Communications

Parents normally deal with their son’s House Master, who will give advice, take up complaints, and talk over problems. If difficulties arise, parents may wish or need to speak to the Lower Master (who is responsible for the Oppidans in F and E) or the Head Master.

Each boy at Eton has a Tutor in addition to his House Master. A Tutor will typically look after between 15 and 20 pupils of varying ages, and is concerned with their intellectual and personal development. The House Master chooses Tutors for his junior boys but a senior boy chooses his own Tutor (with his House Master’s approval).

A boy visits his Tutor every week, usually in his own home, for a Tutorial (boys in FED) or Private Business (boys in CB). He will also have to see his Tutor (and his House Master) from time to time to get things signed: Order Cards (issued by the boy’s division masters every two or three weeks), Show Ups (good work), Rips (bad work), and just occasionally Tickets (bad behaviour). This signing system automatically keeps House Master and Tutor in touch with each other and in touch with how well the boy is doing.

Every boy receives a full set of reports at the end of every half. Each of a boy’s division masters will write a report on him, and these division reports are collated by the boy’s Tutor and forwarded with a co-ordinating letter to the House Master. The House Master then writes a covering letter and forwards the whole package to the boy’s parents during the first few days of the holidays.

The Head Master sends out a Newsletter (confidential to Parents and Guardians) four times a year.

The Children Act 1989 requires schools to make their procedures for Care and Discipline known to parents. Much of the ground is covered in the pages of this website. A full statement may be found in the The Handbook for Parents available to view here.

Fixtures Book

The Eton College Fixtures book is published immediately prior to the start of each half. It is a mine of information, containing among very many other things: an alphabetical list of all Masters (and numerous other Eton people) with their addresses and telephone numbers, departmental lists of Masters, a list of all boys in alphabetical order with their full initials and preferred forename, House lists, and a detailed week-by-week diary for the half.

An electronic version of this is available here

The Eton Calendar

The Calendar is not a calendar in the usual sense: it is a list of all the divisions (i.e. classes) with the boys’ names. It is published soon after the start of each half.