From Primary to Priory at Open Evening 2023

22 September 2023

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Our doors opened Thursday evening to over 450 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 families at the door before pupils from all year groups could share their experiences of Priory across the different subject areas. Prefects and Year 10 Peer Mentors welcomed our visitors and were eager to show Priory off to our visitors as they stood by ready to guide them around their school. Year 7 pupils chatted with former primary school peers who were keen to hear all about their first month at Priory - showing such confidence that many parents were fathomed they had only been with us a few weeks!

Oh what a night!

Interactive activities were set up across the school for children to enjoy whilst parents questioned teachers and pupils. Showcase explosions in Science, puzzles in Maths (whilst trying not to gobble too many midget gems!), bon appetit in Languages, trampolining and badminton in PE, Mr Potato Head characters and so much more. The ICT & Computer Science department took the opportunity to show off their newest gadgets, the robots and a 3D printer.

Meanwhile, the Humanities department was a hub of activity with Mr Momoniat's OS map folding and dress for the weather challenges were matched by History where visitors were challenged to team up 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, pupils' artwork and 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.

The Auditorio was alight with music and drama with show-pieces from the Summer Arts Festival and Year 9's Evie, Ezra and Zach performing their Arctic Monkey's track.

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 look forward to meeting them again should they choose Priory as their first choice school.