Dear Parent/Carer,
Reference: Thank you
In September, you may recall that I wrote to you introducing myself as the new headteacher of The Priory School, Hitchin. The past eight weeks have flown by and it feels as though I have been at the school for a much longer period. Now that we are about to close for the half-term break, I am writing to thank you for the support that many of you have kindly offered since my arrival and your continued support as we move forward together as a whole-school community.
Your support has manifested itself in various forms including offering time to take part in some of our parent forums, taking the time to provide written feedback, supporting an event or group at the school, supporting your child to attend school regularly even if sometimes they did not want to come in, your positivity about the school within the wider Hitchin community, or simply supporting the school’s pastoral team when your child might have struggled.
It has certainly been a busy eight weeks and I wanted to summarise some of the achievements and developments that have taken place:
1. Top 25% of schools in England for value-added at A Level: You may have seen the article in The Comet that confirmed our place in the top 25% of schools in England for value-added progress at A Level. We are incredibly proud of this achievement and if you missed the article, you can find the link here.
2. Introduction of a school bell: We have seen a marked increase in the punctuality of students to all lessons since introducing the new bell. We have also observed that the starts of lessons are much crisper than before meaning that students are benefitting from more purposeful periods at the very beginning of their periods of study. From half-term we will also be reverting to a standard form time every day which will commence at 8.50am and end at 9.10am. This will replace the old system of a late start to form twice per week.
3. Changes to school uniform and ending PE kits on PE days: Thank you for your support regarding changes to uniform sent on 2nd October 2025. Just a reminder that after half-term, we will be reverting to our pre-covid expectations surrounding PE kits and the use of changing rooms for all year groups.
4. Teaching & Learning focus: Our two focus points this academic year of ‘Entering into Challenge’ and ‘Formative Assessment’ have been progressing well. Our observations show that the vast majority of our students are benefitting from high-quality starts to lessons and formative feedback through a range of subject-specific techniques.
5. Trips: A huge number of trips went out this half-term including a visit to the University of Cambridge as part of the ‘Physics at Work’ exhibition, the Geography field trip to Slapton Sands, the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition, a Diving trip to Egypt, the Battlefields trip to France and Flanders, a magazine launch at Next Page Bookshop in Hitchin, and our Eco Club’s visit to Shepreth Wildlife Park.
There are so many more things that have happened this half-term, however, I am conscious not to take too much of your time. May I close by thanking you once again for your support over the past eight weeks. As a home-school team, it is my sincere hope that we can continue to work together to make The Priory School, Hitchin the best possible school for our students and your children.
I hope that your child enjoys their half-term and please do reach out to us should you need to once we return in November.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Blayney
Headteacher