01 295 3224
runai@tiernans.ie

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Our House System

Launched in 2021, the House System is a motivating structure for students to take initiative, develop leadership skills, exhibit school pride, feel at home and work together toward common goals. It also encourages participation and engagement in extracurricular activities, fundraising initiatives and collaboration among students. It ensures an inclusive atmosphere, as every single student and staff member in the school are a part of these smaller communities within our larger community.

House Points

Our Houses

The aims of our House System include but are not limited to:

  • Facilitating our school vision of inclusion, belonging and community.
  • Enhancing motivation to succeed.
  • Fostering collaboration and teamwork through learning and experience.
  • Improving attendance in school and at extracurricular activities.
  • Promoting a positive school spirit and positive behaviour in school.
  • Further supporting incoming first year students’ transition into secondary school.
  • Developing the leadership capacities of our senior students as they take on mentoring roles.
  • Providing an enjoyable programme of varied competitive events throughout the school year, reigniting the joy and socialisation of education.

How Does it Work?

  • All students and staff are ‘sorted’ randomly into one of our four Houses.
  • Each House is named after an inspirational person is represented by a colour and is guided by a Head of House (staff member) and two House Captains (5th Year students).
  • The Houses are a mix of students from 1st – 6th year, which gives the students the chance to make friends from all year groups across the school. It also gives the older students opportunities to mentor younger students and helps them to feel at home in St. Tiernan’s.
  • Throughout the year, students can earn points for their House based on their attendance, performance in class, involvement in sport, music, art, clubs, fundraisers and general school spirit!
  • The House with the most points at the end of the school year will win the House Cup, and a celebration for their House!

How Can Students Earn Points?

  • Attendance in school (with extra points for a ‘perfect week’!).
  • Hard work and engagement in their classes (each week will be dedicated to a specific subject, in which students can earn points for their House).
  • Participation in extracurricular activities and school events.
  • House Activity Days and various competitions throughout the school year.
  • And many more opportunities which will arise throughout the year!

Our Four Houses

We have named our school Houses after inspirational people who all embody particular values which we share, celebrate and are reinforced in the culture, ethos and spirit of our school.

The Advantages Our House System

  • Creates a natural community spirit amongst the student body as a whole.
  • Encourages student responsibility and self-management.
  • Develops a whole-school approach to rewards for and celebrations of achievement.
  • Offers greater personalisation of our care, guidance and support of pupils.
  • Provides a competitive framework for events.
  • Provides leadership opportunities.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education advocate who, at the age of 17 in 2014, became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban. Malala is one of the most inspirational people of our time. Not only does she advocate for gender equality and the importance of education for all, she does so with outstanding bravery and an understanding that she is risking her life for her beliefs.

“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”

Stephen Hawking was an extremely successful and famous theoretical physicist, whom many consider to be one of the greatest geniuses of our time. At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with a rare, early-onset, slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually paralysed him over the decades. Despite this debilitating illness, Hawking defeated all odds to survive much longer than anyone expected, living an inspirational life of innovative discoveries, exceptional academic achievements and incredibly admirable strength and perseverance.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”

Adi Roche is an Irish activist, anti-nuclear advocate, and campaigner for peace, humanitarian aid and education. In 1991, Roche founded the Chernobyl Children International, to provide aid to the children of Belarus, Western Russia and Ukraine following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Working closely with the United Nations, Roche continuously campaigns for peace in the world and care for the children who have been so severely affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

“I believe hope is the most enabling gift of all and is what brings us through dark times.”

Nelson Mandela was a social rights activist, politician and philanthropist who became South Africa’s first Black president from 1994 to 1999. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, nonviolent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. Beginning in 1962, Mandela spent 27 years in prison for political offenses. In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to dismantle the country’s apartheid system. He never gave up. For generations to come, Mandela will be a source of inspiration for civil rights activists worldwide.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived; it is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”