House System
Somerville House utilises a house system. During World War II, a limited house system was first introduced to encourage participation in sport. The two houses were named Leslie and Cunningham, after two local pioneers. After the school was reunited at Vulture Street in 1945, it was decided to divide the school from Form IVA (Year 12) to Form IIB (Year 3), into four groups. The Houses (Chrisholm, Franklin, MacArthur and Osburn) were named after outstanding women in Australian history. First Form and Kindergarten (Prep, Years 1 and 2) had their own system, Elves, Goblins, Fairies and Pixies. It was not until 1983, when the school had grown significantly, that two more Houses were started – Durack and Gilmore.
Today the school has six houses, each named after an Australian woman who was a pioneer in her field:
- Chisholm - Named after Caroline Chisholm
- Durack - Named after Mary Durack (née Costello)
- Franklin - Named after Jane Franklin
- Gilmore - Named after Mary Gilmore
- Macarthur - Named after Elizabeth Macarthur
- Osburn - Named after Lucy Osburn
The houses have competed for the Adamson Shield since 1947, a gift of Dr R V Adamson, father of a past pupil. In 1948, Mr D.J Drysdale donated a shield for competition in Choral singing between the Houses, which is still presented at the annual Choral Festival. Inter-house competitions held throughout the year, include a Swimming Carnival, Athletics Carnival, Cross Country, Hockey, Speedball (fusion of netball and soccer - frequently played in physical education claseses at Somerville), Chess Competition, Senior School Choral Festival (Years 10-12), and Middle School Arts Festival (Years 7-9).
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Famous quotes containing the words house and/or system:
“Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,”
—James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
“If mothers are to be successful in achieving their child-rearing goals, they must have the inner freedom to find their own value system and within that system to find what is acceptable to them and what is not. This means leaving behind the anxiety, but also the security, of simplistic good-bad formulations and deciding for themselves what they want to teach their children.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)