini catwalk. 

Head of Design and Technology, Paul Scopes, said, “We had a very productive day out, with plenty of time at the exhibitions. The trip was engaging and inspiring and really useful extension for pupils’ learning.”

Before half term, Princethorpe’s aspiring young chefs showcased their super cooking skills when they took part in the Springboard’s FutureChef competition. The school’s first-round heats took place after school on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 October with nine contestants from Years 7 to 10 tasked with cooking and serving up a main meal in just one hour.

The FutureChef competition challenges young people aged 12 to 16 to cook their way through a series of rounds, gaining experience, meeting professionals and developing their skills, all while getting an insight into the culinary industry.

All our would-be chefs wowed the judges, Jacqui Scott, Grove du Toit, Michael Spencer and Beth Sharpe, with their culinary creations. From the off, they worked quickly, demonstrating technical skills such as knife work and bread making and the finished plates of food looked tantalising and were full of flavour. What's more the contestants’ attention to detail was superb with plates polished, the food presented artistically and their work surfaces scrubbed clean.

It was a hard decision to choose between them and the judges deliberated carefully as they argued the pros and cons of first one dish and then another. Emily Divers took first place with a beautiful mushroom risotto, but the judges just could not agree on second place. In the end they decided that there would have to be a further heat to decide whether Jasper Nicholls, Chloe Iley or Mia Williams would be the second contestant to go forward to the next round.

The cook-off took place this week, on Tuesday 5 November, when Jasper, Chloe and Mia had 30 minutes to produce an autumn-themed dessert. Previous FutureChef Regional winner, Sophie Henry joined Grove du Toit and Jacqui Scott to judge the puddings and they all agreed that Chloe Iley had managed to hold her nerve and deliver a delicious dessert to take the second place in the Warwickshire final.

Teacher of Food Technology, Jacqui Scott, said, “There was so much enthusiasm and skill shown by this year's contestants. Pupils cooked food to be proud of in a very short period of time. It was really very difficult to pick our winners and I’m excited to see how far Emily and Chloe can go in the competition.”

Well done to all who took part, you all produced fabulous plates of food.

Competing this year were Year 7 pupils: Blythe Camilleri-Willis and Sienna Lenton, Year 8s: Emily Divers, Scarlett Harbury, Joseph Hillier, Chloe Iley, Sam McCormick and Mia Williams, and Year 10 Jasper Nicholls

Over the Michaelmas half term, Princethorpe’s U15 Boys' and U14 Girls' Hockey teams travelled to the Netherlands for the first leg of this year’s annual Hockey Tour. Organised by the Princethorpe Sports department, over the years thousands of pupils have participated in the hockey training camp and enjoyed the opportunity to experience another country and culture.

The five-day tour had an early start and a long day of travel on Saturday 19 October. On arrival at Hopbel Hockey Club the tour party were greeted warmly and whisked away by their Dutch host families to make friends and experience traditional Dutch family life.

In addition to three days of training and tour matches the pupils and their hosts managed to squeeze in plenty of fun, including a tour BBQ, a walking tour of the local town, Den Bosch, and a trip to de Efteling theme park.

Hockey wise, we were up against some very good opposition. Princethorpe battelled well and showed great improvement throughout the course of the tour, making use of all that extra coaching and practice. In their first two matches the Girls U15A went down 0-5 and 2-4 but they remained resilient and were pleased to take the final match 4-3. The Girls U15B had similar fortune losing out 1-9 to start but upping their game play to win their second match 3-1. The Boys U15A had a challenging run just losing out 3-2 and then losing 4-2 in their final game.

Assistant Head Co-curricular, Neil McCollin, said, “We had another super Hockey Tour and I am very proud of all our pupils. They made the most of opportunity to get to know their host families, played some excellent hockey and gained a good insight into how another country plays the game. We look forward to welcoming our Dutch friends in the spring for the return leg. If you are interested in being a host family for our visiting Dutch hockey players, please look out for the Flagpole article in the New Year.”

Huge thanks go to all the staff involved in supporting and running the hockey tour: Neil McCollin, Rachael Mack, James Long, Natalie Hardy and Paul Whitehead.

Year 9 pupils visited the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Newark on Tuesday 15 October to develop their knowledge of the events and their awareness of the causes and complexities of the Holocaust. The cross curricular trip supported both their Religious Studies and History topics this year.

Pupils participated in workshops and learnt about the Holocaust and why it happened. They heard directly from a Holocaust survivor who shared their personal survivor testimony. They explored the museum’s exhibitions and saw exhibits, including real examples of the yellow stars Jews had to wear. Year 9 also had the opportunity to visit the memorial garden where they were encouraged to add their own pebbles to a stone memorial to the 1.5 million children of the Holocaust. The museum’s ambition is to eventually have a mound of 1.5 million stones, poignantly reflecting the Jewish tradition to lay pebbles on a grave.

Head of Religious Studies, Cyp Vella said, "Hearing the personal stories of survivors will have helped pupils connect with the Holocaust and built their understanding of the roots of discrimination and prejudice. I was impressed by the conversations it provoked amongst the pupils. The sensitivity and care taken by Year 9 while we were at the museum was an absolute credit to them. It was a moving and thought-provoking place to visit."

Princethorpe College’s cross-country runners raced in the English Schools Regional Final at Bromsgrove School on Tuesday 5 November.

Princethorpe had qualified four teams, the Junior Boys, the Inter Boys, the Senior Boys and the Senior Girls, so had 24 runners competing in the event. Our cross-country athletes all ran well delivering respectable finishes for their teams.

Stand our performances came from William Smith who finished 4th in the Intermediate Boys race and Ben Smith who was 17th in the Senior Boys competition. In terms of team placings, the Senior Boys finished 6th, the Inter Boys were 6th, the Junior Boys 9th and the Senior Girls 10th.

Teacher of PE and Games, James Long, commented, "Well done to all of our runners, who put in a great effort against strong competition. I am very pleased with the results. It was great to have so many pupils competing at this event."

Over the half term holidays, Princethorpe’s PE and Games Department took 36 Year 8 and 9 pupils on a four-day tour along the south coast. The 17th Annual South Coast Sports Tour included training and matches interspersed with plenty of off-pitch activities and fun. It was a great chance for all to hone their skills and practise technique against friendly but competitive teams.

The Year 9 boys faced Portsmouth RFC first where a strong performance delivered a 46-0 victory. Their second match involved a trip across the water to the Isle of Wight where they faced Ryde School with Upper Chine. The team played well and comfortably won the game 31-14. They finished their tour facing Clifton College claiming a third victory 36-14.

Head of Boys’ Games and Tour Leader, Joe Jackson, commented, “The boys were competitive across each of their three fixtures. They came up against solid competition but played confidently and scored plenty of fantastic tries. They were unbeaten on tour which bodes well for the remaining games of the season.”

The Year 8 Netball girls had some good results too, their games included good ball handling and individual play and what was most pleasing was their determination throughout the tour. Fielding two teams, the girls first played Ryde School. The U13As played with grit and decisiveness and secured an excellent 30-8 win. The U13Bs did just as well and their consistency throughout their fixture earned them an excellent 22-5 victory.

In their second match the girls faced Clifton College where they came up against fierce competition and teams that were very well practised. Despite displaying tenacity and remaining resilient in very competitive games both teams lost out but they took plenty of learning away from their games.

On tour, off the pitch is always a great chance to build team spirit through lots of different activities. Pupils enjoyed Splashdown, the all-action, flume filled waterpark in Poole, had time for shopping at Gunwharf Quays, went ten pin bowling and of course enjoyed a competitive morning of games on the beach.

Joe Jackson, continued, “We had a great tour group this year. Pupils were impeccably behaved, mixed well with their opponents and with each other, but what pleased us most was how enthusiastic our pupils all were. It made for a very successful tour.”

Huge thanks to the dedicated sports staff who accompanied the tour: Ellie Callan, Tom Gleghorn, Joe Jackson and Carly Walton. A big thank you of course to the schools and sports clubs that hosted us; their hospitality was outstanding, and we look forward to continuing the relationship with them for future tours.