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JUNIOR SCHOOL HOUSE SYSTEM:
When children reach junior school (Year 3) they are allocated to one of four houses named
after famous local families. (Siblings automatically join the same house.) There are
various inter-house competitions throughout the year and a Sports Day in the summer
term. Children are also given House Points for good work, good behaviour, being helpful
and a variety of competitions and activities. A trophy is awarded each half-term to the
house with the most points. The winning house has a non-uniform day as a reward.
The House names were chosen when the school was first established and we are often
asked about the significance of the names. Here is a potted history of the names:
ROMNEY (Yellow) –
The name Romney – apart from the Marshes – does not
feature largely in Maidstone until the 18
th
Century when in 1750 the Earl of
Winchelsea alienated to Lord Romney his interest in the manor of Maidstone.
HAZLITT (Green) –
18
th
Century Non-conformist Minister – William Hazlitt MA was
the father of the celebrated critic and essayist who was also William Hazlitt. Born in
Earl Street in April 1778, a brilliant and thoughtful writer, he was essentially a social
misfit often inadvertently making a laughing stock of himself. Despite all this his
dying words in 1830 were “I’ve led a happy life”.
WOODVILLE (Blue) –
The Woodville family, at one time owners of Mote House,
began their association with Maidstone in moving here from Northamptonshire.
They inherited Mote House in 1369. Elizabeth Woodville (the eldest daughter of
Richard Woodville) is probably best remembered for her marriage to Edward IV.
WYATT (Red) –
The Wyatt family first came to note in 1554 when Sir Thomas
Wyatt of Allington Castle headed an insurrection in Kent to attempt to prevent the
marriage of Queen Mary (Tudor) with Philip of Spain, although his father, also
Thomas, was a poet and linguist speaking French, Italian and Spanish fluently.
The Wyatt estates were devised by the last of the Wyatts, to Robert second Lord
Romney.
