Last week I was stuck on a train. I’d been to a school which has some great house names and, as I reflected on my own experience of  house systems in various schools, I put out a casual tweet.  Normally you get a few responses – a bit of passing interest – but the response to this was huge.  Over 1000 twitter replies.   You can see the whole thread here – although this doesn’t include all those who quote-tweeted their responses.  I started off by engaging with all the replies but soon gave up.

It appears that school houses are alive and well across the land in schools of every kind.  For a few people, the idea of houses in schools is weird and alien, provoking some strong responses. “No, I’m not a tory or a Catholic so I didn’t go to a  school with houses!”.  Some people expressed amazement that this was a real thing – not just something invented by JK Rowling.  At least four people responded with the Hogwarts houses (not even funny the first time; sorry folks.).

But the responses are fabulous. There are lots of common categories:

• Key historical figures.
• Key inspirational figures from different walks of life.
• Key people representing subjects, spanning a range of areas of study.
• School founders or former Headteachers
• Saints or other religious figures.
• Cities and streets, ancient and modern.
• Ships and aircraft
• Prominent local people.
• Rivers, forests, mountains and other geographical features.
• Birds and other animals – real and mythical.
• Flowers and trees.
• Royal Households.
• Objects in space.
• Very very ordinary house names: colours, letters of the alphabet.

Here’s a flavour from my personal history:

• Primary School 1: Aztecs, Incas, Mayas
• Primary School 2: Waverley, Hindhead, Frensham, Churt, Elstead, Tilford (local villages)
• Secondary School:  Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter
• BIS, Jakarta:  Merapi, Bromo, Krakatoa, Agung (Indonesian volcanos)
• KEGS:  Tindal, Strutt, Holland, Mildmay (figures from the school’s early history)
• Highbury Grove: Aqua, Ignis, Terra, Ventus (four elements in Latin)

Here’s a flavour from my twitter responses:

• Spitfire, Neptune and Hussar; ships commanded by Sir Thomas Fremantle
• Significant townspeople: Parry, Muston, Gannock, Laughton
• Clanfield Primary: Buscot, Radcot, Rushey, Grafton all local locks.
• Athens, Tuscany, Troy and Sparta.
• Broadley, Holmsley, Setthorns, Silverstone – New Forest Enclosures
• Penguins of The Falklands: Rockhopper, Gentoo, Magellenic and King
• Planes: Lancaster, Spitfire, Vulcan, Meteor
• Spartan, Vanguard, Valiant, Scepter. Names of submarines
• Welsh saints; Non, Teilo, Elli and Cadoc
• Mythical beasts: Centaur, Drakon, Geryon, Pegasus, Phoenix, Titan, Wyvern
• Explorers: Armstrong (space) Kingsley (land) and Magellan (sea)
• Ducks, Geese, Larks and Warblers!!
• Metropole in Motor City, Dubai -F1 teams: McLaren, Ferrari, Williams & Mercedes.
• Sussex castles: Amberley, Bramber, Hastings, Lewes
• Inspirational: Hawking, Nightingale, Shakespeare
• Da Vinci, Luther King, Seacole, Tomlinson.
• Austin, Bronte, Shakespeare, Tolkien. British authors.
• Gods – Athena, Demeter, Zeus, Poseidon & Neptune
• Mandeville, Bourchier, Bohun and Devereux – Earls of Essex
• Literally Norfolk houses: Blickling, Felbrigg, Holkham, Mannington, Wolterton

I’m a massive fan of houses – and would certainly want them in any school I worked in. They provide such a fabulous opportunity for leadership, for competitions and celebrations of students’ talents and successes in various pursuits.  In a big school, they provide a way of breaking down the scale to give students a sense of belonging and working with older and younger students.   Far from being the preserve of faith schools or ‘posh schools’ – schools of all kinds embrace the idea of house spirit to great effect.  I think it’s fabulous.

One of my all-time favourite house events was House Music at KEGS.  Without doubt the highlight of the year. Here’s a blog about it: https://teacherhead.com/2012/11/25/kegs-house-music-the-kegs-spirit-in-action/.

Thanks to everyone who contributed your house names.  It was great fun – but I’ve got enough now – thanks!