The Flagpole

27 Princethorpe College girls conquered its 30 metre high chapel tower in an epic fundraising abseil challenge.  As part of a drive to raise funds to support their summer 2019 South Africa sporting tour the girls from Year 11 and Lower Sixth enthusiastically took on the once in a lifetime challenge.

In light wind and warm sunshine on Wednesday 1 May there was nothing to hold back the dare devil students from tackling the descent. Under the supervision of outdoor education specialists, Peak Pursuits, participants were kitted up in helmets and harnesses before being given their safety brief. First over the top was Sixth Former Alys Hemmings who led the way effortlessly abseiling the 100 foot drop to cheers from waiting classmates on the ground below.

With 27 girls taking part, the event took all afternoon.  Last to descend was Ellen Bucknall who had waited patiently for three hours, before she climbed over the edge she commented, “It was almost harder to come up the Tower, there is no way I am going back down those stairs.”

PE teacher, Louise Harrison, commented, “The South Africa tour is a major event in the Princethorpe Sporting calendar. We expect pupils to take responsibility for raising funds for the trip to support the South African charity Sporting Chance and this year the girls have impressed us all with their tenacity and community spirit.”

The exact funds raised are still being tallied but huge congratulations to all the girls who took part.

Benet pupils gathered together on Wednesday 1 May in Tutor Time to celebrate their amazing victory in this year’s House Cup. Special celebratory cookies had been laid on for all to enjoy. Victory was especially sweet because it has been five long years since Benet last won.

Winning the House Cup isn’t easy these days, you can’t just win sports day and have it in the bag. To succeed every single pupil needs to pull together and do his or her very best. This year it was a steady and consistent performance that helped Benet pupils finish first, having amassed a huge total of 22,504 points.  More finished in second place with 21,056 points, Austin came in third with 19,197 and Fisher close behind in fourth place with 18,486 points.

Some of Benet’s many successes along the way included wins in:

House Bake Off
Sports Day
House Activities Day
Welly Wanging
House Talent Show
House Public Speaking
St Hildegard House Award
Easter Egg Hunt
Merits

The House Cup was presented to Benet’s Head of House, Lisa Challinor, and outgoing House Captains, Lily Dyble and Bryn Lewis in the final assembly of the Lent Term.

A delighted Lisa Challinor said, “Miss Carminati and I are so proud of Benet House and their achievement in winning the House Cup this year.  Led by our Benet House Captains, Bryn and Lily, the whole house has really stepped up and got involved in every event.  The ‘big’ events like Sports Day and House Activities Day are obviously joyous to win, but this really is about every member of Benet House doing their best in their own way, every day."

A number of individual Benet pupils have been recognised with full colours, half colours and commendation certificates for their contributions to the overall House total.  They included:

Full Colours

Luke Daniel
Lily Dyble
Emily Enoch
Bryn Lewis
Anna Wells

Half Colours

Commendations

Eva-Rose Ancill-Griffiths
Seb Bainbridge
Kitty Bonsor
Daisy Durke
Amelie Friess
Oliver Edwards
Louise Gambling
Marcus Garcia-Stokes
Bella Holt
Joel Malam
Noella Mbanga
Alice Minshull
Ed Moon
Luca Smith
Darcey Reeve
Megan Shipton
Jack Stern
Grace Thomas
Fynn Walker
Kaena Wasley

Many congratulations to Adam Rickart who is to take on the role of Head of Austin House from September.

Adam, who holds a first class BSc in Psychology from the University of Leeds, joined Princethorpe in 2014 and was promoted to Head of Psychology and Sociology in September 2016. He is currently a Benet Tutor.

He takes over the role from Kenny Owen, who leaves to become Deputy Head at Arnold Lodge School.

Comments Headmaster, Ed Hester, “Adam is an outstanding teacher and form tutor, who I know will embrace this important role with energy and commitment. We congratulate him and wish him well.”

Adam added, "I feel immensely fortunate to be given the opportunity to support pupils as Head of Austin House. The ethic of care that runs throughout every part of Princethorpe College is one of the things I love most about our school community, and it will be a privilege to contribute to this in my new role.”

On Friday 3 May Princethorpe College welcomed ex-Air Vice-Marshall and ex-Chaplain-in-Chief to the RAF, Jonathon Chaffey, into school to speak to Year 9 pupils about the challenges of being in the military as a priest, and the tensions between Christian beliefs and working in the Armed Forces.

Jonathon talked about his long career within the RAF and his time serving in conflict zones including the Falklands, the Gulf and Afghanistan.  He explained how religion is enshrined into the Forces using a personal anecdote about a Jesus nut (a critical bolt on a helicopter) to demonstrate his point.  He explained that religion helps serving soldiers and gave examples of where he had personally seen faith at work in the military.

Jonathon talked about the Geneva Convention and personal moral discipline and his belief that it is a really deep-rooted spiritual discipline that helps soldiers keep going in times of great conflict.  He explained that chaplains fulfil three roles, providing prayer, presence and proclamation, and in giving moral education that helps soldiers make the decisions necessary for a just war.

His presentation was fascinating and pupils listened attentively and were full of thought-provoking questions at the end.

Whilst in school Jonathon Chaffey also spoke to Sixth Formers in their weekly assembly and to a number of pupils who are interested in a career in the RAF.

Our thanks go to Jonathon for sharing his experiences and for his intriguing and inspirational words, we were delighted to welcome him into school.

Congratulations to Princethorpe College Year 9 pupil Amelie Friess who has impressed local judges to win the Stratford Literary Festival’s Felix Dennis Young Poets Competition.  Amelie wins a prize of £200 and will have her work, published in the 2019 Young Poets Collection.

This is the first independent competition that Amelie has entered, although she has previously taken part in Radio 2’s 500 words with her school when she was younger. 

Amelie said, “I am immensely proud, I was really surprised when I heard.  I take part in a writing workshop outside of school and we had been writing poetry.  After reading one of my poems my teacher encouraged me to enter the competition so I did, but to be honest then I almost forgot about it.  I really couldn’t believe it when I won.”

The Felix Dennis Young Poets Competition marks the legacy of poet Felix Dennis who was a great supporter of the Stratford Literary Festival.  The competition is held in his memory and to encourage young writers and poets.  Amelie entered the 11-16 years age group category.

English Teacher, Nicola Borman commented, “This is excellent news, Amelie is a fantastic writer and it is wonderful she has had her work recognised in such a well-regarded poetry competition.”

Princethorpe College was transformed into a racing venue on Thursday 2 May as seven teams from local primary schools powered up their hand built cars to compete in the Regional Finals of the Jaguar Primary School Challenge.

The F1 in Schools - Jaguar Primary School Challenge engages with primary school pupils and teachers across the UK. The challenge is open to pupils aged 5-11 years old and involves designing and manufacturing the fastest car possible emulating the design and engineering processes employed by real engineering companies, such as Jaguar Cars.

At the Regional Final the pupils presented their designs and then raced the cars they had built down a special 20-metre-long track, set up specially in the Sports Hall at Princethorpe College. The cars were propelled using special compressed air gas canisters and they travelled the distance in a matter of seconds.

The Warwickshire Regional Final is hosted and organised by Princethorpe College and Head of Design Technology, Paul Scopes, has been on hand to support the primary schools’ design and development work. Taking part this year were some 35 Year 4 and 5 pupils from Crackey Hall School, Crescent School, Priors Field Primary School and Balsall Common Primary School.  The teams were judged on a range of criteria including speed, engineering, pit display and a verbal presentation, and were competing for a chance to go forward to the National Final, which this year will be held on Tuesday 11 June 2019 at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.

Alex Darkes, Assistant Head Development, and the Chairman of the judges, was impressed with the hard work of all the teams, saying: “The standard of competition of all the teams this year was tremendously high, illustrating the commitment and talent of all the children involved. These nine-year-olds explain aerodynamics and friction with a level of knowledge and understanding I would be pleased to see in a GCSE pupil.”

It was a very hard fought competition but the two teams going through to the final were: Speed Specialists from Priors Field Primary School and Firecrackers from Crackley Hall School. Well done to all the teams!

An intrepid band of Princethorpe College staff, parents and former pupils are to take on an epic challenge over the May half term holiday when they cycle 110 miles between the French towns of Saumur and Amboise in the Loire Valley, in aid of Mary's Meals.

This is the second Cycling Pilgrimage undertaken by the College, the last being part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2017. The 20 cyclists and their supporters will travel to France by coach and cycle 110 miles over two days, with a rest day in between in the beautiful chateau town of Azay-le-Rideau.

Comments, Headmaster, Ed Hester, “110 miles in two days is no mean feat and all the pilgrims deserve to be encouraged. Many of the cycling pilgrims are taking part for a second time and we are expecting once again for there to be fantastic camaraderie on the trip. With pilgrims aged from under 20 to in their 70s this really epitomises Princethorpe’s spirit of family.” 

The cyclists will once again be raising money for the College's chosen charity, Mary's Meals and have set a target of £2,000, enough to feed 143 children at Makalunga Primary School in Malawi for a year. 

If you would like to support them please go to their fundraising page here.

Princethorpe’s very own marathon man, Assistant Head of Sixth Form, Rod Isaacs, completed the Shakespeare Marathon in an amazing time of four hours and 18 minutes.  Mr Isaacs joined 3,500 runners on a course that ran past Stratford-upon-Avon’s many historical buildings and out into the Warwickshire countryside.  The run took place on Sunday 28 April and the weather stayed dry and calm, Storm Hannah having blown herself out overnight. 

Mr Isaacs commented, “The first half was great but then I hit the wall and my muscles seized up. Then it was 13 miles of heavy breathing and saying Jesus under my breath, as a prayer!  It was such an amazing experience, there was a great atmosphere and camaraderie and the crowd was very supportive; I could even hear Sixth Form Administrator, Mrs Mitchell, ringing the bells at Holy Trinity Church, Shakespeare's church, in support of all of the runners at the start.”

Mr Isaacs is pictured with his wife Ann Marie who ran alongside him for the last mile of the race.  

He continued, “Huge thanks to everyone who has supported my run, it really helped me keep going.”

Mr Isaacs’ marathon run was in support of Princethorpe College’s expedition to Malawi in July 2020.  There, a group of 23 pupils and five staff will work with Classrooms for Malawi at Lauderdale School.  All of the group are fundraising to support the project, which will refurbish and redecorate classrooms to give the 2,500 pupils a suitable environment in which to learn.

You can find out more about the expedition and support the group’s fundraising at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/malawi2020.