All pupils are allocated a house team. Pupils represent their team in inter-house sports competitions including sports day. The teaching staff are also allocated a house team.
Pupils are to wear their house colours on these days.
Historical York
The city or ‘bar’ walls of York are the most complete example of medieval city walls still standing in England today. Beneath the medieval stonework lie the remains of earlier walls dating as far back as the Roman period.
The medieval city walls originally included 4 main gates or ‘bars’
Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate
The defensive perimeter stretched over 2 miles encompassing the medieval city and castle.
Micklegate Bar
Micklegate Bar was the most important of York’s medieval gateways and the focus for grand civic events. The ruling monarch traditionally stops at Micklegate Bar to ask permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the city. For many hundreds of years Micklegate Bar was also home to the severed heads of rebels and traitors, which were skewered on pikes and displayed above the gate. There they were pecked by crows and magpies – a suitable indignity. The last of the severed heads was removed in 1754. The Bar is now a museum.
Walmgate Bar
Although Walmgate is the only bar to retain its barbican, portcullis and inner doors, it has had a more torrid history than the other bars. It was burned by rebels in 1489 and battered by cannon during the siege of 1644. Until the late 19th century each of the 4 main bars had a barbican (an outer wall and gateway) just like the one that survives at Walmgate.
Monk Bar
Monk Bar is the largest and most ornate of the surviving bars and dates from the early 14th century. The passageway and two lower storeys have elaborate vaulted roofs. The bar was a self-contained fortress with each floor capable of being defended. The arch on the front of the bar supports a gallery from which missiles and boiling oil could be dropped on attackers. Monk Bar still has its portcullis and winding mechanism. It is now a museum.
Bootham Bar
There has been a gateway here since AD71. From here Roman Legions marched north to war in Scotland. The earliest parts of the present gatehouse date from the 11th century (the archway through which traffic still passes. Watch out for cars!).
