Open Evening 2026

Last week saw a hugely successful Open Evening for prospective parents and carers.

Visitors were invited to tour the school and explore various displays and activities going on around site. Each subject area offered a flavour of what's on offer at secondary school - be it experiments in Science, puzzles in Maths, French culture in MFL, woodwork in Design and Technology - and staff were on hand to answer questions and talk about our curriculum offer.

Mrs Jones' menagerie of reptiles are frequent visitors to school and Open Evening is no exception.

A crucial part of Open Evening at The Friary is the role our students play as ambassadors for the school, guiding families around the site, talking about their experience of secondary education, and ensuring visitors have every opportunity to find out everything they wish to know about our school.

We would like to thank all students who volunteered their time to represent our school on Open Evening. 

Our Governors were represented by the Vice-Chair who was also on hand throughout the evening, as were our various uniform suppliers so prospective families could find out how this can be ordered and supplied in the future. 

All 900 tickets were claimed for the Headteacher's presentation - which is the capacity of our Theatre, three times over - and this provided contextual information for families on our school, practical advice regarding admissions, and emphasised the school's ethos and values.

Mark Drury, Headteacher, said: "Many staff are parents themselves and we fully appreciate that choosing the right secondary school is a key decision. We wanted the evening to give families the information they need about whether we are a good fit for them and what they want from their child's education. We need the support of our parents and carers and to work in partnership with them, so Open Evening is a great opportunity to show what we're about so families can make the best decision for them whether to buy into what we do."

Mr Drury added: "It was a late night for staff after a full school day, and I am very grateful to them - and especially our student ambassadors who represented our school so well - for putting on such a successful evening."