The Inter-House System:
1960-1968:
Like all New Zealand schools, there has always been an intra-school system for various student competitions e.g: Sport, Music, Culture, etc.
In 1960, the Student Council was formed as a forum which enabled student opinion on College matters to be heard. The eight prefects and two representatives of each of the five core classes constituted the first council.
One complete council session was spent considering suggestions from students for the names of the Houses. The winning suggestion from Glenice Nickson and Gaylene Julian was that the Houses should be named after the Sugar Loaves- Mikotahi, Motumahanga, Moturoa and Paritutu.
Nga Motu was the name of the area and it means "the islands".
Early in 1961 the houses meet to choose their colour with the following being selected:-
Mikotahi- Red
Moturoa- Green and Gold
Motumahanga- Sky Blue
Paritutu- Black & White
Very keen inter-house competitions took place during those first nine years. Many families of students kindly donated trophies for Sport, Music and Culture etc.
1969-1979:
As a result of the very high student roll and after submissions of the Principal Mr. McPhail to the Department of Education, Spotswood College became the pilot school for a two-school system in New Zealand
The schools were called East and West resulting in the four house system being abandoned and the two schools competed against each other.
1980-2008:
By 1979 the roll that had risen to 1476 in 1975 had dropped and the College returned to a single school.
After discussions with staff and students it was decided that the four houses were to be named after four of the early settlers.
Atkinson - Gold
Barrett- Royal Blue
Darnell- Red
Richmond- Kelly Green
These names were to last for 28 years (over half of the College's 48 years of operation).
2008- present:
New discussion took place with regards to the four house names and it was decided that the names be returned to what had originally been decided in 1960.
Mikotahi - Red
Motumahanga- Royal Blue
Moturoa- Gold
Paritutu- Green