The PSHS House System is a longstanding tradition that, over the years, has been an effective way to foster student wellbeing, social growth, engagement and school connectedness.
PSHS has 4 Houses:
- Blaxland
- Lawson
- Mitchell
- Wentworth.
The names – Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth - were chosen for the 3 men - Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth - who were granted permission by Governor Lachlan Macquarie to find a way across the mountains to find new pastures for sheep grazing.
They began their expedition from Blaxland's (the leader) farm at Emu Plains on May 11, 1813. They marked a track along the way.
The 3 men descended into a deep valley near Mount York and they crossed the valley and climbed a high hill on the other side.
Here, they found suitable grazing land to the west of the Blue Mountains. They returned on June 6 and, much later, their route became a highway.
Mitchell, our fourth house refers to “Mitchells Pass” at Glenbrook, built in 1833. It is located near the oldest single span arch bridge on the Australian mainland (Lennox Bridge). It was used by those travelling to western NSW until 1926. It was considered an engineering masterpiece.
Each House has a female and male Captain (Year 11) and Vice-Captain (Year 10).
They also lead the organisation and running of House based competitions (sporting and otherwise) within the school.
House Captains encourage students to positively contribute to all aspects of school life. They work alongside the Senior Executive, Sports Organiser and HT Co-curricular Programs to organise House events, School Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics Carnivals, running House Meetings and supporting their chosen House Charity. They also lead the organisation and running of House based competitions (sporting and otherwise) within the school.
The House System at PSHS is a long standing aspect of school life. It is also seen as the structure that fosters another level of student leadership alongside the Prefects, SRC and JRC whilst encouraging school spirit.
It is one of the key formal structures to develop the connections between students across the school in a vertical format and not just the horizontal year based groupings.
The Houses provide for positive competition. An overall winning house would be awarded at the conclusion of each school year. This would mean that the leadership of each house for the calendar year would be shared across 2 sets of Captains/ Vice Captains.
Keeping the model streamlined means that students have a choice to either be a:
- Prefect
- SRC representative
- House Captain
Students cannot hold more than 1 formal position in a leadership cycle (Term 3 through to Term 2 of the following calendar year).
The Houses compete in a number of sporting, academic, co-curricular and cultural activities for points.
At the end of the year, the winning House will be awarded the “House Trophy” and other prizes.