Earle House

Earle House provides a home for all boys from age 7 until they reach the Sixth Form. Staff are therefore experienced and expert in managing a wide range of ages and interests!

Once study has been completed, students are involved in a lively extra-curricular programme. Popular activities are, for example, football, table tennis, snooker and swimming. In their first match against Campion House, the Earle House football team thrashed the sixth formers 4-0! Twice a week, the boys are either invited to Hawley House or invite the Hawley girls into Earle.

There are many other opportunities for mixed activities in the evenings, such as cookery or film club. A number of the boys take the opportunity (up to three times a week) to make use of the new fitness suite. Wherever possible, if the boys express an interest in trying an activity, we will endeavour to make it happen. Currently in the pipeline are the possibilities of Army Cadets and carp fishing.

The key to successful communal living in a large boarding house is cooperation. All boarders are part of a rota system to keep the kitchen and common room tidy. This not only reminds them that Earle House really is to be regarded as a home from home, but also ensures that two key staff members, House Matron (Linda Johannsen) and House Keeper (Amanda Pomeroy), are not driven to thoughts of emigration! There is also, of course, an expectation that the boys are responsible for keeping their rooms in a habitable state – this can be an ongoing battle - the Earle House Boarders Bedroom Doomsday clock currently sits at 11.56pm!

Weekends provide the boys with the majority of their free time. The Entertainment Society (run by Miss Artamonova) organises trips every Saturday for all boarders. On Sunday all boys attend Mass for an hour and then their time is their own.

Housemaster - Andrew McMillan
Andrew was born in South Africa to Australian parents who immigrated to New Zealand to become rabbit hunters. He is one of only seven new Zealanders who have never played Rugby in their lives. Despite this, he is happy to shout useful things from the side line like “score a try!” or “are you going to let him get away with that!” In his first 6 weeks in Earle House, Mr McMillan led mountain biking expeditions to the highest point in Essex, ‘did’ London with a band of inquisitive Spaniards and turned the boarding house into Swiss Cheese with his DeWalt 18V power drill. His ambitions within the house this year are to put up more framed images of cycling and find more walls in which to drill holes. His favourite colour is green.*

*some or all of the above may or may not be true!

Assistant Housemistress- Elena Artamonova
Elena Artamonova was born in Moscow and studied at the Gnesin Music College and the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire under the world-renowned viola virtuoso Yuri Bashmet. After gaining her diplomas with Honours in 1993 and 1998, she continued her studies in London with Martin Outram - violist of the Maggini Quartet. During her postgraduate studies, she won several prizes including the British Reserve String prize and Michael Stucky Trust award. In April 2000, she was awarded an Associateship of the Royal College of Music with Honours and Fellowship of the London College of Music, subsequently becoming Musician in Residence and Head of Strings at Rannoch School, Scotland. Since moving back to England seven years ago, Elena has enjoyed her career as a viola performer and string coach. She currently holds the post of Assistant Housemistress and also teaches violin and Viola.