Houses

School is proud of its family ethos and this is often commented upon by parents and visitors who see it first hand as they visit the school.

One of the systems that helps to develop this is our use of ‘Houses.’  Upon entry to school all children are allocated into one of our three houses – Flowering Cherry, Hazel and Mountain Ash, which were established by our School Council in 2015; they named them after trees to coincide with our Forest School learning.  The children will be part of this house throughout their time at Chirton.

Various whole school events are held where the children work together or compete in their houses and it is also used as part of our weekly reward system.  This helps to ensure that children in different classes or different year groups become familiar and build positive relationships with each other.  Siblings are always put in the same house. House Captains, in year 6, are appointed each year as part of our emphasis on developing pupil responsibility.  Classes also use the house system from time to time as part of their day-to-day learning.

At the beginning of each academic year, Houses vote for a global charity they want to support and be earning house points for throughout the year. These points are then totaled in July and the winning house sends 50% of funds raised to their charity, whilst the runners up send 25% each. This supports our work in H.O.P.E (Helping Other People Everywhere) and children recognise that when they earn a house point, it is not only them that are benefitting.