Our Community

Darwin House

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the head of Darwin House and to extend a warm welcome to children and parents alike. 

The house team and I are committed to ensuring that all children receive the best pastoral and academic support throughout their time at Abraham Darby. Darwin House is also extremely lucky to be supported by a dedicated, caring and professional team of mentors who ensure that every child receives the support and guidance they need to thrive.

At Darwin House, we’re passionate about helping our students develop into young adults with the skills needed to succeed in whatever path they choose. We do this through our motto ‘Strive for Excellence’; encouraging every student to be the very best they can be, developing their individual talents. This couldn’t be achieved without the fantastic support offered by our prefects, front team and senior students who work hard to ensure every student feels part of our family. As each child progresses through the academy, they too will have opportunities to develop the leadership skills required to support other students, helping them feel part of our inclusive community.

Life at Haberdashers’ Abraham Darby offers all of our pupils such a wonderful opportunity to participate in a range of activities, from music and the performing arts to sports, chess and murder mystery. Whatever the child’s skills, talents or interests there are chances for them to shine and develop. Determination and resilience are essential for every child’s success and these activities provide the arena for our students to grow in a safe and fun environment. Darwin House holds high standards around participation and effort and we look forward to helping your child to expand their horizons.

Finally, as a house, we place great value on the partnership between school and home in supporting our young people. We want every parent to feel confident that their child will receive outstanding academic and pastoral support from all staff and we work hard to make sure communication is as clear and complete as possible.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any issues, concerns or questions. 

Ed Knowles
Head of House
X: @HADDarwinHouse

Owen House

Owen House: Striving for Excellence!

At Owen House, we celebrate success in all its forms! Whether it’s academic achievements, outstanding attendance, positive behaviour, dedication to inter-house competitions, personal milestones, or simply going the extra mile, every effort is recognised and valued.

We want every Owen House pupil to love coming to school, to be engaged in lessons with our fantastic teachers, and to seize every opportunity available—both inside and outside the classroom. We encourage you to push your limits, embrace challenges, and be the best version of yourself in everything you do.

Owen House is built on a foundation of determination, ambition, and excellence. Our goal is to shape you into impressive, confident, and highly employable individuals, ready to take on the world with pride.

We take inspiration from Wilfred Owen, one of Shropshire’s most celebrated figures. A courageous leader in WWI, he was not only a brave soldier but also an extraordinary poet. His words captured the reality of war in a way that has resonated for generations. Like him, we want Owen House pupils to leave a lasting impact—to stand out, to lead, and to inspire others.

So step up, get involved, and be part of something special. Whether in academics, competitions, or extracurricular activities, make your mark—because in Owen House, we don’t just aim to succeed. We aim to be exceptional!

Celebrating success is a key aspect within the house! Owen House pupils will be recognised for their achievements and efforts in academic work, attendance, behaviour, participation in inter-house competitions, personal achievements or simply going that extra mile.

In the next academic year, we’ll be looking for Owen House to build on past successes and to target certain areas for improvement. The motto for Owen House is ♯OWNIT. This is at the heart of everything we do as a house, we strive for Owen House pupils to be the best in everything they do both personally and academically, and in extra-curricular and inter-house competitions. We expect Owen House pupils to go above and beyond so they stand out from the rest. We’ll build Owen House pupils to be impressive and employable people. We want Owen House pupils to own the stage wherever that may be! ♯OWNIT

Keep up to date with Owen House news, up-and-coming events and achievements on X (formerly Twitter) @adaowenhouse.

Mrs Sarah Yeomans
Head of Owen House

Webb House

Welcome to Webb House. My name is Miss Owen and I’m lucky enough to be the head of this fantastic house. Webb is a fun and exciting house where all students’ contributions are valued.

Mary Webb, novelist and poet, is Shropshire’s most famous daughter.  She passionately loved the Shropshire countryside, which she knew intimately, drawing from it her settings, her characters and the rich descriptive detail of her novels and poems. Her creativity was inspiring. The message we can all learn from Webb is that you should make the most of the opportunities available to you, be as creative as you can and use your surroundings to inspire your success.

There’s a strong emphasis on the need to include pupils (a sense of belonging), immediately on joining Webb House, and build on the sense of community with each other as well as the need for positive role models. In our house, we work to achieve through teamwork, encouragement and enjoyment.

It’s very important that students within the house are happy and have all they need to reach their true full potential. This will be achieved through a strong emphasis on mutual respect for each other and a calm and caring environment.

There are many opportunities for student leadership within the house system. Webb House believes it’s important to provide more opportunities for our students to take responsibility and develop leadership skills. There’s a blend of different activities to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to represent their house at some point.

Webb House thrives on the ethos of:

• Belonging
• Heroes
• Sense of accomplishment
• Fun and excitement
• Curiosity and creativity
• Spirit of adventure
• Leadership and responsibility
• Confidence to take action

Miss Emma Norry
Head of Webb House

Woodhall House

May I take this opportunity to introduce Woodhall House; my name is Ms Rosser and I’m lucky enough to be Head of this fantastic house.

Woodhall is named after the famous Telford sportsman, Richie Woodhall. He’s a former English boxer who held the WBC Super Middleweight title. He took the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and won the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Since retiring, he’s followed a career in broadcasting with the BBC and Sky Sports. He’s recently established his own charity, Fight For Change, which uses the sport of boxing in inner cities and socially excluded communities to engage young people in positive activities. Richie grew up in Telford on the Woodside estate, attending the Abraham Darby School from 1979-1984.

Richie was renowned for his hard work, teamwork and ‘above and beyond’ spirit. These are the three values that Woodhall House is built upon. Whether solving murder mysteries, designing Christmas cards or playing house netball or rugby, I would always expect pupils to demonstrate these pillars of the house values when taking part in any activity. ‘Acta non verba’, which translates into ‘actions not words’, is the motto of Woodhall House. We want Woodhall House students to use their initiative and take part in all activities to the best of their ability.

In the coming years, we’ll be looking for Woodhall House to build upon its past successes and students to play a vital role in shaping its identity and ethos. Senior students take a more central role in the organisation and day-to-day running of houses, whether this be leading assemblies, chairing student councils or implementing new initiatives.

We want to make every child’s time in Woodhall as enjoyable and successful as possible, both through competition and by providing opportunities for personal growth. Our main expectation from all students in Woodhall House is that they take part to the best of their abilities. Of course, we’d all love to win the competitions but we also focus on them becoming the best students that they’re capable of becoming.

Remember, alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!

Ms Alison Rosser
Head of Woodhall House