Bishop Westcott Boys' School


Bishop Westcott Boys' School is one of the oldest schools in the eastern region of India. The school is located on the banks of the Subarnarekha River in Namkum block, from Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. Richard Ian Thornton is the present principal of the institution.
It was founded in 1927 by Rt. Rev. Foss Westcott. The school building served as a makeshift hospital during World War II.
This school is one of the best schools in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Curriculum

This school is affiliated to ICSE board of curriculum. The students are a mix of boarders and day scholars. Students from Nepal and other south Asian countries add to the cultural diversity.
The senior students are delegated responsibility by the school authority through their elevation as members of the Prefectorial Board, which is led by the school captain. The vice-captains on either wings assist the captain in daily discharge of his responsibilities.
Participation in sporting events is encouraged through dedicated hours for the boarding students. The school has facilities for soccer, volleyball, basketball, lawn tennis, table tennis, and snooker, and horse riding. The school is also famous for having the best athlete in the list of ICSE school. The students have membership in one of four competing houses — Allenby, Hastings, Wellington, Nelson
The school has three canteens: The Bake Ville, The Witches Brew and The Retreat.
The girls' counterpart of the boys' school is Bishop Westcott Girls' School.

History

The Bishop Westcott Boys' School was founded by the Rt.Rev. Dr. Foss Westcott, Bishop of Chotanagpur in 1927. The school is run by a managing committee, the Chotanagpur Diocese Society, formed by the governing body, which comprises educators and citizens.
The school has 1800 students of which 935 are boarders. The school is affiliated to the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi for class 10 and class 12. Plus two section is a co-educational.
The uniform is Air Force grey trousers, sky blue shirt, navy blue and gold necktie, ash grey socks and black leather closed shoes. During the winter months, navy blue cardigan and navy blue blazer with a yellow lining are necessary.

Location

The school is in Namkum, 9 km east of Ranchi, on the banks of the Subarnarekha River, near the Namkum Railway station. The boys' school and the girls' school were on a single campus but were separated after an Army hospital was built in between.

The campus

It originally consisted of a C shaped "Main Building". In recent past, a New Hostel Building was constructed which houses 800+ capacity dormitory. Same capacity for Study and Dining Hall.
There is an auditorium with modern facility for students' cultural activity. Auditorium capacity is 1000+.
The Campus has lot to offer. It now consists of an office building, a building that has the Library and the Laboratory, a juniors hostel, sick room, servants' quarter, staffs' residence, principal's bungalow and playgrounds. A swimming pool is being constructed close to the horse riding facilities where the junior classes used to be.

Alumni association

The school has founded the "EWA": Ex-Westcottian Association. It is for the combined alumni of the boys school, Bishop Westcott Girls' School Namkum, Bishop Westcott Girls' School Doranda, Bishop's School Bahubazar and Bishop School Soiko, Khunti. Dr Satish Midha is its founder president and Sandeep Anand is its founder honorary secretary. The president for 2012-14 is Sandeep Anand. The Patrons of Alumni are the principals of Boys and the Namkum Girls School, R.I.Thornton and N Jacobs respectively.
In December EWA organize Grand Alumni Meet at School Campus at Ranchi. The first Alumni Meet outside Ranchi was held on 28 December 2012 in Calcutta and again on 4 January 2014, to start its Calcutta chapter, which was hosted by Surajit Samanta at his Calcutta penthouse on Lansdowne Road. The principal of the Boys' School was chief guest.
EWA organized its first New Delhi Alumni Meet on 8 February 2014 at ITBP officers mess. Manoj Singh, PN Prasad, Anish Singh, Swati Thareja, Rounaq Kumar and anand Kumar were instrumental in organising it. More than 100 ex-westcottians attended.
After successful chapters of Calcutta and Delhi EWA is all set to organize an alumni meet for the Western Region in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune etc.