Wood Green School turned 70 this year and in honour of the occasion students & staff voted to return to the original house names when the school was founded.
The House System at Wood Green was relaunched 3 years ago with the intent to foster a sense of belonging and healthy competition at the school. With the support of staff and student leaders the competition was reignited becoming part of school culture, with all staff and students being part of one of two schoolhouses.
It’s been a great success, but Wood Green wanted to foster a greater sense of interhouse competition and remove the binary win or lose aspect that existed, so students could vie not only for first and last place, but also to see their house rise and fall across their year and to see how their individual actions contributed to its broader success.
A proposal was put to everyone via student voice and staff voice, consulting them all on dissolving the two houses and moving towards four renamed houses. The theme of which was also up for voting.
Over 800 of the student body voted in the student voice headed up by one of the schools head students Bethany Jones "In celebration of the 70th anniversary of Wood Green School, we thought it would be a wonderful idea to bring back 4 of the original 6 tree house names from the 1980s."
Mr Roberts has been teaching at Wood Green since the 1980's "I'm retiring at the end of this academic year after 38 years at Wood Green. The renaming of our school houses to their origins brings back many memories of my time at Wood Green over the years and I'm delighted to see the tree names replanted as part of the school's future".
The new houses are Pine, Elm, Ash & Oak. The roles of student leaders have been reworked and the school have begun the process of handing leadership of each house over to students in the Sixth form, creating first ever student Heads of House. These students will act as role models for House Leaders lower down in the school and help shape the culture and ethos of their houses as well as encouraging them to take part in events.
Students will continue to earn house points to contribute to their house total and a will be offered the opportunity to partake in a programme of house events being developed and led in part by History teacher Kirsten Hunter "The house system is valuable in providing students with opportunities to collaborate and celebrate, lead and inspire, enhancing a sense of community and belonging, while fostering healthy competition."
The first event saw a cross country event and this term also sees the return of the popular seasonal photo competition, so check out the school’s social media for details of the winners!
You can find the school on Facebook, Instagram and X as: @wgswitney
Kirsten Hunter (House lead) & Bethany Thomas (Student Leader) in front of one of the school's pine trees.
Updated December 2024
