The House System

Aims and Philosophy

The current house system has developed from the early days of The Codrington School when students were divided into groups, known as “houses”. The houses were named after the founder and benefactor of the original Codrington School and board members of the early days. The structure plays an important role in school life. The system broadly encourages participation in a range of activities and provides an excellent vehicle for integrating pastoral care and teacher/student interaction. There is always a strong spirit shown through house activities and this has proven over the years to encourage an involved and active student body at all levels. The competitions and general ethos are constantly monitored and adjusted.

Organization

There are three houses:

•  Anstey (red)
•  Elliot Sealy (green); 
•  Gooding Emtage (blue).

New students are placed in houses in a way which keeps the totals in each group balanced. Each student remains in the same house throughout his or her school career. Each house has a housemaster/mistress who organizes and supports the house competitions, which are always conducted in the spirit of friendly competition and good sportsmanship, with opportunities being given for demonstration of excellence in: the attributes of the learner profile; academics; music; sports; behaviour; and other areas. New students who have a clear family connection with a particular house are normally placed in that house.

Houses meet every three weeks during the Tuesday assembly block. This is a good time for a cross section of the school to get together and discuss the positive actions and contributions to the school which earned them house points. It is also a good moment to plan for upcoming events or competitions.

House Points

House points are awarded to pupils by teachers for their academic work, effort, behaviour and other aspects of their school life. House points are submitted to the Director of Curriculum who records them and displays sub-totals in a common area. At the end of the year, the points for each house are totalled and the house cup is awarded to the house with the most points.

House point allocation

The following are the guidelines followed for the award of house points:

Demonstration of the learner profile

• Consistently demonstrates aspects of the attributes of the learner profile.

Academic work

• Performs regularly to a high academic standard or to the best of his/her ability
• Has raised his/her academic performance to a higher standard
• Is aware of the need for risk-taking in seeking academic achievement
• Has shown a high degree of creativity in his/ her response to a task
• Has produced a particularly impressive piece of work

Effort

• Consistently makes an effort across several areas
• Has noticeably increased his/her endeavours

Behaviour

• Sets an example to others by his/her behaviour
• Has performed an act of kindness or public-spiritedness
• Has made a positive effort to improve his/her behaviour

Participation

• Shows commitment Joins in willingly in class, group or house activities
• Encourages others to do so and is generally supportive of others
• Has a consistently good attitude
• Displays the characteristics of sportsmanship in attitude and/or performance
• Has seen the need to participate more positively

A number of activities are planned during the school year to promote house spirit. Two of the most popular are PYP and MYP sports days. In addition to that the faculty seeks to organize competitions connect to artistic activities, the enrichment programme, a knowledge bowl, etc. All of these competitions will result in house points being awarded.

House T-shirts

House T-shirts, containing the Codrington logo, are available from the office for purchase and may be worn on those Tuesdays on which there are house assemblies and also on Fridays. They should also be worn for PE lessons. Please purchase such shirts through the office administrator.