Admissions Handbook 2011 - The Southport School

Admissions Handbook 13
The House System
The House System at TSS was instituted in 1909, the School being divided into three Houses, McKinley,
Delpratt and Thorold, named respectively after the first Housemasters — Messrs. J. McKinley, M.G. Delpratt
and C.C. Thorold. From the earliest times, the House System has been more than just a convenient subdivision
of boys into groups for sporting purposes.
The boarding Houses have been organised as separate entities for living and pastoral care. But there has
always been a common dining room. When the present buildings were first occupied in 1928, this principle
was sustained by allotting one floor to each of the Houses. In 1954 it was possible to augment the boarding
accommodation for each House by joining the then new Library and Dormitory Block to the existing
building and at the same time to provide suitable accommodation for Housemasters within McKinley and
Delpratt Houses. A strong tradition of family association within the Houses has developed. There was a large
jump in enrolments when, with the reorganisation of Secondary Education in Queensland in 1963, the
Scholarship Examination was abolished and the Year 8 students became part of the Secondary School.
As the increasing numbers have placed a great strain on the ability of the Housemasters to provide personal
supervision and Pastoral Care, the decision was taken in 1972 to establish two new Houses at the beginning of
the school year 1973. The new Boarding House was known as “Kaiser House” named after the Senior Master
Mr A.H. Kaiser, who as student and Master was a member of the school from 1937 — 88. This continued the
tradition of naming the Houses after a prominent Assistant Master.
The Day Boys were organised into a separate House named Walker House after Mr M.R. Walker, a former
Senior Master at the school who died in 1959 after serving for 31 years. Similar pressures have continued to
the present day and further new Houses — all of them for Day Boys — were formed. Radcliffe House,
named after Mr A.J. Radcliffe Old Boy who attended from 1935 to 1938 and served as a Master from 1946 —
1978, was formed in 1975. In 1979 three new Day Boy Houses, Surman, Turnock and Melbourne were
established.
Mr F.H.W. Surman who died in September 2001, was a Master in 1941 — 42, and again from 1951; he was
Assistant to the Headmaster from 1961 — 1972 and Director of Studies from 1972 — 1985. Mr T.H.
Turnock who died in 1992, attended the school from 1920 to 1923 and served as a Master from 1928 to 1941.
Mr H. Melbourne who died in 1949 was a Master from 1914 to 1932, including a period as Master of the
Preparatory School, and came out of retirement to rejoin the staff from 1940 — 42 to help overcome war
induced shortages.
Two more Houses were established in 1986, Atkinson House and Maughan House. Mr T.C. Atkinson was
Registrar until 1992, having been a member of the teaching staff from 1959 to 1969 and again from 1972
onwards. The Rev. B.E. Maughan was Housemaster of Delpratt House for 22 years and was a member of the
teaching staff from 1959 to 1988.
In 1987 further developments were set in motion; a fourth boarding house and a house for all Day Boys in
Year 8 were brought into being. In 1988 these were named Biddle House and Morse House respectively, after
Mr H.A.T. Biddle who was a member of the staff from 1964 — 82 and Housemaster of McKinley House
from 1970 — 82, and after Mr R.W. Morse who had been a member of the staff from 1957 — 1991. Morse
House was disbanded in 2007 when the School moved to a vertical Pastoral Care System within Houses.
In the Prep School, a similar House System was established: Mitre, Shepherd, Dixon and Musgrave. Rogers
House is the House for Prep School boarders, named after Mr Peter Rogers, Master of the Preparatory
School 1974 — 1994.