King Edward's School, Birmingham - The House System

The House System

King Edward's has a house system, instigated in 1902 by the then Headmaster, Robert Cary Gilson. Originally, there were four houses, using the colours Blue, Green, Red and Yellow, but the houses were known simply by the name of the Housemaster at any one time ("Mr Soandso's House"), involving a change of name whenever the Housemaster changed. In 1951 the number of Houses was enlarged to eight, and it was decided that they should have permanent names. Six were called after former Headmasters, and two after assistant masters (Rawdon Levett and C. H. Heath).

The Houses compete against one another every year to win the Cock House Trophy. There are many events that boys take part in and get points for. These points are totalled up at the end of the year, and the House with the most points is declared the Cock House Champion. Each house has a distinctive set of 'colours', which are awarded to students for merit and commitment in representing the house in house matches. Each house also has its own 'house tie', the tie's pattern comprising stripes of the house colour on a black background. Some houses award it for subjective merit, while others use a points system to award the tie. Only boys in the Fourths and above may wear a house tie. The most successful house on record is Gifford, with 11 Cock House Trophy wins in 32 years, their most recent win being in 2009. The longest ever run of victories is 6 years in a row, achieved by Heath House 1998–2004. In reporting sport events the house names are often shortened to one or two letters, as indicated above.