The Priory Academy LSST

The Priory Academy LSST

Motto	Sic Itur Ad Astra (Federation Motto)
Established	1992
Type	Academy
Headteacher	Jane Hopkinson
Federation Chief Executive	Ian Jones
Chair of Governors	John Weir
Location	Cross O'Cliff Hill Lincoln Lincolnshire LN5 8PW England Coordinates: 53°12′31″N 0°32′46″W / 53.2085°N 0.5460°W / 53.2085; -0.5460
DfE number	925/6907
DfE URN	135565 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Staff	approx. 200
Students	approx. 1900
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–19
Houses	Sempringham, Castille, Alexandria and Avalon
Colours	Navy Blue, Purple
Website	The Priory Academy LSST

The Priory Academy, Lincoln School of Science and Technology is a co-educational, partially-selective academy school and teaching school situated on Cross O'Cliff Hill, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. It is a specialist school in science, technology and teaching. The school is the lead member of The Priory Federation of Academies.

History

The school is on the site of South Park Girls' Grammar School which had originally opened in May 1922 as an all-girls grammar school for the south of the city. New buildings were added in October 1938 and extensions in 1962 and between 1974 and 1977. It became co-educational in September 1974. The school was closed on 27 July 1989 due to falling numbers.^[1]

The school was reopened as The Lincoln School of Science and Technology in September 1992, admitting only year seven pupils in its first year, growing in size each year as a new year group joined. Its name changed at the end of 1999 to the Priory LSST, after the nearby St. Katherine's Priory.

In 2008, the school transferred to academy status under the newly formed Priory Federation of Academies, changing to its current name, The Priory Academy LSST.

Headteachers

The current Headteacher is Jane Hopkinson, a former Assistant Head at the school and Director of Student Standards for the federation who was previously the Head of The Priory City of Lincoln Academy before assuming the headship of LSST.

Campus

Main Site

The Priory LSST Quad, as seen from the Science Section of the School. This is the original part of the School (once South Park Girls School), showing the Languages Department (first floor) and Mathematics Department (bottom floor).

The School Campus consist of twelve main buildings. Two buildings lie at the main entrance and exit of the school which act as the school reception and Academies' administration offices. Recent additions include a £110,000 state of the art robotics lab opened in 2015 by MARC (Multi-Actuated Robotic Companion) from the University of Lincoln.^[2]

Newton Centre

Officially opened on 29 June 2011, the Newton Centre is a Sixth Form Science centre on the school campus. The centre is named after one of Lincolnshire's most famous scientists, Isaac Newton. The centre contains a planetarium, laboratories for use by Sixth Form science pupils, a research base, and a debating chamber which is used by the school's debating society.

The Priory Sports Centre

The £8m Sports Centre is used for PE sessions and extracurricular activities. Facilities include a 400m synthetic Olympic-standard running track outside the sports centre, and a 60m indoor running track next to a multipurpose sports hall. There are classrooms and a state of the art gymnasium, available for use by pupils during PE lessons and outside school hours at a cost through Priory Leisure. On 15 October 2013 The Priory Sports Centre was officially opened by Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE.^[3]

Robert de Cheney Boarding House

Next to the sport centre is The Robert de Cheney Boarding House, opened in 2011. The boarding house admits international pupils yearly. It has 60 full-time boarding places in single, ensuite study bedrooms. It was given an outstanding rating by Ofsted in 2014.^[4]

Curriculum

An Ofsted inspection in November 2010^[5] rated the school as Grade 1 (outstanding) overall and in most areas. The inspection report stated that the school should promote community cohesion and improve the use of assessment in teaching; both areas were rated Grade 2 (good).^[6]

Pupils undergo an accelerated curriculum at Key Stage 3, and begin their GCSE courses in all subjects in Year 9. The subjects taken include the core English Baccalaureate as well as pupils being able to choose from a range of options. Pupils take all of their GCSE examinations at the end of Year 11, with a few exceptions such as a pupil taking a Foreign Language GCSE early if they are already fluent in that language.

In 2015 the Department for Education stated that the school had an 89% GCSE A*-C pass rate, a fall of 10% from 2013 (including English and Maths).^[7] This made it the 15th most successful school at GCSE level in the Lincolnshire Learning Authority ^[8] and the top-performing school in Lincoln.

Sixth Form

The school has a Sixth Form of around 540 pupils, the sixth form alone is therefore larger than most schools in Lincolnshire. It offers a huge range of 45 subjects, making it one of the largest in England. Pupils ordinarily take 4 AS subjects in the Lower Sixth (Year 12), and continue with 3 in Year 13. For the current cohort of Year 12, the school will not enter pupils for AS examinations at the end of Year 12 unless a specific need can be identified (e.g. leaving at the end of Year 12), and the majority of students will take 3 subjects (with some exceptions, e.g. those studying Further Mathematics), studying the full A Level in all of them. The school also accommodates a number of Year 14 students retaking A Levels.

In 2014, 93% of Priory students obtained places at their first or second choice universities, 42% of which were within the Russell Group.^[9]

Over half the school's recent alumni are now taking degrees in Medicine, Science, Architecture, Mathematics and Engineering, and the rest include Law, Accountancy, Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts.^[10]

Extracurricular activities

The Priory offers the Duke of Edinburgh's Award to Gold level and has its own Combined Cadet Force.

House system

In 2001 the Academy introduced a House System with competitions and events. The four houses are Sempringham (yellow), Avalon (green), Alexandria (red) and Castille (blue).^[11]

See also

• Priory City of Lincoln Academy
• The Priory Ruskin Academy
• Priory Witham Academy
• St. Catherines Priory, Lincoln

References

External links

• Priory LSST website
• BBC News information page on The Priory LSST