Our School

Lancashire's Number One Independent Preparatory School - The Sunday Times

Highfield Priory School is an Independent Co-educational Day School for children from the age of two to eleven years. We are situated in the Fulwood area of Preston, within easy distance of the M6 which makes us handy for parents on their daily commute. The school is a real haven of tranquillity amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy city. We enjoy nine acres of grounds, our own conservation area and outdoor classroom.

At Highfield, we focus on the education of the whole person. A Highfield pupil is a happy, intelligent and confident child who is aware of and interested in the wider world and their local community. The wealth of opportunity open to our pupils encourages an active mind, an active body and a true desire to aim high in all that they do in life.

We are very proud of Highfield Priory School and of our reputation as the top Independent Preparatory School in Lancashire and the North West of England. This is our thirteenth year running in the top thirty of The Sunday Times Top 100 Preparatory Schools in England and our sixth year in the top ten. The Sunday Times Parent Power is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s best schools. 

Our Ethos

Highfield Priory School encourages and inspires its children to aim high in all that they do, not only with regard to academic success but also with regard to behaviour, self-respect, self-discipline and good manners. We are committed to helping our children to prepare for their future.

Our Aims

• To encourage all pupils to develop their full potential by stimulating their intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and imagination
• To promote excellence in academic, creative and sporting endeavours
• To teach the value of integrity and a concern for others
• To enhance pupils' appreciation of their own and other cultures
• To develop self-confidence and independence so that they are well equipped to play an active role in society  

A History of Highfield Priory

Highfield School, later to become Highfield Priory School, was originally created to educate the children of local business men and women who were looking for an excellent academic environment for the education of their children. This history of the pursuit of academic excellence, a strong work ethic and good manners continues to this day. 

40 Higher Bank Road, Fulwood is listed in early directories of Preston and district as Holborn House, with the garden running down to Lower Bank Road, Fulwood. The 1940 directory gives the occupier as Miss H C Samman who was the proprietor of Holborn House School at 40 Higher Bank Road, Fulwood. Miss Samman did not occupy the premises in 1936 when the previous directory was published so it can be assumed that she founded the school between 1936 and 1940. It is believed that the school was founded in 1937. Between 1940 and the publication of the next directory in 1944, Miss Samman moved to 44 Watling Street Road, Fulwood (opposite the Fulwood Police Station) and continued to run Holborn House School at this address until 1950 when Mrs Rhiannon Davies became the proprietor. In 1953 Mrs Davies moved the school to 316 Blackpool Road, Preston (formerly the vicarage of Emmanuel Church) and changed the name to Highfield School. In 1959 Mrs Davies moved the school to 19 Moor Park Avenue, Preston but after one year moved back to Blackpool Road. In November 1960 Alan Cronshaw bought Highfield School from his predecessor, Mrs. Davies, who at the time (in conjunction with her husband) was also running a similar school in the Blackpool area and therefore wished to offload.

He had just left the Army after thirty years’ service, having enlisted for the War and stayed on when the conflict ended. Born 1911 in Burnley, Lancashire, where he attended the local grammar school, he then became a qualified teacher in 1933 after a full course at Goldsmiths College, London. Thereafter he taught in London until war broke out and he joined the Royal Army Education Corps. After marrying Pearl (November 1939 in Ilford, Essex) he was subsequently posted out to India where he spent most of the rest of the war. On return, he remained with the corps which resulted in several three-year postings which included Colchester, Alexandria in Egypt, Perth in Scotland, Fulwood Barracks and Aldershot. Son Malcolm was born January 1947 in Ilford, Essex and his brother, David arrived in September 1951 in Tel-el-Kabir, Egypt. Both were to attend Rossall School, Fleetwood as boarders each for a 10 year period, in order to provide some educational stability while their parents rarely stayed more than eighteen months in any one house. Having risen to the rank of acting Colonel but with no further prospects on the horizon, Alan decided that the time was right to return to civvy street and so purchased Highfield School. It was then situated at 316 Blackpool Road, Preston, right beside a very busy main highway, with Emmanuel Vicarage (Rev. Jim Fordham was then resident) and Tyresoles, a tyre and repair retail centre, as neighbours. Right from the outset, there was an obvious need for more suitable premises, especially as it also doubled as a family home. This, however, did not happen until November 1965 when The Priory on Lower Bank Road in Fulwood was acquired, having been the private residence of Norman Taylor, manager of Foley and Balmers, a Preston wholesale grocery firm. The timing was perfect, as Malcolm was spending the year as a student teacher on the Highfield staff and so was able to assist his parents with the move and conversion into an educational establishment.

It was a very good transfer and the school went from strength to strength with numbers increasing in conjunction with a far more suitable environment. In the Easter Term of 1966, the school was renamed Highfield Priory School. Games were still a problem and it was a case of a crocodile walk for most of the children to nearby Moor Park, as it had been when at Blackpool Road, where both boys and girls enjoyed a limited period of organised football, rounders, cricket, athletics etc. once a week. However, this was much improved when Alan duly negotiated a deal with nearby Greenbank Celtic Football Club in the Sharoe Green Lane area to use their facilities. Malcolm disappeared to St Lukes College, Exeter for 3 years and returned as a qualified teacher on the staff of Moorland School, Clitheroe. He was to return each Thursday afternoon to coach games and in fact set up the first ever football match in 1971 when Highfield Priory played Moorland in Clitheroe (with the coach of both teams and the referee being one and the same person!) and the game finished a 3 – 3 draw – but he didn’t write the script!

One of Highfield’s greatest strengths at this time was the dedication and loyalty of the teaching staff. Mrs Hilda Slater was an outstanding number two, and the likes of Mrs Bridger and Mrs Shuttleworth gave the new headmaster great support. In the years to come Mrs Hilda Crammond, Mrs Megan Lewis, Mrs Agnes Rawcliffe, Mrs Judy Horrex, Mrs Jane Britton, Miss Rosemary Harris, Mrs Fraser, Mrs Langley and Miss Wilford were all instrumental in furthering the school’s growing academic reputation, with the headmaster also having a full teaching timetable. The Headmaster’s wife was responsible for the day-to-day running of the domestic side, centring very much on the daily cooked lunches which she and Mrs. Emily Stockton produced almost throughout their eleven years there. There was also an extensive cleaning programme and here Mrs Hilda Burton was a stalwart. Pearl, an accomplished pianist, also doubled up as accompanist for the dancing lessons and occasionally for assembly hymns.

The pressures of running a flourishing school were beginning to take their toll and Pearl in 1968 and Alan a year later each had major surgery, which slightly slowed down progress. Alan eventually found a buyer in January 1972 and they both retreated to nearby Lightfoot Lane in March of the same year. After 5 years teaching at Rossall School he finally retired, moved down to West Sussex, successfully completed an Open University BA in General Arts (then profitably encouraged Malcolm to do the same) and died in Bognor Regis January 1999. Pearl passed away 10 days after her 95th birthday in January 2006.

Edward Daniel took over the school in March 1972, and hired two long-standing friends, a Mr and Mrs Paterson to act as his resident advisors in the running of the school. In 1974 Mr. Daniel married Rosemary Harris who was a nursery teacher at the school. After a period of three years the parents, under the chairmanship of Mr Keith Duckett, formed a board of governors and appointed Mrs Bibby, a teacher in the school as headmistress. On the retirement of Mrs Bibby the governors appointed Mr Turek as headmaster. During this time the governors purchased ‘Altadore’ on Fulwood Row in 1978 and moved the school to its present site in 1979 with Mr and Mrs Turek living on the premises. When Mr Turek resigned, the governors asked Mrs K Jones, who had been at the school for some years, to act as headmistress for one year pending the appointment of Mr B C Duckett in 1981. The following few years the school developed quickly with a variety of new building projects. The sports hall was opened by Michael Welsh B.A., (Member of the European Parliament for Central Lancashire) on the 17th of May 1985. The Dining Room and Infant Wing was opened by David Waddington, the then Home Secretary, on the 27th of April 1990. The ‘Nursery Wing’ was added to this and opened on the 16th of November 1992 by Keith Gledhill D.L, the High Sheriff of Lancashire.

Mr David Williams was appointed Headmaster in September 2005. The Art, Design and Technology room together with the school library and ICT suite form the Highfield Art, Design and Technology Centre which was on top of the Infant Wing opened on the 14th of November 2005 by The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Preston Councillor Bhikhu Patel. During the summer of 2006 we completely refurbished the elocution room and opened a Science Laboratory. The Science Lab was opened by Professor David Pheonix, Dean of the Faculty of Science, UCLan on the 31st of October 2006. In 2009 we enhanced the outdoor play and indoor provision for all Nursery children.

Mr Jeremy Duke was appointed Headmaster in September 2010. Since then Highfield Priory has enjoyed a period of academic success with thirteen consecutive years in the top 30 of The Sunday Times Top 100 Preparatory Schools in England and five consecutive years in the top ten. Our best and current placing is 5th= in England and 1st in the North West in 2023. This level of consistency has only been achieved by three other schools in the country and the school was delighted to receive this recognition for our hard-working pupils, staff and parents.

In 2012, we created a Performing Arts Studio to support and facilitate the continued development of drama, dance and music within the school. Following the introduction of the Performing Arts Studio, all year groups from Year 2 upwards perform publicly each year which includes dance, drama, and music productions and we hold a seasonal celebration led by our choir annually. Our Year 4 Performance, which included dancers from Reception to Year 6, has been performed at both the Guild Hall and Crossgate Church in front of nearly 300 people. 2012 also saw the opening of our Outdoor Classroom in the woodland adjacent to the school. We are incredibly lucky to have natural woodland which helps the children practically in all subjects in a natural environment. Deer, owls, rabbits and a very vocal array of birds are just some of the wildlife who inhabit ‘Highfield Haven’. This was then expanded when Miss Travis (Mrs Marskell) introduced Forest School to the Nursery curriculum in 2020 and eventually the Infant curriculum in September 2023. In 2016, we opened our all-weather pitch on the school site which has greatly improved our ability to play and host fixtures all year round. 

In October 2022, four teenagers broke onto the school site and set fire to our Nursery Building. The news shocked the whole school community and left us reeling as we came to terms with such senseless waste and destruction. With the natural resilience of youth and the taught resilience of Highfield, our school and community quickly bounced back. In true Highfield spirit, the school and wider community sprung into action to make the best of this terrible situation. Classes moved out of their classrooms and creating new spaces within school to accommodate our Nursery within the main building. The Nursery staff and pupils rose to the challenge of making themselves a new home within the school with smiles on their faces and determination in their feet; The PTA raised funds to provide new equipment, toys and games for our Nursery children; and families came to school laden with donations eager to support the school and replace some of what was lost. There were so many beautiful, powerful and positive moments in the first term that they far outweighed the negative act of arson itself. Our Nursery and Preschool both enjoy the brand new, purpose built 'Barn'. The Barn allows greater coordination and transition through the early years ensuring your child remains settled throughout their time at Highfield Priory. Opened in January 2025 by Amanda Parker J.P (the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire), The Barn contains two large playrooms, a messy room as well as a new outdoor area. The Barn also offers an improved sleeping facility and a wet room for the children to use after their muddy forest school sessions.

Top School in the North West

5^th equal in the Country

The Sunday Times 2022