Eton - houses which are popular with the boys

[sneakyapples]

Hello, we are having to choose houses to be interviewed by for 2023 fron a list. I don't know where to start! I was wondering which houses are popular with the boys right now (not asking for details on individual housemasters) for sporty all rounders? Possibly those in the main competition of Ties rather than Cake if that makes sense! The ones I short listed were musical and DS was having none of it. Thank you

Thing is - the only thing that really matters is the quality and dedication of the housemaster. Does he seem like someone your son could get on with. And do you feel you could trust him to watch over your child and become a big influence in his school life.

Shortlist according to what you learn about them. (And then be prepared for them to leave long before they said they would.)

Honestly, everything else is incidental.

Is that to be interviewed by for purposes of choosing a house or for entry to Eton? Maybe they are changing their admissions procedure?

DS started at Eton last year and absolutely loves it. Totters is right that the housemaster is the crucial element - don't worry about "sporty" vs. "not sporty". I've been amazed at how many new interests DS has picked up since he started at Eton - at his prep school he had been football mad and hated French, but now all he seems to want to talk about is how brilliant his Russian lessons are!

"Totters is right that the housemaster is the crucial element-"

Am afraid to say Totters cannot be more WRONG to say the housemaster is the crucial element – not at Eton…

Positivevibes123 so great to hear that. Thank you. I think that’s where we are at.

nightvision hello. If it’s not the housemaster, what is the crucial element in your view? Thank you 😊

Sneakyapples, I smile when I see the word you used, “crucial” when trying to pick a Eton house. Well, really, there’s nothing “crucial” about which house or housemaster you may end up with. The only crucial thing to bear in mind at this stage is to get a confirmed place at the School. I know of people “ready to kill” just for trying to get their son there.

First things first, Eton is very much aware that all paying parents pay the same money to get their boys there. Barring College there is no house more superior or inferior to the next. Each and every housemaster is an experienced teacher in his (her) own right normally with long years of teaching at the School. All the buildings across the campus are brought up to date with each boy having his own room right from Day 1. In fact, one can be quite certain to see scaffoldings erected around one building or other throughout the year – every year. Eton has a Department specifically created to look after its buildings and has a large annual budget to boot.
I would say the boy’s personal tutor is more “crucial” than his housemaster. Every boy has a personal tutor assigned to him right from Day 1.

More of this later as I seem to remember having written volumes on this subject in the past. I’ll try digging out these old files shortly to save myself time and repeating myself here.

Sneakyapples - please check your Inbox.

Agree with @TottersBlankly and @positivevibes123 - the houses are not "musical" or "sporty" really, there's a mix of boys in all of them. The important thing is whether or not you gel with the housemaster as a person and agree with their values, and whether you think your DS will get on with them and respect them. This is a person who is going to be the most important influence on your DS over the next 5 years, bar yourselves as parents, so I would think more about whether or not you feel you would work well with them as a team through potentially rocky teenage years.

@nightvision do you have a DS at Eton at the moment? There have been quite a few changes in recent years and the role of a tutor is not really significant for non-specialists compared to the choice of a housemaster.

Attention mumsnet user weimaung:

You sent a private message to a suspended account about 1.5 hrs ago. It's for me but I cannot read your message because the account has been suspended. Please send your private message here.

Attention mumsnet user weimaung:

You sent a private message to a suspended account about 1.5 hrs ago. It's for me but I cannot read your message because the account has been suspended. Please send your private message here.

More of this later as I seem to remember having written volumes on this subject in the past. I’ll try digging out these old files shortly to save myself time and repeating myself here.

Please don’t trouble yourself …

Please …

And, btw, as the OP is talking of 2023 her son clearly already has his conditional place - and probably won’t need to do anything desperate to pass CE (or any alternative).

”Thing is - the only thing that really matters is the quality and dedication of the housemaster. Does he seem like someone your son could get on with. And do you feel you could trust him to watch over your child and become a big influence in his school life.”

Become a big influence in his school life?

OMG!!!

By definition your boy’s going to leave school aged 18 as an adult and go to uni like a carbon copy of his housemaster for the rest of his life. Don’t know what you call it but I call it “indoctrination”. And you have the privilege to pay a quarter million pounds for all this. . . ?

Weird - one minute nightvision sounds like they have first hand experience of Eton and the next they appear to be scoffing at the idea of paying at all. Definition of influence: "the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something". Not by any means a replica.

Imagine you are given a list of houses to look at..they all sound great..but you are unaware that in September one of them will be on housemaster number four ,since Summer term 2021..i think that might make you think whether your choice of house matters or not..
.

@nolanscrack- four housemasters since September 2021?

Three since the summer term of 21,a new permanent HM next term will make it 4.

@positivevibes123 I have sent you a PM. Thank you in advance!

I know which house you are referring to - oh come on! It is a highly atypical situation.

It’s not as dramatic as it sounds. The HM left after 13 years as is normal procedure for a HM. The new guy had problems and left. A very experienced existing staff member is covering for now. New one starts in September. Hardly 4 housemasters as such! The transition has been seamless & there has been great care.

When our son was up for admissions we looked and asked around only to be told all the houses are good. Now after some time we realize that isn't the case and I don't understand why there isn't more transparency around houses, house masters and dames. The decision to go one house or the other is vital for the child's mental and physical health.
To begin with there are a basic set of rules that the school abides by and then there are rules that are individual to each house and these are house master driven. Approach towards electronic devices, formal dining, house dinning (as all houses don't have kitchens), illness, injuries, care during vulnerable moments, exclusion, kindness, being firm at the right moments and kind when they should..one could go on. The house rules are very important as the house master is like your son's head master. The people with lower master and head master roles are only ceremonial in nature, infact the school would run well without them.
I now have a fair idea of house masters and feel annoyed at myself to have let my son choose the house rather than me as in hindsight my son too would have preferred the one I had chosen.