Our House Teams

Our house teams are all named after Northern Saints.

They were chosen following a questionnaire sent out to all our families.

We are very proud of our Northern Heritage.

Saint Aelred

Saint Aelred was born in 1109 at Durham, and was sent to the Scottish Court for an education that would ensure his future as a nobleman. He was made Master of the Household of the King of Scotland. He did not enjoy life at court though and, at the age of 24 he entered the Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx in Yorkshire.

There he began writing about following the example of Jesus. In 1147 he became Abbot of Rievaulx, a post which he held until his death of kidney disease twenty years later at the age of 57.

His most famous book is called Spiritual Friendship.

St Postgate

Nicholas Postgate was born in 1597 at Kirkdale House in Egton Bridge.

He loved God very much and when he grew up he became a priest. He had to work secretly because at that time it was against the law to be a priest.

He travelled around the villages around the North Yorkshire Moors, disguised as a peddler or gardener.

When a reward for £20 was offered for the capture of Catholic Priests, he was betrayed to the authorities by John Reeves.

Father Postgate was tried for treason and in 1679 was executed in York at the age of 82.

Saint Bede

Saint Bede was born in 673.

From the age of 7 Bede was looked after by monks and spent all of his life in the monastery. He became a priest when he was 30. He followed the rules of the monastery, sang in the choir and said his prayers daily. He worked as a scholar and a teacher and was always delighted to learn, to teach and to write.

He wrote about the bible and his books were said to 'shine like a lantern'. Everybody wanted to read his words. He also wrote about nature, the sun and the moon.

Bede died in his cell at the monastery in the year 735 at the age of 62. A young monk who was with him wrote how Bede finished writing a chapter of his book then said "I have a few treasures in my box, some pepper and a napkin and incense. Run quickly and fetch the priests of our monastery, and I will share among them such little presents as God has given me."

We remember him as a very holy and clever man.

Saint Cuthbert

Saint Cuthbert was brought up as a shepherd in Northumbria. When he was 15, at the end of August 651, he had a vision which decided him to dedicate his life to God. As soon as he could, he became a monk, and in 651 AD he entered the monastery of Melrose on the banks of the River Tweed, The Abbot there was called Eata, who later became the bishop of the church of Hexham.

In 661, Cuthbert became Prior of Melrose. He taught in the monastery and also in the nearby towns and the villages up in the hills where he often stayed for weeks on end.

In 664 he was transferred to be Prior of Lindisfarne. Here Cuthbert felt more and more drawn to a life of seclusion and solitary contemplation, and in 676, he withdrew to the island of Farne. Here, the brethren helped him to build a tiny dwelling surrounded by a ditch. He asked them to dig a well in the floor, and this was filled with water, to provide an ample supply for all who came to visit. For years, Cuthbert served God in this hut surrounded by an embankment so high that he could see nothing but the heavens for which he longed so much

In 685, he was made Bishop of the church at Lindisfarne, but nothing would induce him to abandon his hermitage. At length, the King, accompanied by bishops and other devout men persuaded Cuthbert to take this new position. He was consecrated at York in the presence of the King and the primate Theodore, assisted by six other bishops.

After spending two years in his bishopric, Cuthbert returned to his island hermitage, God having shown him that the day of his death was drawing near. He died on Farne Island, and was taken back to Lindisfarne to be buried there. Later his body was taken to Durham Cathedral where it rests in a magnificent shrine.

In his life, Cuthbert was known as a man of prayer, he taught others to do only what he first practised himself. Above all, he was filled with heavenly love, unassumingly patient, and kindly to all who came to him for comfort. His self-discipline and fasting were exceptional, and he was always intent on the things of Heaven.

Cuthbert is usually represented as carrying in his hands the head of King Oswald which was buried with him