Houses
Pupils at the school are separated into four groups, known as "houses", a practice common in many British schools. Originally, the Boys' and Ladies' colleges had their own sets of houses, which were merged when the school amalgamated in 1974. The houses are:
- Cockburn Greyfriars
- It is tradition that members of Cockburn Greyfriars dress as goats to run the March Hare in conjunction with the punishment given to losers of the House Championship pre-dating 1967.
- Preston Falconhall
- Melville Ogilvie
- Lauriston
The school operates a house competition where members can earn house points through participation in various sporting and other events including dance, choir, cinema, general knowledge and drama. They can also be awarded points for participating in and winning various sports events held within the school including house rugby, badminton and football. The first event in the academic year where House points can be earned is the longest indoor golf chip competition (affectionately known as the '9-iron blooter'), and the final event is the annual Sports Day. The pupil heads of the winning house are awarded a trophy at the school's annual prize-giving ceremony.
Read more about this topic: George Watson's College
Famous quotes containing the word houses:
“He hung out of the window a long while looking up and down the street. The world’s second metropolis. In the brick houses and the dingy lamplight and the voices of a group of boys kidding and quarreling on the steps of a house opposite, in the regular firm tread of a policeman, he felt a marching like soldiers, like a sidewheeler going up the Hudson under the Palisades, like an election parade, through long streets towards something tall white full of colonnades and stately. Metropolis.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success! But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beating up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready. And when the people eat the stuff they raise, and living in the houses they build, I’ll be there, too.”
—Nunnally Johnson (1897–1977)