Priory School

SCHOOL HIGHLIGHT…

PRIORY ART STUDENTS SELECTED TO REPRESENT UK IN ERASMUS PRIZE PROGRAMME

Eight schools across the Netherlands and UK participated in a British Council and Erasmus Prize programme. The aim of the programme was for students to engage with the work of artist Grayson Perry, while creating a working relationship between UK and Netherlands-based schools. Priory School was selected to be one of the four UK based schools. A class of 27, Year 10 students were chosen from our Art classes, to engage with the programme. Grayson Perry is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries and cross-dressing as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene. Perry talks openly about the difficult times of his childhood and how these experiences have fed into his work, which therefore often addresses identity, social class and imagination. The project was kick started by a short personalised welcome video from Grayson Perry, which asked them: “Who are you? How do you represent that? It is a multi-layered thing.” Students really felt incredibly special to have received this, created especially for the eight schools. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YKx5w7xxcWjG_0jNHGQyHmGtqtf8ctU/view?usp=sharing The British Council also arranged for students to be given a lecture by the Art Historian Krzysztof Dobrowolski to ensure a deeper understanding of the artist’s work. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C48aTwpfpLyx1gBJnandi8AWL paBQY-k/view?usp=sharing Students over a period of two weeks considered the themes of identity and social class through a series of British Council-led lessons. The lessons provided students with many opportunities to reflect upon their own identity, and how this is established. They also considered the social class system and it was fantastic to hear such insightful debate and consideration in their conversations and group tasks. The students used Grayson Perry’s work as a stimulus during these lessons. The students’ work was shared with the British Council and Erasmus Prize. It was then placed into a brochure with work from the other eight schools. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QDysafnTmWGp1fsrM5rWNk_ dGX53xLUA/view?usp=sharing At the end of the project the students were invited to a zoom with Grayson Perry, which was a really exciting opportunity for all involved. One student from every school was selected to speak to Grayson and talk about their work inspired by identity and social class - at Priory Safiyah Perrott represented us and spoke well about the inspiration behind her work. It was a privilege to meet the artist himself, and to see a range of work from each of the UK and Netherland schools. The programme gave our Year 10 students a unique opportunity to meet this world renown artist, but most importantly it provided them with a chance to consider their own identities in much further depth, and to respond to this understanding through Art. #Proudtobepriory

SCHOOL HIGHLIGHT…

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY: STUDENTS LEARN AND REMEMBER

Recognising Holocaust Memorial Day has always been a big part of Priory’s commitment to educating our students about this terrible time in history, and also drawing from it lessons that can be applied to the world we live in today. The Holocaust provides a warning from history about what can happen when this respect and tolerance is lost. The Holocaust is never an easy subject to teach or to learn but we are always so impressed with the way our students engage with it and once again, on these recent trips, staff were very proud of the quality of the questions that were asked, and the high level of thinking that was put into the activities. As part of Holocaust Memorial Day, many of our students took part in different events to commemorate the day. Students were able to take part in a live webcast with Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke BEM. Eva, was born on 29 April 1945, and spoke not only about her birth at Mauthausen Concentration Camp, but her mother’s story of survival and the sad loss of her father and many family members. Eva talked about combating modern day racism and prejudice. History and RE pupils were also given the chance to attend a Holocaust workshop in Chichester. At the workshop, students were challenged to make connections between the events of the Second World War and the subsequent creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our students considered why respecting differences is critical to building happy communities, such as the one we have at Priory. After viewing Sir Michael Morpurgo’s film, Waiting for Anya, pupils met the screenwriter Toby Latham for a Q&A. A Human Rights workshop then followed where pupils explored modern day examples of where Human Rights are not met. Libby and Sophie reflect on their experiences. “Watching the film by Sir Michael Morpurgo really made us reflect on such a significant time in history. The film is based on a true- life rescue of Jewish children smuggled across the Spanish border to safety. They were disguised as shepherds and, under the noses of high-ranking Nazi officers, they escaped to a small rural village in the Pyrenees. “During our workshop with the scriptwriter, we discussed the importance of why we should be studying the Holocaust and our role as students in informing others of our experience. We talked about modern examples whereby resentment and hatred can lead to persecution.”