The Flagpole

Please find below the Headmaster's letter posted to parents this week together with the Lent calendar:

Dear Parents

Please find enclosed the 2019 Lent Term calendar; it shows another full and busy term ahead. One event I would like to draw your attention to will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 14 March, when I shall be giving a presentation with the opportunity for Q&As afterwards, entitled: “Princethorpe a Vision for the Future”. As part of our development planning, we will be undertaking another full on-line parental questionnaire which will be emailed to you in the first half of the term; I would be very grateful if you could spend 15 minutes or so completing this.

In addition to the plethora of sporting fixtures, trips and co-curricular activities, we are also looking forward to our main school production, Little Shop of Horrors, and the sixth annual Princethorpe Oscars Ceremony, which will showcase our pupils many talents. Both events are likely to be sell-outs, so please do look out for ticket information in next term’s Flagpole so that you can secure your seats in good time.

I have already thanked the pupils for the time they spent filling in questionnaires on their teaching group earlier in the term. The overall responses were very positive indeed, here are a few examples:

·         “I enjoy my lessons in this subject and am interested during the lessons”, 80% of responses were “all of the time” or “most of the time”

·          “I feel that I have a good relationship with my teacher”, 93% of responses were “agree” or “strongly agree”.

·          “I feel that the amount of homework in this subject is:…”  81% responded “about right”, 16% responded “too much” and 3% responded “too little”

All the pupils’ feedback and anonymised personal comments will be fed directly back to the departments and individual teachers. We will reflect on the data gathered, looking at trends, areas of concern and strength, which will help us with our planning to make teaching and learning as good as it possibly can be.

It was a year ago when we introduced our new regulations on mobile phones and we have been very pleased with the result of limiting phone usage around the campus. Maintaining effective boundaries for mobile devices is a constant challenge for us all and I would urge all parents to engage with their children in ensuring effective support in this area. Please see some sensible guidelines and advice for parents by clicking here.  If you have worries or concerns over this issue, please do contact your child’s form tutor or our Director of Digital Strategy, Andy Compton at andycompton@princethorpe.co.uk

As always, the on-line calendar, accessible via the website and Parent Portal, will be updated with any amendments to the enclosed calendar so please do check this regularly. Pupils’ reports too are, of course, found on the Parent Portal; please do ensure you take the time to look at these reports and discuss them with your child.

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 Sixth Form students will be keen to ensure there is a proper balance of work, rest, play and quality family time over the Christmas holiday period.

Please find enclosed a Thank You booklet which illustrates the impact of your generosity in the past year and the ongoing work of the development office. I hope you will enjoy reading about the difference your support is making to the College, and those who benefit from an education here. Thank you for your continued support.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your support during the course of this year and wish you and your families a joyful and peaceful Christmas.

Yours sincerely

Ed Hester
Headmaster

This year Friday 7 December was designated College Feast Day, a celebration involving the whole of the College community, marking the day, 8 December 1854, when the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart was founded.  Feast Day allows the College to honour its important link with the MSCs.

In the afternoon the whole school came together in the Sports Hall to mark the anniversary.  The ceremony began with the presentation of the House prizes allowing the whole school to recognise pupil progress and achievement. (To see photos of the winners please click view gallery.) 

Then Director of Ethos, Kieran McCullough, reflected on the reasons why we celebrate Feast Day and in particular this year’s initiative to put Faith In Action through the donations of non-perishable food to local food banks.

Finally it was time for what has become an important school tradition, the House Singing Competition.  Much secrecy had surrounded the House choice of songs and in the run up to the big day the House Activities Co-ordinators had zealously been rehearsing their singers.

In turn the Houses rose to their feet to perform their pieces. First were Austin House who delivered an enthusiastic and strong performance of Abba’s Mamma Mia.  Benet came next with a joyful, toe-tapping rendition of I Just Can’t Wait To Be King from the film The Lion King.  Fisher House were next up and confidently belted out We Will Rock You by Queen and then finally More delivered a lively performance of You Can’t Stop The Beat from the musical Hairspray.

The competition was judged by professional singer Georgie Mason who was very impressed with the standard.  She commented, “I really enjoyed the performances, everyone was singing, there was lots of enthusiasm and good pitch and timing.  It was a very difficult decision to make but in the end I have decided that the winner should be Fisher House.”

Whilst the judge made her deliberations the College’s A capella group performed and then after the winning House was announced the afternoon came to a joyful conclusion with an impromptu performance by the whole school of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas.

Headmaster, Ed Hester said, "Thanks to Director of Ethos, Kieran McCullough, the Heads of House, the House Activities Co-ordinators and all the staff and pupils for wholeheartedly entering into the spirit of the day. This is an important annual event for the College, one that takes time to celebrate Princethorpe’s spirit of family."

To hear a compilation of the House songs please click here.

The Christmas tree in the College Chapel has been lovingly decorated with twinkling lights and over 1,000 special stars, hand-cut and each holding the name of a special someone.

All members of the college and parish communities were invited to write the names of those who have touched their lives with love and have a special place in their hearts on a star. Each individual star has then been carefully positioned on the tree.

Comments, Mary Benham, Chaplaincy Co-ordinator, “The message of Christmas is one of love and the decorated Christmas tree in the Chapel symbolically represents that message. The many stars on the tree are a testament to the presence of love in the world – and the way in which, individually, all our lives have been enriched by love.”

Our thanks go to Year 7 pupil Freddie Hadley and Year 8 pupils Ethan Fletcher, Amelie Hancock, Julia Loftus, Zara Simpson and Erika Zanyi for their help preparing and hanging the stars.

After school on Thursday 13 December the Design Technology Department hosted four festive craft workshops.  On offer was the opportunity to create Christmas-themed gifts and decorations in Textiles, Electronics, Resistant Materials and Food.

Staff had organised the different activities so there was plenty to choose from.  Pupils really enjoyed decorating mini Christmas cakes, creating gingerbread houses, using templates to create wooden Christmas snowmen and star decorations, stitching ribbon Christmas trees, machining padded fabric trees or soldering lights into mini Christmas cabins.

Plenty of jolly Christmas songs could be heard coming from the workshops and staff had organised a few extra seasonal treats.  Everyone enjoyed getting in the mood for the festive season. Many thanks to the staff who organised all the crafty fun.

A very successful Christmas wreath making evening certainly decked the doors with boughs of holly as 85 parents and staff jumped at the chance to get arty and crafty on Thursday 13 December.  Places on the evening were snapped up like hot mince pies, as the participants armed with secateurs beavered away with twigs, foliage and prickly holly to produce some cracking Christmas door decorations.

PE Teacher, Louise Harrison, was delighted with the whole event saying, “It was a great, well supported evening. Huge thanks to everyone who came and to the girls who helped organise and run the workshop.  We made just over £1,000 towards the 2019 South Africa Tour fundraising.”

The event was so successful that it might just become an annual Christmas event.  In fact Mrs Allen is already planning to host another wreath making workshop next year to support the fundraising for the 2020 Malawi expedition.

Princethorpe College pupils, parents and staff have responded generously to Director of Ethos, Kieran McCullough’s seasonal challenge to put Faith In Action through the donation of non-perishable food items.  Mr McCullough challenged every member of the school to bring in one item of food and the community did not disappoint, showing a sense of empathy, generosity and solidarity that at one stage led to the school’s student hub overflowing with boxes and bags of donations.

On Monday 17 December Richard Gordon from the charity, St Vincent de Paul Society, visited the school to collect the donations.  Mr McCullough’s Year 10 class helped to load all of the tins, boxes and bags of food into his car.  There were so many that the donations literally had to be crammed in.  Mr Gordon was almost speechless, he thanked the Princethorpe community profusely, saying, “The donations will be shared between the homeless and refugee charities that the SVP supports, including the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, Carriers of Hope and Warwick District Foodbank. They will be astonished at how much you have given.  It will be invaluable.” 

Kieran McCullough commented, “The level of enthusiasm and support shown for our Faith In Action challenge was amazing, affirming the school’s spirit of family ethos and showing that pupils embrace the communities they live in and are willing to help those who are less fortunate than themselves.”  He continued, “It is easy to sometimes think that one person alone cannot make a big impact, but by bringing all of those individual small acts of kindness together we have been able to make a real difference.”

On Thursday 13 December Princethorpe College Sixth Formers welcomed over 100 guests, for a special Senior Citizen's Christmas Celebratory Lunch.  They included elderly parishioners from St Anne’s, Wappenbury, and residents from a number of local care homes, Greenways, Clifton Court, Galanos House, Overslade House, Homewood, Helen Ley Care Centre, James Hirons, Castel Froma, The Sesame Centre, Town Thorns and Willow Tree Nursing Home.

The lunch has become an annual community event where the guests are served turkey and all the trimmings, prepared by the College catering team and waited on by College Sixth Formers.  It was held in the Sixth Form atrium and delicious smells wafted across the room whilst all around there was much chatter and laughter.

Sixth Formers, Will Puchy and Dexter Powell, did a sterling job entertaining all with festive tunes on the keyboard then mid-way through the meal the guests were treated to a special performance by Princethorpe’s A cappella group who sang the modern White Winter Hymnal.  Juliette Carter then took centre stage and performed well known Christmas songs.  She also led the assembled guests in the now traditional joyful sing-along of much loved traditional carols, including Ding Dong Merrily On High, We Wish You A Merry Christmas and Hark The Herald Angels Sing.  Ed Hester, Headmaster, who had popped in to welcome the senior citizens, happily joined in the communal singing.  Then Izzy Smith took over the entertainment and kept everyone happy singing more popular songs until the event came to a happy close.

Before they left all of the visitors were presented with a personalised Christmas card produced by pupils from the College and from local primary school, Our Lady’s in Princethorpe.

Assistant Head of Sixth Form, Cyp Vella commented, “It was wonderful to see old and young chatting and simply enjoying the moment together, embodying the true spirit of Christmas. A huge thank you to our Sixth Formers and staff for organising such a fabulously festive event.”

Singing in the A Capella group were Greg Burford, Conor Fernandez, Lauren Mason, Charlotte Fitzpatrick, Holly Kennedy, Lauren Bach, Mary Lomas and Jemima Teeton.

Twelve Princethorpe College Sixth Formers have just completed an inspirational, cross-generational project working with the residents of Tithe Lodge in Southam.  In The Me Project, led and co-ordinated by Stratford Literary Festival, sponsored by Orbit Homes, and in partnership with Warwickshire Library Service, the Sixth Form students have worked with nine of the care home’s residents to write up their memoirs.

Over six visits the students paired up with a resident, interviewed and recorded their stories and then, on their behalf, wrote their memoirs up.  The Festival organisers subsequently collated the finished accounts with personal photographs and then published them in a book.

On Wednesday 12 December the students returned to Southam to see the residents one final time.  At the meeting, Director of Stratford Literary Festival, Annie Ashworth, presented copies of the finished memoir books to both the residents and students.

Annie said, “The Me Project was an opportunity for the residents to share their memories from the past.  As we get older our memories help define us and it is important to share our stories.  The residents at Tithe Lodge have a huge amount to give, their lives have included many incredible experiences and they have so many stories to tell.  Princethorpe’s Sixth Form students have shown such interest and commitment to the project and it has really encouraged the residents to open up and share their memories.  The finished memoirs are a marvellous read and for posterity we have also presented copies to the Warwickshire archives.”

David Constable, whose fascinating memoirs tell of his life as one of 22 children commented, “Over the years I have done a lot of charity work. It’s been really nice to meet Eleanor and Jade and to share my life with them.”

Betty McKay, added, “Hannah has been such a patient girl, of course I did have to censor some of my memories, but there were still plenty of interesting stories to tell about my family and friends.”

Former soldier, Derek Haden explained, “This is the first time I have spoken of some of the events in my life.”  His memoir author, Sixth Former Hannah added, ”It has been amazing to hear Derek’s tales.”

Olga Baskerville also shared her wartime memories, she said, “I am not good on dates now, but when I look back the memories are really clear.  Maddie has been wonderful.”  Maddie added, “I have really enjoyed talking to Olga, hearing about her life has brought the Second World War vividly to life.”

Princethorpe College’s Assistant Head of Sixth Form, Rod Isaacs explained, “It has been a real privilege to be a part of The Me Project.  It has benefited our pupils tremendously, I could see that our Sixth Formers were genuinely attentive and interested in the many rich memories and experiences that someone, often 70 years their senior, was sharing with them.  When you read through these memoirs in their final printed form, it is really very moving and inspiring.”

This is the second memoir project the Festival has worked on in conjunction with Orbit Homes, they undertook a similar exercise with Briar Croft in Stratford-Upon-Avon in March this year.

Taking part in The Me Project this time were Tithe Lodge residents: Olga Baskerville, David Constable, Deirdre Dunbar, Myckee Finch, Derek Haden, Betty McKay, Barry Newbold, Terry Plummer and Gordon Sharples

Writing up the memoirs were Princethorpe College Sixth Formers: Frances Bromwich, Elizabeth Carr, Meerah Chauhan, Eloise Dowell, Maddy Downey, Eleanor Makepeace, Hannah Owens, Hannah Porter, Harriet Simms, Izzy Simpson, Maya Spence and Jade Swan.

Princethorpe College school heat winners, Year 8, Chloe O’Carroll Bailey and, Year 10, Jonti Spillman took part in the Springboard Futurechef Local Finals on Monday 3 December. The competition was hosted by Caludon Castle School in Coventry and saw five young school heat qualifiers from three schools, Caludon Castle School, Lutterworth High School and Princethorpe College, battling for a place in the Regional Final which will take place next year in February at Birmingham College University.

The competitors cooked a two course meal, a main and a dessert, for two people in 90 minutes for a budget of up to £7 under the scrutiny of four professional chefs who were the judges for competition.

Chloe’s menu featured a main course of pork with prunes and apple served with green beans and roasted potatoes accompanied by a chocolate orange fondant volcano with orange cream.  Whilst Jonti cooked loin of lamb with parmesan risotto and spinach, his dessert was a lemon cheesecake and a sesame tuile.

Both pupils were nervous but had put a lot of effort into practising to prepare for the competition. Chloe had a problem when her oven went out whilst her fondant was cooking, but the judges let her finish cooking. Jonti worked so efficiently that he was finished with 15 minutes to spare.

The organisers of the competition, Springboard, provide opportunities for young people aged 12-16 to explore food and develop their culinary skills.  Each year over 8,000 young chefs take part in their national competition.

Announcing the winners the judges commented that they were impressed with the talent shown throughout the morning. They praised the contestants for the high standard of the dishes produced and agreed that the competitors had displayed good technique and execution.

The youngest competitor by far, Princethorpe’s Chloe cooked up a storm and was judged overall winner.  She will now go on to represent Coventry and Warwickshire at the Regional Final in Birmingham.  Chloe has been allocated a chef mentor, Lawrence Jeffries, who is the Executive Chef for Warwick and Cheltenham racecourses.  She also won a cookbook and will have her own set of personalised whites.  Jonti was placed third; he also received a cookbook. 

Chloe will now spend time with her mentor at the dining suite at Warwick Racecourse where she will meet the chefs and learn new skills, such as how to ballotine a chicken, and develop her menu for the Regional Final. 

Chloe said, “I am completely in shock, I saw the standard of the other competitors and thought that their food looked amazing. I was pleased to be given the opportunity to take part and never expected to win”.

Food and Nutrition Teacher, Jacqui Scott, commented, “I am extremely proud of both of Princethorpe’s competitors who put a lot of time and effort into menu planning and practising. The food they produced was of the highest standard and was beautifully presented. Both meals could have been served at a restaurant table. They were calm and collected throughout the tense 90 minutes and all four chefs gave very positive feedback to them saying it was a very difficult decision. This was been such a great experience for the pupils so I am sure that the competition will become a regular event in the College calendar.”

A team of six swimmers represented the Princethorpe Foundation at the National Independent Schools Association’s Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, back at the beginning of December.  They were swimming for the Midlands team and were up against tough competition, the best swimmers from regions across the country.

Princethorpe College Director of Sport, Neil McCollin, commented, “Our swimmers have traditionally done well in the ISA Swimming Championships and they have had another successful outing this year. Well done to everyone who competed in both the National Championships and in the qualifying regional competitions; it’s good to see Foundation pupils representing the Midlands and we are delighted with their performances.”

Saturday 1 December, was a busy day for the Foundation, with swimmers across the age ranges competing in no less than nine events; the Senior Girls 4x50 metre medley relay and freestyle relay, the Year 7 Boys 50 metre butterfly, the Year 7 4x50 metre medley relay and freestyle relay, the Senior Girls 100 metre backstroke, the Girls Year 9/10 4x50 metre freestyle relay, the Boys Year 9/10 4x50 metre freestyle relay and the Year 5 Girls 50 metre backstroke.

Year 7, Ed Grindal swam strongly in the 4x50 metre medley and freestyle relays earning himself a silver medal in the freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the medley relay in team times of 2.16.47 and 2.39.17 respectively. 

Year 9, Jess Mackenzie also swam superbly to finish in a team time of 1.57.92, a new record for the Year 9/10 Girls 4x50 metre freestyle relay event, earning herself a well-deserved gold medal.

Year 10, Ben Scares just missed out on a medal swimming in the Year 9/10 Boys 4x50m freestyle relay with the Midlands team just pipped into fourth position.

Year 11, Evie Nicholas finished sixth in the Senior 100 metre backstroke in 1.24.22.

Year 13, Jasmine Rigg swam well to claim a bronze in the Senior Girls 50m freestyle relay in a team time of 2.03.54.

Last, but by no means least, Crackley Hall’s Junior 5 Lily Carroll had an excellent outing at the competition in the Year 5 Girls 50 metre backstroke, finishing in a personal best time of 48.68, nearly 4 seconds up on last year.

A super, huge well done to all of our swimmers.

Click view gallery to see images of Princethorpe College's swimming teams who competed in this year's ISA swimming competitions.

Following the success of previous Green Team calendars, we are delighted that our pupils have been busy exploring our local environment once again and have produced yet another fantastic Green Team Calendar.  

Stewart Dear, Geography Teacher and Green Team Leader comments, “The photographs in this year’s calendar are once again amazing. It is a true celebration of our wonderful surroundings and a reminder of just how lucky we are to have our historic school embedded in such beautiful countryside.”

The calendar showcases the photography skills of pupils throughout the school from Year 7 to Upper Sixth, capturing a range of seasons and environments and will be a handy addition for any kitchen or office as it also includes the Foundation’s term dates.

The 2019 Green Team Calendar is just £5 and there are a limited number available so make sure you grab yours before the end of term. To purchase a copy, please visit the School Shop or contact Stewart Dear at stewartdear@princethorpe.co.uk.