Houses
The school is split into 11 houses, some of which are 'day houses' (and only admit day-pupils, those who go home after school), the others having a mix of day-pupils and boarders. The houses are named after people connected to the house or school in various ways — mainly prominent Old Westminsters but also former Head Masters and House Masters. Other than College, Grant's is the oldest house, not only of Westminster but of any public school.
Houses are a focus for pastoral care and social and sporting activities, as well as accommodation for boarders. All the day houses are mixed-sex, and all houses admit girls; only Busby's, Liddell's and Purcell's provide boarding accommodation for girls - the remainder admit day girls only.
Each house has associated colours, which are worn on ties awarded for various (usually sporting) achievement while representing the house. There are also pink-striped ties awarded for achievement while representing the whole school, with the amount of pink denoting the level of achievement. Wren's and Milne's use slightly different colours on house ties from those seen on their shirt.
| House | Abbr. | Founded | Named after | Colours | Pupils | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boarding | Non-boarding | ||||||
| College | CC | 1560 | n/a | Dark green | Boys | Girls | |
| Grant's | GG | 1750 | The "mothers" Grant - landladies who owned the property and put up boys in the days before boarding existed, when the School only accommodated Scholars; the oldest house in any of the Public Schools. | ■ | Maroon on light blue | Boys | Mixed |
| Rigaud's | RR | pre-1896 (rebuilt) | Stephen Jordan Rigaud | ■ | Black on orange | Boys | Mixed |
| Busby's | BB | 1925 | Richard Busby | ■ | Dark blue on maroon | Mixed | Boys |
| Liddell's | LL | 1956 | Henry Liddell | ■ | Blue on yellow | Mixed | Mixed |
| Purcell's | PP | 1981 | Henry Purcell | Pink | Girls | Boys | |
| Ashburnham | AHH | 1881 | The Earls of Ashburnham whose London house is now part of the School | ■ | Light blue on dark blue | None | Mixed |
| Wren's | WW | 1948 | Christopher Wren | ■ | Pink on black (Blue and Maroon used on ties) | ||
| Dryden's | DD | 1976 | John Dryden | ■ | Silver on red | ||
| Hakluyt's | HH | 1987 | Richard Hakluyt | ■ | Yellow on blue | ||
| Milne's | MM | 1997 | A. A. Milne | ■ | Black on orange (Tie uses Red and Yellow) | ||
College, the House of the Queen's Scholars (all of whom board), has assigned to it some of the non-boarding girls who enter the School in the VIth form.
Read more about this topic: Westminster School
Famous quotes containing the word houses:
“They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 12:7.
“I cannot go to the houses of my nearest relatives, because I do not wish to be alone. Society exists by chemical affinity, and not otherwise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The spectacle of misery grew in its crushing volume. There seemed to be no end to the houses full of hunted starved children. Children with dysentery, children with scurvy, children at every stage of starvation.... We learned to know that the barometer of starvation was the number of children deserted in any community.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)