Winchester College Houses

[alisonjane123]

I am hoping that some parents will be able to give me some information about the houses at Winchester College. My son will hopefully be going in 2015, but, as yet, has not been allocated a house. We may have little, if any, choice
but I would be grateful for any thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of any of the houses. Thank you.

[happygardening]

I'm not sure what the point of telling you about the strengths and weaknesses of the various houses would be if you are going to be given "little if any choice" perhaps you would be bettor asking when you've been allocated a house or if you do get choice.

[alisonjane123]

wow, thanks for your helpful reply!

[happygardening]

I'm genuinely not trying to be unhelpful but I just can't see the point of discussing houses if you have no choice.
I also doubt few current Winchester parents will comment on an open forum too openly for fear of outing themselves.
I'm happy to tell you about ours via a PM if your interested.

[DarklingJane]

alisonjane

I have a DC at Wincoll and I sort of see where Happy is coming from. My impression from DS is there are no stronger or weaker houses per se and there isn't any such thing as a "sporty" house or a 'musical' house other than what might happen with a particular cohort of boys. Really, to decide, if you have a choice, I think you are into 1) The Housemaster - do you get on with them, do you want a housemaster who teaches something your son is interested in? Do you want a HM who will be there for the whole of your son's school life. 2). location - although no house is more than a few minutes walk from the school so this is a much lesser consideration than some schools whose boarding houses are more dispersed 3) General feel/atmosphere when you walk in.
Whichever house your DS ends up in he will end up thinking it is the best house.
In common I suspect with with most parents I only have a (vicarious) view on my own DS's house, but if you wanted an impression of that one then PM me.
When you say you have not been allocated a house - has he been interviewed already by any of the HMs ?

[summerends]

AlisonJane, HG is one of the most helpful posters on this sites so you are not being rebuffed. Once your DS gets allocated a house (probably will depend on Election results now or perhaps some last minute withdrawals), we can be helpful by pm. As DarklingJ says any info will be more based on what our DSs tell us and therefore should not be taken as the 'whole truth and nothing but the truth'. However there are definitely advantages to all the houses and the housemasters sound pretty popular as a group.

[IdeasBox]

Dear alisonjane123

A good question, we also had it.

DS starts in September 2015 just like your DS. Just getting a place at WinColl is brilliant enough. Any of the Houses are great, they only choose the best of the best as HMs. Our opinion is that Chawkers' is the best House (we know that to be the case as all the boys in that House told us so!!!!!). Dr H is truly great, has to be said, as is Mrs H. Seriously, Chawkers is the best equal with the other nine Houses, and College is...well...College (magnificent). Really hope that your DS passes Entrance/Election. He is so welcome to come. The school is the best that there is.

GCSE standard questions BTW! Hoping that your DS does really well in his eight papers...not easy to pass but a real success when he makes it.

Do PM me if you like.

[VentaBelgarum]

"" Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
(..) ,
Et puis est rentré au Collège , plein d'usage et raison,
vivre cinq années bien occupées et prometeusses .""
Based upon Joachim de Bellay, because it is quit undertaking
and hard work to get into Winchester, and I most admit as a father
and also speaking for my son, it feels like ' home coming ' !
So we passed the " Itchen without an itch " but it took as a Non Native,
North European boy, some extra work . This is my first entry to this website
and the Winchester-thread specific, and I would like to thank HappyGardening,
for all his good advice ( you could really take his opinion to the local Natwest).
Have a nice day, and all the best for the Winchester Boys ...
Regards