Priory School and Sports College was a state school  in Barnsley

Barnsley

Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It served the area including Lundwood

Lundwood

Lundwood is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England.-History:Lying about three miles from Barnsley town centre, Lundwood is built around the ruins of Monk Bretton Priory which was founded in 1154 as the Priory of St Mary Magdalene of Lund by Adam Fitswaine...

, Monk Bretton

Monk Bretton

Monk Bretton is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately two miles north-east from Barnsley town centre.- History :...

, Cudworth

Cudworth, South Yorkshire

Cudworth is a semi-rural village on the outskirts of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Cudworth has a busy village centre surrounded by some housing and green belt countryside...

 and Cundy Cross.

The schools student body was divided into up to eight form groups in each year, dependent on the amount of students in the year group, resembling the name of the school: P, R, I, O, V, Y, S and C.

From the academic year beginning September 2011, the school ceased to exist after merging with Willowgarth High School, to form the new Shafton Advanced Learning Centre.

School Logo

The school logo featured a blue forward arrow, on a yellow circular background. It was used frequently and recognised well, featuring on the school uniform.

The School

Priory School and Sports College as of recently inhabited one central main building and several outer blocks. The school had also recently expanded into the neighbouring former Grange Gate Primary School building, where the canteen was based.

It was proposed for a complete re-build of the school as part of the government's Building Schools for the Future programme, merging with the current Willowgarth High School

Willowgarth High School

Willowgarth High School is a state school in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England....

. The construction of the new merged school is underway, with the merge into the new Shafton ALC premises planned for January 2012. At current both halves of the new Shafton ALC are operating on their former school sites.

Sports facilities on site included a sports hall, gymnasium, fitness suite, boxing ring, climbing walls, outdoor tennis courts, Astroturf and various sports fields. The school has library and over 50 classrooms, with specialist laboratories and workshops, as well as areas for pupils to go after school.

Partnership

Priory had links with Rock High School in Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, and staff from each of the schools visited its counterpart.

Priory Pop Factor/Priory PopStars

The school held an annual bootcamp style singing and dancing workshop, managed by Voicebox Studios. Rehearsals took place during a week of half term and a final performance was presented on a later date, featuring all the acts individually, as well as group songs and dances. Notable mentors include members from the locally established girl bands Sweet Rebellion and The Poppi Chix.