Choosing a House

Being part of a House comes to mean more to students at Wellington than almost anything else. In spirit, the House means camaraderie, loyalty, a deep sense of belonging and the start of lifelong friendships. In everyday life, it is a place in which to seek good company, laugh a lot or find a shoulder to cry on, relax after a hard game or slave over an essay. Ask any pupil - and theirs will be the best House! Each student at Wellington belongs to a House, whether they board or attend as a day pupil.

For boarders, the House is their 'home from home', where they live in a single sex group of 10-12 students per each year group. For day students, the House provides a base during the day, for work, free time and social activities.  All are under the caring and watchful eye of a housemaster or housemistress and, normally, their spouse. We choose these senior staff with the utmost care.  Each house a has a matron and housekeeper and therefore we have an adult presence throughour the day.   As 'parents' to children living away from home, they do what every parent does, talking to the girls or boys every day, and making sure they are coping happily with school life, eating properly, knuckling down to work, and enjoying activities and sport. Being a teenager comes with its own unique set of problems.  If and when these emerge, the close relationship the students form with a housemaster or housemistress means they have a trusted adult to listen and help.

Once a school place is conditionally offered, the admissions team will help families to confirm any early thoughts about House choice, with the availability of Open Houses days, House visits and discussions with Housemasters and Housemistresses.

We will request, and seek to meet, parental preference, but it must be understood that final places will almost certainly have to be allocated. Early Registration for the School is recommended, because the date of receipt, of the completed Registration Form with fee, is the arbitrating factor at the stage of prioritising children on lists for Houses. We are confident enough, in our outstanding team of Housemasters and Housemistresses, to say to those unsure of choice or receiving an allocation that neither they nor we can really go wrong.

In or out?

There are currently 18 Houses at Wellington. Each is either an 'in-College House', set amongst the main college buildings, or an 'out-of-College House', built away from the main school. Details of individual Houses can be seen in the Houses section of the School Life area of the website.

Houses 'in-College' are very convenient - just a few steps from library, classrooms, halls and chapel. Pupils in these Houses eat in the central Dining Hall. Those in the in-College Houses also tend to have a wide social group because of the proximity to the other in-College Houses.

The 'out-of-College' Houses are more self-contained, with students forging strong House social groups, and at the end of the day they have more of a sense of leaving school as they walk 'home'. Some of these Houses dine in College and others have meals in the House.

We have Houses for day pupils and for Sixth Forms only - both boys and girls - giving parents options regarding how they feel their child might well fit in.

Unlike some schools where there are known to be 'sporty' or 'academic' Houses, those at Wellington are generally all-round in atmosphere. The way they are run does differ, depending upon the personality of the housemaster or housemistress.