At The Priory, we value all children and treat them as individuals. The small class sizes help us to know each child well. We know them not simply as pupils but as people.  We are interested in our children’s development not only at The Priory but in their lives beyond it and we enjoy hearing about the many success stories of former pupils.

 

In class, lessons are differentiated to suit all abilities. Children are encouraged to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. Teachers and classroom assistants give feedback to children on an almost continual basis either with verbal or written comments and children know the next steps in their learning. Comments are positive and act as an incentive for improvement.

 

During the course of each year, there are various opportunities to assess children on a more formal basis and the progress of each child is tracked to ensure that they do as well as they are able. Children’s progress is conveyed to parents at our consultation evenings twice a year and in an annual summer report.

 

Occasionally, children may need additional support to gain the maximum benefit from their time at The Priory. This support is sometimes in the form of additional focused time from a classroom assistant or from our dedicated teacher, Mrs. Lewis. Mrs. Lewis will tailor learning programmes to the individual child (or small group of children) and she will also advise the class teachers of useful strategies for learning. When necessary, she will also engage the services of external agencies such as the Speech and Language or the School Nurse.

 

In catering for the needs of all children, we frequently discover children with particular talents, or indeed gifts. We address the needs of gifted, able and talented children in a wide variety of ways. For example, we offer Latin as a challenging extra-curricular activity and we also take part in the local Quiz Club event where children compete in an inter schools general knowledge quiz.

 

As a school, we are fortunate to have dedicated provision for our many more able children. Mrs. Pender works with a small number of children from Year 2 to Year 6 each during the week, and the projects they tackle are highly complex and intellectually challenging. Particularly successful recent projects have involved compiling a newspaper, designing a wall hanging and making items for sale at the summer fair, then using the proceeds to support one of the school’s charities, the Kaloko Trust in Zambia.