Otter
House Colour: Purple
Who’s Who?
Head of Otter House – Mrs J Stone
Otter Tutors 2024-25
Year 7 - Mrs B Teece
Year 8 - Mrs J Feakins-Taylor & Mrs J Darlow
Year 9 - Mr A Thompson
Year 10 - Ms C Barnett
Year 11 - Mrs C Smerdon-Corp
Year 12 - Ms T Marchant
Year 13 - Miss M Witherow
Otter House became the seventh house in school in 1990. William Otter became Bishop of Chichester in 1836. He was very interested in the training of teachers to provide education for all, and a teacher training college (now Chichester University) was set up in his name.
What is Otter House like?
Our motto is
Believe
Believe in yourself. Believe in our House and our school. Believe that you can make a positive change. Believe in… Be confident that you are able to do anything you want to do.
Achieve
At our school, you can make great progress and contributions in many different and important ways.
and Succeed
When you move on from our school and your experiences in Otter House, take with you what you have Achieved and go on to succeed.
We pride ourselves in promoting a disciplined, caring and happy family atmosphere. We hope to foster an ethos of a mutual, secure and stimulating environment where all members of the Otter House feel valued, respected and fully supported. We understand that it essential to work collaboratively to ensure that we are all able to provide the very best possible education, experiences and welfare for all our students.
Otter House supports Macmillan Nurses who specialise in cancer and palliative care, providing support and information to people with cancer, and their families, friends and carers, from the point of diagnosis onwards.
Otter House 2023-24
Another busy year and I'm as pleased as punch with the amazing activities that our bevy of Otters have been getting on with. We have seen the Year 7s settle into Luffa life with energetic verve and they certainly have proved themselves to be a tour de force, throwing themselves into anything and everything: girls’ and boys’ football to name but one highlight. We waved a bittersweet goodbye to Year 11s through the tear-jerker that is their leavers’ assembly, climaxing with the highlight of the season, the Prom.
As ever, Otters have shown tremendous amounts of business enterprise in the Otter House charity fundraiser for Macmillan - the big Valentine’s Day roses sale in February - expertly led by Mrs Smerdon-Corp and her Year 11s, which this year raised an incredible £450; a truly magnificent achievement. 7 Otter were amazing too and were the delivery service for getting the roses to the right people.
7 Otter were fortunate enough to experience the Luffa rite of passage that is the Isle of Wight trip - a success, as ever, with Laserquest, bowling and animal sanctuary visits, forest school and archery. It’s always a great team building experience which Mrs Christie and I thoroughly enjoyed.
8 Otter have represented the school in Football, Rugby, Cricket, Tennis and Basketball fixtures this year, as well as a lot of the form participating in the Interhouse Dance competition. They now only have only one thing left to do - retain the year group cup at Sports Day!
House Captains Hugo Sheppard and Tabby Cooper, with Olivia Hoff, did a phenomenal job of directing the Otter House Drama which made it to the final this year. It was a feast for the eyes and ears as we were treated to a spectacular rendition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Outstanding performances from Huxley, Bebe, Wiluf, Kitty, Lottie, Frya, Amy, Lucy, Esmai, Sophia, Sydney, Rebecca, Eve, Anna, Louisa in addition to Camilla, Harry, Hollie and Adam behind the scenes.
We also have huge Otter representation for Schools Sailing week again this year - Good luck to the Mealing brothers, George, Jack and Isla. Well done also to our 10 Otter explorers who completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award: Marco, Jack, George (despite a broken limb!) and Ciana. Congratulations also to Ollie and Lottie who have been chosen for Year 10 House Colours this term. Well done!
Otters seem to be in every showband, choir, music and dance group going - well done to Eve, Freddie, Kitty, Lavina, Louisa, Rebecca, Sophie, Millie, Elizabeth, Amelia, Poppy and Harry and Lucy. Fruition was an amazing showcase of all their amazing creative talents.
Well done also to Lavinia for representing 8 Otter in the CyberFirst competition in Southampton and Layton for winning the Interhouse Art competition and Imogen, Lucy and Bebe for their contribution to ‘The Big Hoot’.
Year 6 transition was a fun-filled, busy day - thank you to 7 Otter: Ismay, Eva, Dexter, Sophia, Poppy, Ariana, Millie and for being their able and kind buddies. We look forward to having the Otter cubs join our wonderful House in September.
Otter House is a warm and caring House to be at the helm of, not least because of the Otter Tutors. I am very lucky to have them by my side in the rough, tumble and wins of daily life. I can’t wait for another year, with the older Otters guiding and supporting their younger counterparts, making sure we remain otterly amazing.
Mrs Jas Stone, Head of Otter House