Tel: 01926 634200
Email: post@princethorpe.co.uk
Bus Services
A comprehensive private bus service brings students into the College from a wide area, extending as far afield as Nuneaton and Coventry to the north, Lutterworth and Daventry to the east, Stratford-upon-Avon and Banbury to the south and Solihull to the west.
Note: buses leave at 3.55pm, except on a Tuesday when they leave at 4.05pm. Please add 10 minutes on Tuesdays to the timetabled afternoon service. Arrangements need to be made for collection of those children staying on for extra-curricular activities until 5.15pm or extended day until 6.00pm.
Summary of Services from January 2012
(Please also see The Flagpole of Friday 16 December which can be accessed here)
For some time we have been concerned about arrival times of buses at Princethorpe in the morning. Earlier in the Michaelmas term we experienced significant problems with some routes as a result of extensive road works, but timekeeping has been much more consistent in the latter part of the term. This aside, there are buses which sometimes arrive after 08.40 and as a result we have taken the step of moving all buses times five minutes earlier in the morning with effect from Thursday 5 January 2012. Homeward journeys are unchanged.
We appreciate that this will probably not come as welcome news, however, we are committed to starting the school day punctually and we feel that this will help considerably.
Thank you to those who have made considerable efforts to ensure that bus users travel on every journey with a valid pass or ticket. Remember that if you have an AM only pass, then individual tickets are required for the return journey. Those who repeatedly fail to comply – and there are several - will be billed automatically for full passes. Remember that for frequent bus users, the passes show a considerable cost saving over single journey tickets.
Some pupils have lost their bus passes; replacements are available in the school shop from Stella Kefalas and cost £5.
January 2012 - New timetables, click here.
Click here for the Bus Briefing 2011-2012
All bus services are subject to periodic review and the College reserves the right to cancel, alter or introduce additional routes according to variation in demand.
Severe Weather Arrangements
It’s getting towards that time of the year when there is the threat of snow and it might be helpful for everyone to be familiar with the arrangements should the opening of Princethorpe be in any doubt. Where possible and if it’s safe to do so, we shall try to remain open, even if we have to end the school day earlier than usual.
Should there be bad weather overnight, we talk to the bus companies a little before 06.00 and they brief us about their ability to operate our services. The Headmaster then makes a decision about whether the school will open.
Information is available through three main channels:
The website www.princethorpe.co.uk will normally be updated by 06.30 (usually in practice by about 06.15) We will send text messages parents’ mobiles, usually by 06.30. Please note that we are not able to receive text replies on this service. Additionally, local radio announcements will be made on Mercia, Fox FM, Heart, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire and Touch FM.
If you want to look online at reliable weather forecasting, then www.weather.co.uk and www.metcheck.com are both sites which we use.
Usually, website updates are made in the course of the day, but if the school is likely to remain closed for a further day the same process will take place on the second and subsequent days. Should we have to close in the course of the day we will send text messages to let you know arrangements.
Where possible, we will make sure that our main number 01926 634200 is staffed or carries a recorded message.