HOUSE SYSTEM
Our four houses pay homage to our school’s location with each house named after a nearby mountain. Every MAC student is a member of one of our four houses – Barker, Iron, Pisa and Roy – giving them a sense of belonging as they represent their house in sporting and cultural activities. Each of the houses is assigned a colour (which students can wear on certain mufti days) as follows: Barker (green), Iron (red), Pisa (yellow) and Roy (blue). Where we are aware of familial connections, new students are placed in the same house (but not the same whānau) as their siblings and cousins. Students with no previous affiliation are allocated to a house and its whānau to ensure a balanced mix of students within both the house and the whānau.
The role of deans
Our deans encourage our students to live by our school’s values and support students in developing the personal and life skills they will need to be successful contributors to our community when they leave school. There is a junior and senior dean for each of the four houses, with the junior deans being responsible for students in Years 7 to 10 and the senior deans responsible for students in Years 11 to 13. The deans form strong relationships with students in their houses and act as advocates for students, responsible for supporting students’ wellbeing and achievement.
House banners
Each house has its own banner featuring the individual house whakataukī and imagery evoking the story behind the name of the house. Here are the stories of how each banner was created and their meaning.
Pisa
Members of Pisa held a number of brainstorming sessions to consider their banner design. These sessions were followed by a student-led focus group which included input from house whānau teachers. Former student Matilda Metcalfe took the ideas generated from these sessions and created some concepts which were considered by the house leaders and led to the final design. Matilda’s initial design work was completed by Year 13 Ollie Baldwin to create a stunning evocation of Pisa’s whakaohoho, ‘E tū koutou. E tū Pisa.’ | ‘Stand tall. Stand as one’. The striking yellow and black-coloured banner features the Pisa mountain range, with the house represented by the falcon.
Barker
Barker House teachers held a number of meetings to talk about how best to represent their house in a banner. Eventually, they decided the banner should focus on what Barker House is named after – Mt Barker! The job of designing the banner was given to former student Cuba Pavlovich who produced a number of drafts which were presented to the staff and students of Barker House to select their preferred design. The banner features the house whakataukī, ‘He maunga nui e kore e taea te whakaneke’ | ‘A great mountain cannot be removed. Greatness remains’, a kōwhaiwhai, and imagery of a radiating sun with its beams reaching across the landscape.
Iron
Members of Iron House whānau developed ideas for the banner with senior students and teachers contributing to the design and selecting the whakataukī. Students consulted with MAC te reo teachers about development of the kōwhaiwhai and the house whakataukī, ‘Me mate Ururoa | ‘Never give up’ (a shortened version of the full whakataukī which is ‘Kaua e mate wheke mate ururoa’, ‘Don’t die like the octopus, die like the hammerhead shark’). The design features one of the most recognised landmarks in the Upper Clutha – the silhouette of Mr Iron, along with the kākā bird which is native to the South Island and known for its bright red underbelly, for being very noisy, and travelling great distances. Credit to designer Zoe Raffills, with support from Year 13 student Otis Murphy, whose striking design featuring the black silhouette of Mt Iron on a red background, speaks to the Ihi (strength and resilience) of Iron House whānau.
Roy
Members of Roy House wanted to combine the focus of working together to achieve greater things, with the imagery of its maunga (Roys Peak) and a symbol of its strength (the taniwha). All interested students were invited to join a brainstorming group which developed the broad concept for the banner and from these, Year 12 student Lexi Brown created a powerful design. Lexi was supported in her development of the design by a student group and teacher Rebecca Hembrow. Raihania Chadwick also helped house members to select their whakataukī. The design features a less traditional kōwhaiwhai of figurines with linked hands to symbolise working as one, along with Roys Peak, and a skyline that extends to the west towards Tititea and Moana Wānaka. Using Roy’s house colour of blue, water and sky are connected and the sun’s influence is integrated into the word ‘Roy’ to create a (loose) connection to the MAC logo. The taniwha coming out of the lake represents Roy’s determination, strength and connection to the whenua. The full version of Roy’s whakataukī is’ Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’ | ‘My success is not mine alone, but it is the strength of many’, and this excerpt is featured on the banner: ‘He toa takitini’ | ‘Strength in unity’.
