Headteacher 'excited to get going' as new £16m Telford school opens doors

Telford Priory School has been built next to Oakengates Leisure Centre and will take in pupils from the former Sutherland Academy and Wrockwardine Wood Arts Academy, which both closed in July as part of a merger onto a new site.

TPS will open on a staggered basis, with some children going in for the first time on Tuesday, and the rest arriving the next day.

Stacey Jordan was appointed head of the new school just six months after joining Sutherland as assistant principal with a brief to improve the school's exam results.

The 37-year-old previously worked at George Salter Academy in West Bromwich, rated "outstanding" by government watchdog Ofsted.

She fulfilled her brief, with a 16 per cent improvement on the number of pupils getting five GCSEs at grade C or above over the summer compared to the year before it.

Now she faces a new challenge – taking on a merger of two schools placed in special measures by Ofsted after inspectors gave them the worst possible "inadequate" rating. But she said it was one she was relishing.

"The new school looks absolutely fantastic and it's very exciting – I just can't wait to get going now," she said.

"The teaching staff are all very positive about the future.

"I want this to be a place where people enjoy coming to work and where children enjoy coming to school."

She said the staggered start was to make students feel as comfortable as possible in their new surroundings.

"It's a nerve-racking time for anybody, starting somewhere new, so we want to make the students as comfortable and happy as possible," she said.

The new school boasts a state-of-the-art 3G full size artificial football pitch, and pupils will also have access to the athletics track and swimming pools at the leisure centre and the facilities at nearby Telford Tennis Centre.