Admissions Update

With just under nine weeks to go, the countdown to the College's Entrance Exams for admission in September 2023 has begun. This year the exams for Year 7 to 10 entry will take place on Saturday 5 November from 9.00am to 4.00pm.

Our friendly Admissions Team have been kept busy over the summer accepting registrations from prospective parents. The deadline for registration is Friday 30 September, to enable the processing of applications and seeking of references from junior schools.

There are still plenty of opportunities for prospective pupils and their parents to visit the College before the Entrance Exams, including our Open Morning on Thursday 22 September from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Our Open Morning will allow prospective families to look around the school and experience school life on a normal working day, with our Year 8 and 9 pupils acting as tour guides. 

Our Year 6 Taster Days are also a great way for prospective pupils to experience Princethorpe. Our Taster Days typically involve four lessons, a question and answer session with some of our current pupils and the chance to talk to the Headmaster, Mr Hester.

We have three dates available on Tuesday 13 September, Thursday 15 September and Tuesday 27 September for those who are in Year 6 and have not had the chance to attend a previous Taster Day.

All our events are by appointment. To book your place click here

If you have any queries relating to admissions, please feel free to email the Admissions Team at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call them on 01926 634201/297.

Earlier this year, the trustees of the Princethorpe Foundation were delighted to announce the appointment of Grove du Toit as the new Headmaster of Princethorpe College with effect from January 2023.

Mr du Toit went through a rigorous month-long selection process to secure the post against a strong field of candidates.

Mr du Toit is currently Deputy Warden (Senior Deputy Head) at Forest School, a co-educational independent day school for children aged 4 to 18, located on the edge of Epping Forest, a position he has held for five years. He is responsible there for the day to day running of the school, which comprises some 1,500 pupils and more than 300 staff. His extensive remit encompasses oversight of many elements of school life including staffing, recruitment, operations, professional development and staff wellbeing. He also teaches Religious Studies to GCSE and A-level.

Married to Marike, with whom he shares two daughters, aged 13 and 10, Mr du Toit, 42, is a practising Christian. South African by birth, he moved to the UK in 2005 and after a brief period teaching in the maintained sector, he has held a variety of leadership roles in HMC independent schools in and around London.

Mr du Toit has two degrees from the University of Pretoria (a BA in Educational Guidance and Counselling and a BA in Biblical and Religious Studies) and a BEd from the University of South Africa in Educational Management. He also holds an MA in Educational Management from King’s College London and is currently studying for an MBA at Salford Business School.

He has a strong background in the co-curricular life of the school, in particular sport and the performing arts and in his spare time Mr du Toit loves to spend time in the outdoors with his family and dog and his interests include golf and outdoor cooking.

Current Princethorpe Headmaster, Ed Hester, who has been in post since 2009, will take on a new dedicated role as Foundation Principle when Mr du Toit takes up office. This will allow him to focus on the strategic direction of the Foundation as a whole.

Commented, Liz Griffin, Chair of Trustees, “The Foundation Trustees were unanimous in the decision to appoint Grove to be the next Headmaster of Princethorpe College. His passion for education and young people shone through throughout the selection process. He has immense vision and energy combined with a wealth of experience and leaderships skills, but most importantly his personal values marry perfectly with the ethos of the College. We are delighted to welcome him and his family into the Foundation and will introduce him to staff, pupils and parents at the earliest opportunity.

She continued, “Our thanks go to Ed Hester, who has done an outstanding job as Headmaster of Princethorpe College over the last 13 years. Of course, Ed will continue to have a very keen interest in life at Princethorpe and will be on hand to ensure a smooth transition and successful handover to Grove, who will be supported by Princethorpe’s excellent Senior Leadership Team.”

Comments, Grove du Toit, “I am excited and honoured to take on the Headship of Princethorpe College and lead the school into the next stage of its development, building on the excellent work of Ed Hester. I recognise and fully appreciate what a special community Princethorpe is and upholding its ethos and spirit of family will be central to my role. I look forward to immersing myself in school life and building relationships with staff, parents and pupils alike.”

Current Headmaster, Ed Hester, adds, “Grove is a great fit for Princethorpe and brings with him a vast amount of experience and skills. I am delighted to be able to hand over the reins of running the College to him and am really excited at the prospect of working with him over the years ahead.”

Grove du Toit will be attending our admissions events in the run up to the registration deadline in order for prospective pupils and families to meet and talk to him. 

Princethorpe College has received the highest possible ratings across all criteria from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) following an inspection in April 2022. The report, which has just been published, consists of two elements, a focused compliance inspection, encompassing statutory standards, and an educational quality inspection evaluating the achievements of pupils, including academic performance and their personal development.

Headmaster, Ed Hester, comments “We are delighted with the report, it is a ringing endorsement for everything we do here at Princethorpe and reflects a huge team effort.

He continues, “Pupil achievement and personal development are the two key benchmarks for any successful school and being graded as excellent in both of these broad areas demonstrates the incredible talent, dedication and professionalism of our staff, the outstanding attitude and approach of our pupils and the support of our parents.”

During the inspection, the ISI inspectors observed that, ‘Pupils have very positive attitudes towards their work and are highly focused in lessons’, that they ‘achieve a high level of results, exceeding predictions at every level’ and they ‘benefit significantly from an atmosphere in school which is positive and one where learning and trying one’s best are celebrated’.

Referencing the extensive co-curricular programme, the inspectors commented that ‘pupils embrace wholeheartedly the many opportunities to participate in a myriad of activities and many enjoy substantial success’ and are able to ‘find their own unique passions and relish taking part in them, broadening their perspective on life’.

Pupils’ personal development was also judged as ‘excellent’ with inspectors recognising that ‘pupils have a strong sense of moral responsibility, encouraged by an environment in which there are the key rules of Be Kind and Do Your Best’. The vertical tutoring system was mentioned with older pupils described as ‘excellent ambassadors and role models serving as examples that younger pupils aspire to’. Looking outwards to the wider world the inspectors found that pupils were ‘active in promoting an environmental awareness, reflected in their Planet Princethorpe project’ and that ‘the extensive range of charity work provides a social compass which guides all pupils in their thinking’.

The ISI Inspectors also noted feedback from parents that, ‘commented positively on the strength of the children’s learning and how this reflected the commitment of the teaching and the direction provided by the school’s leaders and trustees’.

Mr Hester concludes, “At Princethorpe our aim is to create a caring and supportive environment where pupils can develop to become well-educated, articulate young people, ready to take their place in society with a true sense of values and purpose. I am delighted that the ISI Inspectors have so comprehensively recognised this in their report.”

The ISI is the Government-approved body responsible for the inspection of independent schools and they consider every aspect of the provision. A copy of the full report is available from the ISI or the Princethorpe College website here.

Princethorpe College is celebrating another year of excellent exam results.

Out of a cohort of 127 students who completed their A-levels, BTEC and Extended Project Qualification this year, 45% of all A-level grades achieved were A* or A with overall 95% of grades at A* to C. Impressively, 34 high-flyers achieved three or more A*or A grades; special mention to Freya Caine, Sebastian Dibb, Caitlin Mason, Ben Scares and Ciaran Smith who all achieved four A*s.

At GCSE Princethorpe pupils also performed well, from a cohort of 127 pupils over half (54%) of all entries received the coveted 9, 8 or 7 grades and 39 Year 11 pupils achieved eight or more 9, 8 or 7 grades. There were many exceptional personal achievements, with stand-out performances from Oliver Llewellyn, Dina Parmenter, Amy Hogg, Joe Newborough, Harry Kelly and Daisy Southgate, who all achieved an outstanding seven or more grade 9s.

Ed Hester, Headmaster, commented, "We are delighted with the excellent results our Sixth Form students and Year 11 pupils have achieved against a backdrop of unprecedented challenges over the past two years. Their results reflect their hard work and perseverance, all credit goes to our pupils and staff for their commitment, collaboration and hard work."

He continued, "We are proud of their academic achievements, but all these pupils have many other fine qualities: kindness, respect and a strong sense of right and wrong, which will be tremendously important for them as they move on to the next phase of their lives. We congratulate them all on their well-deserved success."

Thanks to the hard work of the construction team and plenty of fine weather, work on Princethorpe’s new £8 million Science Centre continues to make great progress. The project is almost halfway through.

The new Science Centre is situated at the top of The Lime Walk. Due to officially open in September 2023, the 10 laboratories will provide state-of-the-art Science facilities for generations of pupils to come.

Work started back in mid-February, and by the end of the Trinity Term the steel framework was in place. On Tuesday 28 June, Headmaster, Ed Hester, visited the Science Centre construction site for his first official tour of the new building. He was accompanied by Trendgrey Construction MD, Nick Henderson, Princethorpe’s Project Manager, Foundation Assistant Head, Alex Darkes, along with, Head of Science, Emma Cooper, and two Sixth Form Science Subject Ambassadors, Hannah Lawrence and Tom Dodsley.

Since then, Trendgrey's dedication to the project has helped the build make significant progress. A lot of the super structure brick work is now complete, particularly at the west end. Inside on the ground floor, the beam and block floor are laid and the partition walls are going up. The drainage works are finished, and the first fix of the electrical and mechanical works is underway. The rafters for the main roof are also being installed. Shortly, the roof trusses will be craned in and the focus then will be to get the building watertight before the weather worsens.

In the first few weeks of the Michaelmas Term, pupils will be asked for their help in collating material for a time capsule that will be buried in the entrance hall of the new building and then we will be looking forward to the topping out ceremony.

As you can see in this latest time lapse clip, it’s a very exciting time for us all here at Princethorpe!

https://vimeo.com/745816313/91a081ff71

At the start of the summer holidays six pupils competed for the Warwickshire Schools Team at the English Schools Athletics Championships. Then, Upper Sixth Former, Cameron McGregor, Lower Sixth Former, Lucy Randall, Year 9, André Onyekwe, Year 9, Olivia Monk, Year 8, Grace McCollin and Year 8, Penelope Jones travelled up to Manchester to compete in the event. 

It was such a fantastic achievement for these pupils just to be selected to compete, but to have six athletes reaching the national standard was super exciting for us all here at Princethorpe and we were proud to have had the most pupils ever to be selected from one school for the Warwickshire Team.

The young athletes competed in the 400m, Javelin, High Jump, 100m, Hurdles and Long Jump respectively and we are delighted to share that Cam ran an outstanding race to claim the Gold medal in the 400m, while André soared over the bar to also take Gold in the High Jump. Lucy also threw a personal best in the Javelin.

We are hugely impressed with their commitment and dedication to their sports and are incredibly proud of them all. These young people really are up there with the top athletes in the country for their events and we are really looking forward to seeing them achieve more athletics success this school year.

At the start of the summer holidays, 32 talented tourists from Princethorpe College’s Music Department took part in a musical adventure when they embarked on a long-awaited performance tour of Belgium.  Pupils from Year 7 all the way up to our Upper Sixth came along for the ride as we finally got off on tour again

Their five-day action-packed itinerary included the chance to perform in three fantastic locations, as well as a visit and audio tour of the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels. They also visited the Menin Gate in Ypres and were honoured to perform at the internationally renowned Last Post Ceremony. Their trip included a day in Bruges and a super visit to a chocolate factory, as well some time to explore the beautiful city of Brussels and take part in an exciting Virtual Reality adventure. 

Princethorpe’s prodigies were magnificent, confidently performing to appreciative and sizeable audiences in Ostend, Ypres and at the Menin Gate. They were all magnificent ambassadors for the College, and had an incredible time into the bargain.

This is the second time that the College has taken both its instrumental and choral groups on tour (previously having had a wonderful trip to Vienna in 2019), and the entire trip was a resounding success.

21 girls from Year 8 to Year 10 girls visited the British Motor Museum on Wednesday 29 June to take part in a special Girls in STEM Workshop.

They enjoyed an exclusive keynote presentation and Q&A with Louise Reynolds, Vehicle Line Director at Jaguar Land Rover. Louise spoke about her current role within Jaguar Land Rover, her career, and the challenges that she has faced in a heavily male-dominated workplace.

The pupils then had a Women In Motoring guided tour that included how women were instrumental in the development of the first combustion engine powered car and how early female motorists were encouraged to pack three essential items when driving a motor car: a pet for company, a box of chocolates for sustenance and a loaded revolver to deter any bandits!

They then became 'Engineering Apprentices' removing and replacing a wheel of a remote-control car in a race against time - Georgie's group achieved an impressive time of 10 seconds, beating the current Museum record by a whole 3 seconds! The girls then raced their cars around a track and to their credit none of the wheels fell off. Armourers from MoD Kineton set a challenge to build a crane with pulley system to lift ammunition with which the pupils had varying success at achieving, this in a very short time frame.

Their day culminated with a special presentation from members of the all-female driver line-up of Laser Tools GB4 Racing team. The F1 Pit Stop Challenge brought out the competitive spirit and pupils were split into teams to complete a tyre change relay to simulate F1 pit stops. A brief self-guided tour of the exhibits closed the day before the girls departed with STEM goodie bags in hand.

Head of Physics, Dan Lee, commented, “The girls were an absolute credit to the school - they asked thoughtful questions, engaged in all of the activities and had a really positive experience.”

What an inspirational opportunity – we hope you enjoyed yourselves girls!

Princethorpe College was delighted to welcome, award-winning author, Tom Palmer, to school on Thursday 12 May. Princethorpe’s Year 7 pupils have been studying Tom’s compelling story, After The War, in their English lessons, and they were thrilled to meet the author himself.

Tom has written over 50 books, despite struggling with reading as a child. He began his career writing about sport and is well known for his Football Academy, Foul Play and The Squad series. He graduated on to war stories starting with Over the Line, a story about a professional footballer’s experience in the First World War and now has six stories loosely based on real life characters and events that engage both as history education as well as on a human level.

During an absorbing afternoon, Tom spoke openly to Year 7 pupils, discussing the inspiration behind his books. He shared his journey to becoming an author and answered a host of questions from our enthusiastic pupils. His down to earth and frank manner, drawing the children in.

Tom was clearly delighted with his appreciative audience and after his talk happily signed copies of his books for the children.

School Librarian and Teacher of Drama, Celia Scott, commented, “We were honoured to have Tom visit Princethorpe, he was just so interesting. Year 7 were mesmerised by his stories and bursting with questions. It was a fascinating afternoon for us all, and we just can’t wait to read Tom’s next book Resist.”

The Duke of Edinburgh's Awards are recognised as the world’s leading youth achievement award. They provide young people with the opportunity to get involved, explore new interests, discover talents and make new friends and they are a big part of life here at Princethorpe.

Last academic year, Princethorpe College pupils trekked and camped their way across Snowdonia (38 Gold), the Dark Peak (53 Silver) and the Cotswolds (113 Bronze), working together in teams to achieve their expedition objectives.

Will Bower, Head of Outdoor Education, said, “I am very proud that so many of Princethorpe’s pupils embrace the challenge of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. They take the opportunity to develop skills and try new experiences, pushing themselves both mentally and physically to live up to the College’s ethos and be the best they can be and all with such commitment and enthusiasm. Over the course of last year 274 pupils completed a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition, amounting to a total of 39 days of in school training and trips.”

He continued, “We will be holding a celebration evening this academic year when pupils who have completed their Award will be presented with their certificates. The Gold Award participants also received an invitation to visit a royal palace, in London, for their official presentation.”