Barnes school houses
From the start of school all pupils are assigned to one of our four school houses: Bank, Beverly, Castelnau and Mortlake. Competitive events – academic and sporting – are held throughout the school year. Points are assigned and the house with the most points at the end of the year is presented with the House Cup in the final assembly of the academic year. Pupils are made very aware of how important it is to be either a humble winner, or a gracious loser. Competition is healthy and succeeds in bringing the very best out of children.
We believe that having a healthy body is linked to having a healthy mind and feeling good about oneself. We also see how sporting competition can contribute to children achieving positive academic outcomes. If well taught and well organised, competitive sport is not only fun, it helps to build character. Qualities such as self-belief, determination, perseverance, courage, leadership and resilience can all be fostered through engagement in competitive sporting contests. Furthermore, sport can teach important values such as fairness, respect, discipline, grace and humility.
Our house competition programme is not solely about sport though, it contains a large number of non-sporting events. These include: a house handwriting competition; a house memory competition; a house reading competition; a house reading in a language other than English competition; a public speaking competition and a poetry recital competition.
Siblings are always in the same house. Children have a chance to represent their house in a wide variety of sporting and educational competitions throughout the school year . Parents are asked to purchase a special house T-shirt so that pupils can be easily distinguished when taking part in competitive events. House colours are: Bank-yellow; Beverly-blue; Castelnau-green and Mortlake-white.
House competition winners
- 2022-2023 Beverley
- 2021-22 Castelnau
- 2020-21 Bank
- 2019-20 Castelnau
- 2018–19 Bank
- 2017–18 Castelnau
- 2016–17 Mortlake
- 2015–16 Bank
- 2014–15 Bank
- 2013–14 Beverley
- 2012–13 Castelnau
- 2011–12 Beverley
- 2010–11 Beverley
- 2009–10 Castelnau
- 2008–09 Bank
- 2007–08 Mortlake
- 2006–07 Mortlake
House competition schedule
Autumn term
- House handwriting
- Key Stage 2 Autumn term Sports Day
- The Vine Park relay
- Tug & pull
- Poetry recital competition
Spring term
- House reading in a language other than English
- Public speaking competition
Summer term
- House reading competition
- Key Stage 1 Sports Day
- Key Stage 2 Sports Day
