Bishop Cotton School (Shimla)

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BISHOP COTTON SCHOOL
150x
Overcome Evil With Good
Location
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
IND
Information
Affiliation(s) Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) and The Indian School Certificate Examination (ISC)
Founder George Edward Lynch Cotton
Head of school Roy Christopher Robinson
Students 500 appx.
Houses Curzon, Ibbetson, Lefroy and Rivaz
Type Private
Grades Class 3 - 12
Campus size 56 acres
Colour(s) Dark Blue & Light Blue

        
Established 1859
Former Pupils Old Cottonians
Homepage http://www.bishopcottonshimla.com/

Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, is one of the oldest boarding schools in Asia, having been founded o­n 28th July, 1859, by Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton. The school opened for students o­n 15th March, 1863. The first boy, Frederick Naylor, joined the school o­n 16th March, 1863.

A scholar of Westminster School, and a graduate of Cambridge, in 1836 he was appointed Assistant Master at Rugby by the legendary Thomas Arnold. Bishop Cotton personally reconnoitred ten sites in September and October 1864, and finally approved the South end of Knollswood Spur which belonged to the Rajah of Keonthal. After lengthy negotiations the site was acquired through the intervention of the Viceroy and the foundation stone for the new buildings was laid o­n 26th September 1866, by the then Viceroy, Sir John Lawrence.

The school grew from strength to strength under the stewardship of the first Headmaster, Rev. Samuel Slater, who had been brought from St. Paul's School in Darjeeling, and who went on to serve Bishop Cotton School for twenty-two years.

The first Indian boys permitted to join the school were Suren Tagore in 1881 and Vishnu Singh in 1883. The first four Indian School Captains were RJ Gandhi in 1928, Harry Chukerbuti in 1936, Jahengzeb Khan in 1941 and Hasan Agha in 1946-47.

Bishop Cotton has produced several prominent alumni, known as Old Cottonians including the most decorated officer in the history of all Armies, Maj. Roy Farran (Curzon).

The School Crest
The School Crest

Contents

[edit] Residence

[edit] Dormitories

From classes one to eight the boys live in newly built dormitories under the direct care and supervision of Matrons and boys of the same age group are together. The dormitories are: Linlithgow for classes III & IV, Remove A for classes V & VI, Remove B for classes VI and VII, Remove C for classes VII and VIII and Remove D for classes VIII. Each dormitory has about 34 boys with adequate locker, cupboard, toilet, common room and linen room space. From class IX onward the boys move up to the Main School, which dates back to the 1860s, and live in Houses (Curzon, Ibbetson, Lefroy and Rivaz) with all boys of a particular house together. They are under the direct control and supervision of their House masters and House Captains. The Main School Matron is in charge of the box room and sees to the cleanliness of clothes, issue of personal items and other pastoral requirements.

[edit] School organisation

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[edit] House tutors

Each House master has between eight and ten House Tutors working with him. Each House Tutor has about ten boys from classes VI to XII attached to him or her. These tutorial groups usually don't change so as to foster the ward / guardian relationship. The tutors are responsible for the emotional, spiritual, physical and intellectual health of their wards. House masters and their tutors meet at least twice a month. Tutorial feed back is reviewed by the Senior Master (Vice Principal) and Headmaster (Principal) at least three times in the year. In the Junior School, from classes I to V, pastoral requirements are met and control and supervision of the boys is by the Matrons who live next to the boys in the dormitories. The children have Class Teachers who function like House Tutors for the children of their classes. Matrons and teachers work in tandem and feedback is a continuous process monitored by the Head: Junior School.

[edit] Prefects

The Prefect's Tie and Crest
The Prefect's Tie and Crest

The Prefectorial System, which is the strongest here amongst all the other schools in India, originated at Bishop Cotton and prefects are appointed by the Headmaster after consultations with the senior faculty(House Masters). Every care is taken to appoint boys of caliber and responsibility and the Prefects are entrusted with a good deal of authority which is closely monitored to see that there is no abuse. They are also given many distinguished privileges as compared to the rest of the boys. The Prefects are led by a Captain of School, Vice Captain of School, the four House Captains & School/House Prefects. Special ties and blazer crests are given to them to help distinguish them from the rest of the boys.

[edit] Curriculum

The School designs and implements its own curriculum for classes III to VIII and tries to ensure that the boys and their teachers have as much flexibility as possible to foster a mutual learning. While classes IX to XII have perforce to follow the CISCE syllabi, a flexibility of methodology and learning systems is strongly encouraged so that learning by rote is completely negated. A substantial amount of work is done in the library or outside the classroom and this is enhanced by the Council's own recommended structures. Every boy goes on for tertiary education at the end of year XII, and the success rate for the board examination is usually 100%. The teaching system is backed by a remedial address system, and since the boys and staff are residents, every teacher is accessible at any time if a child seeks help. The School has provisions for helping children with special needs which includes identifying their requirements and seeking appropriate solutions. The School also runs The Learning Centre, which is a special education centre for non-resident, mentally handicapped children of Shimla town.

[edit] Buildings and infrastructure

The culvert o­n the upper road to school from Khalini Chowk is called the First Bridge.

The first gate to school o­n this road is called First Gate and the next The Second Gate

The first building o­n the left is the Estate Supervisor’s cottage.

The building next to it is called Linlithgow, this houses staff.

Next to this is the Holy Trinity Chapel, between them is Canning Gate and next to Canning Gate is Lawrence Gate which can be identified with the LSS crest bearing the legend “Be ready”. This is to commemorate the Viceroy who laid the foundation stone of the school at the present site.

Across the road and below it is the infirmary.

From Lawrence gate a visitor would move past the tennis court and the middle school block o­n the right, to the First flat.

Facing the main school building Rivaz house is o­n the left, Ibbetson in the front left, Lefroy is to the right with Curzon towards the back.

Opposite Lefroy is the War Memorial and Museum with a cannon and an aircraft further along. Behind the aircraft is the newly built Hawkes Gym (at the time of writing under construction).

In front of the Porch is the Fountain commemorating Sardar Sohan Singh.

Between Lefroy and the War Memorial is an arched hedge with honey suckle and banksia. This leads past the tiny rose garden to the Headmaster’s Lodge and the Lady Willingdon Swimming Bath.

The main school classrooms and the school offices are below the main houses with the dining hall recessed at the back.

Behind the dining hall and next to the Chapel is Irwin Hall…. The main hall of the school. Behind this is the Senior Master’s Lodge to the left of which is the park and to its right Litster Hall and the laboratories.

Below the First flat is the main games field called the second Flat; the basket ball court is off it o­n the old Gym site. Between the second and third flats (second playing field) are the Bawa Squash Courts and Shankar Hall for indoor badminton, visiting team dorms and staff lounge.

Across the third flat is the Remove Building commemorating Ronald and Zoe Hakim (Staff 69-86; HM: 87-94) this building houses ten dormitories for the children of classes III- VIII.

The ground floor of this building contains the Junior School.

Below the Junior School is the Fourth Flat from which the new drive coming down from the tennis court and past the infirmary and the gym leads to Gate Number three and through that to the National Highway. Below this where used to be lush jungle and khud, buffalo pond etc. is now the suburb of New Shimla.

[edit] Old Cottonians Association

The OCA was officially started on 13th May 1910 when 17 Old Cottonians assembled in the Freemason's Hall in Simla. This was held on the 27th of July as 28th fell on a Sunday. These OC's sat at the High Table for the meal that followed the function.The Old Cottonians Association is spread all over the world with its various chapters in different countries.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Heads of government

[edit] Judges

[edit] Defence Services (Brig. and above)

[edit] Police (DIG and above)

[edit] Politicians

[edit] Bishops

[edit] Authors/Art/Culture/Activists/Poets

[edit] Others

[edit] References

  1. ^ [Old Cottonians list] accessed July 2007
  2. ^ Ruskin Bond tribute site accessed July 2007