House System

What’s the House System?

The House System is a main part of many British centres. Historically, the use of the term “house” was associated with boarding schools ,since they grouped students according to their place of residence. Today the house system is used both in boarding schools and in ordinary schools.

Each center can have a different number of houses and chooses how to name them. Some schools choose the names of saints, areas of their region, famous former students, animals or colors. Each house can have its own emblems, colors and symbols.

An example present in popular culture are the four houses of Hogwarts, the school of magic and sorcery from the Harry Potter saga of books and movies.

What does it mean to be part of a house?

At ISN we believe that it is important to reward the achievements and progress of our students. In primary school, children work on a series of skills at school —using new vocabulary, helping their classmates, etc.— and they can get points for implementing these skills. In addition, The points of each student are added to the total of those achieved by their house. In secondary, Students also accumulate points by achieving merits, although the requirements are adapted to their age.

When students accumulate enough points, they receive the corresponding bronze, silver or gold certificate. These diplomas are handed out at the end of the week during the Friday assembly, at which time the new scores and the champion of the week also are announced.

Numerous competitions are held during the course of the school year, such as costume contests, sports championships or literary challenges, among others, in which students obtain points. In some of these events, students participate by houses instead of by classes or courses to combine different ages.

At the end of the course there can only be one winner of the house cup!