WILSON HOUSE – House Colour Yellow
Who’s Who?
Head of House – Mr K Allman
Wilson Tutors 2023-24
Year 7 - Mrs A Copeland & Mrs N Stallard
Year 8 - Mr H Keane & Mrs L Budgen
Year 9 - Miss M Cahill
Year 10 - Mrs D Jackson
Year 11 - Mr G Evans
Year 12 - Mrs H Ockwell
Year 13 - Mr D Pilgrim
Wilson House was one of the first four houses in the early days of the school. Wilson House is named after Bishop Roger Wilson who was Bishop of Chichester from 1958 to 1974. He was a brilliant classicist, a modest and unassuming man with an abiding interest in people.
What is Wilson House like?
We are a caring house with a real sense of family and friendship. There are rarely fallings out as we stick together and support each other. Wilson means family and that means no one gets left behind. ‘Aureus est gentis’, latin for ‘family is golden’ is our House colour. Our house emblem is a sunflower and each year our Year 11’s present each other with sunflowers at their leavers’ assembly with a note attached as a leaving present.
The House charity that Wilson supports is the ‘Mombasa Children’. We have sent medical supplies, sponsored children to be able to attend school and bought equipment. The House has Skyped with the children in our House assembly. Our link is through the charity based in Rustington. We hope in the future to send Wilson House pupils to visit the school.
Wilson House 2022-2023
As another year draws to an end, it always fills me with pride to look back and see what the members of Wilson House have been up to. This year is particularly special for me personally as it is now five years since I took over – this is the first year when all the students in Wilson have only had me as Head of House, so I can’t blame anyone else!
It is fair to say that 7 Wilson are one of the most exuberant and confident groups that I have had in my time as Head of House – certainly no year group has been able to find their way around the school quite so quickly. The clues were definitely there from the very start, with some very enthusiastic singing along to My Lighthouse on the first day. The Isle of Wight trip created some long-lasting memories, with yet another victory in the Headhunters laser tag (now five years undefeated). Since then, members of 7 Wilson have thrown themselves into all aspects of school life – as a group they were heavily represented in the House Drama, but also some members of the group have been involved in activities outside of school, such as the Young Leaders Conference – a great thing to get involved with at such a young age. Mr Tunthuwa has kept a strong eye on 7 Wilson this year and really developed their sense of belonging and togetherness; he now moves on to pastures new, but I’m sure all of 7 Wilson will remember him fondly.
Whilst it seems like only yesterday that they were first arriving, Year 8 are now firmly settled in to life at Luffa and again it has been pleasing to see so many of the group getting involved in events. Miss Cahill has made sure that the group have enjoyed lots of activities in tutor time, in particular ‘Just Dance’ on their birthdays! 8 Wilson were also represented at Fruition Evening with a range of artistic events (perhaps inspired by their extra dance practice during form time), and also played a key part in the house drama with Fern Langford playing the starring role of Alice – as well as Austin Belderson and Solly Burton helping the House Drama event as members of the tech team. Many of the students in the group are also keen competitors in inter-house sport; unfortunately, it seems as though 8 Wilson ended up being runner-up in almost every event this year. There was a slight change of fortunes in the summer term where 8 Wilson won both the tennis and ultimate frisbee, so hopefully we can continue this new run of form into Year 9.
Terrifying though it might seem, 9 Wilson are now half way through their journey at Luffa – fortunately they have remained as calm and chilled out as they were in Year 7, with all of the credit for keeping them on an even keel going to Mrs Jackson. Individual plaudits go to Noah Thompson, who continued to grow his reputation for impressive dramatic performances by landing the leading roll of Billy in the school production of Billy Elliott, and Isaac McDonald who led the school chess team to success. Other members of 9 Wilson also contributed worthily to the House Drama and Fruition Evening – in particular Hayley Martin, another member of the tech team who made the house drama evening go without a hitch. Much like their younger colleagues, unfortunately 9 Wilson didn’t manage to achieve any inter-house glory this year – although we did run things close in cricket and rugby, so again there’s definitely potential for next year!
Year 10, under Mr Evans, have now embarked on their GCSEs and it has been rewarding to see them flourish under their new responsibilities. This was also on display during their work experience, and I was lucky enough to go and visit many members of the form out and about and to hear lots of glowing feedback from their placements. Members of 10 Wilson were also heavily involved in both the school and the house drama, as ever, with Evelina Rudasa again stealing the show as the Queen of Hearts – and Nathan Martin as yet another assistant of the tech team! As they move into the final year, I hope we can give them all the help they need to keep all their plates spinning and also finally grab some inter-house sporting success – many members of the group are involved in sports teams locally, so it would be great to see some of that talent grab some silverware for Wilson. Finally, a word must go to our first successful recipients of House colours – Hannah Beddoes, Joel Blamire and Mia Polhill. I hope there are more to follow in their footsteps next academic year.
Finally, we move on to Year 11, who we now have to sadly say goodbye to. It seems like I say this every year, but yet again 11 Wilson were a remarkably calm and easy tutor group who gave me very little bother whatsoever – so laid back as to be nearly horizontal – and the thanks for this must go to Mrs Stallard who has steered them through their GCSEs, with assistance from Mr Keane. There was individual cause for celebration as both Seb Cunningham and Charlotte Hatton were involved in the Greenpower eco car race, whilst Vova Korochenstev won a prestigious scholarship to go to Switzerland and work with Ukrainian refugees who had lost their parents – a truly amazing responsibility. As previously mentioned, this is the first tutor group that I have seen from the beginning to the end of their time in Wilson so on a personal level it will be difficult to see them go. I look forward to seeing some again in Sixth Form, and wish all the best to those who are going on to pastures new.
All in all, it has been yet another busy year, and the students can certainly be proud of all that they have achieved. Particular mention must go to the house drama team, in particular Alice Roberts who directed the Wilson house drama entry, Alice in Wonderland; for the first time in my tenure as Head of House Wilson actually reached the finals and were only narrowly pipped to the title. The Christmas Fair also continued to be a success, raising hundreds of pounds for our house charity, Friends of Mombasa Children. As well as looking back as all we have done, there is definitely a lot to look forward to going forward and much to build on – I look forward to seeing what comes in 2024!
Mr Keith Allman, Head of Wilson House