The DOON School :: School Codes & Policies

This handbook contains various Doon School codes and policies which reflect the norms, principles, and rules that the school has evolved and followed since 1935.

These codes and policies were “in our heads” and were fairly well known in the Doon community. Why then put them in a book? For one thing, we began to feel the need to consolidate them in one place. Also, there were codes and policies that were becoming rather hazy in our collective memory or that needed fairly drastic review. In addition, there were areas that had not been codified such as the practices governing information technology or, in academics, the understanding of plagiarism, or in publishing, a workable and succinct guide to journalistic ethics. As is usually the case in the school, many of these codes and policies were reviewed and written with the help of the boys. Drafts were presented to the School Council and revisions, where necessary, were incorporated before being finally passed by the representatives of the boys and masters. It would be fair to say that their publication reflects a rather solid consensus. The handbook is meant for the boys, masters, parents, and Governors of the school.

Mr. Arthur Foot, the first Headmaster, always held that the rules of a school should be as few as possible. This is a shrewd and very sensible observation. We have been guided by his thought in keeping the handbook as limited in size as possible. A number of the codes are in the nature of affirmations, oaths, and exhortations, and are not strictly speaking, a compilation of rules. It is generally true that as a community becomes larger and more complex the rules governing behaviour multiply. Doon has become both larger and more complex over the years in response to changing times, and, not surprisingly, the rules are more in number than in the early years of the school, although, looking back at earlier compendiums, what is striking is just how slowly the rules of school life have grown.

This is not the first time, by any means, that the school has brought together the rules in a handbook. It is probably, however, the most ambitious attempt thus far. We hope that the current handbook will evolve into a larger volume which has more information and explanation of school systems and practices, perhaps a successor to The Doon School Book of 1948 written by Mr. Foot, Mr. John Martyn, and the early masters. Until that happens, we hope that the present effort will prove to be both a guide for conduct and a handy convenience at those crucial moments when we need clarification of the rules and have to go hunting for them in our archives.

It goes without saying that the school will, from time to time, revise these codes and policies. This is the second edition of the handbook. Clearly, no handbook can be expected to incorporate every code and policy that governs school life any more than a national constitution or book of laws can encompass all the norms and prohibitions of a society. The aim here is to make available to the Doon community the major tenets and rules of the school.

Kanti Bajpai

Former Headmaster

January 15, 2009