YOUr House System

"My child loves the House Points system and he says that it makes him feel proud!" Parent of current student

The House System aims to help all students, staff and the wider school community to have an increased sense of belonging; to further increase Competition and Challenge and to increase student leadership.

Introduction to the House System

Here at The Highcrest Academy we have a real sense of community spirit and this is all brought together by our House system. Pupils of all ages are offered a wide variety of enrichment opportunities on a weekly basis including:

Wednesday lunch - House of Games

A range of different activities aimed at building students' different areas of strength such as team building, creativity and hand eye coordination.

Wednesday after school - House Club

A club with different challenges every week based on the famous Task Master show. This includes a range of activities from gaming, to photography to scavenger hunts.

Friday morning - Friday Challenge

Every Friday morning, two students from different year groups are invited to do a team building exercise to earn their Form the title of 'Best in House'.

Beat the Teacher

Every week a different member of staff offers up a lunch break to challenge the students to something they believe they are good at. These sessions include activities such as table tennis, penalty shoot outs, bottle flipping and even who can eat the most biscuits in a minute. The students have really enjoyed this new addition to the Hhouse system and it really creates a buzz of excitement around the school.

There are also larger competitions held regularly and these are for everyone to enter and really show how amazing our students are at Highcrest. These include:

The Science Fair
Sports Day
Highcrest's Got Talent
Photography Competition
And so many more.

How can you help the House system?

You can help support the House system by encouraging your child to participate in any of the competitions. The more students who enter, the more fun it is for everyone, as it creates so much more positive energy.

Our House Heroes

At Highcrest we are passionate about giving our students a voice and allowing them to give their opinions. To enable this, we have an Academy Council who speak on behalf of the rest of the students and help voice their opinions. The Academy Council wanted our House Heroes to be meaningful and relevant, people they could look up to and who could be similar to them. As a result of this we have a range of different individuals to represent our Houses and inspire the students within our school.

Our Pelé House

Pelé an extraordinary footballer, ambassador for ecology and the environment and helped bring the Olympics to Rio in 2018. He said, "Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do".

Our Edhi House

Bilquis Edhi, a nurse in Pakistan, practically helped thousands of unwanted babies and is referred to as ‘The Mother of Pakistan’. She remembers her mother giving her two pennies, “Spend one on yourself and give the other way”.

Our Turing House

Alan Turing is widely credited for his contribution to the start of modern computing and breaking the Enigma code, shortening World War II.

He said, “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done”.

Our Parks House

Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat and her campaigning earned her the accolade of ‘mother of the modern day civil rights movement’.

She said, “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free … so other people would be also free”.

Our Armstrong House

Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, serving his country with great humility as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot and astronaut. He said, “I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine”.

Our Kahlo House

Frida Kahlo struggled with her health, but used her time spent in hospital to learn to paint, becoming one of Mexico’s greatest artists. She said, “Fall in love with yourself, with life, and then with whoever you want”.

Our Ali House

Muhammad Ali earned his nickname ‘the Greatest’ as a professional boxer, but willingly sacrificed all his boxing titles to stand up for what he believed. He said, “Don’t count the days, make the days count”.

Our Winning Houses - Year by Year

Academic Year	Winning House
2025/2026	Ehdi
2024/2025	Pelé
2023/2024	Nightingale
2022/2023	Nightingale
2021/2022	Einstein
2020/2021	Nightingale
2019/2020	Nightingale
2018/2019	Wordsworth
2017/2018	Curie
2016/2017	Austen
2015/2016	Einstein

How do we celebrate the House System?

There are many ways we celebrate the House system at Highcrest and each one helps to represent the Houses in different ways.

Firstly, all of our Forms have a House Hero and colour designated to them. To show this, students must wear ties with a single-coloured stripe that represents their House and Form. Not only does this look smart but it actively highlights the House system within Highcrest.
Secondly, we hold termly assemblies to showcase what has been happening, but to also highlight what is coming up and advertise events to the students. These assemblies are key to supporting the House system and creating awareness around who the House Heroes are and why they are so special.
Thirdly, we have designated House fundraising weeks. These are an excellent way of raising money for the school charity but also a way of celebrating the House systems.
Finally, we have House Celebration Days where the students can do a scavenger hunt to find out facts about their House Heroes and win prizes for entering the competitions around them.

By embedding all of the above into everyday life at The Highcrest Academy, we feel that we are inspiring our students to go above and beyond and encourage them to achieve their dreams just like our House Heroes did.

Previous House Competitions

Previous House Competitions - click here