The Flagpole

Another exceptional year of achievement, progress, creativity and contribution was celebrated at Princethorpe College’s annual Prize Giving Ceremony at the Butterworth Hall, at Warwick University Arts Centre on Friday 22 November. Before the ceremony, the Old Princethorpians Committee hosted a special Drinks Reception for the returning Class of 2024 and their parents, providing a welcome opportunity for last year’s cohort to get together and catch up.

Chair of Trustees, Mrs Liz Griffin, opened the proceedings, warmly welcoming parents, friends of the College and Princethorpians old and new to the occasion and then Father Alan Whelan MSC then led the assembled community in an opening prayer.

In his formal address, the Headmaster, Grove du Toit, gave thanks to all those who make Princethorpe the special place it is. He reflected on all that has happened this last year and encouraged us to celebrate and appreciate the journey of our pupils. He reminded pupils that they are, and always will be, a part of the Old Princethorpian family and encouraged them to stay in touch.

All evening the atmosphere was joyful and celebratory and there were superb musical interludes from the school String Orchestra, Concert Band and the Year 7 Chorus.

Listening to the citations for the awards was truly inspiring and humbling. The talent in evidence, the grit and determination, the passion, enthusiasm and commitment were all applauded and honoured.

The final award, the Princethorpe Shield, presented annually to the student who is seen to embody the spirit and ethos of the College, was presented to Connor Silvester. It was a very popular decision, with the audience cheering as a delighted and surprised Connor came up to receive the Shield.

Foundation Principal, Ed Hester then spoke echoing Mr du Toit’s congratulations, before the current Heads of School, Sebastian Bainbridge and Megan Shipton, gave an eloquent vote of thanks.

The evening came to a close with the singing of the College Hymn, Here I Am Lord.

Click here to see the Prize Giving Programme. 

You can watch a clip of Year 7 singing here.

You can access the photos below by clicking on the relevant links. 

Leavers of 2024
Click on the relevant links below to view the three galleries of photographs:

The OPs Reception
A-level Certificate Presentation
Prizes Presentation
(NB you will need to login to view the galleries. Please note there are several pages of photos within the galleries to click through. If you are not currently a member of Princethorpe Connect, please click here to join.)

GCSE Certificates
The photographs of last year's Year 11s being presented with their GCSE certificates are available to view, please click here.

Year 7 - Upper Sixth Awards
To view photographs of our other prize winners please click here.

The photos are free to download for personal use, just click on the link, and it will take you directly to the album.

Princethorpe’s popular PTA Christmas Fair took place on Sunday 1 December and hundreds of visitors descended on a College resplendent in decorations. There were plenty of stalls selling a range of artisan products and gifts and an array of seasonal activities for all ages to partake in. The crowds enjoyed musical entertainment and in the Sixth Form Dining Room, families gathered to enjoy warming hot drinks and delicious mince pies, sausage rolls and turkey and stuffing baps.

Our huge thanks go out to the many helpers, supporters and workers who worked all weekend to make the event such a success. The Christmas Fair and Raffle are one of the PTA’s key fundraising events. Their team are still finalising the total raised and will confirm it shortly.

It won't be long before planning for the Summer Fête on Sunday 29 June begins in earnest. If you fancy getting involved, then do email the PTA at pta@princethorpe.co.uk. 

Following on from the Year 11 mocks, we would like to remind Year 11 pupils and parents of the Sixth Form Scholarship process for September 2025 for internal candidates.

All of our Year 11s are encouraged to apply for Sixth Form Scholarships - Academic, Art, Music, Organ, Drama and Sport. To do so they must complete a Sixth Form Scholarship Application Form and write a 'personal statement' outlining their achievements to date and why they feel they would make an excellent candidate for the scholarship (maximum 500 words).

Those pupils who currently have a scholarship, will normally retain their award for Sixth Form, but must also complete a Sixth Form Scholarship Application Form to re-apply for the scholarship.

The deadline for this application is Monday 20 January 2025. Applications should be marked for the attention of the Registrar, Mrs Catherine Rogers.

Depending on the scholarship, prospective award holders may be interviewed and/or take part in a scholarship assessment in February or March.

Details of any awards will be confirmed when the Sixth Form Offer letters are sent out in writing during week commencing Monday 30 March 2025. Some awards may be dependent on final GCSE grades.

The criteria for each of the scholarships can be found on our website here and in the Sixth Form Admissions Information Booklet 2025, which has been emailed to parents, but can also be found on My School Portal. It is essential that pupils and parents look through these in detail before making an application. The Sixth Form Application Form for current Princethorpe Year 11 pupils can be found here. The form can be filled in electronically and returned via email to admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

Princethorpe is an 11 to 18 school, and the expectation is that pupils will continue with us through to Sixth Form, providing they meet the academic requirements and embrace the College’s ethos. Princethorpe Year 11s are not required to reapply for Sixth Form, however notice in writing is required to the Headmaster (copying in the Registrar at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk) by Wednesday 30 April 2025 should a pupil not be intending to return.

Over three nights last week, captivated audiences were invited to step inside our very own spectacular Chocolate Factory! They discovered delicious chocolate rivers, everlasting gobstoppers, gum that tasted like a three-course meal and many more wonders galore.

Directed by Aileen Cefaliello and Vicky Roberts and performed with verve and passion by our wonderful troupe of players. Princethorpe’s amateur production of Roald Dahl’s classic novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told the story of an impoverished young boy who wins a golden ticket to tour the mysterious and magical chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.

It was pure imagination brilliantly performed in the College’s Clarkson theatre, full of larger-than-life colourful characters, heartfelt drama, slick dance sequences and magical special effects and supported superbly by our backstage pupil technical crew. A real treat for the dark November nights!

Congratulations to everyone involved.

On Wednesday 4 December, Princethorpe College hosted a special Senior Citizen's Christmas celebratory lunch. Guests were welcomed from a number of local care homes including Overslade House, Greenways, Town Thorns Care Centre, Galanos House, Castel Froma, Lilbourne Court, James Hirons, Cubbington and Homewood as well as from the parish of St Anne's, Wappenbury.

The lunch is an annual community event and the visitors enjoyed turkey and all the trimmings, prepared by the College catering team and waited on by College Sixth Formers. Held in the Sixth Form Centre, delicious smells wafted across the atrium and all around there was chatter and laughter.

The visitors were entertained by Sixth Form students, Chloe Henderson, Robyn Shaw, Bea Taylor, Martha Harris and Grace Rushbrooke who did a sterling job singing and playing festive tunes and then leading the Christmas carols. All of the guests were also presented with a personalised Christmas card with handwritten messages from the Sixth Form students.

Head of Sixth Form, Ben Collie, commented, "It was wonderful to see old and young chatting together. The lunch embodied the true spirit of Christmas. A huge thank you to our Sixth Formers and staff for organising such a lovely festive event."

Princethorpe College is celebrating after pupils had another successful outing at the Independent School Association’s National Swimming Championships. Together they brought home eight Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals, a fantastic haul.

Six pupils had qualified to swim for the Midlands team and on Friday 29 November they travelled down to the London Aquatics Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to take part.

• Year 10, Charlotte Gower, was on fine form winning four Gold medals, in the 100m Backstroke, the 100m Freestyle and then as part of the team in the 4x50m Medley and Freestyle Relays.
• Year 9, Issey Cleary, also swam brilliantly, claiming Gold in the 100m Breaststroke and in the 4x50m Medley and Freestyle Relays.
• Upper Sixth Former, Lottie Hunter, swam superbly claiming Gold in the 4x50m Medley Relay, Bronze in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay and finishing 5th in the 100m Freestyle.
• Year 8, Bebe Hesketh-Reynolds, had a great outing earning herself a Silver in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay and a Bronze in the 50m Breaststroke. She also finished 4th in the 4x50m Medley Relay and 6th in the 50m Butterfly.
• Lower Sixth Former, Julieta Ascencao Martinez, earned herself a Bronze medal in the 4x50m Medley Relay.
• Year 9, Porter Tinning, just missed a medal after finishing 4th in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay and 7th in the 200m Individual Medley.

Together, the pupils helped the Midlands team finish in third place overall at the national event.

Foundation Director of Sport, Lee Cassell, was delighted and said, "Our swimmers have traditionally done well in the ISA Swimming Championships and they have had another really successful outing this year. Well done to everyone who competed in both the National Championships and in the qualifying regional competition."

We welcomed OP Molly Geehan (Class of 2019) back to school on Wednesday 27 November. Molly joined us to talk about her journey to a career as a Sports Journalist and Content Creator in the latest of Mrs Pascoe-Williams’ English Enrichment Lectures, that are designed to expose pupils to the many careers open to those who study English.

Molly very much enjoyed writing at school and studied English Language & Literature, Psychology and PE at A-level. She even wrote her own blog while at school, Moll’s Moments, developing her writing skills by sharing her thoughts on her life, her experiences and her favourite sport, netball. She first played netball at Princethorpe back in 2012 and with the support of the Sports Department went on to play at U21 National Level, playing for the likes of Wasps, Loughborough Lightning and Severn Stars. However, it was the College’s Careers Advisor, Kerry Low, who set her on course to her current career, when she recommended Molly combine her passions and study journalism at University.

After graduating from the University of Worcester, Molly was lucky enough to work as a volunteer Flash Quote Reporter at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. That was an incredible experience that allowed her to meet international netball players and top-quality journalists and her work was used all over the world, from The Daily Mail here in the UK to 7News in Australia. It also gave her the contacts for her first sports reporting role.

After a brief return to Princethorpe working with the marketing team, Molly landed her dream job when she joined England Netball as their Digital Assistant. For the last two years she has managed their social media and content creation successfully growing their followers as she engaged with their audiences. She has worked across the world including in South Africa at the Netball World Cup. Day to day she could be found writing match reports, reporting on live events, interviewing netball players, attending photo shoots and even working with social media influencers as she looked to promote the English Netball team.

Now Molly has a new challenge ahead of her that she is really looking forward to. She is currently packing up to move down to Bournemouth to work for the Premier League football team, AFC Bournemouth. Her new role as a Content Executive will see her working across the men’s, women’s and academy teams.

She finished her talk with some sound advice for pupils looking to work in journalism or as a content creator. It included, ‘go with your gut’ and always be prepared to try new things, remember ‘it’s okay to say no’ to keep your workload balanced but to have an ‘always on approach’ and be happy to learn from everyone.

It was fantastic to welcome Molly back to school and to hear all her latest career news. We are always grateful to OPs who take the time to come in to school to share their knowledge and experiences. It won’t be that long before we see her back here again though, as she has kindly offered to run a workshop at our 2025 Careers Fair.

A-level Politics students had a thoroughly enjoyable day at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, on Monday 2 December, attending the A-level Politics Convention. Students heard from a wide range of attendees including the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, former MP Michael Gove, and Reform UK leader and MP Nigel Farage.

Students got to listen to key debates in British politics and pose questions to speakers, with some responses sparking a lively reaction from the audience. Lower Sixth student Logan Leitch asked Stella Creasey MP an informative question about Britain's future relationship with the European Union and the USA. It was great to see our students so engaged whilst hearing some of the debates that directly applies to their classroom learning.

On Wednesday 27 November, Princethorpe College was delighted to welcome Sarah Mullin MBE, Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland, and author of What They Didn’t Teach Me On My PGCE, to meet and work with this year’s cohort of trainee teachers. With her background as an experienced headteacher and education consultant, Sarah was able to share her knowledge, observe a lesson and happily answer questions on teacher training.

Sixth Form House teams gathered excitedly at lunchtime on Friday 29 November for the annual House Sixth Form Christmas Tree competition. 

The four teams of students opened boxes, took off their jackets and rolled up their sleeves. In front of them lay the components of an artificial tree and decorations. As they quickly pieced together the jigsaw of branches, the trees began to take shape. Lights were unravelled and artistically draped, decorations hung and then with seconds to spare, and one final stretch, the final decoration was positioned on the top.

This year pupils from across the school had produced recyled Christmas decorations during their 3PD sessions, as part of the College's ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Judging considered the originality, appearance, environmental friendliness and House qualities and trainee Art teachers, Rebecca Downey and Savannah Grindell, chose Benet House as the winners. 

Well done to everyone, the countdown to Christmas has truly begun.

The South Africa Christmas Fundraising Wreath Making Evenings took place this week on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 December.

The Sixth Form Centre was a hive of festive activity as parents and staff, led by Vicky Bridgewater, grappled with evergreen foliage, baubles, pinecones and ribbons to create wreaths that any high-class florist would be proud of. We are sure they look amazing hung upon your doors.

Foundation Director of Sport, Lee Cassell, said, “It was great to see so many parents and staff enjoying themselves at the Christmas Wreath Making evenings. Thank you to all who attended for supporting the fundraising for next year’s South Africa Tour.”

Over the last couple of years, the Book Trust Bookbuzz scheme has been hugely beneficial in encouraging independent reading among pupils. Earlier this term, Years 7 and 8 were excited to choose from a list of fantastic new titles and there was much excitement last week when their chosen books arrived.

Bookbuzz is a reading programme from the Book Trust that aims to help schools inspire a love of reading in 11 to 13-year-olds. Pupils chose one of 16 different books, from a range of genres, all carefully selected to ensure quality, suitability and to encourage reading for pleasure.

Research shows that allowing pupils to choose their own reading material increases the likelihood that they will engage more in reading and that reading for pleasure has a real impact on educational outcomes. We hope pupils enjoy their new books.

We were delighted to welcome Leek Wootton Brownies and Guides to Princethorpe College on Tuesday 26 November. The youngsters enjoyed a fun, free introductory session on our climbing wall and we were very impressed with how well everyone did. It was fabulous to meet them all.

Many thanks to Mr Lee, Mrs Pascoe-Williams, Lower Sixth Former, Sophie Nicolle, and Year 11, Jessica Johnson, who volunteered their time and supported the activitiy for them.

The 2025 College Calendar featuring 12 superb images of the College and its grounds, and priced at £7.50, is now available. It is sure to be a handy addition for any kitchen or office and would be a perfect Christmas present for all Princethorpians. Copies of the calendar can be purchased via our online shop here. 

If you are on the hunt for presents, we also have a wonderful range of Old Princethorpian merchandise available from ties to cufflinks, pin badges to scarves, pens and, not to mention, some very snazzy socks that would make a perfect Christmas gift.

Then we have prints and greetings cards available featuring the Soaring Red Brick Tower image and prints also of St Joseph's School.

To ensure UK orders can arrive in time for Christmas, orders and payment will need to be received by 12 noon on Monday 16 December 2024 please.