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Priory School
Priory School
	The school in March 2019
Address
	Fawcett Road; Southsea, Hampshire, PO4 0DL; England
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	Enjoy Respect Achieve
Religious affiliation(s)	Non-Affiliated
Established	1974 (1888)
Local authority	Portsmouth
Department for Education URN	141175 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Stewart Vaughan
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 16
Enrolment	1218
Colour(s)	Black and White
Former name	Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Girls
Website	http://priorysouthsea.org

Priory School is a secondary school in Southsea, Hampshire, England. It is situated in the northern area of Southsea bordering Fratton, and lies close to Fratton railway station on the A2047. Stewart Vaughan is the Headteacher at the school.^[1] Priory school is an academy and part of the Bohunt Education Trust.^[2]

History

The current site was originally purchased by the Portsmouth School Board in May 1890 for £3000, at the time the area was known as "The Wilderness" due to the lack of development activity. On the site were several buildings in a heavy state of disrepair, among the buildings were Howard's Cottage reputedly the oldest building in Portsmouth and home to the ghost of Lady Temple.^[3]

The construction of the school cost £9,704 and took two years, the buildings were completed in May 1892.^[4] Later extensions of the school site led it to cover the site of an old priory and a farm called Priory Farm.^[3]

In 1905 it was decided that the Francis Avenue School for girls should move to a building next to the boys school. This school, which cost £25,000 to build, was opened on 4 November 1907.^[4]

During the First World War, the building was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 5th Southern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.^[5]

During the 1920s the school became heavily over-crowded and an extension to the girls school was completed in 1934.^[4] Portsmouth was considered a high-risk target during the Second World War and the girls school moved to Salisbury.^[4] On 10 January 1941, German bombing led to the destruction of the boys school and the extension at the girls school.^[4] The boys moved to the St Ronan's Road School, with the old boys school being left as a bombed out wreck for the next twenty years.^[4]

In 1946 the girls school became the Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Girls. The Southern Grammar School for Boys was on Eastern Road and went on to be part of Portsmouth College.^[4]

In the late 1950s the boys school was demolished and replaced with a gymnasium for the girls school.^[4] A lecture theatre was completed in the 1960s.^[4]

In 1974 the boys school returned to the site, this time merging with the girls school to form Priory comprehensive school.^[4] The school became a specialist sports college with the opening of the Priory Tennis Centre in 2006 and it became an academy, sponsored by the Bohunt Education Trust, in September 2014.^[6]

Notable former pupils

Prof Jim Al-Khalili OBE, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Surrey^[7]
Ben Close, professional footballer who plays for Doncaster Rovers FC
Tommy Leigh, professional footballer who plays for Accrington Stanley FC
Stephen Morgan, MP For Portsmouth South
Dan Nlundulu, professional footballer who plays for Southampton FC
Jake Thomson, former professional footballer