By Chi Yan Ng and Benedict Lam

House Spirit Day is an annual event at RCHK where students and staff members dress up in their house colors. But why does this event occur? Why is it a highlight of our year? Some might think it is an event to start the school year. Some might think it might be related to their academics. The truth is, House Spirit Day simply occurs to set the mood for a great school year and boost House spirit amongst the RCHK community, in hopes that this positive spirit will continue to grow throughout the year during various house events such as Swimming Gala, Athletics Carnival and House Idol, just to name a few.

House Spirit Day began in the first year that the House system was established: the academic year of 2006 to 2007 when RCHK was founded. Back then, RCHK was the only international school in Hong Kong that did not offer a European language in middle school, as students are required to continue learning Chinese Mandarin. RCHK was also the only major international school that was not located on Hong Kong Island besides smaller schools such as Clearwater Bay School. These factors led the leadership team to make a commitment in the very beginning for the school’s “DNA” to be Chinese. Therefore, the names of the four houses are from four dynasty names from Chinese history. Our alumni, the then-Diploma students designed the mascot figures that are still being used now to represent each House.

Additionally, the House system represents a sense of connection and belonging within the school community, as 25% of the school is in the same House. “It’s a way to make a big house feel small, by creating a smaller house within a bigger house.” Dr. Brown’s analogy refers to how students joining in Year 1 are sorted into one of the four Houses, and unless they leave the school, they stay in the same House from Primary to Secondary. Even whilst transitioning into a new part of the school, the students in their House mostly remain. This is also why we have advisory groups based on Houses and an advisor who leads the group through the entire 7 years of Secondary school. The aim is to split the 2135 students enrolled into RCHK this academic year into smaller communities so that there is always someone that they are familiar with: “a team player” as Dr. Brown says.

Throughout the school year, several House events are hosted by the collaboration of the four House Directors, and the group of House Captains – students who are elected to lead each House to victory. There are three major events every year: Swimming Gala, Athletics Carnival, and House Idol, alongside many other minor events, such as House Basketball or Snakes and Chessers, all of which allow each House to maximize their House points with the goal of earning the prestigious end-of-year trophy.

Everyone has the opportunity to participate in all of these House events on behalf of their own House, but only few have the opportunity to be a House Captain or House Director, to help plan these events. So have you ever wondered how House events are generally planned?

“It really is a team effort between House Directors and the House Captains to try and motivate people and then we rely very heavily on the advisors to help us to encourage students to get involved” says Ms. Liz Boardman, Secondary Song House Director. The Secondary Tang House Director, Mr. Roshan Julian, also shares that, “It also requires other councils in RCHK, we got lots of different committees like the athletics committee who help us with all the sporting events throughout the year and there’s a lot of meetings.”. In fact, the four House Directors meet on a weekly basis, while the four House Captains of each House meet with each other alongside their House Directors weekly to plan upcoming events.

A major change happened to House Spirit Day this year. It was the first time in the history of RCHK that Primary and Secondary students of each house from Years 2 to 13 gathered for a school-wide House assembly. We hope that this could continue in the future, and opportunities like this will be designed to connect Primary and Secondary students together more frequently. Moreover, Mr. Julian hopes that the House spirit can be expressed further through the creation of House mascots, a secret project that they are currently working on.

For the most part, students seem to enjoy House Spirit Day and House events in general, as we see student participation increase over the years. “I think it does generate some spirit within the students, and encourages them to participate in activities,” expresses Elaine Law, Year 11 student. In particular, Dr. Brown shared that when House Idol first started in 2016 or 2017, it was not taken as seriously. He used to be the judge of this event, but decided to back out from the role and use Primary House Captains or music teachers from other schools to judge in order to keep rumors of bias to a minimum. Last academic year, as you may recall, professional musicians judged the four amazing performances!

“We would love to have more involvement with the Primary school students, so maybe next year, we’ll see Primary school students and Secondary school students on the catwalk strutting their stuff and having a good time.” says Boardman. Additionally, Law suggests that “perhaps teachers could plan some House related activities for students to participate in during class time”, as all House events are either a full day or during break and lunch times, which students may be less inclined to get involved in as it takes away their free time. A Y8 student even suggested that “I hope each year could have two house spirit days, one at the beginning of the year and one at the end of the school year.” This will not only let students have more opportunities to build up their house spirit, it can also let the school year end with a relaxing yet fun day which makes them look forward to the next academic year.

In conclusion, House Spirit Day is an event in which students and teachers dress up in their House colors to show their pride and spirit, setting the mood for the rest of the academic year. We hope that more students will be inspired to get involved in House Spirit Day or other House events throughout the year, and that each event becomes bigger and better every year. What do you think… will there be more school-wide House events in the future?