Houses
The house system was introduced in 1899 by the then headmaster Frederick Arthur Hillard. Initially six houses were established, and membership of houses was based on the place of residence of each boy. The original houses were: Boarders, Barbourne, City, St. John's, County A, and County B. In 1909 the house system was changed to reflect the increasing number of boys in the school, and the difficulty of allocating pupils on the basis of where they lived. The six houses created in 1909 were: School House, for boarders, (which, due to common usage, changed to Whiteladies, as this was the building in which the boarders lived); Temple (after Henry Temple, headmaster 1850s); Tudor (after Elizabeth I); Woolfe (after Richard Woolfe, benefactor 1877 ); Wylde (after Thomas Wylde, benefactor 1558); and Yewle (after Robert Yewle, Six Master 1561). In 1963 two additional houses were created by the then headmaster Godfrey Brown, namely Langley (after William Langley, Six Master 1561) and Moore (after John Moore, benefactor 1626).
Every pupil in the school is a member of a House, with members of the same family always being in the same house. Pupils wear different ties to represent which house they are in, with the basic tie design being the same for all pupils (a navy blue tie with a repeated crown motif) but with different coloured stripes to represent the house. In house sports events pupils wear different coloured socks to indicate which house they are in (this colour being the same as the colour of the tie stripe).
The school house system changed again in 2009.
The current houses are:
| House | Colour |
|---|---|
| Flagge | |
| Cobham | |
| Britannia | |
| Eld | |
| Butler | |
| Perrins |
The school held a yearly house championship, Decided by events a range of events throughout the school year in which all six houses competed, with the winners of each event being awarded eight points, the second placed house seven, down to the losing house one point. The house championship was traditionally called the 'Cock House' (or Cock House Cup Competition) competition, its name deriving from that of the Cock. The original cup that was competed for is one which was presented to the school in 1902 by the Old Elizabethans' Association; in modern times competition is for a cup which was introduced in 1978.
Read more about this topic: Royal Grammar School Worcester
Famous quotes containing the word houses:
“The light by which we see in this world comes out from the soul of the observer. Wherever any noble sentiment dwelt, it made the faces and houses around to shine. Nay, the powers of this busy brain are miraculous and illimitable.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 12:26-27.
“It breedeth no small offence and scandal to see and consider upon the one part the curiosity and cost bestowed by all sorts of men upon their private houses; and on the other part the unclean and negligent order and spare keeping of the houses of prayer by permitting open decays and ruins of coverings of walls and windows, and by appointing unmeet and unseemly tables with foul cloths for the communion of the sacrament.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)