The Bishop's School (Pune)

Infobox HighSchool
name = The Bishop's School


motto = "Be Bishop, Be Thorough"
established = 1864
type = Private
head = Mr.Frank R. Freese
city = Pune
state = Maharashtra
country = flagicon|India India
campus =
students = 8000+ students
faculty = 320+ staff
free_label =
free =
colors =
homepage = http://www.thebishopsschool.org email: [e-mail]

The Bishop's School, Pune was established by the British in 1864 to cater for the sons of Warrant officers and Non-commissioned officers of the British Indian Army. The school has since functioned as a Christian Anglo-Indian minority institution. It is located in the cantonment area of Pune very close to MG road. In addition to its day school, Bishop's also has a boarding school. The school currently has three branches with the one in camp being the first and oldest and an all boys school. The school recently opened two branches in the Kalyani Nagar and Undri areas of Pune. These branches, unlike the flagship camp branch, are co-educational.

The School is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), New Delhi.

History

The Bishop's School may be said to have as its date of foundation the 19 April 1864. On this day the Quarter Master General of the Bombay Army, writing to the Secretary Govt. Military Department, stated

"At the instance of the Lord Bishop, the Commander-in-Chief has bestirred himself to lend one of the old barracks for a school to cater for the sons of Warrant Officers and N.C.Os"."

On May 30th, 1864 the Adjutant General of the Army, Lt. Col. Sydney T. Stock, wrote to the Secretary of Government, Education Department, Bombay, requesting for educational facilities for children of Warrant Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers stationed at Poona who, not belonging to Regiments, did not have regimental facilities.

The scheme for the School was drawn up by the Quartermaster General, Major General Smith CB. The school was to be self-supporting. The original fees per month in respect of each boy was Rs. 5/-. The first School Master received the salary of a third class Army School Master (Rs. 83-3 annas - 10 pies) besides his rations. Corporal Mansfield was the first School Master and the school started with 15 pupils. Rev. Fenton and Lt. Jacob, Acting Superintendent of Army Schools, did a lot of spade work in getting the school started. The school started functioning in one of the Old Barracks, and the Barrack Master provided the basic furniture. Initially the army also sanctioned certain sums of money for defraying the expenses, for the School Master and for maps, globes, books, stationery, registers etc.

A reference to the formation of the school was also made in the Bombay Gazette dated 14th June, 1864. On the 6th August, 1864 certain grants were sanctioned, and there was a statement in the Gazette by Sir A. Grant that the school was specially established for the children of Warrant and Non-Commissioned Officers. On 12th September, 1864, the Acting Controller of Military Accountants sanctioned the release of Rs. 500/- for the projected school.

The school moved to its present site in 1868 when a certain Khan Bahadur Pudumjee Pestonjee sold the property to the then Lord Bishop of Bombay for a sum of Rs. 25,000/-. The Bishop of Bombay had obtained a grant for the purpose. In 1883 an indenture between the Secretary in State for Council in India and the Rt. Rev. George Milne, Bishop of Bombay, was signed. The grant was received from the Department under the old grant-in-aid Rules for European and Eurasian (Anglo-Indian) Schools.

In 1950 the school was registered as a Public Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act and functioned under the Poona Diocesan Schools Committee(P.D.S.C) which was responsible for both the Bishop's School and St. Mary's School. In 1965, the Poona Diocesan Schools Committee resolved that two new societies be formed for separate administration of the two schools. In 1966, the P.D.S.C accepted resolutions for the dissolution of the P.D.S.C in favor of two separate societies. In 1967, the St. Mary's School, Poona, and the Bishop's School, Poona, registered as two separate societies, and in 1969 these two separate societies became the legal successors of the Poona Diocesan Schools Committee. Most of the present Trustees are the Trustees approved by the P.D.S.C in 1967.

Location and Branches

The main campus is situated in the cantonment area of Pune city, approx 2 km from Pune Railway Station. The campus is one of the oldest school campuses in India, and one of the most important landmarks of Pune. Adjacent to the campus is the St. Marys Church built by the British in the 19th century.

Following rapid development of the city and increasing demand for quality education, the school opened two new branches at Kalyani Nagar and Undri areas of Pune.

Administration

The school is administered by the Bishops Education Society, the management council appoints a Principal to administer the schools. The society also appoints a Headmaster to administer the Camp School.

House system

There are four houses at The Bishop's School: Bishop's, Arnould, Harding and Mansfield. These houses are denoted with yellow, green, blue and red respectively. There is a high level of healthy competition amongst these houses every year for the cock-house award of the year.From the beginning, Mansfield house has outperformed the other houses in most activities, thus retaining its top spot conclusively. Bishop's house has given some tough competition and is the only competitive rival to Mansfield house.

Grading system

The grading system at the school is one of a kind. Instead of giving a system of deriving a student's percentage at the end of a semester there is a point system and for every bracket of marks a student gets a certain point is allocated to the same. The student with the least number of points gets to the highest level in his/her class. However, in the senior classes, students are marked strictly according to the Board exam pattern in order to provide a clear picture of their expected performance in the Board exams.

Academics

The school provides education up to the 10+2 level (ICSE and ISC). The average percentage of the students is 72 percent. With at least 40 boys scoring above 90 percent in each grade, Bishop's proves itself to be an all-round school. Numerous students from this school have excelled in various competitive examinations including the IIT-JEE and all india pre medical test AIPMT

Sports

The Bishop's School offers several sports, including football, cricket, basketball, table tennis and tennis. It has produced great footballers. Cricketers who have passed out from Bishop's are playing in tournaments like the Ranji trophy today. This school has won the PSAAA football cup 18 times and has triumphed in the All India Anglo-Indian football cup thrice. It has also won the PSAAA cricket cup 7 times till date.

Activities

The school concerts, choirs, debates, quiz competitions, essay writing etc prove that Bishop's school has branched out in almost every field for the betterment of its students.

Alumni

Noted alumni of this institution include Sabeer Bhatia (founder of hotmail) and Cyrus Poonawalla (Serum Institute of India; one of the top 300 richest people in the world).In the world of literature and the media Farrukh Dhondy, author of "Bombay Duck" and "Poona Company", has made a name for himself.

Sources

* Official website - www.thebishopsschool.org

* The Bishop's School Mitre