Pastoral Care within the House System

Caring for the wellness of our students underpins everything that we do, because we recognise that when young people feel safe, respected and valued, their personal growth and academic success flourishes.

The house system provides consistency and stability while fostering a sense of belonging, factors which positively influence student academic achievement and school engagement. Every student is assigned to a house when they begin their journey at Notre Dame College and remain a member of their house until they graduate. There are six houses, each named in honour of significant people in the history of our College or the Catholic Church.

Students engage in community building activities and fundraising initiatives with their house as well as participate in friendly competition with other houses throughout the year. Pastoral groupings are usually house or sister house based. The sister houses are Crane/Kennedy, Jennings/Mungovan and MacKillop/McGann. Students attend Pastoral Group at the start of each day. Each group has a small number of students of the same year level and house and is led by a Pastoral Group Leader.

Pastoral Group Leaders support the academic progress and wellbeing of each of the students within their Pastoral Group. House leadership consists of a Junior Head of House in Year 7 and 8, a Head of Community in Year 9 at Emmaus, and a Senior Head of House in Years 10-12.