Before Priory School became an extended school, the estate next to it looked "like Beirut on a bad day with burnt out cars in the streets," reveals its head Nick Ware.
It's only three years since the school in Orpington, Kent became a full-service extended school. But the effect on both the school and the neighbouring community has been profound. "Before, this school was seen as synonymous with bad behaviour. People didn't want to come here," says Jack Lightle, 17. "It is now seen as good to achieve. It wasn't like that before."
Priory School is in a deprived area in Bromley. A fifth of its pupils are on free school meals and 40 per cent are on the special educational needs register. Since Priory became a full-service extended school, academic results at the 1,350-pupil establishment have improved dramatically. In 2007, 60 per cent of pupils got five GCSEs at grades A* to C, a huge increase from three years ago when only 28 per cent got five A* to Cs.
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