The house system has always been integral to the identity of Churchill Academy & Sixth Form. When the school was founded in 1956, as Churchill County Secondary School, it was founded with four “houses” at the very core of the school, named after royal houses of England – Hanover, Stuart, Tudor and Windsor. You can see the original school logo, with the four houses on four corners of a shield, on this bookplate presented to the school’s very first Head Boy, Ivan Devereux, in 1957:

The idea of “houses” in a school goes back to boarding school traditions, when children at a school would literally live in different houses around the school grounds, going to the school building for their lessons and returning to their boarding house for meals, “prep” (or homework) and to sleep in their dormitories. My uncle was actually the housemaster at a boarding school in Yorkshire for many years, and lived in the boarding house permanently with his family. This meant that – in the school holidays – we had the run of the whole, empty place!

My own secondary school was not a boarding school – although it had been historically. This meant that my school also had houses, named after the original housemasters who first took charge of them. There were six houses, and I was in Calverts House – named after Mr Calvert, I presume. I still feel a really close affinity to my school house, and I am still proud to be a Calverts student all these many years later! I know the same is true at Churchill, because many families have a long tradition of grandparents, parents and children being in the same house. This feeling of belonging cannot be manufactured; it is grown and developed over years and years of careful nurturing.

In September 2020, we added Lancaster House to the four original houses at Churchill. Despite the fact that we made the announcement the week before schools went into lockdown, we still managed to implement the change when students returned to face-to-face education following the first round of pandemic closures. Lancaster is now fully established within the Academy, and even managed their first victory in the House Cup in summer 2023!

Pictured above: Lancaster winning the House Cup and Sports Day; Hanover winning the tug of war trophy; Tudor winning the Academics Cup; and Windsor winning the Head of House Challenge Cup and the Senior Trek shield. It must be Stuart House’s turn to win something this year!

Being part of a house is about more than just competitions and trophies (although those are great too!) It is about belonging to something bigger than yourself – your “team” within the larger school. We ensure that students’ behaviour, attendance, and contribution to the Academy all made a difference to their house, as well as to them individually; but it is also the house that is the first stop for pastoral care, student welfare, communication with home and behaviour, through the team of tutors and the fantastic Heads of House. And, even more importantly, the house councils are a vital engine of student leadership within the Academy, driving real change and making a positive difference to our community.

At the head of that student leadership effort is our team of house captains. This year’s crop of ten are an exceptional group of students, who are already making a big impact in their leadership of their houses. Heads of House have been running assemblies this week, and it has been great to see the house captains taking their role in that. Their photos are also now up in reception!

As I said at the start, the house system is at the core of Churchill Academy & Sixth Form. The current staff and students are just the stewards of something much bigger than themselves – something that stretches back to the school’s foundation, and which we will pass on – stronger than ever – to those who come after us.