For forthcoming events, including committee meetings, please see the Calendar of Events.
Mix It Up
The fifth edition of Mix Tape is on its way. As with its previous incarnations, the ever-popular party for grown ups will be held at The Con Club and ticket sales will raise money for both Friends of Priory and Friends of Wallands. Grab a group of mates and enjoy a proper dance with a midnight finish.
Snap up your tickets for Friday 21st March for £8 in advance: https://go.rallyup.com/mixtape5 or pay £10 on the door.
Anti-Bullying Mural
If you've visited the school recently, you might have noticed a new addition to the foyer. The Anti-Bullying ambassadors wrote an inspirational poem in a project in conjunction with Lewes FC and the University of Sussex and did a lot of fundraising to get it made into a mural, but needed a little top up to reach their target. Friends of Priory was pleased to donate and, with support from Signosaurus Lewes, the mural is now brightening up reception. The students' poem has also been included in the Protest Poetry anthology, and it is studied by their peers in English lessons. In the new year, a listening booth installation and display about the project will be added. Well done to the students involved for their creativity and fundraising skills.
Curator talk
Our next event is Images of Sussex: Art from the V&A's Collection, a talk by Dr Jenny Gaschke, Senior Curator, Paintings and Drawings, on 12th February. The V&A was founded to inspire creativity in all. While famous for its exhibitions of fashion and design, the museum also looks after a remarkable art collection, which includes many images inspired by Lewes and its surroundings. Among the painters and printmakers who found themselves drawn to this corner of Sussex were John Constable, Vanessa Bell and Eric Ravilious and Jenny's talk will explore their artistic responses. Tickets: £7 adults, £1 under 18s from https://go.rallyup.com/imagesofsussex.
We need you!
We'd love a few more parents/carers to help us raise funds to make our school an even more amazing place to learn. Come along to a meeting, volunteer at an event, share a skill – there are lots of ways to get involved. Unlike primary PTAs it needn't take up lots of time, but it does make a massive difference to your children's experience at school. We're currently hoping to fund first aid equipment and courses, a new AV system for the chapel and additional exciting experiences for Activities Week in July. To find out more, email [email protected].
To make a regular or one-off donation to support the school, go to www.friendsofpriory.org/donate.html.
Christmas Bazaar
Our Christmas Bazaar was a lovely community event combined with the Christmas concert and featured amazing stalls from local artists, makers and our very own talented Priory students and staff. The festive café proved very popular and, along with the stall fees, raised over £500 for the school. Thank you to all organisers and volunteers for a brilliant evening.
A big thank you!
Our Winter Raffle raised an amazing £1823. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. All prizes have now been collected.
A huge thank you to all our generous donors, without whom it wouldn't have been possible: 360 Botanics, Abigail's Drapery, ABYSS, Andrea Eserin Jewellery Design, Artelium Wine Estate, Bags of Books, BALTICA, Bambino Goodies, Beacon Down Vineyard, Beak Brewery + Taproom, Bow Windows Bookshop, BULB Floristry, Burning Sky Brewery, Chalk Venue Brighton, Cheese Please, Cornish Bakery, Depot Cinema, Kitchen & Bar, Dolly, Duke of York's Picturehouse, East Sussex National Golf Resort & Spa, Erawan, Fork, Flint Owl, Freight Shop Ltd., Fumbalinas, GAIL's, Glyndebourne, Go.botanica florists, Goldstone Rum, Green Leaf Acupuncture, Gun Brewery & Taproom, Henners Vineyard, Infinity foods, Kabak, Lewes Unity, Liv & Dom, Mamoosh Bakery, Menteath, Michelham Priory, Middle Farm, Nancy Meiland Parfums, NØRD Lewes, Old Tree Brewery, Pestle & Mortar, Reading Room Day Spa, Royal Pavilion, Savage Martial Arts, Scout & Co, Symposium, Wowo Campsite and more.
Winter Raffle 2024
Our annual raffle is live! Buy tickets online here: go.rallyup.com/fopraffle2024 or in person at the Christmas Bazaar on 17th December. Lots of incredible prizes up for grabs from local businesses – thank you to all of them for their generous donations: 360 Botanics, Abigail's Drapery, Andrea Eserin Jewellery, Artelium, Bags of Books, Baltica, Bambino Goodies, Beacon Down, Beak Brewery, Bonne Bouche, Bow Windows Bookshop, Bulb, Burning Sky Brewery, Chalk, Cornish Bakery, Depot cinema, Duke of York's cinema, East Sussex National, Erewan, Fork, Flint Owl, Freight, Glyndebourne, GoBotanica, Goldstone Rum, Greenleaf Acupuncture, Gun Brewery, Henners, Infinity Foods, Kabak, Liv & Dom, Mamoosh, Menteath, Michelham Priory, Middle Farm, Nancy Meiland, nørd, Old Tree Brewery, Pestle & Mortar, Radical Living, Reading Room Day Spa, Royal Pavilion, Scout & Co, Symposium, Unity, Value Home Supplies and WoWo.
Christmas shopping opportunity
Our annual bazaar will take place on Tuesday 17th December 2024, the same night as the school Christmas concert. Come along for last-minute gift shopping from local artists and makers, festive fayre at the café and to buy a ticket for the raffle – we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs. Entry is free, it starts at 5pm and ends at 8pm.
Easyfundraising is exactly that!
The simplest way to support the school is to sign up to easyfundraising! It's incredibly easy, completely free and only takes a minute to register. Then, every time you shop with 8,000+ online retailers, the school receives a donation. We have less than 50 supporters and total donations are over £700 – imagine how much we could raise from potentially 1000s of supporters, particularly in the run up to Christmas or when paying for flights, holidays and big purchases. Plus, for every person who registers via the easyfundraising app before the end of October we'll get £2, and when 10+ register we'll enter a prize draw to win £150. What's stopping you? Please share with family as well – some grandparents are currently our top fundraisers on the platform! https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/friendsofprioryschool
Mix Tape Volume 4 loading...
Our party for grown-ups, Mix Tape, is back for a fourth edition on Friday 8th November (7pm to midnight) at The Con Club. This is a fun night for parents to get together and have a proper dance to music from the last five decades: disco, funk, soul, rave, house, garage and jungle. Tickets are only £8 (£10 on the door) and raise money for Priory and Wallands schools. Buy yours here: https://go.rallyup.com/mixtape4
Summer Social 2024
The weather was kind for the annual Summer Social, which saw lots of Priory families enjoying drinks and tunes on the school field in July. Food was provided by the brilliant Kabak and the local food and drink raffle was a big success – thank you to all the generous donors: Abyss, Artelium, Barcombe Nurseries, Beacon Down, Bignose Beardy Cider, Breaky Bottom, Burning Sky, Cheese Please, Court Garden, Folkington's, Goldstone Rum, Henners, Liquid Spirit Coffee, Old Tree, Only with Love and Seven Sisters Spices.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
Friends of Priory was pleased to provide funds for staff training to enable the Year 10s to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. As well as volunteering and learning new skills, the 42-strong group have completed two overnight expeditions in Sussex, accompanied by teachers and external company Bright Expeditions. DofE offers great opportunities for young people, boosting confidence and encouraging problem solving and teamwork and we hope to continue to support the scheme at Priory for future year groups.
Mix Tape Volume 3 Club Night
The popular Mix Tape club nights, held as a joint fundraiser with Wallands school since last year, returned for a third outing at The Con Club with more music to dance to: rave, funk, house, jungle, hip-hop, ska and more. The Mix Tape events have raised nearly £1000 for the school so far.
Edward Reeves Photography Talk
We welcomed back Tom Reeves from Edward Reeves – the world's longest-established photographic studio – back to Priory School to give a talk at one of our favourite events of the year. Featuring newly researched material from the archives, it was a fascinating evening exploring the history of the people and places of Lewes that was enjoyed by a packed hall and raised over £500.
New LED Lighting Equipment
One of the Friends of Priory's most recent purchases for the school was an LED lighting rig to enhance the children's learning experiences in Drama and Dance. The new system was put through its paces for the fabulous school production, Alice, in March.
New Basketball Hoops
Fundraising for sports equipment is an important part of Friends of Priory's work. This year, your generous donations have paid for new permanent basketball hoops on the school courts that are already getting a lot of use.
Symposium Wine Tasting
The lecture theatre played host to Robert Poole of local vintners Symposium Wine Emporium for an evening of wine tasting. The group of parents, carers and friends tasted eight unusual wines, starting with a French Cremant and travelling further afield to take in bottles from Italy, Lebanon, Australia and more, accompanied by cheese and olives. This fun (and educational) evening raised about £400 for the school - not bad for Friday night drinks.
New Autism Facility Outdoor Space
Friends of Priory have helped to fund a new outdoor space for the Oak Centre, thank to your generous support of the raffle and other fundraising activities. The facility is now finished and ready for the young people to enjoy.
'Many, many thanks to everyone involved in supporting us in creating our outside space. It is secure, private and provides our students with a much needed sensory outlet. We are currently using the space in order to offer an outside sensory circuit , a private space for PE lessons and a safe environment for break and lunchtime.
Teresa Russell – Autism Lead Teacher
New Science Labs
£15,000 of funds from Friends of Priory (alongside £3,000 from The Fonthill Foundation and £1,000 from The Armourers and Brasiers Gauntlet Trust £1,000, plus £3,000 from the sale of the old furniture) waw spent on refurbishing three science labs. Officially opened on 18 October 2019, the brand new facilities, include equipment such as the mobile fume cupboard with docking stations which allows it to be used in different labs so that more students benefit.
Tesco Community Grants
We are delighted to let you know that following the Tesco Community Grant vote in our local Tesco stores, our project came First and has been chosen by Tesco Customers to receive a grant award of £1,500! The grant will be used to support those students who are financially disadvantaged to buy their dt practical food ingredients.
Voting was held at Tesco stores between Saturday 1st January and Thursday 31st March and proved to be very successful with millions of votes being cast by Tesco Customers across the UK.
Priory Christmas Market 2023
The second Priory Artists & Makers Christmas Market was another huge success with students, teachers, parents and friends of the school all selling their wares in the canteen on the evening of the Christmas concert. The mulled wine and mince pies went down a storm and the raffle raised £1500 for the school, with over 50 prizes generously donated by local businesses.
Committed to Giving
Over the past 7.5 years, we have raised an amazing £68,000 from monthly contributions to the school since we launched this Committed to Giving campaign. If you would like to know more, please see the Donate page.