Our House System – Academic & Pastoral Care

Canterbury’s House System has been carefully designed to cater for all students, supporting the academic, sporting and cultural aspects of the College.

Multiple year level House Form groups create the basis of our pastoral care system.

And ongoing interhouse activities each semester, strengthen student identity within their House via healthy competition.

Our annual House points system provides:

  • incentives for student engagement across the school’s cultural spectrum
  • recognition of students’ individual academic, sporting and artistic achievements
  • plus a sense of competition, ‘clan-like’ unity and joint celebration.

House points accrue until the close of each school year, when the prestigious Canterbury Cup is awarded to the most successful House with the highest points.

House points may be accrued from the following activities:

  • Clash Of Chants
  • Cursus Magnus: Annual Traditional Relay Race
  • Interhouse Choral / Singing Competition
  • Interhouse Athletics Carnival
  • Interhouse Cross Country Carnival
  • Interhouse Swimming Carnival
  • Interhouse Mathematics Challenge
  • GPA Big Improvers
  • Academic Excellence Awardees
  • Various Interhouse Lunchtime Events – Touch Football, Football (Soccer), Dodgeball, Futsal etc.

Vertical House System

Class teachers are the primary contacts for Junior School students regarding their academic and pastoral care.

While the House system gives Senior School students a strong structure to interact with their peers from Years 7-12, across all different classes in these cohorts, and from Kindy to Year 6.

The Year 6 Student Leaders facilitate House events and support each and every student in their House.

Each Form class in the Senior School is House-based and includes students across Years 7-12.

Students remain in their same Form class for the duration of their Senior School years, enabling them to develop a long-term relationship with their Form Teacher, Assistant Head of House and Head of House.

This vertical House system aims to develop the following amongst our students:

  • Positive self-esteem and self-identity
  • A definitive sense of belonging
  • Personal integrity and pride
  • Positive mental health through peer support
  • Improved student responsibility
  • A student voice via teamwork, cooperation, communication, leadership and community.

Each Head of House, as the primary point of contact for students, parents and carers, works in partnership with parents and carers, teachers and key staff to holistically track and support students academically – to support their behaviour, and their general social and emotional wellbeing.

There are six Houses at Canterbury College: Becket, Cranmer, Goldsworthy, Kime, Ramsey and Temple.

The original four Canterbury Houses – Becket, Cranmer, Ramsey and Temple – are named after Archbishops of Canterbury who demonstrated the values upon which Canterbury is based: hard work, quiet determination, courage in the face of adversity, leadership, discipline and devotion.

Joining these in 2020 were two new Houses – Goldsworthy and Kime.

After much discussion, the College decided to honour two women – preferably Australian, who were pioneers within the Anglican Church, and exhibited the same values as the four Archbishops above.

So Kay Goldsworthy AO – Australian Bishop and Perth Archbishop, and Karen Kime – Aboriginal Australian Priest and Archdeacon, were chosen (please read below for their stories under their House banner).

House-based Community Service Activities

Annual Canterbury Cup House Winners

2018 Victor Ludorum Cup Winner – Ramsey House

2019 Victor Ludorum Cup Joint Winners – Becket & Ramsey House

2020 Canterbury Cup House Winner – Ramsey House

2021 Canterbury Cup House Winner – Ramsey House

2022 Canterbury Cup House Winner – Ramsey House

2023 Canterbury Cup House Winner – Ramsey House

NB: The Canterbury Cup replaced the Victor Ludorum Cup (Latin for ‘winner of the games’) when the College’s Houses expanded from four up to six.

<< Scroll through to discover our houses >>