The House system is a feature common to Public schools. The House systems have great advantage of breaking large community into smaller , more personal units, and thereby building a sense of loyalty and competition. A house is much more than a building in which boys have their habitat while in school. It is a way of life. Loyalty to House often surpassed loyalty to school. Parents , sometimes, prefer the choice of the house for their children.

The formation of Houses in Bishop Cottons may have been done during 1910 as the Cottonian magazine of that year has reported "Puchi teams! Puchi marks!" . Puchi means flies. There were 125 students and were six teams were formed. And the Puchi teams were named - Jerrimangalams, Bloodsuckers, Scorpions, White ants and Cobras. The one named them had a good sense of humour and all boys were considered as 'flies'. Each team was led by a captain, and boys grouped 'big', 'Medium sized' and 'little'.

The puchi teams were in place till 1933. New houses were formed by combining

The scorpions & Cobras as Pettigrew House

The white ants & Jerrimangalams as Pope House

The Blood suckers & Mosquitos as Pakenham-Walsh House.

These names were taken after the three pioneers of the school. Each team had a'Head' and a 'Captain of games'. And the entire school strength of 314 boys were distributed equally among the teams.

In 1956, a fourth House was added which was named after canon Elphic who was Warden from 1930 - 1955. Many boys volunteered to join the new House and all new admissions to the school automatically were added to this House.

The strength of students was 500 in 1957 and the same has reached 5000 mark by 1998. In 1996, a fifth House - Thomas House was formed to increase competitive spirit

The strength of the houses in 1998 are as follows;

Every student and teacher , other than those in kindergarten , belongs to one House or the other.

The House was named after the Rev. S. T. Pettigrew, Chaplain of St. Mark's Church and founder of the school. Pettigrew House was formed in 1933.

The House is named after Rev. G.U. Pope, the first warden of the School, 1871 - 1882. He came to the School from the Nilgiris and is remembered beyond the bounds of the School as a great scholor in Tamil.

The House is named after the Rt. Rev. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh in 1933. The Rev. Pakenham-Walsh left the wardenship of the School in 1913 and became the first Bishop of Assam in 1915.

Elphick House was formed in 1956 and was named after Canon Elphick , Warden from 1930- 1955. Canon Elphick came to the School from Oxford Brotherhood in Calcutta, India and his Wardenship was the longest of any since the founding of the School.

This house is the latest which was formed in 1996-97 in the momry of the late Rev. Lowerth Thomas who was the Warden from 1956 to 1970.