Lancaster House
Head of House's Introduction
It is with great pleasure and pride that I introduce you to the Lancaster page of the website - the newest addition to Churchill Academy & Sixth Form. Lancaster House was formed in 2020, and we have been working really hard to establish and embed Lancaster into the Academy ever since.
Students are allocated to a House when they join the school and this acts as a smaller community, each with their own identity, for students to feel proud and part of. Students will be allocated a tutor who they will see for twenty minutes at the start of every day. This is an integral part of the school day allowing students an opportunity to check in and build a positive relationship with their tutor as well as the other members of the tutor group.
The tutor groups are arranged vertically to allow students to establish relationships with students across the year groups, something we believe has huge benefits for both younger and older students. During tutor time, students will receive key messages, take part in a wide range of activities and explore key areas of the wider curriculum. The tutor is also there to act as a point of contact for families so that we can build strong relationships between the Academy and home and ensure that the overall wellbeing of our students is of top priority.
It fills me with so much joy to see the addition of purple, our House colour, to the different areas of the Academy. I hope you enjoy exploring what Lancaster looks to bring to Churchill Academy.
House Identity
With the addition of the fifth House to the Academy we felt it was too good an opportunity to be missed to rebrand the Houses and hand over some ownership to the students to help develop the House identity and ethos. This process has taken time over this term with students working collaboratively in their tutor groups putting forward suggestions and then ultimately voting on our chosen House charity, song, motto, logo and mascot. The results were as follows:
Charity: Bristol Downs Syndrome Trust
Students were invited to put forward charities that they would like Lancaster to support and they were encouraged to think of the local charities who so desperately need our support during this time. I was so proud of the responses that came in and the associated justifications. This was by far the most tightly contested area that we voted for for in our House Identity. The charity that received the most votes was Bristol Down Syndrome Trust who are a Bristol charity providing speech and language therapy to children with Down Syndrome to help build a supportive community for families.
Motto: ‘Take to the skies with Lancaster’
Our motto was put forward by two year 7 students Arwen Kuipers Von Lande and Megan Lake who made the link with the historic Lancaster bomber plane. As well as the link with history, we encourage all our students to aim high to reach their potential so this seemed most fitting!
Logo: A purple rose
Our beautiful logo has been designed by Jacob Slough in year 7; it is proudly displayed in the Lancaster Lounge.
Mascot: Barney the Dinosaur
He is purple and makes people smile - what more can we say! A full Barney outfit is sitting in my office waiting for a willing volunteer...
Song: White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
I asked students to think of an anthem that when they heard gave them a burst of adrenaline and pride. We had a large range of suggestions and I am really pleased with the chosen result - I look forward to hearing it being played loudly at events such as Sports Day!
Head of House
Chloe Taylor
Whilst at Churchill I have enjoyed taking on a variety of roles including Head of Girls PE, Year 7 Pastoral Support Worker and now Head of Lancaster House. I am bursting with pride at being offered the opportunity to be the first ever Head of Lancaster House!
Student Leadership
Student voice is something that the pastoral team is working hard to develop to ensure that students input is both valued and acted upon with the aim to develop that sense of belonging to the school community. To assist in supporting this two year 11 students from Lancaster House are chosen to work alongside the House Captains from the other four houses. House Captains act as role models for all students in their House and represent these students at Academy meetings, events and fundraisers. The calibre of applicants for this years’ house captaincy was exceptionally high which made the task a lovely problem to solve. All students who applied have been asked to join a task force to help establish Lancaster House as the newest addition to Churchill Academy and help design the Lancaster area when it is completed. I am really looking forward to working with these students once we are able to to ensure that the Lancaster area is student friendly.
We ask that all of our students follow the core Churchill values of Kindness, Curiosity and Determination and our House captains are leading from the front with this with rewards handed out at the end of term for those individuals who have represented these to a high standard. The student council has also been set up to allow student representatives from each tutor group to work closely with Mr Davies to ensure student voice is represented at all levels across the Academy. I look forward to seeing what they do!