House Competition Round Up

We have achieved a ‘first’ – an entire term’s House Competition delivered virtually! First of all, we need to thank all of the staff who have run events over this past year, and especially in ‘lockdown’. It’s been wonderful to see that the House System can still thrive whatever the circumstances! Secondly, we would like to thank the pupils for getting involved. We have introduced a number of new events this term and it has been great to see the pupils participate and show pride in supporting their House.

The Lent Term

With the nation facing ‘lockdown’ just before Easter, the scores were collated for the Lent term of the House contest. Wylde placed fourth on 29.5, with Elgar and Whiteladies narrowly ahead on 32.5 and 34.5 respectively. Ottley took our first Term trophy of the modern House era on 38.5 points. This meant that overall the House Leader board for the year had Whiteladies in first place with 93 points, Ottley in second with 84 points, Wylde in third with 75 points and Elgar in fourth with 73 points. Having secured the Lent term Trophy, Ottley and Mr Morgan were full of hope. Those of you in Ottley will know all about Mr Morgan’s love for Liverpool FC and his constant comparison with Ottley and at Easter things were looking good both for Liverpool and Ottley!

The Trinity Term

The first House ‘lockdown’ event was the ‘Keepie Uppie’ challenge. With 10 successful entries, including several team-efforts from siblings, Whiteladies took the 4 points, followed by Ottley, then Elgar and Wylde in fourth. We then had the newly established House Photography competition, kindly judged by Mrs Hunt. Again, Whiteladies proved eventual winners, with Kathryn Shaw’s imaginative and beautifully captured trio of photographs representing ‘Home’ taking first place. A special mention should also go to the winning entries for each of the other three Houses, where the standard was exceedingly high: Isobel Hadley, Year Eight, (Wylde) who secured second place, Honesty Shaw-Young, Lower Sixth, (Elgar) in third, and Darcy Nock, Year Nine, (Ottley) in fourth place. 

We next held the Lego Builders House event. Kathryn Shaw, Year Eleven, easily won the first round, due to her being heavily outnumbered by judges and their families, but more contestants were involved in the second round, where she took first place for Whiteladies, Linus Hercules, Year Nine, taking second for Ottley, and Joseph McRobert, Year Eight, taking third for Elgar and Wylde languishing in fourth. Positions at this point for the term had Whiteladies in first place with 12 points, Ottley in second with 7 points, Elgar in third with 6 points, and Wylde in fourth with 5 points.

In House Film-Making, it was a closely fought battle between two impressive and heartfelt films from Mia Fletcher, Lower Sixth, of Whiteladies and Bella Gray, Year Eight, of Elgar, with Whiteladies just edging it for the four points. House Mathematics saw a good take-up, with all Houses except Wylde fielding full teams. A special mention should go to Noah Davison, Year Nine, who singlehandedly competed for Wylde and would have secured second place if his team had not been penalised for being incomplete. Whiteladies again took first place, followed by Elgar, then Ottley and Wylde. This meant that Whiteladies had won every event of the Trinity term so far, but the resolve of all Houses would be tested in Virtual Sports Week. 

With a complete re-shaping of Sports Day into Virtual Sports Week, the Sports department did a sterling job of launching many new events with pupils submitting evidence online. Mr Brindley had the task of collating all scores before they were converted into House Points. After the nine events were completed, the scores were in with Ottley in fourth place with 51 points, Whiteladies in third with 55 points, Elgar in second with 58 points and Wylde winning Virtual Sports Week with an impressive 68 points. With bonus points given for participation, we saw an additional 4 bonus points awarded to Wylde for having 101 entries, with Elgar gaining 3 points for having 79 entries, narrowly beating Ottley in third with 78 entries, and Whiteladies in fourth with 74 entries.

Therefore, the winner of the Trinity Trophy with 79 points is Wylde, with Whiteladies in second with 76 points, Elgar in third with 73 points and Ottley in fourth with 63 points.

With the calculations complete we now have the final results of this year’s House Competition, but you will have to wait a little longer for the reveal. The results will be announced at our end of term assembly on Wednesday, so don’t miss it.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have been involved this year in running events, supporting them and participating. The House system would not be what it is without you all! We also need to thank all of our House Captains for the fantastic work that they have done this year and the House Leaders for their organisation and encouragement. 

There are a few staff changes to the House System from September with Dr Davidson returning as House Leader of Wylde. A big ‘thank you’ should go to Mr Whittle and Mr Webster for their efforts in leading Wylde this year. Mr Morgan will be stepping down as Head of Ottley, with Mr Webster taking over. Finally, Miss Binner will be stepping down as both Co-Senior House Leader and Head of Whiteladies, with Mr Morgan taking sole responsibility as Senior House Leader from September. Mr Scanlon will be taking over Whiteladies and has his work cut out in replacing Miss Binner and the amazing job that she has done in steering Whiteladies to first place for the previous two years.  

We would also like to welcome our new House Captains and wish them all the best for the year ahead:

Elgar: Lyra Hancock and Honesty Shaw-Young

Ottley: Heini Hughes and Dafydd MacDonald

Whiteladies: Ella Gibbs and Joshua Leung

Wylde: Cameron Taylor and Charlotte Thwaites

Mr Daniel Morgan and Miss E Binner, Senior House Leaders