School Houses

Our school operates a house system and from Year 1 onwards children are divided into one of the 4 houses. Children can be awarded house points by their teacher for a variety of different reasons, including meeting our whole school expectations.  The house points are added up over the half term and each class recognises an individual house point champion on a half termly basis. The children in the winning house (the house with most housepoints in the totaliser, take part in a special reward at the end of each half term. Children will be notified before starting in year 1 which house they have been put into. Each house has a colour and school T shirts in these colours can be purchased and worn for PE. On Sports day in the summer term children compete in their house teams and points are awarded throughout the events and totted up and revealed at the end of the day.

The 4 houses are the names of 4 key inspirational figures who have made enormous contributions to the welfare and education of children.

Barnardo

In 1866 Thomas Barnardo founded a charity in his name to care for vulnerable and young people. He opened a school in the East of London to care for and educate children in the area who were left orphaned by a cholera outbreak. By the time of his death in 1905 Barnardo’s institutions cared for over 8,500 children across 96 different locations. His work was carried on by his many supporters and today the charity Barnardo’s provides a comprehensive range of local support, counselling, adoption and training services for more than 100,000 children, young people and their families.

The house colour for Barnardo is yellow.

Keller

Helen Keller was born in 1888 in America and when she was 19 months old she contracted an illness which left her deaf and blind. After several years of struggling to communicate and the resulting frustrations and tantrums she was tutored by Ann Sullivan who taught Keller by spelling words into her hand. Keller went on to study at school and college and became the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree at University. Keller continued to learn to communicate, she was proficient reading braille, touch lip reading and reading sign language with her hands. Keller became well known around the world for overcoming adversity and was a renowned author, lecturer and political activist. Helen Keller showed millions of people that disability need not be the end of the world.

The house colour for Keller is red.

Shaftesbury

Lord Shaftesbury was an English politician, philanthropist and social reformer who lived in the 1800s. He led the campaign to end child labour in factories and several key laws were introduced as a result of his proposals which protected young children from working in factories and mines. He was also one of the founders of the ragged school system, an organisation which set up over 100 schools for some of the poorest children and which taught a broad range of subjects and continued to expand to include hostels, clubs and refuges.

The house colour for Shaftesbury is blue.

Aylward

Gladys Aylward was born in London in 1902. After much determination she became a missionary in China, she travelled for months to get there and worked tirelessly with the Chinese teaching them about Christianity. She became so well respected by the people in her community that she was even called in to quell a prison riot. She had great faith and courage and when the Japanese invaded China she rescued over 100 orphans leading them across mountains to escape. The life and ministry of Gladys Aylward was amazing not just because of all she did but because she accomplished so much of it on her own depending entirely on her faith.

The house colour for Aylward is Green.