House system stirs up competitive spirit at Salfords Primary

Pupils at Salfords Primary School in Redhill have an extra incentive for trying to come top of the class after the school introduced its own inter-house competition system.

Students across the school are now members of one of four houses, whose names and themes were chosen by the School Leadership team: engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (representing striving for excellence), nurse Florence Nightingale (kindness towards others),
Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave (respect between people) and author JK Rowling (the courage needed to try).

Each house has a member of staff regarded as a ‘team leader’, and its members have voted for house and sporting captains along with vice-captains. This is to provide peer role models in order for the younger pupils to look up to.

“The children have really bought into the idea very enthusiastically,” said teacher Gareth Llewelyn, who has helped set up the system. “It gives a whole new dimension to the work that they are doing, knowing that it’s not just about trying to achieve personal success, but also contributing to something beyond that. We chose names which tie in with the values that we try to instil in our pupils here at Salfords, and so far it’s proving a great success.”

The house system is not the only example of getting involved in part of a bigger project that is going on at Salfords – recently, the school became part of the GLF Schools group, a Surrey-based multi-academy trust which runs over a dozen schools across the south east, and is based on a model of strong collaborative working.

“The house system was launched by a cake and house colours badge sale, which raised nearly £350 in one day, which is a sign of how much the idea has caught the imagination of our pupils – which is exactly what we were hoping for,” added Mr Llewelyn. “We’re going to have several inter-house competitions and events throughout the rest of the year, so it’s great that the launch has been so positive."