The Flagpole

The Covid outbreak has brought many changes to the school as we reimagine our campus, timetable and procedures in order to be able to care for the pupils safely back in the College. We are very grateful for your support in making these changes and for the kind words of encouragement that you send us.

As part of these changes, we have reviewed some aspects of our reporting and we have decided to refine our annual Full Reports, making them shorter and timelier, combining them with phone calls home as appropriate.

The essential content of the reports will remain the same, including: an attainment grade showing the pupils’ current attainment; and appraisals of the pupils’ systems and organisation, effort in their homework, and their attitude to their learning.

It will also now include an indication of their teacher’s judgement of their academic progress. This will be on the following scale:

• Academic progress is excellent
• Academic progress is very good
• Academic progress is satisfactory
• There are slight concerns about academic progress
• There are significant concerns about academic progress

That will be followed by a short comment. In this comment, the teacher may praise and encourage the pupil, elaborate on any concerns and, if there are any significant concerns, state that they will be in touch directly by phone or refer to phone calls that have already taken place. The report will conclude with a short comment by your child’s form tutor.

We believe that this will give a more timely insight (current Full Reports have to be written almost three weeks before publication) and enable richer feedback through appropriate phone calls, all in a more efficient manner. If you would like further information about any subject or if you have any concerns you would like to share, you may of course contact your child’s teachers directly and they will happily provide you with it.

Thank you once again for your support.

Dr Michael Reddish
Deputy Head - Academic 

Progress Reports for Upper Sixth will be published today, Friday 25 September 2020, and will be available to view on My School Portal.

Dr Michael Reddish
Deputy Head - Academic 

To confirm further details of the forthcoming Upper Sixth Parents’ Evening which will follow the September tests that have taken place.

The current government guidelines preclude us from being able to run the Parents’ Evening in the usual way so it will instead be undertaken over the phone in the week commencing Monday 28 September.

You will receive one phone call for each subject your son/daughter studies. Your child’s teachers will be in touch to set up a mutually convenient time. If your son/daughter is taught by more than one teacher for a subject, then colleagues will have collaborated before the phone call in order to give you a comprehensive picture.

Teachers will use mobile numbers which are registered in the contact information held by the school. The phone conversation will last between 5-10 mins and will include the same information as if the meeting was happening face-to-face. It would obviously be useful if your son/daughter could be with you so that any issues can be discussed collectively. You may want to use ‘speaker phone’.

Thank you for your support in this matter. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact your son/daughter’s tutor or our Head of Sixth Form, Mr Ben Collie at bencollie@princethorpe.co.uk.

Dr Michael Reddish, Deputy Head - Academic

Ben Collie, Head of Sixth Form

The Year 8 Parents’ Evening takes place on Tuesday, 8 October from 6.00pm to 8.30pm. It will be hosted virtually through of a series of Microsoft Teams meetings with your child's teachers. Meetings will be booked online in five-minute slots. Further details will follow on how to book the appointments.

Please be aware that for subjects where teachers teach more than one set, teachers may be in contact with you via email before the Parents’ Evening to update you as to your child's progress as there will be more pupils than available meetings.

You can find a list of your child's teachers under Teacher Contacts on MySchoolPortal.

Dr Michael Reddish
Deputy Head - Academic

Progress Reports for Lower Sixth will be published on Friday 2 October 2020, and will be available to view on My School Portal.

Dr Michael Reddish
Deputy Head - Academic 

Reports for Year 11 will be published on Friday 9 October 2020, and will be available to view on My School Portal.

Dr Michael Reddish
Deputy Head - Academic

Calendar Michaelmas First Half Term 2020

25 September - Upper Sixth Mock Reports published

2 October - Lower Sixth Mock Reports published

5 October - A-level Autumn Series exams start

9 October - Year 11 Reports published

23 October - A-level Autumn Series exams end

Calendar Michaelmas Second Half Term 2020

2 November - GCSE Autumn Series exams start

4 November - Oxford and Cambridge University Assessment tests

5 November - Oxford and Cambridge University Assessment tests

23 November - GCSE Autumn Series exams end

27 November - Year 7 and Year 10 Progress Reports published

4 December - Year 8 Progress Report published

Oxford and Cambridge Assessment Tests

The closing date for applications to sit the Oxford and Cambridge University Assessment Tests is 15 October 2020.  Should any students wish to apply to sit the exam, please complete this application form and return it to examinations@princethorpe.co.uk.  Tests will take place on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2020.

Shellagh Dodds
Examination and Assessment Manager

As we get into our stride with the term, the pupils are hopefully getting into a routine with the completion of their homework. Homework provides a vital link between lessons and supports the ability of the teacher to provide a continuation of learning over the weeks. Staff are encouraged to set a variety of homework tasks (following a Homework timetable) to engage the pupils but also to allow them to make further progress.

Following our successful period of home learning, all homework is now set on Teams. This allows for a more efficient approach for the pupils, but also allows parents to see the assignments which have been set by the teachers at first hand. All homework set includes a deadline for completion which supports pupil organisation. In addition, please encourage your child to use the resources available on Teams which have been uploaded by individual teachers. These resources will support understanding of the content of the lessons and provide a point of reference for any questions or misconceptions whilst completing homework.

The use of Teams is also effective when pupils need to contact their teachers. Pupils can send messages to their teachers either individually or within the ‘posts’ section. This can prove very handy to clarify homework tasks.

Dr Liz Pyne
Assistant Head - Teaching and Learning

Dr Liz Pyne
Assistant Head - Teaching and Learning