House System

The House system is an integral part of the pastoral structure at Surbiton High School. In each of the three schools girls and boys are allocated to a House and participate in a variety of competitive activities that promote leadership, creativity and collaboration. In the Senior School, each House is named after a female pioneer who by their actions has changed the lives of others and made a difference to the world. This year, Mrs Helen Cowie is the House Coordinator and each of the six Houses have an allocated House Leader on the staff.

Austen         -   Mrs Middleton
Curie             -   Mrs Furlong
Fonteyn       -   Mr Marsh
Nightingale -   Mrs Thomas
Pankhurst   -   Mrs Vazquez
Teresa          -   Mrs King

Each Form Tutor and Deputy is a member of a House, and the leadership responsibilities of House Captains are distributed throughout the School. There are annual elections for the Heads of House in the Sixth Form.  Since September, there have been a variety of House events and competitions to challenge the girls. The House Choral Competition took place October and involved every girl across Years 7, 8 and 9 singing the compulsory piece, 'Under the Sea' and a choice composition involving the whole school. House 'University Challenge' generated intense competition across the initial rounds and a memorable final. A highlight of the House year is the Fashion Show in February, which this year promoted the theme of 'Love' and showcased recycled clothes designs by each House, alongside models from both Surbiton and Hampton Schools on the catwalk wearing clothes from a variety of local outlets and designers. Other events in the Spring Term are the House Public Speaking Competition and the Science House Challenge. Ending the House year are the Great House Bake, House Countdown and the demanding House Mastermind.

Each House participates in a charity hustings at the start of the year and this year seventy presentations across the six houses resulted in each house democratically nominating a charity to support throughout the year. The May Charity Fair brings all the houses together to raise monies for their respective charity, which in 2011 are; PA Nepal (Austen), Marie Curie (Curie), Thoeun's Trust (Fonteyn), Cancer Research (Nightingale), Stop the Traffik (Pankhurst), Evelina's Children's Heart Organisation (Teresa).