Scots College – Learning. For Life.

The House System adds another dimension to a boy’s experiences in the Prep School. Houses foster pride, team work and cooperation as well as providing an avenue for our senior boys to develop their leadership skills.

Each boy from Years 1 to 8 is assigned to a House upon starting at the Prep School. Boys are assigned to Houses according to family links initially. If there are none then boys are spread about the Houses evenly. We attempt to make the Houses even in terms of class level, cultural and sporting ability. This allows for good even competition on the sports field and in other competitions.

Boys earn House points for all Inter-House activities, such as Swimming, Athletics, Cross Country, House Music, Haka and major sports, and the winning House is awarded the Inter-House Competition Sports and Cultural Shield at the Prep School Prizegiving.

Academic Merit points earned in the class or Community Service Merit points earned in the school environment go towards the highly valued P J Avery Shield for Academic Endeavour and Service also presented at our annual Prizegiving.

Houses are also required to show community spirit in the school by being assigned a week’s duty during the term. This involves Years 1 – 7 boys looking after the school environment on a daily basis and Year 8 acting as leaders on a duty team at interval and lunch rostered through the week.

The House System at Scots Prep fulfils several purposes. It is designed to:

• Provide a source of collective spirit whereby each boy feels that he belongs to a positive, supportive group (other than his class), which will look after his interests and to which he feels able to contribute purposefully in his own way regardless of academic and/or sporting ability. Particularly relevant here is the ‘vertical grouping’ nature of each House i.e. Years 1 – 8.
• Provide a suitable division of the school population so that the welfare of a manageable number of boys may be delegated by the Principal to the care of the House Directors and their Staff, thus increasing the guidance and pastoral care that the school can provide. Conversely, the House System permits the problems of individuals and groups (outside the classroom) to become more easily apparent and thus more quickly and effectively dealt with.
• Create a means whereby leadership and responsibility can be shared more widely throughout the members of the Year 8 boys, thus providing opportunity for the leadership potential of all senior boys to be developed and evaluated.
• Allow for friendly rivalry and competition across the ages in the school, thus breeding greater school spirit.
• Create a further avenue for the communication of policy and administration throughout the school.

Each House is allocated a number of Leaders led by a House Captain. These Leaders are selected through a process of discussion involving all Staff and as such are accorded no special privileges, but are expected to set an example in their attitude and behaviour, and to assist in the running of the House.