Can anyone help me compose an email

[WeMustDoBetter]

My son starts secondary school in September so I read the new starter's handbook yesterday. Apparently they have a house system and the school is divided in to six houses. They are Andrew, Christopher, David, George, Michael and Patrick. Nice enough names but I have a huge problem with the lack of female representation and lack of diversity in those names. The school is in a predominantly white middle class village and I really think they could do more, much more, with the names that they have chosen.

I want to email the head but in such a way that I am actually listened to, rather than being dismissed as making a fuss about nothing.

Can anyone help?

That sounds like a great campaign for the pupils at the school to take on. Do you know any senior pupils at the school?

Sorry for not answering your actual question.

I don't know any of the pupils but I'm friends with one of the governors. I was thinking about having a chat with her first and then take it from there.
That's a really good idea, maybe I could speak to some of the other parents and see if they could get their kids interested

I’m assuming they’re all saints and not pop stars? Best way would be to find some inspiring female saints and campaign for three to swap out in place of three existing. For example, Saint Lucy used to be well known in England.

They sound like Saints names to me? Is it a religious school?

Having a word with the governor is a good idea, then maybe see if anyone else shares your views so raise it together as a group.

They do sound very dated. When I was at school, a girls school, our houses were named after famous people, all male, when dd went to the same school they’d changed the names to females but kept the starting letters. The new names didn’t really stick, if I asked her what they were now she’d probably revert to mine.

I just looked up St Lucy. Turns out she’s the patron saint of epidemics and throat infections. I mean, come on, she’s just perfect right now!

I would start by finding out why they have chosen those names, so that I could suggest alternatives. Are they are the first names of former heads of the school, or saint's names (noting that they include Andrew, David, George and Patrick) or just names at random? If you know what their significance (if any) is, it will be easier to create a persuasive argument to change them. Otherwise if you suggest changing to names representing a mix of sexes and cultures, it will be easy for them to come straight back and say 'they represent the school's founders, no can do.'

I get what you mean, as a feminist, but I’m also not sure this is a battle I would choose to engage with, especially as an incoming parent. As a teacher I would be a bit 🙄 having to answer letters about what presumably are inherited house names from some time ago during a global pandemic and very stressful time for school staff.
Personally I would wait until your child start the school and find out how diversity and equality are promoted in PSHE, history, assemblies etc. What happens in Black History Month.
Or, if you really can’t wait to find out, could’ve you just be honest and say “dear head, I notice all the houses have traditionally male anglo Saxon names and I was wondering how diversity and inclusion are promoted within the curriculum and schools ethos?”

It's not a faith school. I definitely need to find out why they have those names.
I wondered about suggesting some sort of competition, pupils get to suggest names of inspiring people from history. I suspect they might end up with footballers' names.

Cyberworrier I totally get that point and I don't want to be 'that parent.' I just really think they're missing a trick and could use this to enforce their school values

I’d let your child settle into the school for a while before raising this. I’m guessing in September the school will be at full stretch managing Covid and probably won’t welcome a brand new parent seeking to shake up the house names!

I would go with the approach of taking it a step at a time rather than going straight in with ideas such as competitions.

I wonder if they originally had David, George, Andrew and Patrick as a nod to the four countries of the UK, but then had to add a couple of extra saints for some logistical reason.

Leave it for the time being as the school will have things to worry about. Perhaps once your son has settled get him to raise it with the school council. Or you raise it via the parents association. I just think the school has enough to deal with at the moment and it will just get out to the bottom of the pile.

I don't think there would be any harm in the OP asking the origin/significance of the names at this stage - it should be an easy question to answer. I agree that it's probably not the time to suggest ways of changing them, but if the OP can get that information, she'll then have plenty of time to consider an approach to change, if change still seems appropriate once she knows what the names mean (if it was something like former pupils who lost their lives in WW2 then it might not be appropriate to change them).

@WeMustDoBetter

It's not a faith school. I definitely need to find out why they have those names. I wondered about suggesting some sort of competition, pupils get to suggest names of inspiring people from history. I suspect they might end up with footballers' names.

Or housey mc houseface? As other have said - find out the theme and suggest a more balanced sex representation.

I think Pelleas is right, you could ask for the origin/significance of the names. However, even that, I would wait. Hold your horses if you don’t want to be viewed as “that parent”.

For all that you say that it’s a middle class school, you won’t have a full picture of what the school may be struggling with in the pandemic; every school will have children who are vulnerable.. It is a very difficult time for leadership in particular, with every decision they make having such critical consequences.

I personally really don’t think it’s appropriate or fair to add to the school’s mental load at this moment in time. You have plenty of time to raise this and engage critically to stimulate debate and change, at a later date.

I am such a pessimist. I'm imagining half the houses get renamed after women, and the boys at the school loudly refuse to accept the female names. And the girls aren't super enthusiastic, either. Would that really happen?

No.

One idea might be to offer to run a competition to raise funds for the Covid aftermath - to rename the houses. That way you score points and get the representation you need. But go gently, be prepared to wait a bit, and offer to do the work.

Maybe the need a new theme? We used to have mountains, lochs, famous ex-pupils, authors or just plain old colours.

Is it a boys' school?

It's a mixed school

I wouldn't be sending an email at all. Very bad move for a new boy starting school. Are the houses named St David etc or just David without the St? I know you typed it that way so perhaps they dropped it in recent times. Even so many schools have a long history and heritage, often of a Christian origin and I wouldn't want to bring my wrecking ball with my new boy. It's probably evolving from a boy's school to mixed. It will continue to evolve, no doubt but I wouldn't want to force something like that especially if I knew nothing about it.

If you are friends with a governor I would start by having a word with her - at best she could raise the issue at a Governors' meeting & save you running the risk of being 'that parent' (totally understandable given your DS hasn't even started yet) at worst, she won't help but could tell you the reasoning behind the naming system to help any future argument you may make.

We had a similar situation at a primary school where I used to be a governor - classes were named after inspirational Brits. A fabulous idea - using the names of scientists, authors, artists etc, except that in the second year of this system there was not one woman's name used. No-one had noticed, none of the almost-exclusively female teachers, nor the (otherwise excellent!) Head & her (female) Deputy, until I raised it in a Governors' meeting. It was too late to change things for that year, but the following year both new classes were named after sportswomen (one of whom is a FWR favourite )

Thank you for noticing this OP & good luck if you decide to speak up - girls are 50% of a mixed school's demographic so it is depressing how often this unthinking sexism occurs.