The House System
St Clement Danes Primary School is divided into four houses:
- Pennington (Blue)
- Lynch (Yellow)
- Exeter (Green)
- Twining (Red)
Each child is assigned to a House. Each house has two House Captains from Year 6. Siblings are placed together in the same house as their brothers/sisters.
Inter-house competitions take place on Sports Day and 'house points' are awarded throughout the school year.
Our four houses take their names from the school's fascinating history:
Twining
The Twining family have sold tea in the Strand since 1706 and are the longest continual ratepayers in the City of Westminster. The founder of the business, Thomas Twining, first became a subscriber to the school in 1710 and subsequent generations have served either as Governors or on the Foundation which owns the school. Samuel Harvey Twining virtually ran the school from 1850 until 1900 and the latest Samuel Twining was Chairman of the Foundation until 2008.
Exeter
The link was established by Sir Robert Cecil, who was effectively prime minister throughout the reign of Elizabeth I. The family owned a large house and estate in the Strand where the Lyceum theatre now stands. The Cecil family still own the right of presenting the rectors of St Mary le Strand with St Clement Danes. The 1928 extension at the school was opened by the Marchioness of Exeter. Her son, the 7th Marquess was an Olympic runner who won several gold medals.
Pennington
The Reverend Septimus Pennington was rector of St Clement Danes 1889-1910 and was a Manager (Governor) of the school. He was rector when the present school was built. His son in law, the Reverend William Pennington-Bickford was rector from 1910-1941 and was Chairman of the Managers (Governors). His wife Louie Pennington-Bickford was also a Manager. All three did a vast amount of work for the school and the children of the Drury Lane area.
Lynch
Mrs Mabel Lynch came as a teacher in the early 1920s, became Headmistress of the Infants' School when the school was three different schools - hence the different doorways - and later Head of the united school. She ran the school through the problems of the 1930s and after the school was evacuated created a wartime school in the present buildings. She died in the early 1960s.
