All our schools are now fully into the swing of the new academic year. Some of you may know, we’ve even managed to fit in an ISI inspection at Princethorpe College, which went extremely well, so all three of our schools have now recently been through the process. You can read more about this on our College website, here.

It is no exaggeration to say that across the Princethorpe Foundation we are feeling exceptionally buoyant – not least with our pupil numbers being slightly above where we were at this time last year. Given the pressures put on schools and parents, brought about by government policy, this is an amazing testament. 

A key plank of our success is down to the engagement of you, our former pupils. Thank you to all OPs for your support, and a particularly heartfelt 'thank you' to those who have supported us via your involvement with the OP Committee, as Careers volunteers or by donating through the Annual Fund. Your generosity - whether that's through your time, talent or treasure - directly benefits our pupils and helps us continue to provide the very best opportunities and experiences across the Foundation.

On the theme of OP engagement, please read on… 

Foundation COP on Environmental Sustainability  

I’m delighted to let you know that we are holding the first 'Princethorpe Foundation COP (Conference of the Parties)' - which will take place two weeks after the real COP in Brazil.  

It begins on Monday 1 December with the very first whole Foundation Assembly, for which we will be joined by the amazing Yewande Akinola MBE (who is also a Crescent parent) as our Keynote speaker. It will also feature all our schools’ pupil-led sustainability teams – Planet Princethorpe, the Crescent Green Team, and the Crackley Eco Committee – who will spend a day collaborating in a range of tasks and activities.

Across the whole Foundation, pupils and staff will participate in House quizzes and competitions; there will be focused lessons within the curriculum and also the launch of the Eco Schools’ Award and Carbon Literacy Project.

Following the COP, we will be publishing our second Foundation Environmental Sustainability Report which will record progress on our aims and details of our future targets.

We have a number of OPs who work within the Environmental Sustainability industry; if this is you, then we would be delighted if we could garner your expertise and support to help us meet our sustainability goals. With this in mind, I would be very grateful if any OP working in this field, or with connections, could fill in this brief form, here.

Celebrate Good Times 

And finally, a number of OPs have asked me about my daughter’s wedding (and indeed a number of OPs were there!), which was held at Princethorpe College over the summer holidays. We had an amazing service in the Chapel, led by Fr Alan Whelan MSC, and a wonderful party in the Sixth Form Atrium and College grounds. There are pictures in the latest OP newsletter which speak for themselves!

We are planning to offer a range of options for family celebrations to be held here at the College - including birthday parties, christenings and weddings. If you are interested to learn more or hire the facilities for your own event, please contact events@princethorpe.co.uk. 

With all best wishes to you and your families, 

Ed Hester
Foundation Principal