Latest News

Chess Success!

Our Priory School Chess Team were again successful in Round 2 of the regional Butler Cup U14 Chess Competition on Thursday 14th February. The team of 4 showed great strength as they won 3 out of 3 matches against Uckfield College, Windlesham House and Westbourne House. They go through to the Butler Cup competition final in May! Chess club is open to all for free, and takes place in S4 with Mrs McCrae after school every Thursday. All students are welcome!

Urgent Information To Parents - Synthetic Drugs

We have received an urgent message from East Sussex County Council about a drug that has been supplied to students at another East Sussex Secondary School. It is believed to be synthetic Xanax (Alprazolam). Medical professionals believe the drug may also have contained Fentanyl. This is a man-made drug that mimics the effects of natural opioids such as heroin. It is reported that this drug may be available in tablet form and is being sold to teenagers very cheaply. The effects of taking this drug may be more damaging than natural opioids and can include dizziness, fainting, hearing loss, loss of consciousness, coma and even death. We have asked tutors to talk to all classes about this drug and hope that you will too. We believe that being open and honest about drugs, which may be available in our community, really is the best way to keep our students safe.

National Apprenticeship Week Roadshow 2019

National Apprenticeship week is 4th-8th March and in partnership with Apprenticeships in Sussex, East Sussex County Council will be holding two Apprenticeship Roadshows events, plus a number of pop-up events across the county. Download the flyer Students, parents and carers will be able to meet local employees, training providers and current apprentices at the roadshows and there will be panel discussions on the different types of apprenticeships and levels available. The event details are : Tuesday 5 March - Eastbourne Town Hall, 5-7pm Wednesday 13 March - Hastings Library, 5-7pm 5-7pm Employers and training provider stalls 5.30-6pm Traineeships and Apprenticeship talks 6.30pm-7pm Higher and Degree Apprenticeships talks   Visit www.c360.org.uk/NAW2019 to book on to the roadshows, for up to date information, and to find dates when Apprenticeships in Sussex will be popping up in Hailsham, Lewes, Newhaven, Crowborough, Heathfield and Uckfield.

Gardening Club and the Vegetable Garden

Gardening Club will begin again on Wednesday 6th of February 2019 and is open to all KS3 (Year 7,8 and 9) students. Jobs we will be doing outdoors are potting on strawberries, making newspaper plant pots ready for Spring and building a new planter - indoors we will make garden designs and bug houses. If students wish to attend, please contact Mrs Hockin in the Design and Technology department.   Spring Update Over 2018 the Food Technology department successfully developed a small vegetable garden in the staff quad. With help from Forest School and the Gardening Club we had an abundance of crops! All the staff and students who have worked in the garden have enjoyed sowing, growing and learning about how the gardening year works.   The Forest School have also built living willow screens that have now matured; these are both sculptural and give privacy to staff who wish to sit outside during their break. Both the Gardening Club and the Forest School diggers have been issued with a “Gardening Passport” which lists the new tasks they have undertaken as they dig, compost, sow seeds and thin out tender seedlings – all a learning experience that could help them in future should they choose to go down the route of professional or home gardening. The garden has been initially set up for elements of Science on the KS4 curriculum. Sustainability, organic farming, vitamins and air miles are all part of the KS3 curriculum – how better to illustrate this than with our own organic veg plot! On the KS4 curriculum, Year 10 students in Food Tech have compared chard and rocket from the garden against identical shop bought and packaged vegetables, testing them for vitamin C with some very illuminating results. Home grown really is best! There are connections for the garden with many subjects taught at Priory, from Science (Biology and symbiotic relationships), Geography (soils and substrate) to Classics – there is an Acanthus growing in the bee garden, which is the leaf design on the Corinthian columns in Greece and Rome! Here are a few before and after shots of the garden just to show how well it has developed through last year. The pictures were taken in January, April and July.         Here is fruitful July!         During the summer vacation the garden vegetables spilled over. The veggie box pictured below contains Swiss chard, runner beans, courgettes, cucumber, rhubarb and herbs, all picked in August and taken to the Lewes Community Chef, Robin Van Creveld. Robin helps local families learn how to cook nutritionally balanced and affordable family meals. What better place for our crops, than in his pots!

Major Network Rail engineering work

Major Network Rail engineering work will be taking place in the Lewes area from Thursday 7th March to Sunday 10th March 2019. Please see this link for details.

Safer Internet Day 2019

Priory is proud to support Safer Internet Day, which this year is being held on Tuesday 5th February. There are some excellent resources for parents and carers on this page including films, top tips, conversation starters and much more. Our own page on online safety is here and includes a handy Staying Safe Online poster to download.

Top Of The Bench

Last week Priory School hosted the regional heat for the Royal Society of Chemistry competition ‘Top of the Bench’ 2019. Twelve schools from across East and West Sussex came to join us with this exciting evening of Chemistry challenges to help encourage and engage our young scientists in Years 9, 10 and 11. Excellent problem solving skills and understanding were exhibited across the board by all participants. Many congratulations to the team from Hurstpierpoint College who came in first place! 

Year 11 Parents' Evening - Thursday 24th January

The booking system is now live: http://www.parents-booking.co.uk/prioryschool To log on you’ll need to type in your name, email optional, then your child’s legal first name, legal surname and date of birth (note format: DD/MM/YYYY). For more details, please see the letter sent out last week.

Parents' Forum

Wednesday 30th January 2019 6.30pm – 7.30pm, Priory School In the Lecture Theatre All parents and carers are warmly invited to come and share their views, concerns and ideas with each other and the Governors of the school. This meeting will provide an opportunity to : Ask the Headteacher and Governors any question about the school Raise and discuss issues that matter to you with Governors, and other parents and carers Please join us and be part of the discussion about how to develop the home/school partnership and continue to improve the school. Tea and coffee will be provided.  

Priory Swap Shop

Over the next two weeks, students can bring in clothes that they no longer want; these clothes should be clean and in good condition. All clothes donated to the Priory Swap Shop will be on ‘sale’ on Monday 4th February and Thursday 7th February during break and lunch time in the Lecture Theatre. Clothes should be brought to Fire House between 8:00-8:25 from Wednesday 16th January to Friday 1st February. We are raising money for Number Day in support of the NSPCC. Students will be charged £1.50 to enter the Swap Shop. Rather than throwing clothes out, let’s work together to recycle! Any clothes left over from the Priory Swap Shop will be donated to Phil the Bag.  

New Year - New Teaching Career

Have your say on the core offer for East Sussex

The future services on offer to residents of East Sussex are part of a public conversation which is now underway. East Sussex County Council is asking for people’s views on its ‘core offer’, the package of services it thinks are the minimum residents of East Sussex should be entitled to expect, even in difficult financial times. The core offer includes proposed services for schools and for pupils vulnerable to poor outcomes including those with special educational needs, as well as those services for the whole population, including libraries, highways and public health. The core offer is designed to plan how East Sussex responds to reducing funding and growing demand for services. It includes the council’s commitment to provide value for money services in the areas where it can continue to operate and to work with partners and communities to find alternative ways of meeting some of the county’s needs. If you’d like to see full details of the core offer and give your response to its proposals you can do that online. The survey will run until 26th December.  

Compass Travel changes January 2019

New bus timetables from 7th January will shortly be available on Compass Travel’s website www.compass-travel.co.uk and on their buses. There is a summary of changes here.

Important Information for EpiPen Users

The NHS and the Department of Health & Social Care have issued advice relating to recent supply issues with EpiPen and EpiPen Junior. DHSC letter NHS letter

Parents Forum Minutes

A parents forum took place on Wednesday 28th November 2018. Please see the minutes of the meeting below.  Parent Forum Meeting Notes

Certificate and coursework collection

Certificates and coursework for the summer 2018 examination series will be available for collection from school on Tuesday 18th December 2018 from 5-7pm. If you are unable to collect your certificates/coursework and would like a named representative to collect on your behalf, please download and complete the form below. Checking certificates On collection, you should carefully check that your personal information (name, date of birth, etc.) is correct and that the correct final grade(s) issued to you is/are shown. You will be required to sign that you have collected your certificates and confirm they are correct. Uncollected certificates Any uncollected certificates will be held by the school until the start of term in January 2019, in order to avoid the busy Christmas postal period. Certificates will then be posted by tracked second class delivery to the address held on record. *Certificates will be sent to the address held on record at the centre. Any change of address should be notified through the official change in details process. The centre does not take any responsibility for certificates sent out to addresses where this process has not been followed. Uncollected coursework It will also be possible to collect coursework on Wednesday 9th January 2019 from 4-7pm. Please contact Mrs Roberts if you intend to collect on this date so that your coursework can be prepared for collection. Any coursework that remains uncollected will be held by the school until the end of the academic year. Please contact Mrs Roberts at exams@priory.e-sussex.sch.uk to arrange an alternative and mutually convenient time. In case of query, please contact Mrs Roberts at exams@priory.e-sussex.sch.uk.   Certificate and coursework collection form

Parents' Forum

Wednesday 28th November 2018 from 6.00pm – 7.00pm in the Lecture Theatre. All parents and carers are warmly invited to come and share their views, concerns and ideas with each other and the Governors of the school. This meeting will provide an opportunity to: Ask the Headteacher and Governors any question about the school Raise and discuss issues that matter to you with Governors, and other parents and carers Please join us and be part of the discussion about how to develop the home/school partnership and continue to improve the school. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Two Parent Governor Vacancies

There are currently two vacancies for parent governors at our school. If you wish to stand for election you will need to complete a nomination form, along with a declaration of eligibility. Nomination forms will need to be returned on Wednesday 28th November 2018 by midday. More details including the nomination form can be downloaded here.