We have introduced a House system across the school whereby all children, from Reception to Year 6, belong to one of four Houses. The Houses are named after local wards. We have chosen: Becontree; Mayesbrook; Longbridge; Eastbury.
Each of the four classes in each year group is assigned a House and all the children in the class belong to that house.
During the school day, children are rewarded for demonstrating our core character virtues (curiosity, perseverance, integrity, fairness, creativity) by receiving Golden Points. When awarded a Golden Point they receive one for themselves and one for their House. Each week the child/ren in each class with the highest number of Golden Points receive a certificate. They stand in assembly so everybody can congratulate them and they are celebrated as role models of outstanding behaviour in our school. Each term the members of the House with the most points enjoy a Golden Afternoon.
Celebrations of this sort take place in our Achievement assembly. Held each Friday, they are a time when the children from each house come together and celebrate superb learning from across the school. Children may stand to share a poem they’ve written or a particularly creative piece of mathematics; they might sing a song with their classmates or play their instrument. It’s a wonderful time where we inspire and celebrate one another.
Another feature of our house system is competition between houses. For example, school sports day shall be an inter-house competition. Over the year, we shall be holding debating competitions, spelling bees and singing competitions also organised along inter-house lines.
To help identify our houses, the children in Year 3 are working with a professional artist to design house shields. We can’t wait to see what they come up with.
We also hope that in the new year we shall be introducing ‘family dining’ whereby children in each house, from across the school, eat together, serving one another and enjoying varied conversation.
If you have any further ideas for how our House system can add to school life, please let us know.
