The house system enables ways for students and staff to feel more connected to and involved with the academy. It facilitates discussions between all of our pupils in a vertical way and fosters a friendly competitive spirit along the way.

The house system at North Kesteven Academy is divided in to four houses: Boole, Ruston, Swift and Tennyson, named after famous and influential people who originated from Lincolnshire.  Every student and every member of staff belong to a house.  Each house is run by two sixth form students, as Heads of House, who are appointed at the start of the summer term in Year 12, these are in post for one academic year. Within the houses each year group elect captains and vice captains who organise teams for events and monitor the participation of members of their house. The programme of events is discussed and determined by the Heads of House who try to ensure balance and variety within the competition.

Houses gain points through our rewards system, with students having an opportunity to receive points in every lesson within categories of Community, Aspiration, Respect and Endeavour. 

A variety of exciting house events are planned to take place throughout the academic year and will include sporting events, performing arts events and charity work. Previous activities have included litter picking in the local community and working with the local Rotary club with their shoebox appeal.

Each year the academy will nominate a different local charity which is selected by the students.

Tennyson House

Far-sightedness and authority

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born in 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, and died in 1892.  The fourth of 12 children he attended Louth Grammar School and became one of the most prolific poets of his generation, often regarded as the chief voice of Victorian age poetry.  Many writers on Tennyson emphasise the importance of the Lincolnshire countryside and coast on his poetry so he is a true local hero!

Boole House

Intelligence and strength

George Boole was a British mathematician, born in Lincoln in 1815.  The young George was given his first maths lessons by his father, a tradesman, but apart from this was largely self-taught.  He helped establish modern symbolic logic and his algebra of logic, now called Boolean algebra, is the basic design of digital computer circuits.  He opened his first school in Lincoln at the age of 20, and died in 1864.

Ruston House

Leadership and Courage

Joseph Ruston was born in 1853 and died in Lincoln in 1897.  The founder of Ruston, Procter & Company, he served an apprenticeship with a Sheffield cutlery manufacturer and then set up in business in Lincoln as a millwright.  The large engineering business he built up produced over 20,000 engines between 1857 and 1879 and employed 2,000 people.  Ruston gave his all to the City of Lincoln, also serving as a Councillor, Alderman, Justice of the Peace, and Mayor of Lincoln.

Swift House

Knowledge and wisdom

Dame Sarah Swift was born in 1854 at Kirton Skeldyke near Boston, and died in 1937.  One of the most famous nurses of her era, Dame Sarah believed that nursing was a profession with great potential for women and she worked tirelessly to improve the training, status, and working conditions of nurses, eventually founding the College of Nursing in 1916 and achieving a Royal Charter in 1928.