The Courier

The College's latest Admissions Update e-newsletter has just been published and can be found here. 

It is full of articles and news to give prospective parents and pupils a feel for College life, information on forthcoming open days and events and helpful advice about the admissions process. It will be of particular interest to those looking at entry to the school in September 2022. 

The newsletter is issued twice a year to coincide with key admissions periods, and the next edition will be published in Autumn 2021, just prior to their Entrance Exams on Saturday 6 November 2021.

For further information on admissions please don't hesitate to contact the admissions team at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call 01926 634201/262/297.

Year 6 enjoyed a Celebration Breakfast on Wednesday and Chef, Mr Moore and his team laid on a super spread. The children have worked hard this year, handled lockdown and their examinations so well and at all times been excellent role models for the pupils in the lower school. 

Breakfast was laid out in the hall with cereals, pastries, fruit salad, yoghurt and fruit juice to choose from and Year 6 made short work of the tasty feast.

The children were also presented with their Leavers Hoodies and they were quick to put them on. Now a tradition for most schools, the hoodies will always be a tangible memory of their time at Crescent and their fellow pupils. They all looked so smart. A huge thank you to the FoC for organising them!

In assembly today, we had the pleasure of listening to two Year 3 girls playing their instruments. Sofie played beautifully on the piano and Roisin also entertained us with Sundown on her clarinet.

Very well done girls.

Intermediate review meetings for our 'Learning Mentoring' initiative took place today, somewhat later than originally planned as a result of the Lent Term lockdown. The 'Learning Mentoring' scheme was an initiative we implemented back in the Michaelmas Term as part of our whole school target, 'To embed self-regulation to achieve high performance.'

Today the children met with the same member of staff and reviewed the academic targets they had set for themselves at the beginning of the year. They have been regularly reviewing their progress against their targets in their class but this was a more formal opportunity to reflect on their progress, self-assess where they are now and for some set new targets for the end of the year.

The initiative gives responsibility for their learning to the children from Year 1 up to Year 6. Staff do not tell pupils if they feel they have achieved their targets, instead they guide pupils through their books, feedback, comments and last reports.

We believe it empowers the children and gives them the responsibility to strive to achieve their own set goals.

The sessions were very positive and we look forward to the final review at the end of the school year.

Parents of 5F should have received an invitation to choose an appointment time for a transition meeting. These are for Year 5 parents with Ms Forth as Form Tutor and supported by Mrs Webb as Head of Year 6 Transition.

This is a chance to review your son or daughter's attainment up to this point and have a realistic discussion regarding plans for secondary school destinations and the process you now need to enter.

The 15 minute meetings will be run on Teams and you will be sent the link after booking your appointment.

The dates and times for these appointments are:

• Monday 14 June 1500 - 1700 or
• Tuesday 15 June 1700 - 1800

Please sign up by Thursday 10 June and we look forward to seeing you.

Ms Forth
Deputy Head/5F Form Tutor

We have been asked by Warwickshire Safeguarding Board to make parents aware of the following incident:

Stranger Danger Incident on 7 May 2021 

A student from Rugby School has reported the following:

At 4.30pm on 7 May, a Year 9 boy was walking to a lesson along the Hillmorton Road.

A male driver in a white car, not sure of the make, had his window open and asked the boy whether he would like some sweets and held up the bag. He persisted in asking a couple of times and asked him to get into the car.

The boy went into the nearest building and reported to a member of staff.

This matter has been reported to the police.  

As a result of this the Warwickshire Safeguarding Board have provided the folliwng advice:

As promoted by Warwickshire Safeguarding Board’s Taking Care Scheme please do not teach blanket ‘stranger danger’ messages to children. The reason for this is that sometimes a stranger is the only person who can help us and is a far safer option than not talking to anyone. e.g. a child lost in a shop is far safer to tell a stranger they are lost than to wander off looking for the person they have separated from. We may choose to discuss the likely ‘safest’ strangers in such scenarios such as a mother with a pram or small children or someone who works in the shop.

However, we do need to clarify the stranger issue as plainly there are situations we may want to warn children about for their own safety e.g.

• not to get in a car with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/where/when etc and has given permission

• not leaving school with someone other than who they were expecting unless their parent/guardian knows who/ where/when etc and has given permission and they have checked with a school staff member. Sometimes a password system is used so that children are only released into the care of an adult who can give the correct password – this is usually changed as soon as it has been used once

• not to walk off with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/where/when etc and has given permission

• If someone tries to grab them it is ok to break all the rules of politeness to others e.g. scream, kick, punch, bite…etc. Whatever they need to do to draw attention to themselves and alert others to the fact they are in danger.

Please reinforce these safety messages to the children regularly without giving them the idea that ALL strangers are ‘bad’.

We would reiterate to keep younger siblings closely by your side at drop off and pick up.  

We will be running a competition organised by the Royal Mail over the next couple of weeks before half term.

In the competition pupils have the chance to design a stamp honouring 'Heroes' from times during the pandemic. As well as have the winning entries made into actual stamps, entrants and schools can win cash prizes.

Teachers will go through the rules of the competition with the children in class but they may bring their designs home for completion.

An overview of the rules plus terms and conditions can be found here; we will be entering the 4–11 year old section. 

All entries must be in school on Tuesday 25 May in order to be posted for the Friday deadline.

Good Luck to everyone.

Princethorpe PTA are holding their Summer Fête on Sunday 27 June 2021.

The fête will take place in the Orchard between 2.00pm and 4.30pm and promises to be an afternoon of traditional summer fun. 

The Fête always offers visitors a lovely selection of stalls, and Princethorpe's PTA have asked that if anyone would be interested in having a stall then could they please email the PTA at stalls@princethorpe.co.uk.