The passage leading into the Media Centre has a display of some of the history of MGPS. From its inception the school had 2 houses, Cato (green) and King (yellow), named after the early Natal pioneers. In 1994, in line with the new democracy of South Africa, Manor Gardens made the decision to change the names of the school houses and to have 3 houses instead of 2. A competition was held, and the winning names were Tugela (green), Ifafa (blue), and Umgeni (yellow), after rivers in Kwa-Zulu Natal.