There are around 20 small hostels - which we prefer to call houses - each of which accommodates a number ranging from 12 to 22 students. Boys and girls belonging to classes 4 and 5 live together with older girls of classes 6 and 7 in the same house. Older boys and girls live in separate houses, usually with a mixed-age of two classes being together.

Members of the teaching staff, who live in staff quarters within a house, act as house-parents. Life in the houses is meant to develop the values of co-operation, self-restraint, and sharing. The interaction between teachers and students outside the classroom is considered a very important part of living and learning at Rishi Valley. The school does not have a system of house or class prefects; no student has authority over another.

In this ambience, students generally relate to each other in a friendly and accepting manner, with younger ones not afraid of the older ones. We like to think of the school community in terms of a large, extended family.