House System
Our Houses
As a school for all the talents, we embrace and aim to celebrate the talents of every child at The Canterbury Academy. Our house system helps us recognise individual achievements in a variety of ways.
Each house includes students with a range of talents, therefore each house is home to students who are talented at sports, performing arts, practical learning and academics. Cowdrey is not the sports house, nor Bloom the performing arts house, for example; the house has just been named after someone with that talent.
All members of our school community – staff and pupils – belong to houses. Pupils belong to mentor groups by house, meeting their mentor every morning. We also hold regular assemblies, celebrating house news and achievements and highlighting opportunities.
There are four staff Heads of House whose role it is to celebrate student achievements, promote opportunities, provide access to competitions and work to instil key values through focus weeks.
Recognising and Rewarding Achievement
Heads of House share a weekly internal house newsletter in Friday morning mentoring, which celebrates notable achievements of our pupils in and out of school.
It’s important to us that pupils receive acknowledgement for their commitment and hard work. We encourage other pupils to celebrate the success stories of their peers and hope this will inspire their own personal examples of success.
We recognise that pupils are more than just what they achieve in school or in lessons – their experiences outside of school contribute to their personal development in a rich way, so it’s important to us that this receives the recognition and celebration it deserves.
Parents and pupils can share their out of school celebrations with the Heads of House by emailing housenews@canterbury.kent.sch.uk
House Points
Pupils receive achievement points across lessons, mentoring and out of lessons, as well as for their achievements outside of school. These points, along with competition points culminate in a winning house, announced in the summer end of year assembly. The winning house is awarded the Trevor Hayes House Trophy and members of the victorious house can join reward trips that run during the next academic year.
The current champions are the pupils and staff of:
BLOOM House
The winning house overall in 2022-23
with a total of 42,600 points
Celebrated with a trip to Chessington for the top 50 achievers
Representation and pupil voicing
The Canterbury Academy school council is rapidly developing and growing in size and confidence. Formed in 2021, the group has achieved significant movement on a number of issues, meeting with senior members of staff to put across their views on a range of things that were important to them and the wider pupil body. They have also assisted with activities and events within school, supporting the Heads of House to run charitable events such as non-uniform days and our weekly bake sales.
More widely, we have plans for the Academy school council to connect with the Canterbury Primary school council and the Sixth Form student leadership team to coordinate pupil leadership and further strengthen pupil voice and profile across the Trust.
Any pupils who wish to join the council or are interested in finding out more should email CAschoolcouncil@canterbury.kent.sch.uk We want to host a truly representative council so welcome contact from all year groups.
About our house names
Cowdrey
(Green ties)
Cowdrey house is named after Colin Cowdrey, who captained for Kent County Cricket Club in Canterbury. He made his England debut in 1954-55; received a CBE in 1972 and a knighthood in 1992.
Tallis
(Yellow Ties)
Tallis house is named after Thomas Tallis, who was a composer and organist in 16th century England. He was a church organist for Dover Priory and worked at Canterbury Cathedral. He later performed and wrote for Henry VIII, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
Bloom
(Purple ties)
Bloom house is named after Orlando Bloom, the internationally-recognised actor. The Canterbury-born and educated performer is well-known for his roles in Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings. He received an honorary degree from Kent University at Canterbury Cathedral in 2010.
Marlowe
(Red ties)
Marlowe house is named after Christopher Marlowe, a well-known playwright and poet, writing at the same time as William Shakespeare. Many notable places in Canterbury are named after him such as the Marlowe Theatre and the Marlowe Arcade. A plaque to him appears on the clocktower at the top of the high street.
