Our Houses

Beverley Grammar School traditionally had a four House system (Conington, Minster, Fisher and School). In the 1980s, the form groups were named after the four Houses. In the 1990s the governors decided to increase the numbers in the school and move from a four form entry to a five form entry. This entailed creating a fifth house and thus Burden House came into being.

The House system used to be a strong element of the old school with plenty of inter-house competition and rivalry. This involved a diverse range of events including sporting (cricket, football, rugby, and athletics), chess, drama, essays, and debating. The Burden trophy was awarded each year to the House that had accumulated the most points. Every year there was a House Christmas dinner with entertainment provided by new staff. These events were quite raucous, and of their time!

In 2017, the House Superleague was introduced. Students can accumulate points for their houses by displaying excellent attitudes and outstanding character skills, they also take part in weekly quizzes and new events such as a fifa competition.

Each House has a colour (Burden – Gold, Conington – Light Blue, Fisher – Dark Blue, Minster – Red, School – Green ) and students win House ties of the appropriate colour and take great pride in wearing them. The Old Boys’ centenary tie was designed by a student and incorporates stripes of the colours of all the Houses in it. There is still a strong allegiance that students feel towards their Houses and this surfaces whenever Houses are the focus of attention.

Minster House

This was named after Beverley Minster and commemorates the founding of the school in 700 AD by St John of Beverley in Beverley Minster.

School House

This was named after the original school which started inside the Minster and then was moved to a building in the Minster grounds. It later moved to a site in a larger building down Flemingate. In the 1890s it moved to this present site and was in the building that is now the Art Block. The main school building was erected in the 1930s and has been considerably modernised and added to over the years.

Fisher House

This House was named after the martyr John Fisher who was born in Beverley in 1469. He became a Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University. John Fisher’s opposition to King Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon meant that he was charged with treason and beheaded.

Conington House

This House was named after John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) who was an English classical Scholar. He was born in Boston, Lincolnshire and was reputed to have been extremely clever learning the alphabet by fourteen months and being able to read at three and a half. He was educated at Beverley Grammar and went on to Rugby School and Oxford University, where he became a fellow and recognised as a most renowned scholar.

Burden House

This House was named after Henry Burden who was the esteemed Headmaster of the school between 1912 and 1935. He was largely seen as creating the modern school and saving the school from terminal decline. Since his time the school has continued to flourish.