House System

In 2015 the House system was reintroduced.   

Many of you will have seen the House system used in Harry Potter, so to give you an idea of it, just think of Gryffindor whilst reading on.

Just to give you a little history, back in the mid 60s through to 1972, when the school was known as Kaikorai Valley High School the school did have Houses.  These were named after influential people who had a significant connection to the school.  The houses were called Cobham -named after Baron Cobham the Governor General, Manton - named after Guy Manton the first Chairman of the KVHS Board of Governors, Maslin - named after the first principal of KVHS Mr Rex Maslin, and Wright - named after Leonard Wright, possibly the most popular mayors of that time.

The 2015 Houses were named after Māori trees - Kōwhai, Mataī, Rāta, Tōtara.  The goals for having a House system are to:

  • Build school spirit allowing for a connection between students from all age levels.

  • Encourage participation in all areas of school life, including sporting, cultural and academic activities.

  • Allow for points to be allocated for community events e.g Can Appeal, Shave for Cure.

  • Provide a channel for students to contribute.

  • Provide identity for students and sense of belonging through healthy competition.

  • Strengthens school values while creating a sense of belonging.

  • Allow for further leadership opportunities.

Students are awarded a House badge in the colour of their House when they first start at the school and this is proudly worn on their jerseys or blazer.

Students are able to gain points for their Houses through the schools values system. When they display the school values teachers are able to award them a PRIDE card which then allows them to go into a draw for prizes in assemblies, but also earns points for their House.

Each term the PRIDE cup is awarded to the House with the highest number of PRIDE cards for that term. These points, along with all the competition points then are pooled together for the overall supreme winner for the year and this sees the House being awarded a shield in the senior end of year prize giving, a keenly awaited announcement!

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