The Flagpole

As we move into the Bank Holiday weekend, I thought I would share a couple of my favourite pictures from VE Day, 8 May 1945. You can sense the immense relief on the faces of the Royal Family with our Queen on the left and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the middle, as they wave to the crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace. On the second photograph, the joy is palpable as people took to the streets to celebrate the end of the fighting in Europe.

Of course, we all know how the War ended now, but at the time nobody knew what the outcome would be. For at least the first three years it looked very likely that Britain would lose and many people lived in fear not only of the bombs but of an invasion by the German forces. My parents were born during the war and I am sure that many of your parents and grandparents would have remembered those very dark days.

We are living in times when we are seeing daily death tolls read out by our government; during the Second World War the exact number who died is unknown, but it is estimated to be between 70-85 million people. Many of those who died were civilians who were caught up in the bombing or fighting in their countries. In Britain the number killed is estimated to be around 450,000 – just less than 1% of the population. Some countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, were much more badly affected with between 10-15% of the populations being killed.

This week, and particularly on Friday when we are on holiday, it is good for us to remember those brave men and women who fought for our country and earned the Victory in Europe. Let us also remember all those, particularly those who are Princethorpe families, who continue to put their lives at risk for us all – including the incredibly brave NHS workers and those behind the scenes who are working tirelessly to help save and support others.

Home Learning

Continued thanks for all you are doing to support us with this. In response to the most recent questionnaire we have produced a Q and A sheet which you can find here. The key thing to remember is that if you or your children need help please ask.

We appreciate that this new way of learning has been a challenge for everyone, and some pupils may need some extra support in working through the assignments, so we are introducing a new 'study support' system to help pupils manage their online learning.  If you feel you would like to discuss your child's learning with a member of our Learning Support Team please email julieshorten@princethorpe.co.uk, who will arrange for either Mrs Sharpe, Ms Prestage or Mrs Hinks to call you.

Very best wishes for the extended weekend, I hope you are able to get some quality off-line time and enjoy the good weather with your families.

Ed Hester

Princethorpe College’s Virtual Winter Sports Awards took place on Thursday 30 April. It was an opportunity to recognise the achievements of the College’s young sportsmen and sportswomen at all levels and across all sports.

Host for the event was Assistant Head Co-curricular, Neil McCollin, who led the special virtual celebration of this season’s sporting endeavours, and the event included a special guest appearance by a sporting global superstar, English international cricketer and current vice-captain of the England Test team, Ben Stokes.

Ben kindly agreed to be involved as he is a childhood friend of Head of Boys's Games, Mike Turns.

The award ceremony began with a summary of the performances of the College’s sports team. Coaches reflected on the past season and for each team awards were announced recognising endeavour, progress, coach's player and most valuable player. The wide range of sports and the sheer numbers of pupils involved, a testament to the importance of sport to life at the College.

Mr McCollin then went on to announce the teams of the season for which there were many contenders. Reflecting on the team’s success, the numbers of fixtures played and the opponents faced, the Girls Sports Team Of The Year was awarded to the U15 Hockey team. For the Boys Sports Team Of The Year, after considering the strength of the opposition and the fixture lists the award went to the U13A Rugby team.

A number of pupils were awarded prestigious full colours recognising their commitment and dedication to sport both on and off the field. They included Emelia Tubb, Maddie Glasspool, Jack Bent, Sam Armstrong, Will Basford, Issy Smith, Caitlin Parris, Lucy Gribben, Oli Thomas, Henry King, Will Cooper-Harris, Tom Crowfoot, Will Crowfoot, James Crabtree, Fionn McCormack, Thomas Parker and Oscar Phillips.

Then it was the turn of our special guest speaker, Ben Stokes, who began by reflecting on the importance of sport and the role it plays in the lives of young people. Ben was delighted to announce the individual sports prizes congratulating each of the winners, they included:

Junior Sports Girl Of The Year – Alice Whittaker
Junior Sports Boy Of The Year – Jamie Smith
Senior Sports Girl Of The Year – Lucy Gribben
Senior Sports Boy Of The Year – Freddie Draper
Sixth Form Sports Girl Of The Year – Izzy Smith
Sixth Form Sports Boy Of The Year – James Crabtree

Ben finished by saying, “Congratulations to all of the winners, a fantastic effort from everybody.”

All in all it has been another very successful season for the College with plenty to celebrate, albeit in a virtual way.

Princethorpe STEAM Ambassador and Deputy Head Girl, Lauren Mason, has been taking part in a ‘Combating COVID-19’ Junior Academy Challenge for the New York Academy of Sciences.

Lauren has been a member of the Junior Academy for the last few years and represented the UK in an international team working on the Covid challenge. Together they undertook primary research collecting data for analysis on a range of different factors associated with living in a country affected by the virus. Several weeks ago Lauren asked the Princethorpe community to support her research by taking part in the survey.

Lauren says, "The Junior Academy challenge is now finished so I can share the results. Our final presentation can be found here. You will see that it includes the survey results and the analysis, which the Princethorpe community so kindly contributed to. Anyone who wants to view the full survey analysis can find it here."

She continues, "I would just like to say thanks again to the Princethorpe community for completing the survey for us. I really enjoyed participating in this challenge as it has provided a focus for me outside of schoolwork. It has been interesting to network internationally and see how different cultures are coping with the pandemic." 

The survey makes very interesting reading. A big thank you to all those who supported Lauren by taking part.

Applications are now open for the Junior Academy for young people (aged 13-17).  Anyone who is interested in following in Lauren's footsteps can find out more about the New York Academy Of Science's Junior Academy either by emailing Lauren or by sending her a message on Teams.  They can also find out more on the Academy's website here. 

This Friday will mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the end of the Second World War in Europe.

At 3.00pm on 8 May 1945, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a radio speech to tell Britain that the war was over. Across the nation all rejoiced and men, women and children took part in parades and parties, dressed in red, white and blue, lighted celebratory fires and rang church bells.

There are plenty of celebrations planned to mark this anniversary with all encouraged to celebrate VE Day with a Stay At Home Party and the Foundation schools’ have been preparing to mark the event in their own small ways.

First of all, here at the College we are virtually flying the Union Jack! We may not be able to physically wind our way up the Tower stairs to hoist the Flag, but we are reposting a picture of the flag atop the Tower across all our social media.

Then, College pupils are enjoying a special VE Day House Challenge. House Activities Leader, Jess Newborough, has asked pupils to celebrate VE Day by creating their own British flag. Flags can be created in any form - the only rule is that they cannot simply be drawn or painted.

At Crackley Hall pupils took part in a special VE Day Assembly where Deputy Head, Duncan Cottrill reflected on the Second World War and Victory in Europe Day.

Then at the Crescent School the children spent Thursday 7 May off timetable, taking part in a special VE Day of lessons. Headmaster, Joe Thackway kicked off proceedings with a VE Day Assembly and the children then enjoyed a host of different activities that included delights such as: creating invitations to a VE party in 1945, making bunting, learning morse code and code breaking, wartime songs and dances, designing commemorative tea cups and creating war medals to name just a few.

The Princethorpe Foundation hopes you all enjoy the weekend of celebrations, and alongside all in our country, we give thanks to all those who gave so much to secure the peace, freedom and prosperity our society enjoys today.

We have seen a super response to House Activities Leader, Jess Newborough's weekly House Challenges.  With pupils and staff enthusiastically getting involved. It is great way to earn some House points and to give your House a head start in the race to win this year's House Cup.  Remember every point is important and picking up on the Bank Holiday wartime theme - your House needs you - so pupils are really encouraged to get involved. 

The first challenge was titled - Be more like Bill! Pupils had to produce a dedication to Warwickshire's most famous son, William Shakespeare. They could create, write or design anything that was an ode to the famous bard and we received some incredibly creative entries. Congratulations to the winners:

Austin - Charlotte Fitzpatrick, Benet - Amelie Friess and Robyn Field, Fisher - Corin Alford and Raphi Kane, More - Madoc Williams and Ed Twyman

In terms of housepoints the results were:
1st Benet 160 points
2nd More 110 points
3rd Fisher 100 points
4th Austin 35 points

Challenge 2 was to reflect on and thank our frontline NHS staff in a creative way. Each pupil was allocated a word to depict maybe as a poster, a knitted or baked version of the word or any other inventive way. Tutor groups then merged the words into wonderful messages to acknowledge the hard work being undertaken by our health workers.

The winners of the NHS Challenge were:

Austin C6AA The Most Cheerful
Austin AEG The Most Creative
More MEC The Most Colourful

In terms of housepoints the results were:
Joint 1st Austin and More 120 points each
3rd Benet 80 points
4th Fisher 40 points

This week's challenge picks up on the VE day anniversary. For Challenge 3 pupils have been asked to celebrate VE Day by creating their own British flag. They can create their flag in any form - the only rule is that they cannot simply draw/paint the flag.  We are already seeing some wonderful entries and pupils have until 4.00pm on Monday to submit their Flag.

A huge thank you to House Activities Leader, Jess Newborough and her wonderful House Activities Co-ordinators and House Captains who are all working so hard to keep our spirits up the weekly House Challenges.  We hope pupils are enjoying taking part just as much as we are enjoying seeing all their superb entries.

Kerry Low, one of the College’s Careers Team, has produced a new Careers handbook that offers us all the chance to make the most of her 20 years in the careers business. Her Destination Dream Job Journal is really a careers adviser in a book with all of the activities, guidance and advice you need to help you work out what it is you really want to do. Aimed at everybody from ages 14 to 65 and beyond, the journal is designed to help you plan your next career move.

Kerry works as a Careers Adviser for Princethorpe College and for Warwickshire County Council. In both organisations, she works with young people helping them appreciate their own unique skills and identify the careers that are right for them. She also runs her own Careers Advice business, Kerry Low and Associates, that offers support and advice for anyone looking to develop their career.

Kerry says, “60% of people don’t like their work and 1/3 of us actually hate our jobs. Many have just fallen into careers. I believe everyone has the right to be happy in their job, we all work for the majority of our lives and enjoying your work is important for your mental health. However, taking that first step towards a new career can be daunting whatever age you are.”

"I have been in the business a long time and had never come across a good careers handbook that helps guide people to the right career. The Destination Dream Job Journal is really just me in a nutshell helping you to work out what it is you want to do.”

Kerry crowd funded the production of the journal and is delighted to see it finally produced.

Commenting on the Destination Dream Job Journal, Steve Stewart OBE, CEO Careers England, said, "Congratulations Kerry on producing a careers adviser in a book. It's a simple, engaging and easy to use journal that is full of useful information mixed with the new psychological discoveries that are helping people really tap into their potential. I know it will make a difference to the lives of so many people. Well done!”

Of course, pupils here at the College work closely with both Kerry and Princethorpe’s Head of Careers, Jacqui Quinney. Together they provide a comprehensive careers service, encouraging and supporting pupils as they develop their career plans. However, Kerry’s new journal is fantastic news for the wider world.

More information is available from her Twitter and in her blog here.

Over the last month the College’s Archivist, Janette Ratcliffe, has brightened all our days with insights and reflections from the Foundation Archives. She has been taking part in #Archive30, a month-long Twitter campaign promoted by Explore Your Archive that invites archivists to showcase their collections, highlighting some of the many wonderful material that are safely stored away.

Janette preserves and promotes the collections for the Foundation’s three current schools and four legacy schools. The catalogue is online at archives.princethorpe.co.uk and new material is added regularly. Often it is donated by past pupils, just recently the College received a set of beautiful drawings from an old St Mary's Pupil, Janet Haynes (nee Campion).

Amongst Janette’s most favourite items in the archives are the school magazines. With old editions of Peeps, Peepers Pie, The Tower and the more modern-day Circular, they are such a wealth of information. Whilst her most unusual item is a nun doll, part of the St Mary's Priory collection, there is no information about how the doll ended up at Princethorpe.

Janette loves to share the information; she takes part in outreach activities and enjoys producing displays for celebrations and open days. Her work is diverse and includes accessioning, cataloguing, repackaging collections, monitoring the environment, outreach, enquiries and removing *millions* of sharp staples.

Her month of #Archive30 tweets have been fascinating. For example, we found out that the authors of a 1989 Princethorpe article 'Double O Darkes' were sure they had discovered something important about Princethorpe College legend, Alex Darkes's secret identity. He certainly does look suave and sophisticated in the accompanying photo! Then while spending more time at home, we were encouraged to try a recipe from the 1962 Peeps magazine. Felicity from Form Vb did make the ingredients flexible, something essential for the current lockdown, but there might be a link between that and her forceful warning at the end! We even found out about the Fashion 2K spectacular that both pupils and teachers, perhaps unwisely, took part in.

The #Archive30 posts using the #SomethingScary hastag were particularly prolific. Starting with a ghost story recorded by teacher Peter Rex, “During the 1970s staff were frequently besieged by nervous 'first years' because they had seen the mysterious figure of the 'Half Nun' parading the corridors." And with plenty of #SomethingScary poems from the school magazines across the years.

All in all, it has been a lot of fun and we know Janette can’t wait to get back to Princethorpe to continue her work.

If you would like to explore the archives then please visit https://archives.princethorpe.co.uk/

Or you can follow Janette’s Twitter feed @PFdn_Archives to enjoy her regular updates on the Foundation’s history.

Princethorpe College Estates Assistant Michael Luis is one many Reservists who has been mobilised under Operation RESCRIPT to support the Government’s response to COVID-19. Reservists with specialist skills and experience have been helping to deliver a range of activities, such as providing additional medical and logistical support for the NHS, acting as liaison officers and deploying specialist skills such as engineering and accounting.

Michael was part of the second tranche of reservists to be called upon and he has been responding to requests for assistance from public services and civilian authorities, working at Centres run by the Army and in logistics.

Recognising their role in supporting the crisis, Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey said, “Our Reservists are a truly remarkable group of people; each with their own skills and experience from their civilian careers beyond the armed forces. At times like these, to be able to draw on that pool of talent and expertise is invaluable.”

We are very proud of Michael and the work he is doing to support our country as it navigates its way through the COVID-19 crisis.

With the the school currently closed, our usual calendar of events is sadly suspended until further notice. However, we have in place an interim Covid calendar and you can see what is planned on the College website or on My School Portal.

The following key events will go ahead in a modified format:

• Weekly House and Sixth Form Assemblies
• Ambassadors Inauguration Assembly - Thursday 14 May
• Old Princethorpians Newsletter Published - Friday 15 May
• Old Princethorpian Quiz Meet - Friday 15 May
• Activities Afternoon - Friday 22 May
• Year 7 and 8 Academic Review Evenings - Monday 8 and Thursday 11 June
• Year 10 Parents Evening - Monday 15 June
• Summer Art, Photography and Design Show 2020 - Thursday 18 June

The exact format of these events will be confirmed nearer the time and other events will be confirmed over the coming weeks.

This year’s OPs London Meet was due to take place next week on Friday 15 May in French restaurant, Balthazar’s Le Petit Salon Privé in London's popular Covent Garden. Sadly, for obvious reasons the restaurant is currently closed and the event as it was originally planned cannot go ahead.

However, we are still keen to have a gathering, albeit a virtual one, and will be holding an OPs Quiz Night on the same evening instead.

Hosted by Headmaster Ed Hester over Zoom, there will be a range of questions including some relating to the College if you would like to test your wits. Players are welcome to play as individuals or you could form a team with some OP friends. Again simply go to Princethorpe Connect below to register your interest, message us on Facebook or email oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk. The fun will kick off at 8.00pm, with two quiz sessions, and an interval so you can grab a drink!

We won’t miss out completely on our trip to Covent Garden as the event at Balthazar has been provisionally moved to Friday 5 March 2021, so please put that date in your diary now!

https://connect.princethorpe.co.uk/event/op-london-meet

Friday 22 May - 2.00pm to 3.45pm

To bring this first half of the Trinity Term to a conclusion and celebrate the end of assessment week, the afternoon of Friday 22 May will be set aside for a special House Activities Afternoon.

The House Activities Team will be hosting activities for all pupils to participate in in their Tutor Group in order to earn those valuable House points.

The event will start with a quiz covering some of the House events which we were due to have taken place this half of the Trinity Term and then Tutor Groups will have some House competitions and challenges to work together collaboratively on.  

Neil McCollin
Assistant Head - Co-Curricular

Firstly I wish to thank you for all of the support for the home learning programme that you have been providing to your child/children.

I am writing to let you know about a new home learning support resource we have put in place for all of the pupils at Princethorpe College in order to help them to make the most of home learning and to be able to use our home learning platform, Microsoft Teams, as effectively as possible.

This new resource is the Pupil Home Learning Guides channel, which is available on our internal video service, Microsoft Stream, and contains a wide range of support videos, explaining how to use a number of features on Teams and Office 365 on both PCs and mobile devices. As an internal service, the pupils must be signed into their Princethorpe accounts to access this, but for your reference the link to the channel is below. I have also attached a contents list, with links, of the videos currently available. The pupils were informed of this new resource on Friday afternoon, and so already have access to this.

Pupil Home Learning Guides channel (requires pupil Princethorpe account sign in)

I hope that you and your children find this a useful resource to help with the technical aspects of home learning. We will be adding further content to this channel over the coming days and weeks, including providing videos specific to accessing and completing online tests for the upcoming assessment week. 

Please also be advised that many other useful documents and resources are available via the Home Learning 2020 section on My School Portal, available here.

Kind Regards

Andy Compton
Assistant Head (Director of Digital Strategy)

This week home learning has continued apace with a positive and dedicated work ethic being demonstrated by pupils across the school. The College is incredibly impressed with pupils' engagement in their learning and all staff are enjoying seeing the fruits of their labours.

Mathematics

Mr Scoutas shared some of the on-line lessons in which pupils had participated. They begin by watching a pre-recorded video of their Maths lesson as if they were in class. Pupils then complete their work and upload it for marking. There is also the opportunity to ask any questions. Pupils have been working incredibly hard and have engaged well, taking responsibility for their learning.

Theo Scoutas (Teacher of Mathematics)

Art

Eloise Keil in Year 9 has been studying the work of Wayne Thiebald, a colourful, American artist. She has drawn an ice cream in his style - it certainly looks delicious!

Sue Harris (Teacher of Art)

Religious Studies

Year 8 were tasked with researching and presenting information on one of the Five Pillars of Islam. They really used their imagination!

Theo designed a board game on Zakat (the duty to give 2.5% of your income to charity)

Krystina created a guide to the Hajj (the duty to go on pilgrimage to Mecca once in your life)

Harry baked a cake and designed a guide to Zakat

Alice created a sculpture on Sawn (the duty to fast for the Holy month of Ramadan)

Cyp Vella (Head of Religious Studies)

Geography

Jamie Smith in Year 9 has completed his Geography work on coasts to an incredibly high standard. He put a lot of effort and detail into his work by extending his answers and Miss Butler was really impressed with how well he responded to the home learning that has been set.

Lucy Butler (Teacher of Geography)

History

Tiernan Chapman-Apps in Year 7 has earned a Da Vinci for his recent castle project. All pupils were given a choice of ten castles to choose from. They then conducted independent research and presented their findings to include the history and development of the castle, architectural features including diagrams and primary sources, and an aspect of life in the castle. 

Take a look at his superb project here.

Julia Lindsay (Teacher of History & Politics)

English

Year 8, Emma Eastwood produced an outstanding piece of descriptive writing. English teacher, Lisa Challinor tasked her class with imagining a moment in the past and writing descriptively as if they were actually there. Emma chose The Great Fire of London. She used sensory imagery and descriptive details particularly well to evoke the atmosphere as well as showing excellent control of pace and sentence structure.

You can read Emma's piece here.

Lisa Challinor (Teacher of English)

Design Technology

Well done to Year 10 pupils, James Maclean and Edward Mitchell, who both produced excellent detailed responses to a research task investigating materials for their NEA (non-examined assessment). Mr Walton was most impressed with the boys' work.

You can see James' work here and Edward's here.

Tom Walton (Teacher of Design Technology)

Year 8 pupils Georgina Barnes and Isabella Cunnington impressed Mr Scopes. They were asked to upcycle an item in the home and design and make a product using any wood available at home. Their creations were superb and included a chicken coup, a teapot stand and a pen holder.

Paul Scopes (Head of Design and Technology)

The Father Jules Chevalier Cup is awarded at the end of the school year to the House that has been awarded the most ethos merits. The Cup is named after the founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who in 1854 began a new order of Priests who would eventually open Princethorpe College in 1966. The current holders of the trophy are Fisher House. 

During these difficult times when we are not in school, it is even more important to think about others less fortunate than ourselves, a value that is key to our ethos and our spirit of family. Pupils have been encouraged to take the opportunity to think about the men and women who in the past served the Church in so many different ways and often made many sacrifices. To support pupils in this Mr McCullough, Director of Ethos, has challenged pupils to research the 'Saints of the Week' who are remembered in the Church's Liturgical Calendar. 

In the last week of April, pupils investigated St Catherine of Siena (April 29) St Pius V Pope (April 30) and St Joseph the Worker (May 1) and Mr McCullough has been impressed with the wonderful response. Well done to all the researchers.

Some of the interesting information they have discovered includes:

St. Catherine of Siena

St Catherine had a twin sister, Giovanna. They were born prematurely when her mother was forty years old. Unfortunately, Giovanna died in infancy. Her mother had another child two years later and named that child Giovanna as well.
She was a mystic, activist and an author who had a great influence on Italian Literature and the Catholic Church and was also a Doctor of the Church. She was born during an the outbreak of the plague and was the 25th child of her mother! She was known for her holiness, asceticism, and spiritual visions and was said to have received stigmata!
St Catherine was buried in a Roman cemetery which is near the Pantheon. She was known for her holiness and spiritual visions and was said to have received stigmata. 

St Pius V Pope

Pius V is credited as the first Pope to wear white ropes and since then the white clothing and robes have become a tradition.
St Pius V Pope was head of the Catholic Church and he was the Pope who excommunicated Elizabeth 1.
He arranged the formation of the holy league which is an alliance of Catholic states to combat the Ottoman Empire. He was born on the 17th of January 1504 and died on the 1st of May 1572. He was the Pope from the 8th of January 1566 until his death.

St Joseph the Worker

Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church, a happy death, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travellers, immigrants, craftsmen and engineers He’s also the patron of the Americas, Canada, China, Croatia, Mexico, Korea, Austria, Belgium, Peru, the Philippines and Vietnam.
He was married to Mary, Jesus’ mother and was born in Bethlehem and died in Nazareth. He is regarded as the patron saint of workers as he was a carpenter himself.  You can see many statues and paintings of Joseph with Jesus and we even have a statue of him with Jesus in our school.

Mr McCullough was particularly impressed with the very last point on St Joseph as it evidenced the pupil had paid attention to lessons in school.

Well done to all the pupils who engaged so superbly with this ethos activity. 

Princethorpe College has set up a Twitter account to provide helpful advice and guidance to parents of pupils at the school.   

Run by Princethorpe College’s Deputy Head - Pastoral, Mrs Beth Sharpe, it is sharing information and links from a variety of official sources and includes useful learning resources as well as advice to keep us all mentally well and safe.

Click here to visit the Parenting@Princethorpe Twitter account.

Tuesday 13 October 2020

Our Confirmation Programme will begin on Tuesday 13 October 2020.

Father Alan Whelan MSC will celebrate Mass in the College Chapel at 6.30pm for pupils wishing to be confirmed and their parents or guardians.

This will be followed by an introduction to the course followed by tea/coffee.

The provisional date for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation is Friday 19 March 2021 at 7.00pm in the College Chapel. (The Bishop will confirm this in June.)

The preparation takes place over the lunch break.

Each 20-minute session will be offered twice in order to avoid clashes with other activities.

Confirmation Preparation:  

Michaelmas Term 2020

Tuesday 3 November    or     Friday 6 November

Tuesday 10 November  or     Friday 13 November

Tuesday 17 November  or     Friday 20 November

Tuesday 24 November  or     Friday 27 November

Lent Term 2021

Tuesday 26 January      or      Friday 29 January

Tuesday 2 February      or      Friday 5 February

Tuesday 23 February    or      Friday 26 February

Tuesday 2 March          or      Friday 5 March

Tuesday 9 March          or      Friday 12 March

Thursday 18 March everyone

If you would like further information please email marybenham@princethorpe.co.uk

Please complete the enrolment form here if you would like to register a candidate for Confirmation.

Mary Benham
Chaplaincy Co-ordinator

Whilst the College is closed, Jacqui Quinney, our Head of Careers, will still be providing the following services remotely:

Year 10

Careers Interviews will continue by phone during the school day. Interview times will be emailed directly to pupils on their school email and pupils will be phoned at home at the allocated time. They will need access to the internet preferably using a computer or tablet (not a phone) during the call.

Year 11

Any careers related queries, please email jacquiquinney@princethorpe.co.uk 

Lower Sixth

Students will still be supported as they prepare to make university applications or apply to higher level and degree apprenticeships.

One-to-one interviews will continue by phone – times will be emailed to individual students.

Resources relating to personal statements, choosing universities, choosing a course etc will be sent to students as appropriate, using Teams.

Upper Sixth

Please email any queries regarding university or jobs to jacquiquinney@princethorpe.co.uk

Student Finance applications for students starting their university study later this year are open now.

Please see below some top application tips.

Gather together the right information
To apply, students will need to gather the following information:

·         Passport (or original birth/adoption certificate)

·         University and course details

·         National Insurance number

·         Bank details

Parents who are supporting the application may find it helpful to have their P60 for 2018/19 and any other income information to hand.

Apply early
Students should apply early to ensure that you receive your loan payments in time for the start of the university term. You can do this by visiting www.gov.uk/student-finance

If you are planning to take a gap year, then you don’t need to apply now; you will need to make your application at this time next year.

Apply even if you don’t have a confirmed place
It doesn’t matter if you haven't yet decided where it is you want to study. Just apply using your current first choice and this can be updated easily later through your online account.

Jacqui Quinney
Head of Careers

Princethorpe College Year 10 pupil, Molly Wincott-Thomas, has been signed for Birmingham City again and will be playing for the team next season.

Molly who also plays for the Independent Schools Football Association’s U16 Squad is a talented footballer who has had a very successful 2019/20 season. As well as playing for Birmingham City's Regional Talent team Molly has also trained at the English FA’s national football centre, St George’s Park, and played in international fixtures against teams from the English Colleges, Scotland Independent Schools, the English Schools FA and the Welsh Schools.

Many congratulations Molly it was great to hear of your latest success!

The Independent Schools Association’s National Triathlon is always a hotly contested event and one of the highlights of the year for our Foundation athletes. The competition takes place every May with participants from across the country. Of course, this year the event has been cancelled much to the disappointment of many of our athletes. So we were really delighted to hear, that determined not to miss out, two Foundation pupils organised their very own lockdown triathlon event!

On Sunday 3 May, Princethorpe’s Year 8, Kaena Wasley and Crackley Hall’s Junior 6, Soren Wasley swam, cycled and ran together, completing the distances for their age groups.

Kaena completed the TriStars 3 distances, swimming 300m, cycling 4km and running 3km, she completed the course in a very speedy 33 minutes and 52 seconds. For Soren it was the TriStars 2 event, he swam 200m, cycled 2km and ran 2km, in a super time of 24 minutes and 9 seconds.

A huge well done to the Wasley family who all took part in the triathlon alongside Kaena and Soren. We are very impressed with you all and it sounds like you had great fun.

Why not take a look at some more activities and virtual places to visit whilst staying safe at home this Bank Holiday weekend.

The National Garden Scheme has virtually opened a number of beautiful gardens that can be visited from the comfort of your own home. Along with garden owners they are working to bring gardens to life with virtual garden visits, gardening tips and great stories. Visit them here.

Historic England has developed a number of virtual dive trails where you can explore some fascinating wrecks without even getting wet! These trails use new technologies such as multi-image photogrammetric recording and virtual reality techniques to allow viewers to see a clear 3D image of a site. Dive in here.

Finally, just in case the Bank Holiday weather isn't as dry and sunny as we hope, the Scouts have pulled together some inspired indoor activity ideas to keep children entertained. They'll learn new skills and have fun in the process. Take a look at some inspiration here.

We hope you enjoy your visits and learn something new! 

Calling all pupils who love reading and talking about books!

There is a new Team for this remote pupil book club, providing a forum for discussion of your latest reads. Message boards are open for contributions, and online meetings will take place during Tutor Time on Tuesdays (for KS3 and KS4) and Mondays (for KS5), supervised by Dr Pyne and Mrs Borman - please ask your tutor to be excused from Form.

This is an excellent initiative from the Prefect Body and we hope to see lots of you there.

Please email nicolaborman@princethorpe.co.uk to be added (or request via Teams).

Every year the Performing Arts Department at Princethorpe College works tirelessly to stage a superb musical production. Who can forget the success of We Will Rock You, Little Shop of Horrors and Arabian Nights to name just a few.

Trailed on the department’s Instagram, Director of Music, Gil Cowlishaw, has announced that the College’s 2021 production will be the fantastic 1970s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.

It promises to be a highly entertaining show, featuring a number of classic rock musical numbers including Gethsemane, I Don’t Know How To Love Him, Everything’s Alright and of course the powerful anthem Superstar.

The team are planning to cast the show before September and pupils are encouraged to get involved. So whilst pupils are learning from home why not encourage them to warm up their vocal cords and try something new.

Pupils can use the code fnram84 to join the Jesus Christ Superstar group on Teams.

We can't wait!!

Please see below our current vacancy:

• Shop Manager

Full details  and how to apply are available via the following link: Join Us

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.

Please find below our updated Term Dates and Key Dates document for 2019-20, along with the dates for 2020-2021.

2019-20 (two-page document)

2020-21 (two page document)

Cyber-crime – please be extra vigilant

Parents are asked to be vigilant when reading emails relating to the payment of school fees and any other items to the Foundation.

We continue to receive reports regarding spam emails.  The latest scam offers a large discount on fees for the coming academic year if paid immediately.

This is probably trying to take advantage of the fact that some independent schools have offered discounts for this term and that parents may therefore be more open to such a suggestion. You can always protect yourselves by only making payments to us in line with our normal, published methods.

As advised, there has been no change to the bank details of either Princethorpe College, Crackley Hall or Crescent and there is no intention to make any changes in the foreseeable future. Any electronic notification that appears to be from any of the Foundation schools changing these details may be fraudulent.  Our bank details are available on the Parent Bills, the Online Payment Portal and for Princethorpe in the Information Booklet 2019 – 2020 for each school, and only those details should be used.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleagues in the Bursary if you are have any doubts about the correct details or indeed if anything appears suspicious.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar