The OP Committee has welcomed some new members this year, resulting in a committee that now comprises past pupils from across the decades and associated schools of the Foundation.

Their latest meeting took place on Tuesday 14 January and was a particularly important moment for the committee, and thus the wider Old Princethorpian Association, as we welcomed long-standing member, James Davies (pictured here on the back row between Grove du Toit, Headmaster, and Ed Hester, Foundation Principal), into his new role as Chair.

James (Class of 1995) is a current parent, with children at both Crescent School and Princethorpe. As Chair, James will use his leadership skills and experience to guide and support the committee, which is comprised of past pupils, parents and staff from across the decades and associated schools of the Foundation.

The chief aim of the committee is to serve the interests of our alumni and nurture an enduring relationship between past and present members of The Princethorpe Foundation, and at the meeting in January it was clear that exciting and productive times are ahead. A summary of the meeting outcomes is outlined below:

Communications: A thorough audit has been conducted and plans are afoot to roll out a communications content plan focused around emotionally charged content such as memories, archive stories, milestones, characters and of course the wonderful environment at Princethorpe, with the aim that this will grow our audience of engaged OPs. The Comms Team also want to explore greater use of LinkedIn as a platform, and would encourage all OPs to follow the College and Foundation's LinkedIn pages and mention their school on their accounts.

Careers: This is a key point of connection between past and present pupils. The committee has already begun to support and promote increased OP involvement, seeing a rise in OP visits to subject departments, more OPs speaking at the upcoming Careers Insights event than ever before, and the introduction of the OP Professional Profile, a career-based biography that can be shared with current pupils as a digital or print resource and source of inspiration. The next step is to establish a more formalised network of OPs who can offer Work Experience opportunities or connections. If you think you can help with this, please email jacquiquinney@princethorpe.co.uk. You can also follow the LinkedIn pages for The Princethorpe Foundation and Princethorpe College, and list Princethorpe College as your former school, which is a great way to connect with the wider alumni community in a professional or networking capacity.

Events: As published in the OP Calendar (and see our Events page on Princethorpe Connect), our programme of events is underway. It aims to cover a range of interests, tastes and life stages, but an audit is in process to review reach and impact of the events, and proposals are being formulated to explore new ideas. If there is an event or activity you would like to see built into our programme, as a one-off or as a recurring event, we'd love to hear your ideas. Please email oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk.

We would like to thank all members of the committee for giving their time and talents so generously to serve the wider OP community.

If you would like to get involved in the work of the OP Committee, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk.