Riverview Junior School is divided into four houses: Copperfield, Nickleby, Pickwick and Weller. Each year group has a class named after each one so if your child starts our school in 3P (Pickwick) they will continue through the school in 4P, 5P, and then 6P.
Each house is assigned a colour, Copperfield is blue, Nickleby is Green, Pickwick is red and Weller is yellow – your child’s PE t-shirt will be one of these colours.
Throughout the year, children can gain points for their house in many different ways (which we will explain below) but points will be deducted for bad behaviour!
We went along to interview Mr Kendall to ask him some questions about our House system, here’s what we found out…
Why do we have house shields?
The main aim is to get children to realise that they are a team and they are not alone. Working as a team is very important in life and this is an excellent place to start. The children get very excited about their team winning.
What is it for?
To introduce the children to teambuilding and the possibility to take part in all types of competitions including: spellings, behaviour, core values and sport.
How did you think of the house shield?
I have seen this in other schools and have noted how it works so well. Children love to win and it brings out a competitive side. It also gets them working together and cheering each other on. Learning to be good sports.
What inspired you?
Everyone needs a bit of competition in their life and they need to feel part of something. I take inspiration from other schools who use this method well.
Are you impressed of the points from all the different houses?
I’m very impressed. It’s great to see the year groups working so hard and I really enjoy declaring where the houses are at the end of term assembly. But it could be better, there’s still room for improvement as certain classes are still losing points for bad behaviour.
How do you earn points?
There are lots of ways to earn points; children who have produced excellent work in the classroom are often sent down to my office to show me what they have achieved and in return I award them a golden Head Teacher sticker. This earns themselves and their house 2 points. Any child who is awarded a core value wristband in our Monday assembly will also win themselves (and their house) 2 points.
On Fridays in our Celebration assembly we hand out two certificates per class, these are the for attitude and achievement; children who take one of these home earn both themselves and their house 5 points. Then of course there are the inter-house competitions. We have recently held a rounders competition and this week we’ll be running our second spelling test where each year will be tested on 20 spellings from their Year group lists. Which ever house has the most spelling tests correct will be awarded 100 points – it’s worth learning your spellings for!
Do you use it to improve behaviour?
It’s more of a means to get children to speak to children. Sport and competition and belonging to the same house creates a wonderful opportunity for children to interact. They can make new friends across the year groups and encourage each other to learn and do well in all areas.
As we stand today, Weller is in the lead for winning the 2019 cup but there is still time and there’s not a huge amount of points in it. I encourage all of the houses to do their very best and I look forward to declaring the winner at the end of term 6.
Good luck everyone!
Blog Club is held on a Monday evening and is a group of about 20 pupils from Riverview Junior School who choose their own content and with the help of the teachers, create blog posts for you to read.
