House System

In 2011, the College implemented the current House system comprising eight House patrons who together reflect the ethos of the College. Each House consists of students across Years 7-12, with students sorted into Homerooms. Students are allocated to a House on commencement.

The House system:

  • Provides pastoral care, guidance and support

  • Builds community and identity

  • Encourages unity, teamwork and communication

  • Enriches student life through a range of faith-based, cultural and sporting activities

  • Allows students to interact within and across year levels

  • Raises funds for Catholic charities through the celebration of House Patron Days

Each year, Houses compete for the House Cup, which includes events such as:

  • Athletics, Swimming and Cross Country carnivals

  • Inter-house sports

  • Inter-house play competition

  • Subject-based competitions

The system is an essential component to student life at the College, facilitating a sense of connectedness that serves to enhance their overall learning experience. Students wear their House shirts with the College sports uniform on Fridays, and participate in activities year-round.

CHISHOLM HOUSE

Motto: ‘Open Hands, Open Hearts’

House Colour: Dark Blue

Patron: Caroline Chisholm (United Kingdom; 1808-1877)

Known for:

  • Helping establish better living conditions for immigrants to Australia in the 19th century

  • Opening the Female Immigrants’ Home in Sydney

  • Assisting unemployed young women migrants in finding jobs

  • Placing over 11,000 people in homes and jobs

Birthday: 30 May

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DE VIALAR HOUSE

Motto: ‘Devotion and Compassion’

House Colour: Yellow

Saint: St Emilie de Vialar (France; 1797-1856)

Known for:

  • Founding the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition in France

  • Helping the poor and pursuing ‘all works of charity’

  • Caring for the sick in hospitals and in prisons

  • Teaching children, and caring for children neglected by their parents

Feast Day: 17 June

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MACKILLOP HOUSE

Motto: ‘See Need, Evoke Change’

House Colour: Sky Blue

Saint: St Mary of the Cross (Mary MacKillop) (Australia; 1842-1909)

Known for:

  • Establishing the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in Australia

  • Running schools, refuge centres and orphanages with the Sisters

  • Serving the children of the poor, and many who were suffering and neglected

  • Kindness, encouragement to others, and for always seeking unity

Feast Day: 8 August

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MERICI HOUSE

Motto: ‘Act, Strive, Believe’

House Colour: Red

Saint: St Angela Merici (Italy; 1474-1540)

Known for:

  • Establishing the group that would later become the Institute of Saint Ursula
    (the Ursuline Sisters)

  • Advocating for the education of girls

  • Working to improve living conditions by being among the people and understanding their needs

  • Being the patron saint of disabled and sick people

Feast Day: 27 January

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PALLOTTI HOUSE

Motto: ‘Serve and Do’

House Colour: Silver

Saint: St Vincent Pallotti (Italy; 1795-1850)

Known for:

  • Founding the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (SAC)

  • Encouraging people, including lay people, to actively participate in the Church’s mission of living and spreading the Good News

  • Pallottine Brothers and Priests – who have ministered to Aboriginal people in Western Australia since 1901

  • The Pallottines’ Rossmoyne and Riverton communities have assisted the faith life of the College since 1983, including providing boarding facilities for students from Kimberley region in the College’s early years

Feast Day: 22 January

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ROMERO HOUSE

Motto: ‘Aspire to be More’

House Colour: Purple

Patron: Archbishop Oscar Romero (El Salvador; 1917-1980)

Known for:

  • Serving as the Catholic Archbishop in El Salvador during the 1960s and 1970s

  • Speaking out on behalf of the poor and the victims of his country’s civil war after witnessing human rights violations

  • Heroic faithfulness to his vocation, and the idea that ‘faith and justice’ go hand in hand

  • Being the ‘Servant of God’, a title bestowed upon him by Pope John Paul II in 1997

Birthday: 15 August

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SALVADO HOUSE

Motto: ‘Perseverance and Stewardship’

House Colour: Green

Patron: Bishop Rosendo Salvado (Spain; 1814-1900)

Known for:

  • Arriving in Australia from Spain in 1846 as a Benedictine Monk and developing the Mission at New Norcia; consecrated Bishop in 1849

  • His unwavering commitment to helping Aboriginal people, including providing education

  • Physical endurance, courage and considerable resourcefulness – on one occasion he walked 130km to Perth by himself, eating whatever he could find (lizards, worms, opossums) to petition Bishop Brady for funds for the Mission, and upon being turned down, then organised and performed a piano recital to raise the necessary money!

Birthday: 1 March

XAVIER HOUSE

Motto: ‘Empowered to Achieve’

House Colour: Black

Saint: St Francis Xavier (Spain; 1506-1552)

Known for:

  • Founding the religious order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

  • His work as a priest and devoted disciple of St Ignatius Loyola, helping the church flourish wherever he went

  • His mission work in India, and later in the Far East as far as the Moluccas and Japan

  • Is the patron saint of all spiritual retreats, as declared by Pope Pius XI in 1922

Feast Day: 3 December

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