Princethorpe In The News
Click on the attachment below to download the latest In the News posters featuring some of the Foundation's most recent media coverage.
Old Princethorpians
Lent 2013
Click on the attachment below to download the latest In the News posters featuring some of the Foundation's most recent media coverage.
Many Old Princethorpians have supported the College over the years giving of their time and experience to help with events such as mock interviews, talks to pupils and presentations at events such as the Careers Fair and Prize Giving. This is invaluable and much appreciated.
We are aware that some OPs and Friends of Princethorpe may also wish to support the Foundation and its pupils financially. There are a number of ways in which this can be done.
Making a gift
You may wish to donate to a specific project such as our Development Fund, which aims to improve the facilities and site for future generations, or our Historic Buildings Appeal, which aims to preserve the fabric of our unique setting, an excellent example of this is the recent restoration of the Roundhouse. Alternatively there may be a subject with which you have a particular affinity, for example Sport, The Arts or Science.
Or you may wish to contribute to our Bursary Fund to help give others the opportunity to learn and develop at Princethorpe and Crackley Hall. Currently 65 of our pupils benefit from such financial assistance.
This support can be made through single gifts or regular donations on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. To make an electronic gift visit our Just Giving page.
Leaving a legacy
If you would like to leave a lasting gift to the school you can do so in the form of a legacy in your will. As a registered charity any legacy made to the school is free from Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
If you decide to leave a legacy, it is essential that your will is legally drawn up, and correctly witnessed. Unless your affairs are very straightforward, it is best to consult a solicitor rather than try to do it by yourself. If you prepare thoroughly and collect all the relevant information, seeing a solicitor need not be too expensive. Solicitors generally charge by the hour - so the better prepared you are, the less money you will need to spend.
We are immensely appreciative of such gifts as they really do make a difference and help provide funds for both capital projects and bursaries over the long term, which cannot be financed by fee income alone.
For further information, or a confidential discussion about how you can help the School, please contact the Foundation Bursar, Eddie Tolcher on 01926 634200 or email
eddietolcher@princethorpe.co.uk.
The power of the Old Princethorpians network has been apparent recently in helping secure valuable work experience for some of our current pupils.
OPs Chairman, Peter Rollason, gives a recent example, "In September at the OPs Sports Day I spoke to the current and past pupils about how beneficial a large network is in business. This struck a chord with James Hobbs and his father and about six weeks later I had an e-mail from James on a Saturday morning asking if I could help find him a work experience placement in either stockbroking or merchant banking.
"By nine o'clock on the following Monday morning I had e-mailed John Naylor at Cave and Sons, an OP who I've come across in business, and by 10 o'clock James' work placement in a stockbroking firm based in Northampton had been secured, together with transport arrangements to and from Northampton because John lives in Leamington Spa!"
Work Placement Requests
We are now looking for help finding work placements for some of our Year 11 pupils to take place after their GCSEs in late June.
We have got pupils particularly interested in the following fields:
If you are able to offer a week or two weeks experience please contact Mike Taylor at the school, miketaylor@princethorpe.co.uk.
Our next College Careers Fair is due to take place in Spring 2014. The inaugural event was hugely successful and we would like to make the next one bigger and better. We will be looking for presenters willing to talk to parents and pupils about different careers and professions and organisations to have stands providing information in the Careers Fair itself.
Many OPs who have visited recently have commented on the changes at the College since they were at school here, including the new Sixth Form Centre and restoration of the Roundhouse. Happily they have seen these changes as sympathetic to the historic fabric of the school and in keeping with the site generally.
More changes are afoot and we are now at the detailed planning stage for a new 15-room classroom wing for English and Modern Foreign Languages which incorporates a language laboratory, two further IT suites and a buttery. This wing will be sited on the North Lawn side of the Sports Centre.
Comments, Assistant Head, Alex Darkes, "This is an exciting next stage of development at Princethorpe and will create much needed increased classroom accommodation, which will also enable us to be free of temporary classrooms in the grounds, greatly enhancing both the learning and the physical environment."
To see more images of the planned developments click here.
View Gallery
For those of you who didn't catch this last month, why not tune into the BBC's Fr Brown series to get a glimpse of the College on film.
The series is based on G K Chesterton’s stories involving the crime-solving Catholic priest Father Brown, played by the Fast Show and Harry Potter films' Mark Williams. The episode filmed at Princethorpe over last year's summer holidays is entitled 'The Bride of Christ'.
In the episode two nuns die in mysterious circumstances at St Agnes convent (aka Princethorpe), Father Brown investigates with the aid of Sister Boniface, an eager young fan of detective novels.
Look out for some lovely views of the Chapel, Quad, down by the old gasworks and the Dining Room disguised as an infirmary. Sister Boniface also gets pushed down some stairs which if we're not mistaken are in the Tower!!
Click here to view the episode on BBC iPlayer.
We are working on a way overseas OPs will be able to view the episode, watch this space.
As a benefit of the Headmaster's membership of HMC, the East India Club in St James's Square, London is offering full membership to Princethorpe gentlemen school leavers at a special rate.
The offer can be taken up within 18 months of leaving school, and provides membership to 31 December following their 25th birthday for the one off sum of £350 in 2013. If you would like more information please call Sandra Prendiville, Membership Secretary at the East India Club on 020 7930 1000.
For more information on the East India Club please go to their website www.eastindiaclub.co.uk/.
Old Princethorpian Ben Farr, who is now studying an Art Foundation Course at Mid Warwickshire College, has recently heard that two of his A-level Art and Photography pieces have been awarded second place in the Independent Schools’ Association’s National Art Competition.
The eighteen-year old’s painting ‘Teenage Dreams’ was inspired by the work of Anselm Kiefer. Ben drew on the 2011 riots to depict the troubled and isolated view that was presented in the media of Britain’s Youth. He focused on using texture in his work to represent the disjointed image of society at the time along with eroding surfaces to create a downbeat atmosphere.
In his photographic Triptych ‘Family through Time’ Farr used a narrow depth of field to manually focus on the eyes of his brother, father and grandmother. The stunning black and white images were acclaimed for their rich use of contrast which captured the human face.
The A* A-level Art student whose plans are to pursue a career in the world of painting is no stranger to winning awards at national level. As an Under 16 entrant Ben won the same painting category.
Head of Art, Paul Hubball commented, "Throughout his time at Princethorpe Ben was a model Art student dedicating himself both in and out of the classroom to hours of work perfecting his pieces. These prizes are a reflection of the talent and dedication that he has to make it to the very top of these competitive fields."
Old Princethorpian and this year's Princethorpe College Shield recipient Daniel Leung has been offered a post A-level unconditional offer from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge to read Modern Languages in October 2013.
Daniel achieved 2 A*s and 2 As at A-level in French, Music, Spanish and Maths along with 2 A grade AS levels. His Extended Project received full marks for his chosen area of study which combined his passion for Modern Languages and Music.
Daniel’s dissertation, ‘Was the transition from Romanticism to Modernism in French Literature and Music a natural or unnatural progression?’ enabled him to independently research French fiction and explore the cross overs with the burgeoning changes in classical music.
Daniel’s academic excellence was apparent the minute he joined Princethorpe. His extraordinary musical talent was often visible around the school as Daniel enriched assemblies and recitals by performing on the piano, bassoon, oboe and organ or by generously accompanying fellow music students in some capacity. Having achieved both his DipABRSM and LRSM diplomas in piano by the age of 17 Daniel was always on course for starry heights.
With eleven A*s and 1 A at GCSE level Daniel pursued his academic studies with rigour but also with a generosity of spirit.
When asked why he chose to read Modern Languages at Cambridge he replied, “I hope that by combining my linguistic skills with my passion for music I may one day inspire other people, especially children to develop their own confidence and interpersonal skills. Music, in my view, is a language in its own right. I enjoy performing because that is a method of communicating as much as I enjoy speaking other languages.”
During his Gap Year Daniel spent half a term assisting the Music Department at Princethorpe. He then went to Bologna in Italy in November to study Italian and is currently in Rabat, Morocco for three months as a volunteer teacher of English and Music, working at a primary school and an association which provides English lessons for people who cannot afford to go to school.
He is due to return to the UK in April, before hopefully returning to Italy in May to study a combined course of Italian and Music.
We wish Daniel well with the rest of his Gap Year and for October!
A bumper number of candidates sat the College's entrance examinations over two busy sessions at the end of January.
Comments, Alex Darkes, Assistant Head - Marketing and Operations, "We played host to over 240 prospective pupils across four year groups. What's particularly lovely is the fact that we are seeing more and more OPs returning with their children to sit the exams. Feedback from parents and candidates alike has been very favourable indeed, which bodes very well for next September's intake."
"The marking machine swung into action, even before candidates had left the building and the Admissions Panel sat the following week to decide on the 130 or so boys and girls who will be joining us in September 2013."
Parents and children will be notified of the results next Monday 11 February.
Those interested in a place at the College in September 2014 can download our flyer below which includes key open events and admissions dates, like the forthcoming Open Evening on Wednesday 5 June from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
In March Frs Teddy O'Brien and Dan O'Connor are heading East for the trip of a lifetime to meet up with past pupils in Hong Kong.
The trip has come about after news of Fr Dan was publicised in the previous OP e-newsletter and several OPs asked to be put back in touch with their former Headmaster.
An OP task force headed by Alan Young (1978-1981) together with Vitus Leung, Nelson Ngai, Stephen Yeung and Heman Lam, have taken on board the organisation of the trip, including getting some 20 alumni to generously sponsor the pair's travel from the UK.
The pair are to stay in Hong Kong at the Catholic Diocese between Sunday 3 and Saturday 9 March. and a full itinerary has been planned for them including Mass at the Cathedral, sightseeing to Hong Kong highlights including the extraordinary Tian Tan Buddha statue and a Reunion Dinner on Friday 8 March.
Alan Young says, "This will be the biggest gathering since our time at Princethorpe back in the 70s and 80s. If anyone else would like to join us and the Fathers please do get in touch!"
For further information email ayoung@citac.hk or call Alan's mobile in HK at 93437890.
Hong Kong - Princethorpe Return Trip
Fellow OP Anthony Ku, 1978-1982, is hoping to organise a reunion trip back to Princethorpe with OPs from Malaysia and Hong Kong, if you are interested please contact Anthony at tangram88@gmail.com.
View Gallery
The College has started counting down to its 50th Anniversary which will take place during the academic year 2016-2017.
We are planning to celebrate in style with some key events aimed at the wider school community including of course OPs, and the publication of a commemorative book charting the school's history from the 60s to the present day.
We would like as many Old Princethorpians to get involved as possible, with ideas for the celebrations and to contribute to the book.
Planning is at a relatively early stage but we would like to share some key dates with you now.
We are looking at other events during the year including a Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, an extra special Prize Giving, plus a 50 Mile Charity Mountain Relay event.
We are particularly keen to get representatives from each decade involved to help encourage attendance at events from across the generations and to contribute their memories and photographs to the book. If this is something you would be interested in doing please email Old Princethorpians to register your interest.
