Chronicle 687

7 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Annie Hall sketching at the Ashmolean

Cecilia Weber and Charlie Hinds in Sing's

Charlie Addison, Milo Welchman and Rory Moody

St Edward’s is renowned for its strong sense of community, which endures long after pupils leave the School to pursue their next steps and to join the lively OSE network. As we celebrate 100 years of the boarding house system at Teddies, Tracy van der Heiden, Head of Communications, speaks to the Warden to hear how this great strength of the School is continually enriched and developed.

What makes being part of a boarding house at Teddies such a rich experience for our pupils? Everything about it! The richness of the experience comes from the diversity in the Houses. For a start, there are day pupils and boarders together in every House. We don’t believe in the day-house model, because it creates separateness rather than togetherness. Much more positively, the

How does being part of a boarding house help pupils to achieve at the highest level academically?

presence of day pupils grounds every House in the community in and around Oxford, and it gives the social lives of the Houses a daily rhythm. There’s much more diversity than that though – pupils of different ages, from different places, from different schools, with different backgrounds, with different interests. The richness of experience comes from the mix of people in every House. That’s the essence of Teddies.

It’s all about creating a culture which celebrates hard work. It’s obviously

important to mark academic achievements – like internal awards and external prizes – but it’s much more important to celebrate pupils who have worked hard. That’s what we do as a school – for example with the pizza