Witham Hall’s House System is designed to encourage community spirit and to develop friendships vertically across age groups. All children are allocated a House on joining the School and younger siblings are placed in the same House as their older siblings or cousins, parents, aunts and uncles for children of alumni. There are four Houses: Banks (blue), Lyons (green), Tate (yellow) and Maitland (red), named after William Banks, the founder of the School; Peter Lyons, a revered Headmaster for 29 years; Colonel Maitland who owned Witham Hall prior to 1959; and John Tate, a previous long-serving member of staff warmly remembered by alumni as ‘Spud’.

Prep and Pre-Prep pupils are involved in House activities and competitions throughout the year, which give pupils the opportunity to win House points. House assemblies are held regularly, giving both Prep and Pre-Prep pupils the chance to come together to celebrate successes, discuss charity work, and most importantly, to have a bit of fun! At the end of each term, House Points are tallied to award the coveted achievement of Champion House.

Mentor Groups

Staff are also allocated to Houses to assist the work of the Head of House in working with House Captains and pupils. Each member of staff is assigned a Mentor Group of six to eight pupils in their house from different year groups. Houses meet as a whole every three weeks and Mentor Groups also meet every three weeks as a smaller, family-like setting for staff to support children and to further encourage friendships across year groups.