Jubilee House

Following a flurry of activity in and around Jubilee House this summer, we proudly opened in September and welcomed pupils.

Jubilee House was set up to provide a bridge between school and the independent living found in university education. The house is built around shared workspaces, with ensuite boarding spaces as well as flexi-boarding provision to suit the needs of day pupils. We have rooms for life skills in the form of a teaching kitchen, several laundries, presentation area and plenty of comfortable social space. We continue to add to this and will be installing a piano, recreational games area and kitchen garden over the coming months.

Jubilee House has four aims: Academic Progress, Personal development, Community and Wellbeing. Everything that happens in the house is underpinned by these aims. We hold ‘Friday Food’, where pupils and staff share recipes that are of importance to them, teaching them to others and giving all members of the house a chance to try the food. We will eventually gather these recipes together into a recipe book for each member of the house as part of the personal development and community aims. Because we have only Upper Sixth in the house, we don’t have a fixed house management team like other houses do. Instead, every member of the house serves for half a term as a member of the house committee. They have a budget of £300 to deliver events, a survey, an activity for the house and add to the decoration; this serves our community and wellbeing aims.

We have a fantastic team of tutors supporting the pupils’ learning via tutor groups, also working in house during the evenings when direct support is available within subject specialisms. In addition to this, the Head of Sixth Form is based here and the Head of Careers holds a clinic and sessions during the week, bringing careers and UCAS support straight to the pupils.

Jubilee house has proven extremely successful already and we are all excited about the opportunities it offers pupils and staff alike as we continue with the project.

From the pupils:

“This house is genuinely a highlight of U6th – in fact, my friends in L6th are already looking forward to moving in when their turn comes. Thank you for making such a house possible!”

“Thank you for creating such a special space for our last year of school! The house has brought our year so much closer together whilst also providing incredible facilities for us to become more independent. I know our year will use these to the fullest. What an honour and privilege to have such an incredible space to be in. Thank you!”

“I really like the layout and the modern design in the house, the environment looks smart and calm which makes it a good place to work in. My favourite thing about the house would be the day room upstairs, it provides pretty much everything I need, I can work, relax, eat there. Also, the kitchen downstairs is really nice, I like the layout of it, especially the bar tables that allows us to cook while facing and talking to my friends.”