House Competition

The HBHS House Competition has gone through many transformations since the school’s inaugural year in 1955. The present system, with six houses competing against each other in thirteen events, was introduced in 2000. However, the general structure and format dates back to 1980, when Headmaster Tony Steel was appointed to lead the school.

The names of our houses reflect the leadership that has taken the school from the “new kids on the block” in 1955 following our break away from the co-educational Hamilton High School, to the most dominant “all boys” school in the Waikato. In 1980, Mr Steel announced that the names of the four houses would be Tait, Baigent, Taylor and Wilson, in honour of the first four headmasters of the school.

The four-house competition remained in place for the rest of the millennium, but with the 21^st-century dawning, the boys from Argyle House could remain silent no longer. In 2000, a further two houses were added to the competition. Argyle House, a small but fierce band of Hostel boys, and Steel house, in honour of the former All-Black and headmaster of HBHS from 1980-1990, Mr Tony Steel. Whilst Argyle opened its account in 2000 with an awesome performance in the Haka competition, it was Steel who showed it was not just a wildcard entry – eventually running away from the other five houses to win the first HBHS House Competition of the 21^st Century.