house system

In the Secondary school, Blackfriars has opted for a vertically structured House system, consisting of Home Groups. The system is vertical, because each home group contains boys of various ages, from Year 7 to Year 12.

Home Group

The Home Group is a grouping of around twenty boys with one teacher. The teacher - called the Home Group teacher - is intended as the parents' first contact at school in anything involving a boy's welfare. We ask you to notify your son's home group teacher if he is sick, has individual or emotional needs, or maybe has achieved some important goal outside the school.

A boy stays with his Home Group throughout his secondary schooling. This enables the Home Group teacher to monitor his progress across the years, and gives the boy a sense of security and continuity.

House

Each House has a patron, drawn from a great Dominican of the Past, and after whom the House is named. A House is made up of five home groups, of approximately ninety boys. Brothers are kept together in the same house (although usually in different home groups).

The House Leader is in charge of a House. The House Leader coordinates House activities - religious, sporting, cultural, academic and social. Listed below are the names of the Houses and their House Leader.

Each House meets at least once a fortnight, and on alternate weeks comes together for a chapel service - a liturgy often organised by the boys themselves. Within a House, senior boys learn to accept responsibility for organising functions, like chapel services, an age group in the swimming carnival, a House barbecue or Breakfast. Each House accepts some responsibility for charitable works and fund-raising.