Whare / House System A house system was first introduced to Otumoetai College in 1965. The houses were named Green, Red, Yellow and Blue. In 1966 the Houses changed names, Green became Bell (named after the first Board Chairperson), Red became Mitchell (named after a foundation Board member and Tauranga mayor), Yellow became Walsh (named after the local member of Parliament), and Blue became Webber (named after the foundation Principal). This house system was retired in 1972.
The name of the houses are Ōtanewainuku, Pūwhenua, Maunganui, Manunui, and Karewa. Prominent local maunga (mountains) that frame the Ngai Tamarawaho (our local hapu) rohe (region). Our goal is to align the whare characteristics with our school values. As our understanding of what each whare could be, it is our hope that these learnings will be transplanted back into the classroom.
In the past two years we have trialled a vertical whare / house system for our Year 9 (in 2019) and then Year 9 and 10 cohorts (in 2020). The purpose of this trial was to increase our students’ sense of belonging and inclusion. Due to the success of this trial, we decided to fully adopt a whare system as from 2021.
The following are the back stories for each of the whare which will be developed over time. 19
