House system

rdf:langString House system

rdf:langString The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to one house at the moment of enrollment. Houses may compete with one another at sports and maybe in other ways, thus providing a focus for group loyalty. Historically, the house system was associated with public schools in England, especially full boarding schools, where a "house" referred to a boarding house at the school. In modern times, in both day and boarding schools, the word house may refer only to a grouping of pupils, rather than to a particular building. Different schools will have different numbers of houses, with different numbers of students per house depending on the total number of students attending the school. Facilities, such as pastoral care, may be provided on a house basis to a greater or lesser extent depending on the type of school. Houses may be named after saints, famous historical alumni or notable regional topics (e.g. in international schools, houses are sometimes named in honour of local celebrities). Former British royal houses (dynasties) are also popular in the UK, those most often used are the Houses of Lancaster, York, Tudor and Stuart. Other more arbitrary names—animal names or colours, for example—are also often used. Houses are also often referred to by the original name of the building or by the name or initials of the teacher in charge of the house (housemistress or housemaster). Each house will usually also be identified by its own symbol, logo, or colours. At co-educational boarding schools, there may be separate houses for boys and girls, as at the Lawrenceville School, whose house system is itself based on that of Rugby School. Students may also be grouped by year groups or status as boarders or day students. At Winchester College and Eton College, there is a separate house for foundation scholars. Where the school has boarders and day pupils like the King's School, Canterbury or Shrewsbury School, they will often be allocated to separate houses. There have also been cases, for example at Cheltenham College, of pupils being allocated to different houses according to their religion. At traditional full boarding schools such as Radley College and Harrow School, students are grouped by boarding house.