SCHOOL HOUSES

The School Houses are named after four great explorers, namely, Hillary, Nansen, Piccard and Scott:

Hillary House

Edmund Hillary was born in 1919. He was a scientist and bee expert. He began climbing mountains in New Zealand as a teenager. He traveled in the expedition to Nepal to climb Mount Everest in 1953 and because he was the best mountaineer, he was chosen to make the final dash to summit- only a few hundred yards, but a morning’s climbing.

He went to the top on 29 May 1953 with his sherpa guide, a local man caked Tenzing Norgay. At 11.30 am, as they reached the top, Hillary stood back and told Tenzing Norgay to go first, “This is your country”, he said.

The world will always remember Hillary as a hero, because he was the first man to the top, but in fact it was the local man, Tenzing Norgay thanks to Hillary’s generosity in victory.

The house colour of Hillary House is YELLOW, representing the hardworking honeybees studied by Sir Edmund Hillary .

Nansen House

His family was rich, but Nansen was taught discipline and work hard. As a teenage he was national ski champion of Norway twelve times. He studied zoology at university and his PhD is still considered a classic.

At the age of 27, he led a team of six men across Greenland on foot. They survived only because of Nansen’s excellent planning. Nansen then made a ship and floated on ice from Norway to Siberia in three years to prove there is an ocean current at the North Pole.

In 1905 led his country to independence from Sweden and avoided a civil war. The people of Norway asked him to become president. Nansen refused, saying he was only a simple scientist.

In 1919 Nansen was asked by the L eague of Nations to rescue 500,000 soldiers who were prisoners of war. He managed to save the lives of 400,000 men. In 1921 he also found homes for 2,000,000 Russian refugees. For this work he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1922.

The house colour of Nansen House is GREEN, representing the mountains of Norway loved by Mr. Fridtjof Nansen.

Piccard House

His father was a famous scientist and explorer. He was the first man travel to the stratosphere (51,775 feet) in a balloon in 1931. Using his knowledge of balloons, his father built the first deep-sea diving vessel. Jacques Piccard continued his father’s scientific work and deep-sea exploration.

On 23 January 1960 , he went 35,810 feet down to the deepest bottom of the sea in his diving vessel ‘The Trieste’. The deepest part of the Ocean is called Challenger Deep and it is in the Marianas Trench , off the coast of Japan .

Piccard later used the ‘ Trieste ’ to help find a lost American submarine, U.S.S. ‘Thresher’ that sank to the bottom of the ocean after an accident. He is a very brave man. His 35,810 feet descent was very dangerous because no one knew if the ‘ Trieste ’ would work. Even after 40 years, no one has ever been able to repeat this achievement. No one has gone and deeper than 5,000 feet.

The house colour of Piccard House is BLUE, representing the deep ocean explored by Mr. Jacques Piccard.

Scott House

Scott was a Navy Captain who led a five-man expedition to South Pole and died on the way back in 1912. He was chosen as leader by the Royal Geographical Society because of his quiet competence. Although he did not know it, we now know that the winter of 1912 was one of coldest winters in Antarctica this century, with temperatures falling to –50 degrees at night, so cold that scientists say you cannot stay warm, no matter how many clothes you wear. The expedition lasted two years.

After reaching the South Pole on 18 th January 1912 , the men had to walk back 800 miles (1,300km) to their ship. Their dogs died and the men had to carry everything themselves. The weather conditions were so bad that one man died, another, frostbitten and disabled, walked out the tent at night so that there would be more food and water for the remaining three. The other three died on 19 th March 1912 without be more food and fire although they were only 11 miles away from their store of wood and food.

Scott kept a diary, the last sentences reads: “We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker. Of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more.” Although Scott was the second man to the South Pole, his name is more famous than the man who arrived first because of his heroism in the face of difficulties.

The house colour of Scott House is RED, representing the blood of Scott and his brave companions.