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:
“He hung out of the window a long while looking up and down the street. The world’s second metropolis. In the brick houses and the dingy lamplight and the voices of a group of boys kidding and quarreling on the steps of a house opposite, in the regular firm tread of a policeman, he felt a marching like soldiers, like a sidewheeler going up the Hudson under the Palisades, like an election parade, through long streets towards something tall white full of colonnades and stately. Metropolis.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“People’s backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)