Boarding Houses at Registration of a school

[selvavalgardena]

Does anyone have any advice on how to choose a boarding house at the various schools at such an early stage. Apart from the obvious of Housemaster and building if you are asked to choose at registration years ahead of the pre-test the Housemasters change and they are responsible for the interview.

Its difficult. A child can change a lot between the point of choosing a house and entering, BUT the best way to choose a house is by finding a housemaster that best matches your child's personality and interests.

Schools differ, but the top public schools especially the boys usually all have a strong slant towards something, be it sport, music, drama, etc or a mixture, so if your ds is not very sporty, I wouldn't go for the house where they've won the last 10 interhouse football/rugby matches or the housemaster in his spare time enjoys trips to new zealand to practise rugby iyswim.

You can look up the housemaster's profiles first online, and then narrow them down to about 3 or 4 that you will like to visit. Meeting the house maters is a must and can further cement an impression you've already got from the profile, definitely visit with your dc and observe how they interact! if its all stifled and non exciting then move on to the next one.

Your prep head should also have some knowledge about the housemasters or houses, so please consult him/her too.
I find the school admin too are usually quiet good at giving you a heads up on some of the houses or housemasters as well if you smile nicely . Good luck!