House Points
When children join us at Hill West they are assigned into one of our four houses
- Barnardo (yellow)
- Gandhi (blue)
- Pankhurst (red)
- Mandela (green)
Siblings who subsequently join our school are assigned the same house group as their brothers or sisters and this allows their family to champion the efforts and endeavours of one house as a family. At first it may seem that competition and camaraderie are at odds but at Hill West the friendly competition allows children from Reception to Year 6 to work together towards a common goal.
The origins of the house system
The house system is widely used in British schools. The system began in boarding schools, where students actually ate, drank, and slept in individual houses during school terms. The house system still operates this way in prestigious British boarding schools, such as Harrow Eton and Winchester College.
What is the house system?
At its most basic, it is a means of dividing pupils into groups and thus creating smaller communities within the wider community. On this simplistic level, the system serves to create teams for internal competition. However, at its most powerful, the house system is a great vehicle supporting outstanding pastoral care. It is a system which instils a myriad of the most wonderful and desirable attributes into its individuals and their broader communities. It’s all to do with pride. If you cut a stick of rock in half, you’ll find the name from whence it came indelibly written across its centre; and, in many ways, the passion a pupil develops for his/her house is right in their core, too. This is, quite simply, because of the sense of team spirit that a well-run house instils. There is something quite magical about it; pupils of all ages come together, kindred in their desire for their house to be the best, for their house to win the numerous competitions and, of course, the overall House Cup. Pupils from all year groups, with the natural spread of talents, abilities, ages and genders, all come together, united in their quest. This camaraderie and solidarity is second to none and the benefits of this vertical interaction, where the young look up to the elder and where the elder look out for and support the younger, are profound. When pupils have a vested interest in one another, a culture of kindliness pervades and becomes the norm. We are thus creating citizens for the future – tolerant and helpful, modest but ambitious.
Hill West Winning Houses
2015 – 2016
1st Pankhurst with 3813 points
2nd Mandela with 3760 points
3rd Gandhi with 3571 points
4th Barnardo with 2712 points
2016 – 2017
1st Mandela with 3657 points
2nd Barnardo with 3421 points
3rd Gandhi with 3048 points
4th Pankhurst with 2988 points
2017 – 2018
1st Gandhi with 3555 points
2nd Pankhurst with 3538 points
3rd Barnardo with 2466 points
4th Mandela with 2401 points
2018 – 2019
1st Mandela with 3306 points
2nd Barnardo with 3591 points
2nd Gandhi with 3591 points
4th Pankhurst with 3561 points
2019 – 2020 (up to and including March 20th)
1st Pankhurst with 1065 points
2nd Mandela with 912 points
3rd Barnardo with 906 points
4th Gandhi with 680 points
2020 – 2021
1st Barnardo with 921 points
2nd Gandhi with 842 points
3rd Pankhurst with 702 points
4th Mandela with 642 points
2021 – 2022
1st Mandela with 2921 points
2nd Gandhi with 2842 points
3rd Pankhurst with 2702 points
4th Mandela with 2642 points
2022 – 2023
1st Gandhi with 51,000 points
2nd Barnardo with 48,000 points
2nd Pankhurst with 48,000 points
4th Mandela with 47,500 points
