Category: News

Dear Parent/Carer

The Leavers hoodies and Year 11 photographs are now in school, please look out for further information for their collection in due course.

Yours faithfully

Mrs H Fern

SLC Ryland’s College

Dear students and parents/carers

We have been lucky enough to secure a free reading resource from Scholastic Books for while the schools are closed.  This resource is available for all Y7  – Y10 students.

‘SCHOLASTIC READING PRO’ is an online reading programme that encourages students to read for pleasure from a range of books suggested specifically for them.  The programme assesses each student’s individual reading range, recommends books to read within that reading range and allows students to take a quiz after the book is read to celebrate understanding.  The service also includes a range of free ebooks that can be read on any device.

Log on instructions

1. Firstly, students log on through the link https://slz03.scholasticlearningzone.com/slz-portal/#/login3/GBR35YP. This is the school’s unique URL.
2. Student username is the same as their Priestnall login (student’s Date of Birth plus initials e.g. 200806TG)
3. Password is Welcome1
4. After accessing the site, choose the option ‘READING PRO’, not ‘Reading Pro Library’
5. This will lead to a tutorial before taking an initial quiz which will allow the programme to determine a reading Lexile range for each individual student. This then helps the programme recommend texts that are relevant and appropriate for student’s reading level.
6. Once the lexile range is determined students can then search for books that they are interested in within that range; any genre or even nonfiction texts.
7. Students can also search through the ‘Scholastic eBook Collections’ for free online books.
8. After students have read a book (including any ebook), they can take a quiz that shows how well they have understood the text. Each successfully passed quiz accrues points and raises their achievement level.  Most books will have quizzes available.
9. Students can even take a quiz on books already read!

It must be repeated that this is a free service that will be available ONLY while the school is closed.  We hope it will encourage students to read more frequently whilst at home and to read texts that have a significant challenge to enable reading growth.

Yours faithfully

Mrs R Mekonnen

Literacy Co-ordinator; Rachel.mekonnen@priestnall.stockport.sch.uk

For more tips on encouraging reading please read: SUPPORTING READING AT HOME

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope this email finds you all well. I am writing to let you know about the Priestnall Easter Development Challenge.  It is being offered to all students as an opportunity, so it is voluntary. That said, we believe it contains an array of activities that could really benefit your child over the next two weeks. The challenges are not necessarily academic, rather they are about developing your child in other ways to prepare them for the wider world. Not least, they are geared towards developing empathy and team work skills, and promoting community spirit at this difficult time.

Students can complete as many challenges as they like, maybe just choosing the ones that they fancy. We are confident that they will find something in there they’ll like. They should simply follow the instructions in the booklet and remind them to Tweet us with their challenge completion photos @priestnallsch.  We can’t wait to see them.

Should you have any questions regarding the Easter project, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful Easter break.

Miss J Halfacre,

Assistant Head Teacher/ Curriculum Leader: History.

March 19^th 2020

Dear Parents, carers and students,

You will no doubt be aware of the news announced last night regarding school closures from Friday and the decision to cancel GCSE examinations.  I know this will be causing great anxiety for all our families and we will provide more detailed information to you as soon as we receive this.

School will be open tomorrow (Friday 20^th March 2020) for Year 10 only as we make plans for the foreseeable future.  We have a significant number of staff absent from school for a number of reasons linked to the Coronavirus and are therefore only in a position to safely open for one year group.  We are prioritising Year 10 as they are half way through the first year of their GCSE courses and have a significant amount of work to collect from school.  We would also like to offer them guidance and support during these very challenging times.  This year group may not return to school until Year 11 and we are concerned that they could potentially miss out on months of their education.   Our Sport Relief non-uniform day planned for Friday 20^th March 2020 has been cancelled.

As you are aware, from Monday 23^rd March 2020, we are able to offer support to families where students are potentially ‘vulnerable’ or where you as parents/carers are regarded as ‘key workers’ i.e. NHS staff, parents who work for the emergency services or are involved in other key aspects of work for example making deliveries of key supplies.  An exact list will be published by the government later today. It would be most helpful if you could email us at supervision@priestnall.stockport.sch.uk if you believe your son/daughter will require supervision from Monday 23.03.2020.  Please include your child’s name, year group and your job role in the email.  We would appreciate a reply no later than 11am on Friday 20^th March 2020.  This will help with our planning as we outline plans for the supervision of students in school and for providing work for students at home.

We have held assemblies with Year 11 this afternoon to thank them for their hard work and dedication to preparing for their GCSE exams that were due to start in a few weeks’ time.  The government has made the decision to cancel these exams.  We reassured students that this isn’t the end and we look forward to welcoming them back to Priestnall School in the very near future to say a ‘proper goodbye’, whether that’s through a Prom or Leavers’ event.   We are really sad to see them leave.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any further support or guidance with your child over the next few months.

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and kind words parents have sent into school; it has been very much appreciated.

I wish you and your family best wishes and good health for the future and look forward to seeing you soon.

Kind regards,

Craig Burns

Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

We would like to invite you to our Key Stage 4 Options Evening to be held on: Thursday 12^th March 2020 from 6pm to 8pm.

During this evening you will have an opportunity to hear about the arrangements for the curriculum in Years 10 & 11 and be able to talk to teachers directly about the course requirements for particular subjects.

As you will appreciate from the information that you receive on the evening and via the Options booklet, our Key Stage 4 curriculum is based firmly around a commitment to maintaining a broad, balanced and appropriate learning pathway for all of our students. This includes enabling our learners to secure the “Gold Standard” English Baccalaureate (EBacc) where appropriate.   During Options Evening we ask that Parents/Carers and students assemble at 6pm in the following locations for a Presentation by a member of the School’s Senior Leadership Team:

Bridgewater (9B1/9B2), Imperial (9I1/9I2) in the Main Hall.

[Please enter via the School Reception Entrance]

 Rylands (9R1/9R2), Urbis (9U1/9U2) and Victoria (9V1/9V2) in Café Mersey.

[Please enter via the Recreation Centre Car Park Entrance]

We hope that you will be able to attend this event with your son/daughter and discuss options choices with them, and with us, so that appropriate decisions are made together.

An electronic version of the Options Booklet is available via the school’s website and Learning platform; this provides information about the subjects in Years 10 &11.  A hard copy of this will be issued on the evening with the most recent Interim Report.

It is never too early to start thinking about opportunities post-16 and to help explore these, representatives from local sixth form colleges will be in the school library.

From experience we know parents find the Options Evening extremely useful and we look forward to meeting you. Please contact Mr Stirling, Assistant Headteacher, if you would like further information.

Yours faithfully

Mr C Burns
Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers of Year 7

Dressing as a Book Character: Thursday 5th March

Thursday 5th March is World Book Day, and in celebration of this event we will be holding a week of events at school to encourage our students to keep reading for pleasure.
We would like to invite all Year 7 students to attend school on that Thursday dressed in the costume of a character from their favourite novel. All students in costume will receive a certificate and there will be a prize of a book token to the winning costume. We are also asking for a £1 donation for our Well Being Centre.

We would like to remind parents, carers and students of Priestnall’s dress code and request that all costumes are appropriate and must relate to a novel, rather than a television, film or game character. The character can be from a current book, or from the student’s favourite book as a younger child.

We hope the Year 7 students will enjoy the day celebrating their favourite books, and we thank you in advance for your support.

For more information about the activities we have planned please click here.

Yours faithfully
Mrs R Mekonnen
Literacy Co-ordinator

World Book Day Letter 16th Feb 2020

The Frog Platform Y9 Options Pre –Opt site is now operational. Please can the Y9 Options Pre-Opt be completed by the deadline of Friday 28th February (the day after Y9 Parents Evening).  Please consult the Options Booklet and provisionally decide on your choices.  Please can you also check that you are able to log on to the FROG Platform (Parents/Carers and students) and if you are experiencing any difficulties please email: frog.support@priestnall.stockport.sch.uk

Dear Parent/Carer

I am writing to you with details of a planned visit to Washington DC in July 2021.  We have secured a provisional booking with Rayburn Tours for the proposed visit which will be departing on Thursday 8^th July and returning on Thursday 15^th July 2021.The visit is open to all Year 9 students who have a keen interest in pursuing the History GCSE in Year 10.

The total cost of this trip will be approximately £1,750 per student and includes, flights, accommodation, meals and tours.  This will be an 8-day (6 night) Washington DC Tour in relation to History pupils Edexcel GCSE paper 3-USA: Home and Abroad 1954-1975. The visit will provide the opportunity for your child to experience the importance of what is arguably, one of the most important Capital Cities in the World: Our trip will be planned by the knowledgeable and very experienced Rayburn Tours and will include all of the expected highlights some of which are detailed below:

• Guided walking tour of Mall and Monuments,
• White House Visitor Centre
• National Archives
• Capitol Tour
• Library of Congress,
• Smithsonian Museums
• Ford’s Theatre Museum,
• Pentagon
• Arlington Cemetery

There are only 40 places available. Please note that should the numbers wanting to go on this visit exceed the 40 places, students will then be randomly selected. Once full to capacity all other pupils will be placed on a reserve list.

If you would like your child to apply for a place on this visit, please return the reply slip. Once we have all the reply slips in we will contact you and let you know if your child has secured a place.  It is at this point that we will request the deposit from you.  Please do not send any money until we have advised you that your child has secured a place.

Once students have been selected we will write to you requesting a non-refundable deposit of £300 which can be paid in two instalments: £150 to be paid initially and a further £150 to be paid 4 weeks later.

Following receipt of your full deposit (£300) you will then be asked to pay £150 4 weeks later and another payment of £150 8 weeks after that. We will then write to you again giving you the full payment schedule for the subsequent payments.

Please note in line with our Charges and Remissions policy, all contributions are voluntary and no student will be excluded from the trip on the grounds of inability to pay.  However, if we have insufficient contributions the trip may not take place.  The School’s Charging and Remission Policy can be found on the school website: http://www.priestnall.stockport.sch.uk//wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Charges-Remissions-Policy.pdf

As you would expect with a visit of this nature, students who apply will only be permitted to go on the visit if they currently meet, and continue to meet, the high standards of behaviour that Priestnall expects.

It is important to emphasise that signing up for this visit at this stage must be viewed as a firm commitment. Once deposits have been paid we will write to you with information regarding further payments and a request for medical and emergency contact details.

I would like to stress that once the deposit is paid this is non-refundable.  If you cancel once subsequent payments are made these may only be refunded if we can find another student willing to take that place or if there is a legitimate insurance claim.  The Local Authority will be providing insurance for this trip and the insurance schedule can be found on our website: http://www.priestnall.stockport.sch.uk//wp-content/uploads/2018/03/School-Journey-Insurance-Scheme-Summary-of-Cover.pdf

As a school, we have our own deadline to meet, in order to secure the visit at this cost. Please could all replies be returned Friday 20^th March 2020

Please do not send any money at this point we will write to you again with payment details if your child is selected.

Should your child be selected, we will need to be provided with their passport information. This includes first name and family names (as passports) with dates of birth for students and gender to book flights. This can be done at the same time as you pay the deposit.

Yours faithfully

Miss Halfacre

Curriculum Leader of History

Washington 2021

Washington Letter

Dear Priestnall School,

I wanted to let you know that in the new year we’ll start work on Didsbury Road and in Crescent Park to install the new underground electricity cable that will replace the existing cable in your area.

We’ll work from the passageway beside the Co-op on Didsbury Road, across Didsbury Road and into Crescent Park opposite. We plan to work between 7am and 5pm Monday to Friday. There may be occasions when we need to work later, in which case we’ll work no later than 8pm. Please find attached a letter for more information on our works in your area.

We’d be very grateful if you could display a community information poster about our works at Priestnall School – we’ve attached a digital version of the poster for you to print and use. If you’d like to receive paper copies of the poster, please do let us know.

If you have any questions about our work, please contact our Community Relations team on 0800 073 1047 or nationalgrid@bredburycable.com. They’re available daily from 7am to 7pm.

Best wishes,

Alex

Alexandra Taylor
National Grid Community Relations team
Freephone helpline:  0800 073 1047

You can download the attachments mentioned below.

Bredbury South Manchester cable replacement A4 DIGITAL
NG Bredbury Works Letter Dids Rd

 

A group of six pupils from Priestnall School are celebrating after securing the first prize in Manchester Airport’s annual Dragons’ Den competition for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The group’s selection of Manchester worker bee tote bags, Christmas cards and badges impressed a panel of Dragons including representatives from the Airport, Singapore Airlines, Enterprise Rent a Car, John Lewis and Macdonald Hotels.

The full news article can be found on the South Manchester News website.