Priory School

The U14 (Year 8 and 9) Girls’ football team put in a fabulous fighting performance on Wednesday 22 May 2013 in the Hampshire Cup final against Kings of Winchester.

Having gone down 2 -0 within the first 10 minutes they fought back and at half-time the score was 3 -3.  Unfortunately in the last 15 minutes goals were scored by the opposition and Priory Girls lost the match 6 – 3.  However, this is the first time this season that this team from Kings has been challenged as they have annihilated their opposition in the cup games en route to the final.

A big well done to Priory Girls’ Football team!  Runners-up in the Hampshire County Cup Football Final.

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A group of five pupils, from Priory were invited to represent the school at the Mayor Making Ceremony on Monday 20 May at Portsmouth Guildhall.

The retiring Lord Mayor, Councillor Frank Jonas, gave a speech reporting on his year in office and presided over the election of the new Lord Mayor, Councillor Lynne Stagg.

The new Lord Mayor was then presented with the Keys of the City and the Portsmouth Sword before thanking the Members of the Council for her election and outlining her plans for her year of office.

The pupils were a real credit to Priory School with their exemplary behaviour throughout this prestigious event.

The Year 11 ASDAN group have been attending the school allotment since September 2012. They have transformed the area from being completely overgrown to raised borders ready for planting flowers and vegetables. They have painted the shed and cleared a whole area, putting down chippings and patio slabs. This contributes towards their ASDAN coursework covering ‘working with others’, ‘team building’, ‘problem solving’ and ‘improving their own learning’.

The Year 10 ASDAN group have now been introduced to the allotment site and have so far made their own pond and small greenhouse, also planting seeds and small plants. They have improved their functioning skills by working out what to plant when, the cost involved and how long it will be before they see any crops!

The Year 7 NURTURE group have also accessed the allotment site, weeding, mulching, digging and preparing the soil for the Spring!

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On Wednesday, Steve Beswick, the person responsible for every PC in every school in the UK, visited Priory Geography.  This high profile visit was in recognition of the creative use of technology that the department has been developing over the past five years.

During the visit he watched geography lessons; met with DiGITAL LEADERS; spoke to students from Years 9-11 about careers in technology and spoke to senior leaders.  Mandeep from Microsoft’s Partners in Learning also visited the school and worked with Newly Qualified teachers on Professional Learning activities.

Priory’s students were stunning as always and attracted positive comments from the Microsoft team.  They commented on the excellent behaviour and appearance of our students and were blown away with the brilliance of the DiGITAL LEADERS team of Robbie, Scott and Jonathan.

Steve was impressed with the quality of geography lessons saying that they are developing the 21^st Century skills of collaboration, independence and problem

solving that employers are looking for.  He also stated the importance of gaining qualifications: you couldn’t work for his team without a degree qualification.

A journalist also accompanied the party and will be writing up the experiences so watch this space.

Mr Rogers, Curriculum Leader for Geography and Microsoft Innovative Educator, said ‘I’m so proud of the Priory Geography Team who have consistently maintained a high quality of teaching and learning.  We know that we are improving the outcomes for our young people while furnishing them with the skills needed for life in work.’

Thanks to Ms Debens and Mr Atkins for organising the programme and delivering an Outstanding lesson during the day.  Special mention goes to Mr Parrott, our PGCE student whose lesson was watched by Steve, our Chair of governors, an Assistant Headteacher, Mr Rogers and Gerald Haigh.

Looking to the future, Mr Rogers said that he was looking forward to continuing the partnership with Microsoft and students from Priory will be contributing to a new Student blog for the company.

The University of Southampton held their Mathematics challenge in April.  This is the first time that a pupil from Priory has entered.  279 pupils from schools around the South of England, including the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Wiltshire Surrey and Hampshire.

Terrianne – Year 10 was awarded a certificate of merit at a Prize Giving ceremony.

The awards were presented by Professor Adam Wheeler, who is a Mathematician as well as being the Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton.  There was also an entertaining talk by Professor Ian Leary, who is the Director of Research for Mathematical Sciences at Southampton.