Priory School, Dorking
Type of school/college
Voluntary aided
Number of students
837
Purpose of engagement
To develop a real life experiential learning environment where business and students engaged in reciprocal relationships to bring the theory in lessons to life through real life application. Students gained enterprise skills and employers also gained benefits.
The Big Interview: Interviews for all Year 11 students, with employees from IBM, Unilever and Air Products, as well as local business owners. Before the event, students produced a CV and letter of application for a fictitious job.
R&D Days: Students are given a brief to design a new frozen food product or ice cream that Unilever can sell. Classes are broken into teams - marketing, production, finance, etc. and are managed by a member of the board of Unilever frozen foods.
Laitwaites project: GCSE D&T and graphics students were asked to produce a recyclable bottle carrier for Laitwaites shop in Hersham. The deputy chairman of the organisation judged the final products; the winning product was then entered into a Surrey SATRO (Science and Technology Regional Organisation) young designer competition, and won.
The Priory School is a voluntary-aided Church of England comprehensive co-educational day school for students aged 11-18. The catchment area of the school is not defined, but extends east towards Reigate, west to Gomshell, north towards Leatherhead and south towards the Sussex border.