Students enter the Senior School in Year 9 although internal students will have been studying subjects under the control of Senior School Heads of Departments since the beginning of Year 7. This is both an exciting and increasingly serious phase as students' development, emotionally and academically, accelerates quickly towards maturity. This phase incorporates the development of skills to pass public exams, survive university life and make careers, all as successfully as possible. Chigwell School aspires to prepare each student to meet these objectives to the best of his or her ability.
The focal point of pupils' lives in the Senior School are the four houses - Caswalls', Lambourne, Penn's and Swallow's - and many pastoral, sporting and social activities are organised on a house basis.
Each house has a housemaster or housemistress at its head who has a team of supporting tutors.
Every pupil has a house tutor who oversees all aspects of their education, welfare and progress and is the immediate point of contact for parents. The shared stability and common standards promoted by both home and the School help smooth the passage from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. It is only by working together that parents and teachers can seek to give boys and girls the effective support and direction they need.