HOUSE SYSTEMS
Margaret
Wheeler
discusses the
benefits that
moving to a vertical house
system has had in her
inner city school
OW CAN we make the morning
H
20-minute registration period
more relevant to students’ needs?
That was the question we asked
Housing benefits
ourselves when we redesigned
our school structure back in 2001.
Now, seven years later, we can see
the benefits of the changes we made. and support staff to meet the pastoral needs of our group contains students from every year group, from need to intervene. Also, most weekly assemblies are
When I joined the school, morning registration was students. year 11 to year 7. We have done this to support our house-based, and the mixed-age tutor groups often lead
largely wasted time. There were no planned activities. Each house is led by an assistant headteacher who family ethos, and to encourage responsibility for others the assemblies.
Students took the opportunity to wander in late because has overall responsibility for both the academic and – and it works! We have regular “House Days”, where students
they knew the “real” work of school started after pastoral care of their students. They are supported I can vividly remember an occasion when I engage in charity fundraising, environmental
registration. by a deputy head, who takes the lead in ensuring encountered a small boy, obviously very angry and improvements, or sports.
As well as this, the focus of senior staff time was that students’ progress is tracked and monitored, as upset, who had run out of his tutor group. I was just Students get involved and demonstrate enterprise
geared towards pastoral care and managing students’ well as a co-ordinator for personalised learning and about to follow him to find out what was wrong, when capabilities by participating in challenges, enterprise
behaviour. There was very little time or energy left for a learning mentor. a year 11 student came out of the same room, carrying workshops, running their own mini-businesses,
promoting students’ progress and achievement. the small boy’s schoolbag. “Don’t worry miss,” said the performing music and drama, fundraising for the
In an intensely deprived inner city environment, the
over-riding need is to equip our students with the means
to alleviate their economic and social deprivation, and
that means good learning, good interpersonal skills,
and good results, but we cannot ignore the very real
difficulties that our students bring with them to school,
‘
older student, “I’ll sort it out.” school or charities, and managing projects, such as
“Don’t worry miss,”
We now use tutor time (moved from first thing the year 11 student yearbook.
in the morning to 11am) to promote responsibility We believe it is important that students participate in
said the older student,
for self and others. We are one of 10 business and and have a voice in the running of the school. We have
enterprise colleges sponsored and supported by the a wide ranging school council system, including house
which can affect their learning. “I’ll sort it out.”
Co-operative Group, and our tutoring curriculum is councils, class councils, and specific sub-committees
We are a fully inclusive school, which means we
have a higher than average number of children with high
levels of SEN. One of the great strengths of our school On entry to the school, students are plac
’
based on the 10 Co-op principles of self-responsibility, which focus on learning, environment, behaviour, and
democracy, self-help, caring for others, honesty, sport.
openness, equality, social responsibility, solidarity In September, we further strengthened our commitment
ed in one and, of course, co-operation. to developing the whole child by introducing a fortnightly
is its multi-ethnic make-up. Families, both nuclear of five houses. All children from the same family are We have developed a range of activities which Enterprise and Enrichment Day for the whole school.
and extended, are important in our school community, placed in the same house – so that one team of pastoral explain and reinforce these principles, and it means that These events focus on personal development, economic
and we want to foster and develop the family ethos. staff get to know and deal with all the family. Our tutor there is always meaningful and enjoyable things to do wellbeing, and citizenship, as well as developing the
We need a structure that puts learning first, but also groups are single sex, so same-sex siblings are also in tutor time. enterprise capabilities of our students. SecEd
supports our young people and their families. placed in the same tutor group. We have more boys than We have done a great deal to support the development
So we have moved from a year-based structure to girls in our school, and single-sex groups (with female of responsibility for others. For example, each year, • Margaret Wheeler is headteacher of Forest
a house-based one. We no longer have heads of year. tutors) give our girls some space. some older students are trained as peer mediators, to help Gate Community School in east London. Visit
Instead, we have built house teams of four teaching Our tutor groups are vertically organised; each students resolve conflicts and bullying before teachers www.forestgate.newham.sch.uk
www.kent.gov.uk/jobs
Kent offers teachers a wide
range of experiences and an
opportunity to work in a varied
and exciting environment.
To learn more about teaching
careers in Kent, visit
www.kent-teach.com
A great place to work
Our services aren’t the same
so neither are our people
SecEd • February 12 2009 15
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20