THE HOUSES

There a 4 Houses within the Five Islands School. On joining the school as a primary student each child will be allocated a House. We try to ensure that a child with older siblings joins the same House as their brothers and sisters were (or are) in. Other than that we try to ensure an even spread of academic, sporting, musical and leadership ability as is possible.

HOUSE NAMES

The 4 Houses are C, R, E and S. Each year the members of each House vote on their House name (beginning with their allocated letter). The Houses' names will often be different at the different bases, but will still be easily identifiable by their initial letter. This year the names are as follows (Primary/ Secondary):

CASPIAN/ COMMUNISTS

RHINE/ RADICALS

EVEREST/ EXTREME

SAHARA/ S-FACTOR

HOUSE OFFICERS

Each House at the Carn Thomas base elects its House Captain, House Vice-Captain and Sports Captain on an annual basis. These students are responsible for the day to day running of the House such as organising sports teams, ensuring new House members are settling in at school and so on.

WHAT THE HOUSES DO

The Houses form a focus of school life in many ways: academic, social, sporting, leadership, responsibilities etc. Details of some of these can be found below. House Duty teams have responsibilities within school and receive privileges for them. In addition each House will be choosing its own charity and co-ordinating fund raising efforts to raise money for that charity. The Houses also co-ordinate getting themselves House T-shirts, making banners and running House events.

HOUSE POINTS

In school students earn House Points for particularly good pieces of work, high levels of effort, contribution to school life, helping others etc. These points all add up towards a cumulative House total and, at the end of the year, decide the outcome of the House Cup. There is a count up of the current House point totals each half term, and a chart showing current positions is available to see in the House Reports section of this web-site. Students who reach a cumulative total for the year of 25 House Points receive a Bronze Certificate (and a badge to wear on their uniform), 50 earns a Silver Certificate, 75 a Gold and 100 for a Platinum Award. There is also a separate prize awarded at the end of the year for the student who has earned the most House Points over the course of the year.

HOUSE EVENTS

The Houses form the focus of various competitions, sporting and otherwise. These include: · Primary Multi-sports · Sports Day · House Regatta · Table Tennis · Football · Rugby · Tennis · Cricket · Rounders · Basketball · Board games · Hard Spell · Quiz · School Marathon

Houses earn House Points for their house by taking part in these events, earning more depending on how well they do! Many of the events also have a trophy that is awarded and medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed teams. Reports on these events can be found in the House Reports section of the web-site. Parents are encouraged to come along support their child or even just cheer for their House!

FAQ’s

What happened to House T? House T was absorbed into the other Houses this year as it was felt that we did not have enough students to sustain 5 Houses. It has also made arranging sports competitions much easier. House T was chosen on the basis that it had come last in the House Point Competition 2 years running.

Why aren’t my children in the same House? Although we try hard to ensure that new children to the school join the same House as their siblings, when the House System was first set up it was not always possible to make this happen.

My children don’t get on well together: could they be in different Houses? In such circumstances this is possible: please just let us know!

My child is at the primary base and doesn’t get House Point Certificates: why? The House Point system is only one of a number of reward systems used in the primary (Carn Gwaval) base and they do not currently collect totals for individual students.

How do I find out about House Events? House events are advertised in the Western Eye newsletter, on the Parent Portal section of this web-site and on the Events section of the main web-site.