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Chippeways	Deerfeet	Mohicans	Ojibwas

The Revd WRM Leake became the third headmaster of DCPS in the spring term of 1910. He introduced a number of long standing traditions; amongst them the introduction of four tribes - Chippeways, Deerfeet, Mohicans and Ojibwas.

They are first mentioned in documentation about the history of the school in 1916 so we must assume that they were introduced at about that time. The tribes are named after North American Indian tribes, and Leake chose these names as he believed that the characteristics of the tribes were worth imitating.

Chippeway, Mohican and Ojibwa are all names of North American tribes which can be traced, but Deerfoot is the odd one out. Research shows that there is no such tribe, but Deerfoot was a tribe chief in the USA in 1862.

The tribe system is still in use today at both DCPS London and DCPS Kent. Each tribe is headed by a tribe master or mistress, and pupils in Year 8 are give the responsibility of becoming tribe seniors. The seniors assist the staff in a number of tasks. For example, they might read the tribe prayer in assembly during their duty week. They will also be responsible for helping to organise pupils within the tribe for inter-tribe competitions such as sporting events, general knowledge quizzes, tug-of-war, poetry competitions, etc.

Each tribe has its own symbol and is attached to a colour. Chippeway - red, Deerfeet - blue, Mohicans - green and Ojibwas - yellow. Pupils now have tribe T-shirts which they wear for sporting events such as tribe cross country and sports day. This makes it much easier to see how the different tribes are faring!

The reward and sanctions procedure is linked to the tribe system and there are shields and cups to be won for a range of different activities, including the tribe slip competition for good work. There is much healthy competition between the tribes and we believe that the system supports a sense of community for the pupils as they progress throughout the school.