House System
At Dartford Grammar School for Girls, we are exceptionally proud of our House System. It provides the means for students to nurture their individual abilities whilst also encouraging them to try new things when collaborating with students in every year group across the school.
Upon arrival to the school, your daughter will be allocated a House and be part of a close-knit community of students. By fostering a culture of involvement, diversity, mutual respect and competition, our overarching ambition is to create big events that students look forward to and are actively encouraged to participate and compete in throughout each and every term.
By being inclusive of all types of activities and interests, the House System enables every student to participate and develop skills, interests and talents in ways that go beyond the curriculum.
House News 2022-2023
Overseen by our Sixth Form House Captains, activities arranged for the last academic year included:
- House Harvest: Students in Year 7 – Year 13 create boxes to store donations to food banks in the local area.
- House Celebration: Students celebrate various members of the school community for their support.
- House Music: Students in Year 7-Year 13 band together to create a House Song Performance.
- House Fables: Students create their own modern fable which is turned into a book of stories.
- House Talent Show: Students work together to put on performances for their House.
In addition to big-picture events, each individual act of success or kindness is rewarded with a Housepoint, which is accumulated across every year group to help students compete for the House Shield during Term 6 in the summer term.
House News 2022-23
This term, preparations have been underway this term for students at DGGS to compete against each other through the House system. Students across every year group participated in a House Quiz during form time, competing to see who had the best general knowledge across a range of subjects that included English, Geography, History, Science, Music, Art and Pop Culture.
Across the different year groups, each winning form received 50 Housepoints.
- For Year 7, there was a tie between 7C, 7K and 7P, meaning each form group received 50 Housepoints.
- In Year 8, there was a tie between 8C and 8H, resulting in both forms winning 50 Housepoints.
- In Year 9, the winner was 9P.
- In Year 10 and Year 11, we had two winners: Chartwell and Ightham, with each House being awarded 50 Housepoints.
- In Key Stage 5 form groups contain a mix of houses but students organised themselves into small teams based on their Houses.
- There was a four-way tie between students across 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E, 12F and 12G, with the winning Houses being: Leeds, Penshurst, Hever and Ightham. Each House will be awarded 50 Housepoints.
- In Year 13, Knole was the clear winner
Overall joint winners: Chartwell and Penshurst. Each House will be awarded an additional 50 Points for having the most winners across the whole school.
Consequently, the final Housepoint tallies in the competition for the House Cup as of March 2023 are as follows:
| HOUSE | POINTS TALLY TERM 3 |
| Penshurst | 4,972 |
| Leeds | 4,570 |
| Chartwell | 4,220 |
| Hever | 3,855 |
| Knole | 3,724 |
| Ightham | 3,640 |
House System Update: Term 1 (2022-23)
Back in September, every form group in DGGS was encouraged to participate in our first House Competition of the 2022-23 academic year: House Harvest.
Inspired by the annual harvest festival which celebrates the gifting of food to those in need, students were challenged to create a Harvest Box in which non-perishable food items could be stored before being donated to Age UK and local Dartford foodbanks.
Working with the philanthropic representatives of each form as we placed the Harvest Boxes on stage was a real delight, demonstrating how DGGS students always go and beyond to help others.
Congratulations to everyone for the passion and teamwork that went into every entry.
House System Update: Term 2 (2022-23)
During the half-term break, representatives from Age UK and Dartford Food Bank visited Dartford Grammar School for Girls to collect the tremendous charity boxes that students created in their form groups
The representatives from each charity were moved by the generosity of our pupils and their compassion for those in need. We were also informed that people within the local community who have used the items provided by DGGS students were especially amazed by the designs and immensely grateful for their generosity. They repeatedly shared their deep appreciation for everything that our students have done. We are so proud of everyone in this school community for offering their support at such a difficult time for many.
Working with the philanthropic representatives of each form as we placed the Harvest Boxes on stage was a real delight, demonstrating how DGGS students always go and beyond to help others. Congratulations to everyone for the passion and teamwork that went into every entry.
The Philanthropic Team awarded the winning entries of the first DGGS House Competition of the 2022-23 academic year as follows:
Year 7: Chartwell
Year 8: Knole
Year 9: Hever
Year 10: Leeds
Year 11: Knole
Year 12: 12B
Year 13: 13G
Overall Winner: 12B (Whack-a-Mole!)
Each winning form has earned 100 Housepoints for their House.
Here are a selection of the entries, as well as the winners, as well as photographs of the excellent assembly led by our Philanthropic Representatives Rebecca and Temi:
Harvest Boxes House Competition 2022/23
This brings the overall Housepoint tallies as of December 2022 to:
| HOUSE | POINTS TALLY DECEMBER 2022 |
| Penshurst | 2710 |
| Leeds | 2113 |
| Chartwell | 2107 |
| Hever | 2092 |
| Knole | 2082 |
| Ightham | 1966 |
It was also pleasing to see the various Christmas cards designed by students across the various Houses school that were designed by the shadow art popularised by Vincent Bal. Here you can see the entry created by Mary and the rest of 12E (where a shadow was used to simulate a Christmas pudding!), which has already been sent to people in the local community to help brighten homes this Christmas:
House News 2021-2022
As it stands, the current totals are:
|
HOUSEPOINTS 2021-2022 |
Term 1 |
|
Chartwell |
800 |
|
Hever |
1120 |
|
Ightham |
596 |
|
Knole |
902 |
|
Leeds |
644 |
|
Penshurst |
486 |
House News 2019-2020
2019 Competition Results:
Students have been creating Christmas cards and writing messages for those who may be lonely over the holiday period. These cards have been given out by Age UK, Darenth Valley Hospital and other charities. An overwhelming 1216 cards were produced, and some of the designs can be seen below.
A special mention to Jamina 10I who created over 350 cards. Year 7 were an outstanding year group, with 7P producing 348 cards, 7C made 116 and 7I produced 182. As a result, Ightham House received a bonus 150 Housepoints with Penshurst and Chartwell receiving 100 and 50 respectively. Thank you to all the students who got involved. Your kind words and creative designs will brighten up someone’s Christmas.
This term Knole House are in the lead with 6794 Housepoints
Miss Cooper
House News 2018-2019
Congratulations to all the students who submitted an entry for the Christmas Card competition. It was very difficult to decide on the winner and runner up - the Art department and the Senior Leadership Team in the end chose this entry by Moyra in Year 11 and Gare in Year 9, as the runner up.
Moyra's winning entry
Gare's runner up entry
Term 1's Learning Competition was based on the first 30 Chemical Elements. Students across the school were challenged tolearn them all, and their symbols.
The winning House was Chartwell, with 216 points.
The runner up was Knole, with 210 points
The winning Year Group was Year 11, with 269 points
The runner up was Year 9, with 253 points
Well done to all those who took part!
Term 1's Creative Competition was launched with the Philanthropic Society and was to create a form Harvest Box, and fill it with food for those less fortunate than ourselves.
Once again this year we were amazed by the standard of boxes we received and the selection of boxes show how creative they were. A great deal of time and effort goes into these. Judging the competition is never easy but the proud winners of this year were 7L, 8H, 9L, 10I, 11P, 12E and 13D
