A message from our Headteacher

We welcome you to the Priestnall School website! We hope that these pages will give you an accurate impression of our dynamic and successful school.

We are immensely proud of all our students and their achievements, whether reflected in the excellent exam results in the summer of 2022 or in the tremendous range of sporting successes and cultural activities in which they partake. Although academic success equips students with the hard-currency for progression after 16, our mission of ‘Educating for Life’ ensures that the rounded development of the individual and their associated cultural capital is also a cornerstone of our work.

Students at Priestnall enjoy an exciting, diverse and inspiring curriculum, and also have countless opportunities to enrich their school experience though our extra-curricular programme and leadership opportunities. The Curriculum pages provide an overview of our curriculum for each subject area, as well as detailed plans for every year group. We also have an excellent Personal Development curriculum, which includes focussed activities each morning during form-time.

Priestnall’s ongoing success is built upon our emphasis on high quality teaching for all students. Our dedicated, talented and innovative team of staff are constantly striving to develop their practice and drive student achievement further. In partnership with OLEVI, we lead on national teaching programmes delivering the Creative and Outstanding Teacher Programmes and the Power of Coaching to staff at Priestnall and beyond; we are also working closely with Best Practice Network on the new National Professional Qualifications.

As well as guiding our young people to achieve the highest academic standards we pride ourselves in being an inclusive school: we have ambition for all. To foster this, we provide a wide range of pastoral support. Alongside our College pastoral system, we have a Wellbeing Room; Restorative Hub; Resilience Centre and a Resource Base, all of which are in place to support our young people as they navigate through this stage of their learning journey. This focussed student welfare provision is designed to ensure that all students feel safe, happy and secure -and they tell us that they do.

The school’s pastoral organisation is arranged into 5 Colleges and this structure enables students to immediately feel part of a small community within the wider school: it also allows our staff to deliver personalised individual support whilst building strong relationships with our parents and carers.

We insist upon the highest possible standards and quality of work at all times whilst showing care, compassion and support for each individual. We aim to remain the vibrant, learning-focused organisation with which all members of our school community are genuinely proud to be associated.

These are exciting times for Priestnall School as we move towards joining the Laurus Trust formally from September 2023. Our existing philosophy has an excellent alignment with the high ambitions and standards of the Laurus Trust and the partnership will enable Priestnall’s learning community to continue to thrive into the future, building on our already high reputation for young people’s care, progress and guidance.

Our positive ethos and strengths are best seen at first-hand: we hope that this short introductory video will give you a representative flavour of our school.

Please click here to view our short film and virtual tour of the school

We very much look forward to meeting and working with you in the near future.

Best wishes,

Tim Clarey & Rob Jones

Co-Headteachers