Princethorpe College is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

located in Princethorpe, near

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, its population was 78,117, making it the List of Warwickshire towns by population, secon ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Princethorpe College opened in September 1966 after the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSCs), purchased the site to use as the senior school for their already established boys’ school, St Bede’s College in Leamington Spa. It occupies a former

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery surrounded by of parkland.

History

The college was founded by the

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC; ; ) are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Jules Chevalier at Issoudun, France, in the Diocese of Bourges. The motto of the Missionaries of the S ...

and opened its doors in September 1966. Girls were first admitted into the

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

in 1976. It became fully coeducational in 1995. It currently occupies the site of St Mary's Priory, which had been home to

nuns since 1792 before the house was disbanded in 2002. In late 2007 a new £2.4 million dedicated Sixth Form Centre opened. Built around an atrium, the new building provides classrooms, a lecture room, common room, a Sixth Form dining room, coffee bar and a careers room and is linked to the main school building on two levels by a walkway. In late 2014, a new £4.5 million teaching block named 'The Limes' was opened. This was built onto the side of the existing sports centre, and is linked on both floors. The Limes contains 2 new ICT rooms, new classrooms for Modern Foreign Languages, English & Sports Theory, and staff bases for English, Modern Foreign Languages, ICT and PE. It also contains 200+ lockers for pupils. Work was completed in September 2017 on the refurbishment of the College's state-of-the-art Clarkson Theatre.

Extracurricular activities

The college offers a wide range of clubs, societies and activities that take place at lunch-time and after school. Art,

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, computing, dance, drama, equestrian, photography and technology are usually offered, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and overseas trips. There is a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

on site which is available for students to worship in.

Sport

Pupils participate in games from Year 7 to Upper Sixth, with PE being optional after Year 9. All the major traditional sports are offered, in addition to other sports such as

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, rock-climbing, equestrian and skiing competitions. There is a programme of inter-school fixtures and Princethorpe has a tradition of pupils gaining county, regional and international representative honours, not least Old Princethorpian Ian Bell of cricketing fame. Sports facilities include a Sports Hall, a Fitness Centre and squash courts, a floodlit astro-turf pitch, a regionally recognised cross-country course, three concrete tennis courts and over sixty acres of games pitches and fields.

Notable alumni

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

(b. 1982) – cricketer,

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

* Tom Hilditch (b. 1965) – journalist and magazine publisher * Jordan King (b. 1994) – Formula One Development Driver * Mark Lewis (b. 1987) – cricketer * Tom Lewis (b. 1991) – cricketer, Warwickshire County Cricket Club * Dominic Ostler (b. 1970) – cricketer, Warwickshire County Cricket Club * Aaron Pressley (b. 2001) – professional footballer,

Stevenage F.C. Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the Engli ...

* Richard Wilding (b. 1965) – academic and business professional *

Jonathan Gullis Jonathan Edward Gullis (born 9 January 1990) is a British politician and former teacher who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2019 to 2024. He was previously appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State fo ...

(b. 1990) - former Member of Parliament (Stoke-on-Trent North) & former Minister for School Standards, Department for Education

References

External links

School WebsiteProfile
on the ISC website Private schools in Warwickshire Roman Catholic private schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham Schools in Rugby, Warwickshire Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Educational institutions established in 1966 1966 establishments in England {{Warwickshire-school-stub