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School Houses

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DescriptionDio has eight houses, Mitchelson, Mary Pulling, Cochrane and Neligan are named after the School's early founders. Eliza Edwards, Roberton, Cowie and Selwyn were added in 1992.

Every girl at Diocesan joins one of the School Houses, with its own colours, badge and motto. These Houses give the students a sense of community and belonging within the wider school.

Our Houses offer a source of friendly rivalry and collaboration across all age groups. Girls work together on inter-House challenges such as Sports competitions, Music, Dance and Debating. And at the end of the year, the House that has collected the most points is the proud winner of the Stark Cup.

History of the Houses:

Our first Houses took their names in a practical way. From 1905 there had been Boarders in School House. In 1908 Miss Heywood opened Selwyn House, which was an independent boarding house run in conjunction with the School and available to more senior girls. Another boarding house, for junior girls, was opened by Miss Pulling in 1912 in Bishop Selwyn's house in Parnell, (Miss Pulling had lived there since her arrival in New Zealand). Since Selwyn House existed already, it was called Cowie House after the first Bishop of Auckland who had lived there from 1871 until his death in 1902. Cowie House had several changes of location before finally moving into the brick building that bore its name and stood beside School House from 1920 until its demolition early in 2002. Another boarding house was named for an Anglican Bishop, Patteson House opened in 1928 and continued with the other boarding houses intermittently until the 1970s.

In 1914, day girls became known collectively as Auckland House, taking their name from the city in which they lived, while the boarders of all three boarding houses became known as School House which was still seen as the 'home' of the School's boarding tradition. These were the earliest 'competitive houses' at Diocesan. Others followed in 1923, when Auckland House was divided into Cochrane, Mitchelson and Neligan Houses named after some of the School's Founders. Mary Pulling House followed in 1956.

Nowadays we are all used to the idea that the 'Houses' referred to around the School are competitive. In 1992 the School's competitive Houses were reorganised and increased in number. Selwyn and Cowie Houses returned, and Roberton and Edwards Houses were established – taking their names from founder Dr. Ernest Roberton and our third headmistress Miss Eliza Edwards.

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