The house system is an old English university tradition, recently reimagined in the Harry Potter fantasy stories, which is being implemented today in many primary and secondary schools that participate in the classical education movement. In a house system, each student is assigned a group, or “house,” of other students from all grade levels and stays in that house for all his or her years at the school. Furthermore, all siblings are assigned to the same house. The houses then compete against one another in academics, the arts, athletics, service, and spontaneous acts of virtue, acquiring points that accumulate over the course of each academic year and are totaled at the end of the year, and the winning house is recognized. Points are given from regular activities, such as report card honor roll, and also from special “house” competition events, such as the “House Games” twice a year, which consist of athletic and academic tournaments. Through the competition of the house system, students will be encouraged to work together and to individually develop their talents and virtues at a deeper level than they otherwise would, and this will ultimately strengthen and unify the school as a whole.
The mission of the St. Mary’s House System is to form life-long disciples growing in faith, reason, human development, and apostleship, and in all of this, finding their personal identity as sons or daughters of God.