Houses
House System
Houses were first introduced at Scotch in 1940 with the main function being the running of internal sporting competitions.
The first Houses established were Cameron, Stuart, St. Andrews and School. Students were divided evenly between these Houses and originally the events that took place were: Swimming, Cricket, Cross Country, Athletics, Tennis and Football.
In 1948 Alexander and Ferguson were introduced and in 1970 School House became Anderson House. In 1973 Brisbane and Keys were added and with Anderson these became boarding Houses. Finally in 1976 both Ross and Shearer were introduced, giving us the current ten Houses that are in place today.
Each House operates as a microcosm of the Senior School. Houses have their own Tartan, Colours, Marching song, Crest and location within the school. For our students, their House provides a supportive community where a strong sense of value and belonging is experienced. A student’s House is an integral and important part of their journey through the Senior School.
Pastoral Care at Scotch
The vertical House system was introduced in the early 1970’s. It was phased in over a number of years and was designed to provide more support for students and give boys across different year groups more opportunities to interact with each other. Under this system senior students more naturally took on mentoring roles and the focus of each House moved towards one of Pastoral Care.
Today the role of a House Head is a wide and varied one encompassing all aspects of a student’s journey at the College, offering guidance and counselling.
This system remains in place currently and House Heads maintain a watch on the boy’s progress in all areas of School life – academic, spiritual, emotional and physical. Each House has five Mentor groups of students from Years 9-12, with a staff member (House Mentor) working with the senior students in overseeing these groups.