Brunel House

Brunel House

 

Our motto is “Building Bridges”. Our inspiration is the man – our reality is Brunel House.

 

Head of House – Mr Reeves

Deputy Head of House – Mrs Robins-Kent 

 

Tutors:

B1 – Mr Salinas                                      B5 – Miss Sargent

B2 – Miss Donia                                      B6 – Mr Jones

B3 – Miss Mitchell                                   B7 – Miss Threlfall

B4 – Miss Patterson                                B8 – Mrs Rogers

 

House Team:

Amy Dexter, Arun Kakar, Elizabeth Mertens, Jack Lumb, Jessica Pearce,
Kieran Pereira,Megan Shutt, Rachel Adams, Sujata Kirby, Will Keyser

 

Biography:                                                                           Brunel House was named after the great English engineer called Isambard Kingdom Brunel who was born in 1806. He was perhaps the greatest constructional engineer who has yet lived. He pursued engineering as an individualistic art. He inherited father’s love of engineering and he joined him in building the Thames Tunnel. Whilst recovering from injuries sustained during that project, he submitted his design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge – one of his best-known works. Brunel built the whole of the original Great Western Railway and introduced the electric telegraph for signally.His railway work led him to build steamers big enough to run on regular services, not only in local seas but also across the great oceans and in rough waters. Inspite of Brunel’s achievements in the railway, he is chiefly remembered for his three historic ships, the Great Western, Great Britain, Great Eastern. The Great Western was built to continue from the Great Western Railway to run from England to the United States. The great Britain was built as a larger ship to the Great Western and was constructed to become Brunel’s finest ship. The success of the Great Britain led Brunel to plan another ship, which would be four times larger. Unfortunately the ship was incapable of making the long run, which had been planned. The financial and technical problems of the vessel broke Brunel’s health and in 1859, he died of a stroke at the age of fifty-three, the year after her launch. His bridges were also great feats of engineering prowess. Prime examples are the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar between Cornwall and Devon. It is this aspect of his genius that we have focused on in Brunel – The bringing together, the bridging of differences to form a unit. Brunel was a man of great vision and imagination who turned his ideas into reality through his talent for engineering. Charity:

We have raised a huge amount of money for MacMillan Cancer Support in the last few years,over £10,000 in five years. We always hold the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ in September which raised over £700 in 2010. In June of that year Mr Reeves and some student took part on the ‘Longest Day Golf Challenge’ and raised £2,500.


 Brunel

We have won the interhouse sports day for three years running, including by a record margin in 2010. We pride ourselves in being the house that has the most students that take part and this is reflected in the overall results.