From Primary to Priory at Open Evening 2024

26 September 2024

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Our doors opened last Thursday evening to almost 400 families as they began their search for a secondary school for their children.

Our Principal and Vice Principal, Mr Eastham and Mrs Cowell, were the first to greet our visitors at the door, and Prefects stood by ready to guide them around the school with a personal tour. Pupils from all year groups were posed in departments ready to share their experiences of Priory. Year 7 pupils chatted with former primary school peers who were keen to hear all about their first month at their new school - showing such confidence that many parents were fathomed they had only been with us a few weeks!

Interactive activities were set up across the school for children to enjoy whilst parents questioned teachers and pupils. Showcase explosions and a cow's heart disection in Science, puzzles in Maths (whilst trying not to gobble too many mini gems!), bon appetit in Languages, trampolining and badminton in PE, fantasy fiction potato monsters in English and so much more. The ICT & Computer Science department took the opportunity to show off their gadgets - robots and a 3D printer amongst them whilst, in Drama, gory make up and fake injuries, costumes and lighting demonstrations were centre stage.

Meanwhile, the Humanities department was a hub of activity where Mr Momoniat's OS map folding and dress for the weather challenges were matched by History where visitors were challenged to pair the date with the historic photo in the fastest time before having a giggle at themselves trying on the WWII gas masks.

Visitors were drawn to the Technology department with the smell of cookery in the Food room and pupils' artwork, after that our young guests took home keyrings which they coloured and then assembled laser-cut Perspex letters spelling out their name - the perfect keepsake of the evening.

After all this a drink was in order, and parents and pupils were some of the first to be served at the Priory Pod, a new outdoor kiosk serving drinks and food for those on the go.

This year, for the first time, we asked our Leavers to help out - and Class of 2024 did an amazing job! Our Leavers are perfectly placed to offer a personal testimonial about their time at Priory and their enthusiasm and positivity made them some of our best ambassadors.

The event was a great success but we couldn’t do it without the support of our pupil volunteers. We’ve received many compliments from prospective families who named and thanked individuals for their maturity, manners and guidance during their visit. You were an absolute credit, pleasant, engaging and confident. Parents - you should be proud!

Mr Eastham thanked everyone for their efforts on the night, but also recognised the hard work beforehand that goes into making these events such a success. We hope the event inspired our visitors and we look forward to meeting them again should they choose Priory as their first choice school.

We asked our visiting families what three words they would use to sum up their experience of Priory...

Inviting, engaging and fun
Fantastic, informative, inspiring
Interesting, educating, informative
Informative, fun and positive
Welcomed informative happy
Loved every part
Welcoming, big, choices
Lovely welcoming school.
Outstanding, friendly, comfortable
Welcoming, organised, informative
Welcoming, clean, nurturing
Outstanding informative friendly
Interesting, welcoming, surprising
Absolutely Utterly Perfect
Inviting, friendly, interesting

And others said:

"We were impressed with the feel of the school, it seemed like a happy place for children to learn and grow."

"Staff and prefects very helpful and informative and a high proportion of pupils (including past!!) were present which is a brilliant advocate to new families."

"We thought it was a great atmosphere, lovely to see everything and to get a feeling for the school."

"It was a very friendly school, with brilliant facilities and a lovely feeling about it."