Houses
- The house system is used for friendly competitions in sport, rewards and other school activities.
- Every student and member of staff belongs to a House.
- Whole tutor groups are linked to a particular House.
- There are regular House assemblies – about once every half term.
- There are elected House Prefects in every tutor group and some also serve on the Student Council.
Escher, Kandinsky, Matisse and Picasso are the 4 famous artists that we have adopted for our house names.
Olympic Values
The House system in the Academy is used to promote the 7 Olympic Values:
Friendship – Year 7
Respect – Year 8
Inspiration – Year 9
Equality – Year 10
Excellence – Year 11
Courage – Year 12
Determination – Year 13
Head of house: Ms Mehanger
Maurits Escher (1898 -1972)
Born in Holland, Maurits Escher was a sickly child and was placed in a special school aged 7. His school grades were poor but he excelled at Art. Escher specialised in ‘impossible reality’ images and mathematical shapes and figures in tessellations.
Head of house: Mr Faccini
Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944)
Born in Moscow, Russia. Wassily Kandinsky studied Law and Economics at University. He started painting at the age of 30. He was fascinated by colour symbolism and the use of bright colours on a dark background. He related painting to the act of creating music.
Head of house: Mr Driscoll
Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954)
Born near Calais in France. Matisse’s parents owned a seed business. Following an attack of appendicitis his mother bought him some art supplies and he started to paint in 1889 – deeply disappointing his father. In 1904 he met Pablo Picasso who became a life long friend. Matisse drew and painted from nature.
Head of house: Mr Sabur
Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)
Born in Malaga, Spain. Picasso showed a passion for drawing from an early age largely learnt from his father. Picasso neglected school work for his art. In 1900 he lived in Paris in extreme poverty – he had to burn some of his paintings to keep warm. He became one of the most recog- nised artists of the 20th century, co-founding Cubism.
