The aim of the MPS House System – is to promote a sense of belonging and pride in our students, as well as a sense of connectedness to our school. It provides a caring environment in which individuals feel a sense of belonging and acceptance through the vertically structured house system. As a member of one of the five houses, students can develop team spirit and interact with a cross section of other students in academic, sporting and cultural events.
The objectives of the House System
Our objective is to give every child in each house and those who take positions of responsibility the following:
- A sense of belonging
- Positive role models from within their peer group
- A sense of achievement outside the classroom
- Fun and excitement through competition
- Curiosity and creativity
- Leadership
- Individual and collective responsibility
- The confidence to be Bold, take action and develop a spirit of adventure
- The development of communication skills, flexibility and resilience
Allocation to Houses
All children are placed into one of the five houses on entry to Mernda Primary School. Each class will have a variety of children who make up the representing body of each House to allow children to work as a team, aiming for the success of the House in all challenges, activities and competitions. All siblings attending our school will be placed in the same House allowing a sense of unity and togetherness throughout their time at Mernda.
The House names are after a prominent Australian who has made a significant impact and displayed all the values of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. This allows all children to have a sense of belonging and to have knowledge of the significant role their prominent Australian played within our country. Each house is identified through a House colour, an animal and a motto which represent that prominent Australian. At the beginning of every year the newly selected House Captains will present at assembly their house banner and the person that they will be representing and the values that this person holds in regards to our school value of R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
At the beginning of every year House Captains are chosen to represent each House, as they are seen as reliable and responsible leaders of the school community, contributing to the tone of the school, and promoting our school’s values. Our House Captains meet regularly with our SRC representative and Assistant Principal to discuss different activities and themes for various events throughout the year which they take charge of. Our House Captains play a pivotal role in leading and supporting whole school activities.
Meet the MPS Houses and the Mascots!
Lester House –
Alison Jean Lester is an Australian author and illustrator who has published over 25 children’s picture books and two young adult novels; The Quickstand Pony and The Snow Pony. In 2005 Lester won the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year for her children’s book, Are We There Yet?: A Journey around Australia. Her books have been published worldwide.
Alison Lester is one of Australia’s most beloved children’s authors. She began her career by illustrating other people’s books for about five years until two authors prompted her to start writing her own material.
Alison’s ideas come from everywhere but a lot of themes come from her childhood. Growing up on a farm on the southern part of the Victorian coast. The freedom and adventure of riding horses and exploring became is a big part of her imagination. But also finds things like dreams and snatches of conversation that inspire her. Alison once got an idea for a book from of a label on a jumper. The tag read called ‘Kissed by the Moon’, and this inspired the title for a children’s book’. She believes children need adventures and the freedom to imagine. She has always been a bookworm and often reads for hours in the middle of the night. ‘I love the way books take you to another world, no matter what’s going on in your life.’
Hume House –
Hume was born near Parramatta, a town close to Sydney. On October 2, 1824 Hume and William Hovell left Sydney to try and get to Spencer’s Gulf in South Australia. The explorers made the journey over rough mountain country with many rivers to get across. On November 16 they found a “fine river” which they called the Hume. This river was later renamed the Murray River. They made a boat to get across the river near the present site of Albury. After a journey of 11 weeks, on December 16, 1824 they reached Corio Bay, Victoria near the present site of Geelong. Hume received grants of 1,200 acres of land as a reward. This journey discovered the overland path (now called the Hume Highway) between Sydney and Melbourne. During their journey they explored the terrain of what is now known as the Whittlesea area and discovered Mount Disappointment.
The Hume Highway was named after Hamilton Hume, who with William Hovell were the first Europeans to traverse an overland route between Sydney and Port Phillip, in what later became Victoria. The name is a tribute to Hamilton Hume who, together with William Hilton Hovell, in 1824 led the first exploration party overland for Port Phillip in Victoria, and much of the present highway route is along the path followed by Hume.
Clark House –
Clark was born in Camden, New South Wales, and was educated at Scots College. He studied medicine at Sydney University. He then specialised in ear, nose and throat surgery at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and obtained a fellowship in 1964 from the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Clark then returned to Australia and became a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons and in 1969 completed his PhD at the University of Sydney on “Middle Ear & Neural Mechanisms in Hearing and in the Management of Deafness”. At the same time, he completed a Master of Surgery thesis on “The Principles of the Structural Support of the Nose and its Application to Nasal and Septal Surgery”.
In 1976, he returned to England to study at the University of Keele, and to learn more about speech science, as this knowledge was also essential for enabling him to work on converting complicated speech signals into electrical stimulation of the hearing nerve. Professor Graeme Clark pioneered the Multi-channel Cochlear Implant for severe-to profound deafness: the first clinically successful sensory interface between the world and human consciousness, and the first major advance in helping deaf children and adults to communicate in a world of sound. The multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear), pioneered by Professor Graeme Clark at the University of Melbourne, is the first cochlear implant to reliably give speech understanding to severely and profoundly deaf people, as well as spoken language to children born deaf.
Done House –
Ken Done, an only child, grew up in the northern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, and left high school at age 14 to study at the National Art School in East Sydney. In the 60’s he travelled to New York and London to pursue a career in advertising. He returned to Sydney in 1969 to follow his artistic desires. Ken Done has become one of Australia’s most famous artists. His work has been described as the most original style to come out of Australia, and his paintings continue to promote Australian art and design to a world-wide audience. He is an ambassador for UNICEF and has been commissioned for many different artistic displays, in Australia and around the world including the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Freeman House –
Cathy Freeman is an Australian athlete. She was the first Aboriginal person to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. With her talent she was able to bring new attention to Aboriginal people.
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born on February 16, 1973, in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. Her mother was of the Kuku Yalanji people of far north Queensland, and her father was from the Burri Gubba people of central Queensland. Freeman discovered her love of track and field after her first race when she was eight years old. Initially, her stepfather coached her, but she was soon offered scholarships to attend schools where she worked with experienced coaches. Freeman focused mostly on running the 200-meter and 400-meter races.
Freeman was inducted in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2007 she established the Cathy Freeman Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps Aboriginal children. In 2011 she was named a “Legend of Australian Sport.”