Priory School (Portsmouth)
Encyclopedia
Priory School is a secondary school
in Portsmouth, England. The school has specialist Sports College
status.
It is situated in the centre of Fratton, opposite Fratton railway station
on the A2047. Next door is the Priory Tennis Centre.
The schools modern site was originally purchased by the Portsmouth School Board in May 1890 for £3000, at the time the area was known as "The Wilderness" due to the lack of development activity. On the site were several buildings in a heavy state of disrepair, among the buildings were Howard's Cottage reputedly the oldest building in Portsmouth and home to the ghost of Lady Temple.
The construction of the school cost £9,704 and took two years, the buildings were completed in May 1892. Later extensions of the school site led it to cover the site of an old priory and a farm called Priory Farm.
In 1905 it was decided that the Francis Avenue School for girls should move to a building next to the boys school. This school which cost £25,000 to build was opened on the 4 November 1907, this school building now forms the main building of the current school.
During the First World War
both the boys and girls schools were converted into the Fifth Southern General Hospital to care for soldiers injured during the war. After the war both schools returned to normal.
Due to the growing women's movement after the war, the girls school expanded rapidly, purchasing St Peter's Institute in 1925, by 1931 almost 800 girls were studying at the heavily over-crowded school.
Due to Portsmouth being considered a high-risk target during the Second World War led to evacuation of pupils from both of the schools, in turn leading to the buildings being used for war purposes. On the 10 January 1941 German bombing led to the destruction of the boys school and the girls school's new wing which had been built in 1934.
The destruction led to the boys moving to the St Ronan's Road School, with the old boys school being left as a bombed out wreck for the next twenty years.
.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the boys school was cleared and replaced with a gymnasium for the girls school. The 1960s was a time for rapid expansion with the addition of a lecture theatre and a sixth-form building.
The Priory Tennis and Sports Centre opened in 2006.
also gets similar results. No comprehensive schools in Portsmouth have a sixth form.
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in Portsmouth, England. The school has specialist Sports College
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...
status.
Admissions
James Humphries is the Headteacher at the school. Mark Marande and Janet Hobson are the Deputy Headteachers. Priory is a Specialist Sports College.It is situated in the centre of Fratton, opposite Fratton railway station
Fratton railway station
Fratton railway station is a railway station in Portsmouth, located near Fratton Park, the stadium of association football club Portsmouth F.C.....
on the A2047. Next door is the Priory Tennis Centre.
History
It was first established to provide post-13 education to boys who couldn't afford the fees of the city's many private schools. It opened in November 1888 on a temporary site on Commercial Road.The schools modern site was originally purchased by the Portsmouth School Board in May 1890 for £3000, at the time the area was known as "The Wilderness" due to the lack of development activity. On the site were several buildings in a heavy state of disrepair, among the buildings were Howard's Cottage reputedly the oldest building in Portsmouth and home to the ghost of Lady Temple.
The construction of the school cost £9,704 and took two years, the buildings were completed in May 1892. Later extensions of the school site led it to cover the site of an old priory and a farm called Priory Farm.
In 1905 it was decided that the Francis Avenue School for girls should move to a building next to the boys school. This school which cost £25,000 to build was opened on the 4 November 1907, this school building now forms the main building of the current school.
During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
both the boys and girls schools were converted into the Fifth Southern General Hospital to care for soldiers injured during the war. After the war both schools returned to normal.
Due to the growing women's movement after the war, the girls school expanded rapidly, purchasing St Peter's Institute in 1925, by 1931 almost 800 girls were studying at the heavily over-crowded school.
Due to Portsmouth being considered a high-risk target during the Second World War led to evacuation of pupils from both of the schools, in turn leading to the buildings being used for war purposes. On the 10 January 1941 German bombing led to the destruction of the boys school and the girls school's new wing which had been built in 1934.
The destruction led to the boys moving to the St Ronan's Road School, with the old boys school being left as a bombed out wreck for the next twenty years.
Grammar school
In 1946 the girls schools became the Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Girls. The Southern Grammar School for Boys was on Eastern Road and is now part of Portsmouth CollegePortsmouth College
Portsmouth College is a sixth form college on Tangier Road, Portsmouth, England.-Admissions:It has one principal called Steve Frampton and two deputy principles: Kevin Grieve and Phil Harris. The college is just off the Eastern Road which provides an easy way to get to the college from inside and...
.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the boys school was cleared and replaced with a gymnasium for the girls school. The 1960s was a time for rapid expansion with the addition of a lecture theatre and a sixth-form building.
Comprehensive
In 1974 the boys school returned to the site, this time merging with the girls school to form Priory comprehensive.The Priory Tennis and Sports Centre opened in 2006.
Academic results
Portsmouth LEA gets some of the lowest results in England at GCSE, but the school is one of the better schools, gaining GCSE results in 2010 slightly under the England average, and joint third best in Portsmouth with The City of Portsmouth Boys' School. The City of Portsmouth Girls' SchoolCity of Portsmouth Girls' School
The City of Portsmouth Girls' School is a comprehensive school for girls from the ages of eleven to sixteen in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The school achieved specialist Humanities College status in 2008...
also gets similar results. No comprehensive schools in Portsmouth have a sixth form.
Alumni
- Prof Jim Al-KhaliliJim Al-KhaliliJim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey...
OBE, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of SurreyUniversity of SurreyThe University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Girls
- Marilyn ColeMarilyn ColeMarilyn Cole was Playboy magazine's January 1972 Playmate of the Month. She was the magazines's first full-frontal nude centerfold, although her pubic hair was partly covered by the shadow cast from the book in her hand, so the first clearly full-frontally nude Playmate of the Month was Bonnie...
, January 1972 Playmate of the Month, and Playmate of the Year 1973 - Kathleen O'Donovan, businesswoman, the first female finance director in a major public-listed company (in 1996)