Per pale, Dexter - per fess indented ermine and gules, in chief two palm branches in saltire proper, surmounted of a mitre or, in base an episcopal staff, in bend, gold, surmounted of an open book, also proper. Sinister - Azure achevron between three hanks of cotton agent.

Such is the blazon or technical heraldic description of the arms of the School, which, following the usual custom of colleges and schools, has simply adopted those of its founder, Bishop Cotton, of Calcutta, and it is now proposed to give some explanation of these curious terms and of the symbolism conveyed.

The motto Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum is connected with the school and is not that of the Cotton family, which is En utraque fortuna paratus. Coming to the blazon, Per pale means that the shield is divided vertically down the centre, the sides being respectively termed Dexter and Sinister, from the Latin, but it must be remembered that these terms are always used with reference to the shield itself and not to the observer. This form of partition is used to allow of the arms of a man and his wife being placed on one shield , the man's arms being dexter and the woman's to sinister, and the same imagery is used in the case of bishops, who are held to be "married" to their Dioceses, the Diocese, however, being given the place of honour to the dexter. The arms therfore in the dexter half of this shield are those of the sea of calcutta, and are used by each successive bishop impaled with his own. They will be also found with those of Bishop Heber in the School Dining Hall.

Per Fess means that the shield is divided in half horizontally, indented expressing the nature of the dividing line. Ermine is one of the furs used in heraldry and is always represented by black spots of a peculiar shape on a white ground, gules is a curios old Norman French term simply meaning red; various suggestions have been made as to its origin, one being from goolab ( Persian) a rose, and another, gueule ( French) , the throat of a wolf. The latter seems most probable. In saltire means like a saltire or St. Andrew's cross , proper that they are painted in their natural color. Or, (lat, aurum) means gold, and in bend sloping dexter to sinister.

The sinister half of the shield contains the personal arms of the ancient House of Cotton of Combermere to which family of the bishop belonged. The head of the family , Viscount Combermere , is descended from a distinguished general, Sir Stapleton Cotton, a near relative of the bishop, who was ennobled for his services in the Peninsular war, where his habit of going into action in full uniform with all his orders and decoration on earned for him the nickname of "The Golden Lion". Azure is the old Norman French for blue, and a chevron, an inverted V, is supposed to represent the gable of a house, and was in early days usually granted for distinguished services in a seige. The hanks or skeins of the cotton are of course an allusion to the family name, a very common practice in heraldry where puns are regarded with much favour. Argent is the French for Silver. The School Shield and Crest is an adaptation of the crest of Bishop Cotton of Calcutta, in whose name the school was founded in 1865.

The crest is divided, vertically down the centre, the sides being called dexter ( right) and sinister (left) having reference to the Shield itself. Thus the dexter is one on the left of the Crest as we look at it. The arms of this half of the Crest are those of the Bishopric of Calcutta - the Bishop's mitre ( head dress), the Bishop's staff and the open Bible.

The other side of the Crest ( the Sinister) contains the arms of the ancient house of Cotton of Combermere in England to which Bishop Cotton belonged. The White figure-of-eight like shapes represent skeins of cotton. The chevron ( the inverted V) is supposed to represent the gable of a house and was usually granted to a family for distinguished service.

While the heraldic shield of Bishop Cotton was adopted as the school emblem, it was Dr. Pope who gave us the school motto taken from the book of Joshua, from the Old Testament :

Nec Dextrorsum , Nec Sinistrorsum - "neither to the right nor to the left"