Mrs Gibb Headteacher

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THE P

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SCHOOL

September 2016 Dear Parents and Carers, It gives me great pleasure to write my very first newsletter. This publication will appear every fortnight so that we keep you up to date with school news and highlight important upcoming events. I look forward to sharing with you the amazing achievements of our school community and the very best of all that is happening at The Priory.

The start of term has been extremely busy and fast-paced for everyone after the long summer break. Staff and students have settled back to the school routine very well and everyone coped with the extreme heat on Wednesday and Thursday last week sensibly and with maturity, not allowing it to disrupt learning. Those high temperatures disappeared very rapidly indeed but luckily the rain stayed away for the Priory Fest on Saturday afternoon.

Priory Fest is a music event held that is traditionally held on the lower field and is organised by The Friends of The Priory School to raise funds for special projects in our school. We heard a wonderful array of music from soloists and bands, including the staff ‘Boy Band’ made up of Mr Harrison, Mr Mills and Mr Lambert. They entertained with songs from the Beatles, The Proclaimers and a really great rendition of Uptown Funk which drew in a big crowd. Other performers were Zoe (Y12); David (Y10); Rebecca & Grace Y8; Sophie, Barny, Jackie-Anne, Stefan (Y12) & Victoria; Kate Y10 and finally ‘Reverb’ who comprise Richard Y10, Rob, Oisin & Ollie (ex-students).

A real crowd-pleaser was the Bake Off event which included two categories: we were treated to fantastic show-stopper bakes and the six cupcakes category. Our very own Paul Hollywood (Mr Terry) and Mary Berry (Mrs Trimnell) tasted some 25 cakes and cupcakes and awarded prizes to Abby (Y8) for her Cookie Monster cupcakes and Runner-Up Todd (Y8) for his colourful chocolate creations and to Katie (Y8) for her wonderful Chocolate Orange showstopper with Grace, Hannah and Molly (Y8) as Runners Up with their Rose covered showstopper. The cakes were cut up and sold to eager students and parents who all left looking happy and replete.

The whole afternoon was a wonderful celebration of talent at our school, along with some lovely stalls, a BBQ and lots to eat and drink. A very big well done and thank you to everyone who ran stalls, all our performers and to everyone who attended and parted with their money so generously in support of our school.

Other highlights this term so far include the Y8 girls’ netball teams who beat Box Hill School 11-0 and 4-1 in two games last Tuesday. We have also had information evenings for Y7 parents and Sixth Form parents, giving my colleagues and me two great opportunities to share important information and meet students and parents. Many thanks to The Priory staff who also attended and made both events successful and helpful.

It’s been a fantastic start to the term and I look forward to writing my next edition of The Priory newsletter.

Our new Y7 students have settled into school very well indeed. They started the year with a slightly shorter school day during which they had an assembly with Mr Mills, their Head of Year, and attended the first whole school assembly of the year which was led by Mrs Gibb. The theme was Inspiration and students were encouraged to consider inspirational people from a range of backgrounds, and to think about where they could find inspiration themselves.

In form time with their form tutors all Y7 students received a planner and their new school timetable. They then had their first lesson on Character Education. You may have heard about Character Education since it is an important part of the current directive from the Department for Education. At The Priory, it fits very well alongside our Christian ethos and we are using it as an opportunity to encourage students to reflect on their work, their learning and their friendships to help them as they grow and develop. They are learning not to give up at their first setback, but to keep trying until their achieve their goal.

Lessons began in earnest on Wednesday, and so by now all our Y7 students should have met all their teachers. They have successfully navigated their way through breaktimes and lunchtimes, and have found their way around the school fairly easily, asking older students for help when they have got a bit lost. Considering many of our Y7 students have come from small schools they have done very well indeed.

Thank you to Mr Mills, Ms Taylor and all the Y7 tutors for all their hard work in helping to settle Y7 students into school, and well done to all our Y7 students for a very good start to the term and the year.

Priory Fest

A very big thank you to everyone involved in making the

Priory Fest such an enjoyable afternoon, despite the

weather. A special mention goes to all of our members of

The Friends of The Priory School who worked so hard

before, during and after the event and we look forward to

hearing how much money was made. Please keep an eye out

for this event next year and put it in your diary. Your support

is much appreciated.

We invited Y7 parents to school on Thursday evening to hear important information about the Y7 curriculum, assessment and reporting to students. Parents were also shown how to access the school’s on-line payment system, how to use Insight which is where they can access important school information and where to report any concerns they may have due to the misuse of social media by using the Click CEOP link. There was an opportunity to meet up with their child’s form tutor plus Mr Mills and Ms Taylor.

We would like to remind parents to check and sign their child’s diary every week so that homework and other messages between school and home can be seen regularly.

Later the same evening, we hosted parents and students from our Sixth Form. Mr Gellett and Mrs Gibb explained important aspects of Sixth Form life, and information about life beyond KS5. Parents and students had the opportunity to ask questions and make requests for future information events. As a result of conversations that evening, we will organise sessions that cover in more detail how to apply to university and also provide comprehensive information for students who would prefer to enter the world of work or work with training at the end of the Sixth Form. All Sixth Form students and parents will be advised of the dates for these.

Our Sixth Form students deserve much praise for a very positive start to the term – well done to all.

We have had an excellent start to the term with the vast majority of students coming to school looking very smart indeed in the correct school uniform. They deserve our praise and are a credit to the school. A few additional reminders to some of the older students about expectations regarding uniform mean that our students now look very smart and are dressed appropriately for school.

Any students who do not meet the school uniform requirements will be expected to improve their appearance and may result in detentions being issued to ensure that our standards remain high. A big thank you and well done to all those students who follow the rules every day

Looking ahead over the next two weeks… 19 – 30 September 2016 Wednesday 21 September to Friday 23 September Y8 Geography trip to Denbies Wine Estate Thursday 22 and Friday 23 September Krispy Kreme donuts on sale at lunchtime in the sunken playground in aid of the Dance Show Wednesday 28 September The Friends of The Priory School Annual General Meeting at 7pm Thursday 29 September Y8 HPV vaccinations Friday 30 September Macmillan Coffee Morning event run by the Sixth Form and Stephen Green, the new Director of Education for the Diocese, will visit the school

Mrs Abbott (Head of RE and Acting Asst Head) has had a new RE textbook published. She has also recorded a TED talk at Putney High School which you can view on YouTube.

Mr Harrison (Asst Head) completed a Half IronMan Triathlon—not as easy as it sounds… the race is 70.3 miles (113 km) in total a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run - and all that with a bad back!

Mrs Smith (SENCo Assistant) - after 6 years of studying for an Open University degree, Mrs Smith graduated with a BSc Hons (Open) demonstrating that you can still learn and achieve—at any age.

Important Upcoming Events

Gold Practice expedition (Peaks) 24th-30th September

Mole Valley Presentation of Awards 18th October 2016 – 7 for 7.30pm at The Priory

First Aid Course for new entrants 5th or 12th November 2016

Two of our students have had a very busy few months in the swimming pool in the ASA Summer Nationals which were held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. To qualify for the English Nationals event, you have to be ranked in the top 24 swimmers for your age group. Being ranked in the following 20 qualifies you for the British Nationals. Ciara (Y11) swam a Personal Best in the 200m Butterfly and was also part of the Medley Relay Team swimming 100m Butterfly at the British Nationals. She also qualified for the English Nationals in the 50m Butterfly where she swam a PB in her heat and the final. Well done Ciara. George (Y10) also qualified to swim in the ASA Summer Nationals swimming the 100m Freestyle. His winning time in the final was 55.60 secs which places him 6th on the GB rankings list. He has also been offered a place on the English Talent Program at Loughborough. A fantastic achievement. Well done George. Out of the pool but still with a sporting theme, Finley (Y7) has just been signed to the Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Academy. The trials and selection took place over the summer and Finley worked hard to secure his place. He will be released one day a week to play and be educated with them. Well done Finley.

You will have read about our excellent exam results in the Dorking and Surrey Advertiser in August, but this is just to confirm with you the remarkable achievements of some of our students.

The headline figures were:

68 % of our GCSE students got 5 A*-C (61.1% including English & Maths)

98% of our A Level students achieved grade A-E with 95% of our University applicants getting their first choice place

100% of our BTEC students gained one or more qualifications

Behind these statistics are some examples of really excellent results both at GCSE, A Level and for BTECs with some individuals achieving high numbers of top grades. We are proud of each and every one of our students: for us, their progress is extremely important and we are delighted that we can see clearly how these students have changed, developed and matured during their time at The Priory. Well done to the Class of 2016!