The Flagpole

Princethorpe was delighted to welcome the High Sheriff of Warwickshire to the College on Friday 20 September to talk to Sixth Formers in their assembly.

The Sheriff, Simon Miesegaes, is the Queen’s representative in Warwickshire for all matters relating to the maintenance of law and order and works to support the Judiciary, the Emergency Services and voluntary organisations in the county.

In his address to the Sixth Form he highlighted how important it was for young people to ‘do their bit’ to become responsible citizens.  A philosophy that echoes the ethos of our school. He also encouraged the students to support crime prevention and to be the ‘unsung heroes’ of their local communities.

Headmaster, Ed Hester, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Simon to Princethorpe, his message of community and of ‘doing our bit’ is one that very much resonates with our school ethos and I am sure that our Sixth Formers will continue to take on this challenge.”

Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans, of all ages, are encouraged to learn more languages. Incredibly, across the continent, there are some 24 official languages and over 200 different spoken dialects. Here in the UK four out of five adults regret not having learned another language, but that is something no Princethorpe pupil will ever be able to say!

At the College there are many opportunities to get excited about languages and celebrating European Day Of Languages is just one of them. Set up by the Council of Europe in 2001, Journée Européenne Des Langues promotes the importance of language learning and the cultural diversity that Europe provides.

Championed by the MFL and House teams, this year Princethorpe challenged pupils to take part in Miss Verleure's fun lunchtime language trivia quiz. Pupils gathered excitedly to answer a wide range of language based questions hoping to win points for their House and lots of lovely language related goodies.

Head of Modern Foreign Languages, Stella Keenan’s enthusiasm for languages was contagious as she rallied pupils to take part in the challenge, she said, “Through the lessons we teach and pupils’ day to day life they are encountering different European influences on a regular basis. Miss Verleure's quiz was all about having fun and I hope it helped inspire all our pupils with the languages they learn.”

On Wednesday 18 September Little Crackers Nursery invited Warwickshire Wildlife Trust into school to help celebrate the nursery’s exciting ‘back to nature’ makeover.     

Over the summer holidays Little Crackers Nursery, at Crackley Hall School, has been transformed with a new natural look in its spacious rooms that includes new furniture, flooring, decoration and a completely new indoor/outdoor Garden Room with a decked area, a sunken sand pit, a glazed roof and retractable folding doors that open up to the woods behind.

In the morning the nursery’s Parent and Toddler group, Stay ‘n’ Play, explored the new look accommodation and took part in wildlife themed activities in the bright rooms.  Outside they went into the school’s woods and joined in wildlife themed activities run by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. The children really enjoyed searching for toy hedgehogs and making hedgehog homes.

In the afternoon the nursery children had their own party, with wildlife activities inside that included snail studies, bird watching and woodland craft before also joining Warwickshire Wildlife Trust outside for some wonderful Woodland Fairy Folk fun.

The summer makeover has also seen improvements to the front nursery playground and the nursery children are now enjoying regular visits to the newly opened woodland at the back of the main school.  The ‘back to nature’ summer makeover means that the children now enjoy outdoor learning experiences in three very different settings.

To celebrate the new look Little Crackers has adopted new animal names to reflect the ‘back to nature’ theme, with the Terrific Twos becoming Dormice, the Thrilling Threes changing to Hedgehogs and the Fabulous Fours transforming into Badgers.

Comments Susan Glen-Roots, Assistant Head – Early Years and Key Stage 1, “This is an exciting project which will transform our children’s experiences in nursery.  A more natural environment inside creates a sense of calm whilst stimulating interest and providing the children with a blank canvas in which to learn and develop. This, coupled with more opportunities to take their learning outdoors and explore the wonders of the natural world will reap fantastic rewards in terms of self-confidence, imagination and physical development.”

The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust had lots of fun with the youngsters helping them explore the natural surroundings and encouraging their interest in wildlife.  

The annual Headmaster’s Quiz took place on the evening of Friday 20 September in the Refectory, when parents new to the College got to enjoy a challenging mental workout, accompanied by a warming curry supper.

The event opened with the very testing question, ‘Which house is your child in?’ and, only when answered correctly, could parents then collect their supper from the kitchen and drinks from the PTA bar.

The questions were certainly varied, with rounds including Sport, History, Maths, Films and Celebrities, as well as some extra table challenges with dingbats and ‘guess who?’ photos to solve. With all important house points up for grabs each round was hotly contested, though everyone had lots of fun and laughter along the way.

Congratulations to the winning teams - 1st: 'Nearly As Good As Bolton Wanderers’ (Austin), 2nd: 'More Or Less' (More) and 3rd: 'Fantastic Fisher' (Fisher).

Running concurrently in the Sixth Form Centre the Year 7 Social, organised by Jessica Newborough, House Activities Leader, and the House Activities Co-ordinators, also proved very popular with our newest pupils, who all enjoyed the chance to mix with their new friends.

Many thanks go to the PTA for organising such a successful event, to our Holroyd Howe catering team for the super food, to all the College staff who assisted and to all the new parents for participating so enthusiastically.

35 Upper Sixth Formers visited Southampton University on Tuesday 17 September for this year’s Biology Field Trip.  The trip gave an insight into studying an undergraduate Science degree and the opportunity to gain field word experience.

The students took part in an Oceanography Discovery Day, a unique, hands on opportunity to go on board the University’s state of the art research vessel, Callista and participate in a series of experiments. The students took a fascinating trip out on Southampton Water, to collect their own data, using both new and historic sampling techniques. During the session they collected biological, physical, chemical and environmental data from five different experiments.

Back on dry land the students listened to lectures on waves and on unexplained phenomena and had a tour of the laboratories and aquariums.   It all made for a very informative day.

Biology teacher, Catherine Warne, commented, “It was a long day but our Sixth Formers made the most of every experience, they learnt a lot and had fun too. I was really proud of their enthusiasm and willingness to get stuck in. The weather was kind to us too, which was a fantastic welcome bonus to a very successful trip. It was excellent preparation for our next field trip in mid October when we will complete the essential core ecology practicals at Brandon Marsh.”

Princethorpe’s primary school’s sports programme kicked off early this year with a well-attended U10s football tournament in only the third week of term. Taking part were nine teams from local primary schools, who were all more than delighted to get out in the glorious autumn sunshine and enjoy the chance to play football on the College’s pristine, playing fields.

Princethorpe’s Primary School Sport Liaison Teacher, Hannah Carminati, masterminded the first event and had the teams straight out on to three pitches playing 12 minute, one-way matches. Split into two pools the teams started with a round-robin of games. Refereed by Princethorpe Sixth Form Sports Leaders, the mixed teams of girls and boys threw themselves into each game enjoying the opportunity to put their skills to the test in a competitive environment.

The coaches gave good side line support, shouting advice to their players whose enthusiasm was clear to see. Matches were fast paced and the teams focussed. The ball was moved skilfully up and down the pitch and there were plenty of shots at goal. At the end of the pool round the scores were added up and the teams then all finished with one final game playing their matching placing from the other pool.

Congratulations go to overall winners Cawston Grange Primary, who were delighted to go one better this year and take the title, and to St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School and Crackley Hall School who came second and third respectively.

Miss Carminati enjoyed seeing all the talent on display commenting, “We had lots of positive feedback and the event was a real success. It was lovely to see the children having so much fun; they all deserve huge congratulations for their energy and enthusiasm. It was fantastic to have nine teams participating and to see everyone with a smile on their face.”

Taking part in the tournament this year were teams from Crackley Hall School, Crescent School, The Croft Prep School, St John’s Priory School, Cawston Grange Primary School, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, The Revel Church of England Primary School and Claverdon Primary School.

Our thanks go to all of the staff and pupils involved in the organising and running of the tournament and to the many parents who turned up to support the children.

Over the summer holidays, Upper Sixth Former, Thomas Parker was selected to play for the IQ Representative Rugby team to play in the IRFU Interprovincial Festival in Ireland.

The IRFU run a talent identification program which aims to expand the player talent pool available to Irish provinces and representative sides. It complements the player development pathway that has been established within Ireland over the past few years by providing a route available to Irish qualified players living in the UK. In the 2018-2019 season, Tom attended a number of development days and matches to get himself into the position to be selected for the IQ Representative side this summer.

Tom's selection gave him the opportunity to play in fixtures against U18 teams from the Irish provinces of Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connaught and as such was a fantastic opportunity to play rugby at a national level. Tom also had the opportunity to be considered for selection for the U18 Irish national team, and performed well in comparison to other front row players in his age group.

Head of Rugby, Pete Bucknall, commented, "Tom enjoyed the experience immensely and learned a lot, which is testament to all the hard work that he has put into his rugby over the last few years. We wish him all the best with the next stage in his rugby journey."