On Friday, September 20th, AISB is launching a new house system. (Think Harry Potter sorting, but with colors, and without the whole magic thing.)

To find out more, The Bite interviewed Vice Principal and leader of the house initiative, Fiona Moss. Here’s what she had to say.

First off, why a house system?

Moss says that this idea was actually inspired by student feedback two years ago. “The younger students wanted more opportunities to meet other students, have fun and build community. They suggested reinventing the house system, as it was only used for a few days [in the past] to organize students.”

Moss says this idea directly connected to the school’s “why”: building community and spirit, across grade levels.

Details for Friday’s Event

Students have already been sorted by color based on their advisory sections (.1 is orange, .2 red, .3 blue, and .4 purple), but everything else is happening on Friday. The entire school day will be dedicated to creating identities for all four houses and planning the activities in which houses will compete against each other (eventually.) A Google Form was already sent to all secondary students via Managebac for them to select preferences of what they would like to do on Friday. These activities include:

  • Banner creation
  • Spirit chants/movements
  • Writing and performing an anthem/house song
  • Making a mascot
  • T-shirt logo design
  • Filming trailers to introduce house identities
  • Create objects that will become symbols for houses
  • Round Table discussions to determine scoring systems, potential house challenges for the year, and to set up the direction for further growth

For more information on these activities, check your Managebac messages, sent by Moss on Monday.

Moss says that “Friday will be a little bit chaotic but really fun,” as well as a good learning experience for future events and activities. She mentions that students should wear their house colors in order to score points and get into the spirit.

Details for Future House Events

Moss explains that teachers will start up this new initiative, but hopefully in the future, students can be the ones planning these events. Once the house system is up-and-running, the goal is to have a house challenge once a month, centered around different subject areas, sports, or seasonal events like pumpkin carving. or councils.

Tell us: Have you been at a school that had a house system? If so, comment below to share your experience!