4 Factors to Consider When Setting Up Houses

House Sizes

The purpose for Houses is to provide students with an opportunity to connect with their peers in a smaller community. In fact, research shows that small school environments can improve student affiliation to their school community and increase safety and order.

Therefore, you will need to consider how many students can be in each House with the goal that they feel more connected to the community. Because schools vary dramatically in size, this is a major question to answer for your school.

Depending on the size of each House, you may be limited in where your Houses can meet throughout the year. So make sure you’re thinking about the logistics of hosting House meetings too. Most schools have all Houses meet at the same time, so this could also affect how big your Houses can be.

Number of Houses

Once you have the size of your Houses figured out, you will be able to determine the number of Houses in your system. The most common House Point Systems have four Houses (think Harry Potter). If it works with your student body, we recommend it. 

The benefits are that it provides more competition than just two teams but doesn’t become overwhelming for your school to manage.

If your school has a large student body, it could be better to opt for more than four Houses in order to create a smaller community feel for your students. Providing time and space for students to build relationships is vital to the success of your House System and improving the school culture. 

These relationships aren’t just peer-to-peer though. Many schools choose to assign staff members to a House to encourage staff-to-student relationships, as well.

Sorting Houses

The two most common ways to sort students into Houses is by grade-level or across grade-level. So, do you want older and younger students together in one House?

Typically, having students in the same grade-level House is easier for scheduling. However, schools with Houses across grade-levels have found major benefits in having older and younger students together which encourage mentoring relationships.

After identifying if you will sort by grade-level, your next decision is how you will assign students to each House. Your options include:

Randomly

Choosing to run a random sort can be a memorable way to announce your Houses. You can spin a wheel, pop balloons, or use scratch off cards to determine which student is in which House. Learn more about these ideas here.

Semi-Randomly

This means you start with randomly sorting students into Houses and then make edits afterward. It could be because the random sort put too many of one gender or grade level in the same House and you need to even it out.

Intentionally

If you are wanting to choose any part of the House assignments, then you should sort the students before announcing the Houses. Some options could be to choose one class from each grade-level in your school and put them together in one House. 

Or have your teachers put students into separate Houses and then go back through as a leadership team and make adjustments, as needed.

Another popular option is to put siblings in the same House. In this case, you will need to identify which House each of your families is a part of.

We’ve heard tons of fun ways to sort students into Houses so feel free to get creative!

House Names

Last, but certainly not least, is determining the names of each House. Schools take many different routes. Some choose to focus on school history, others make them based on character traits, you can incorporate different languages, or even allow the students in each House to create their own name!

The options are endless so we created a database of all of the House names in the LiveSchool Community to help get you started. Check it out here!

Throughout this whole process, remember that House Point Systems are meant to be encouraging and provide additional opportunities for connection with your students. So take these suggestions, make decisions that work best for your school community, and have some fun!

For more resources on Houses check out the magic happening at our partner school: Antioch Middle School.