Brooke House

Welcome to Brooke House!

"As Head and Deputy Head of Brooke House, we see our roles as supporting the pupils and tutors in their endeavours - to celebrate their successes and to help them develop resilience in the face of challenges. The course of learning is not linear; through a pupil’s school journey there will be highs and lows, but in being part of Brooke House a pupil is never alone in this experience. Brooke house provides a ‘community within a community’ where we foster positive relationships built on integrity, trust, and ambition. We value pupil voice, being part of a team and having opportunities to lead. We also strive to provide a vehicle for pupils to explore their passions and demonstrate the values of being a Norwich School pupil upholding and fostering a collective and empathetic environment – sharing in each other’s achievements and working together to support one another."







"My name is Peri Ulgen and I’m the House Captain of Brooke House and I joined Norwich School in Lower 6. I’m studying biology, chemistry and geography and I am planing to attend university for marine biology. I am also an academic scholar, a member of Erpingham society (a club where students present on any issue that interests them) and REACH (our schools cultural appreciation society)."

House History

Brooke House takes its name from the legendary ON Sir James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak. He attended the School from 1815 and was reputedly “completely unreceptive to the idea of learning”. He allegedly hid Head Master Valpy’s cane under floorboards, only discovered after his leaving. He went on to carve out a career initially in the army. After this was cut short by injury, he used a substantial inheritance to buy a boat and sail to Borneo, bound for adventure. Here he exerted his influence and force of personality over pirates, headhunters and rebellious tribes, ruling over Sarawak for 27 years.


Brooke House is a welcoming and inclusive body of pupils and tutors alike. Not only are they caring and supportive of peers and colleagues, but they are also highly motivated and competitive! Members of Brooke House are encouraged to thrive and achieve, both academically and within the co-curricular sphere, and also to uphold and foster a collective and empathetic environment within the House – sharing in each other’s achievements and working together to support one’s endeavours.

House News

Coke House Annual Visit to Holkham Hall

By Eleanor Lewis • April 29, 2025
On our recent Coke house trip to Holkham Hall, we were lucky to have ideal weather to admire the grounds in their full beauty. As soon as we entered the hall on our tour, it was apparent how interconnected the hall was with Coke house as all throughout the hall, there were many paintings of relatives of Sir Edward Coke, whom our house is named after. We were amazed at the sheer volume of artwork in the house from paintings to statues to murals. We learnt about the Palladian architecture style of the whole estate, meaning that there was a considerable importance placed on symmetry; It’s truly amazing to stand in the centre of the house and see through the whole property. One of the activities we did was preventive conservation, helping document emerging damage in the hall so that it can be monitored and prevented from further deterioration. After completing the necessary work, we took to the gardens surrounding the grounds for a well-deserved break – playing croquet and looking around at the various plants and herbs being nurtured by the gardeners working at the hall. Varying croquet skill levels and severe (but friendly) competitiveness meant we finished the day on a high. We left Holkham hall enriched with a deeper understanding of Coke’s history, and a better knowledge of our peers. - Nova Adkins, Zach Bradley, Rose Cook and Leon Lui - L6 pupils

Valpy House Celebrate Shrove Tuesday

By Eleanor Lewis • March 4, 2025
In keeping with Norwich School tradition, Valpy House led the celebrations of Shrove Tuesday by serving pancakes to the school at breaktime. Pupils in the house are encouraged to bring in toppings that they think everyone will enjoy. The traditional lemon & sugar option is still a big seller, while the more adventurous tastes could add bananas, strawberries, cream, marshmallows, and this year's new trend was biscoff spread. We sold almost 150 pancakes this year, with the proceeds raised going to Action Cancer UK. There was also a large bag of leftovers, which were donated to a local foodbank.  Also at lunchtime we held a pancake flipping contest, with the winner flipping their (plastic) pancake 44 times in 30 seconds. Can you beat that?

FONS Provide Fun for Fourth Form and Repton House

By Eleanor Lewis • March 4, 2025
As part of a FONS joint bid, board games have been purchased for the 4th Form and Repton House to encourage team building and friendships! These games are in the 4th Form office for tutees to use and some have been allocated to Repton House tutor groups! We have already seen that playing these games builds skills in teamwork, collaboration, healthy and friendly competition, strategy and problem solving as well as being a useful tool to help pupils communicate. Relationships between peers and tutors have been consolidated through game play as is evident from the photographs taken. During important conversations a game can act to put pupils at ease; to start a conversation; to distract and to comfort. During a busy school week, playing a board game during social times or tutor times can act as a stress reliever allowing pupils to relax and have fun which we believe will improve their overall wellbeing. Finally, we have seen that all pupils in the tutor groups get involved, irrespective of ability, gender or friendship group. We believe we are therefore, promoting inclusivity and engagement and enhancing the overall sense of community. In the future, we plan to add to our store of board games. Andrew Rowlandson runs the Board Games club. At the same time as we applied for the bid, he asked parents for donations, which too bolstered our supply. We would very much like to create a board games library, where pupils can sign games in and out. Many thanks to the FONS for their generous support.
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