Our House System

The Stanway School has five Houses: Gainsborough, Rutherford, Shakespeare, Wellington and Nightingale. These Houses form mini schools within the whole school so that your child is known, supported and cared for.

When students join the school, they are placed in a form group in one of these houses and they will normally stay in this form during your time here. Each House has a Head of House, who is a member of the teaching staff, and an Assistant Head of House, who is a member of the support staff. Together, with the Form Tutors, they play a vital role in supporting students during their time at the school, and should always be your first point of contact if you have any questions or concerns whilst at school.

Throughout the school year inter-house competitions are organised and students will be expected to take part in as many events as possible. The winners of each competition are awarded a House trophy and points, which will determine who the overall winner is at the end of the year.

Another important role of the Houses is to raise funds and awareness for their chosen charities. Each Houses can organise events during the year from individual sponsored silences to whole school runs. We hope that everyone gets involved and tries new activities in the spirit of coming together as a community to compete, challenge and learn.

Head of House: Mrs Charlotte Spurr

Welcome to Gainsborough House named after Thomas Gainsborough, the famous local portrait and landscape artist, born in Sudbury, Suffolk in 1727, and one of the original three Houses here at Stanway.

We share our house office with Wellington House. Every Wednesday we have a house assembly in the atrium, where we celebrate our success and our form groups hear from a range of speakers from both school and outside groups.

Our fundraising activities supported East Anglian Children’s Hospices for a number of years (raising well over £10,000 in that time). However, our currently nominated House charity is Action for Family Carers. This is a local charity providing support and help to children who have to care for a family member due to illness or disability. Many students within Stanway School benefit from this charity by attending their youth club and various days out. these are arranged to give the students some relaxing and fun time out, away from their caring responsibilities. If you want to get involved or have any fundraising ideas, please let us know.

Head of House: Miss Elise Conway

The Nightingale house has been established since the 2017/18 academic year and is named after one of England’s most inspiring women in history – Florence Nightingale.

The “Lady with the Lamp” not only served to help soldiers in the Crimean War, but essentially laid all the foundations for our modern understanding of hospital cleanliness, saving thousands of lives from being susceptible to infection.

Within the house we aim to continue to promote the ethos of the school and its core value in a supportive house community. We aim to offer lots of opportunities to represent the house in a range of activities and inter-house competitions throughout the year.

We strive to ensure all students within the house are supported and challenged throughout their time at The Stanway School and we love to share our successes, whether that is within or outside of school.

Finally, we work hard every year to raise money for our house charity Y.E.S (Youth Enquiry Service) to ensure young people within the local community, including our very own students, receive support in their time of need. This service has been available in the Colchester district for over 30 years as a registered charity and is such a worthy cause to raise money for.

Head of House: Mr Sam Johnson

Rutherford House is named after the famous scientist Ernest Rutherford who was known as the father of nuclear physics and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908.

We look after over 280 students who are split into 10 Form groups. We have a weekly assembly which often includes outside speakers and covers a vast range of topics.

We are very proud to say that since 2008 we have raised over £8600 for various charities including Comic Relief, Sport Relief, Cry in the Dark and Hand in Hand, this would not be possible without the overwhelming support of our students, parents and staff. We hold a Quiz Night every year which is attended by staff, students and parents and has become a regular fixture in the school calendar. This year we introduced ‘The Great Stanway Bake Off’ which proved very popular with both staff and students and also helped us to raise a large amount of money.

In 2012 we became House Champions after successfully winning enough points over the year during various inter house competitions. Competitions are varied and include sporting, creative and academic topics. Again, this win was due to the enthusiasm and organisation of our students and form tutors.

We are very proud to be part of Rutherford House.

Head of House: Mr Celyn Evans

Shakespeare House is one of the original 3 Houses at Stanway, formed in 2001. Named after the famous poet, playwright and actor, William Shakespeare, known for his wisdom and use of words; one sentiment is at the heart of the Shakespeare community: ‘This above all: to thine own self be true’.

We believe that success is being true to ourselves and being the best that we can possibly be. Through our House, we look to support, encourage, and nurture all students to challenge themselves to be the best that they can be.

Since 2018, Shakespeare House has been supporting Re-Cycle Bikes for Africa.

Throughout the year, the whole House takes part in fundraising activities, from Non-Uniform Days, Cake Sales, Coffee Mornings, KS3 £10 challenge, to our famous Recipe Book. Since 2012 we have collectively managed to raise over £9000. This is an impressive amount of money and shows the dedication and hard work of the students.

Head of House: Miss Laura Parker

Welcome to Wellington House. Every student and form tutor in Wellington House work together as a team and support each other. We are very proud of our House and have earned the nickname ‘the friendly House’.

We are always pleased to hear from our students including their news, successes and anything else they want to share with us and we encourage an ‘open door’ policy. Students never fail to represent us in all the Interhouse competitions and if there was a prize for being determined, helpful and sunny we would certainly win overall 1st place every year! We believe in our house ethos that if we Work hard and Play hard we can be happy – in turn working towards building upon the Stanway standard being Considerate, Responsible, Proud, Respectful and Determined.

Wellington House currently supports the Teenage Cancer Trust. For teenagers who are diagnosed with cancer it is incredibly sad and frightening to have their normal life significantly affected at a time in their lives when they should be experiencing all the excitement and adventures that being a teenager brings. The Teenage Cancer Trust raises funds to provide specialist units in NHS hospitals which improve the quality of life and chances of survival if they are treated by teenage cancers experts. They believe that teenagers shouldn’t stop being teenagers just because they are unwell so the units have everything that teenagers enjoy which is why your money is so vital and appreciated. We have sadly witnessed in school the devastating effects cancer can have on teenagers so we are delighted that through various fundraising efforts our students have raised in excess of £26,000 in the last few years! Our students are always looking for innovative ideas to raise money and would welcome any support or suggestions.