Bishop Cotton Girls' School

Bishop Cotton Girls' School
Motto Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum
(Neither to the right nor to the left)
Established 1865
Type Private school, boarding school
Religion Protestant (Church of South India)
Principal Mrs. Lavanya Mitran
Chairman and Moderator Rt. Rev. Dr. John S. Sadananda, Karnataka Southern Diocese
Founders Rev. S.T. Pettigrew, Rev. J. Gordon and Rev. R. Firth[1]
Location St. Marks Road
Bangalore
Karnataka
560 001
India
Staff 150 (approx.)
Gender Girls
Houses Barton, Elmes, Foley, Maiden, Millington, Waller
Colours Green and gold         
Publication The Cottonian

Bishop Cotton Girls' School, or BCGS, is a private all-girls' school for boarders and day scholars in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The school offers academic scholarships, which aid students from lower income backgrounds to afford tuition and boarding fees. It has been awarded the International School award by the British Council.

The school curriculum is based on the ICSE format of education, and has teaching facilities from Kindergarten, 1 to 10 (ICSE) and 11 and 12 (ISC).

History

Founded in 1865, it is one of the oldest established boarding schools in Asia.

The school was named after Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton, the son of an Army captain, who died leading his regiment in battle. He was a scholar of Westminster School, and a graduate of Cambridge. In 1836 he was appointed Assistant Master at Rugby by Doctor Thomas Arnold, one of the founders of the British public school system.

It was the proposal of Bishop Cotton to create schools in India that resulted in the founding of Bishop Cotton’s on April 19, 1865. The institution was opened for both boys and girls in a bungalow named Westward Ho in High Grounds. In 1871, the management acquired 14 acres of land on St. Mark’s Road and shifted the school, demarcating two areas, one for the boys school and the other for the girls, with a wall separating the two.

In 1911, the management acquired Stafford House and its surrounding eight and a half acres with access to both Residency Road and St. Mark’s Road and shifted the school, giving Bishop Cotton Girls’ School its own identity. In 1915, money was sanctioned to construct the administration block and the quad. More buildings were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s including the Chapel of the Holy Family.

The first Indian principal to take charge of the school was CA (Acca) Joseph in 1963.

Extracurricular activities includes sport, debate, creative writing, dramatics, declamation, verse speaking and choir.

It is affiliated with Bishop Cotton Boys School, which is situated across the street on St. Marks Road.

School motto

Nec Dextrorsum - Nec Sinistrosum

"Neither to the right nor to the left", the motto reflects the spirit of the school. It is taken from a Latin translation of a phrase in the Old Testament of the Bible. The new leader Joshua is commissioned by God to be a true follower of His law, 'neither to the left nor to the right'.

School shield

The crest of the shield is the family crest of Bishop Cotton of Calcutta. The crest is divided vertically - the right side (dexter) has the arms of the Bishop of Calcutta. The Bishop's mitre on top is green on a white background and the staff and open Bible are in the bottom half on a red background. The left side (sinister) has three skeins of cotton and a chevron (inverted v) on a blue background. This side represents the ancient house to which Bishop Cotton belongede. The crest thus symbolises the godliness, service and courage for which the school stands.

School song and founder's hymn

The Bishop Cotton school song was penned by Rev. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, of the Brotherhood of St. Peter, Warden of the school from 1907 to 1913, later to become bishop. The words were set to music by N. M. Saunders, Esq. With its refrain "On, Straight, On", it follows the spirit of the school motto, "Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum", Latin for "Neither to the Right Nor to the Left". The tradition of singing the school song and the hounder's hymn in the chapel or in assemblies held in the auditorium continues to this day.

Academics

The school, administered along the lines of Junior, Middle and Senior School, works through three school terms, each ending with examinations. Students of Class X appear for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) by the beginning of March. Students of Class XII take up the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISC). The ISC examination is an equivalent to the pre-university examination conducted by the state boards of education. For further details, see the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (the body that conducts the ICSE and ISC examinations) using their website, www.cisce.org.

Subjects taught at the ICSE level include English, an Indian or foreign language, History, Civics and Geography, Environmental Education, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and a choice between Home Science, Computer Applications, Fine Arts and Physical Education. At the ISC level, the school has three main streams, the Science stream, the Commerce stream and the Arts stream. It is mandatory for both streams to take up English and Environmental Education.

For the Science stream, the subjects offered are English, Environmental Education, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics/Home Science and a choice between Economics, Biotechnology, Computer Science, Hindi, Kannada, Fine Arts, Biology and Environmental Science. For the Commerce stream, the subjects offered are Accountancy and Commerce and a choice between Business Studies, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Fine Arts, Environmental Science and Physical Education. For the Arts stream the subjects offered are English, Environmental Education and History along with choices among Literature in English, Second Language, Environmental Science, Physical Education, Economics, Computer Science, Fine Art, Mathematics, Home Science, Business Studies, Political Science and Psychology.

The school offers language options of Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Nepali, French and German.

Sports

Organized games includes the inter-school games competitions.

Principals

"Stanford University wishes to recognize Lydia Joshua for exceptional teaching. Your dedication to the field of education has contributed greatly to the future of your students, Stanford University and your community."

Signed by John L Hennessy, President and Robin G Mamlet, (Dean of Admission & Financial Aid), year 2003.

Alumni

Alumni of the school are known as Old Girls, Old Cottonians, or OCs.

The alumni website is at[2]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ A History of Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore Retrieved 2010-01-28.
  2. ↑ "Bishop Cotton Old Girls". Bishopcotton-oldgirls.com. 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
  3. ↑ "When Jayalalithaa was a wide-eyed little girl" (Bangalore). The Hindu. The Hindu. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Who's that serious-faced little girl?" (Bangalore). The Hindu. The Hindu. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 Iyengar, Vidya (19 July 2014). "They were once tots too: Famous Bishop Cotton Alumni" (Bangalore). Bangalore Mirror. Bangalore Mirror Bureau. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Rangan, Baradwaj (11 July 2015). "Gautami talks about her milestone movies and Kamal". The Hindu. The Hindu. Retrieved 12 July 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 12°58′13″N 77°36′05″E / 12.9704°N 77.6014°E / 12.9704; 77.6014

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/5/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.