Wah Yan College, Kowloon

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Wah Yan College, Kowloon

School Badge of Wah Yan College, Kowloon
Motto In hoc signo vinces
Latin, "In this sign you shall conquer"
Established 1924
Type Grant-in-aid
Supervisor Rev. Alfred Deignan, S.J.
Principal Mr. Norman So
Location 56 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Telephone Number 2384 1038
Religion Catholic
Governing Body Society of Jesus
Connected School Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Homepage http://www.wyk.edu.hk
E-mail info@wyk.edu.hk

Wah Yan College, Kowloon (WYK; traditional Chinese:九龍華仁書院; Jyutping: gau2 lung4 wa4 jan2 syu1 jyun2, Pinyin: Jǐulóng Huárén Shūyuàn; demonym: Wahyanite, pl.: Wahyanites) is a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys, located in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is administered by the Society of Jesus.

Contents

[edit] Aims and characteristics

According to the school website[1], the school is aimed to give students opportunity to know Christ, to build a school community in which everybody may respect and co-operate with each other, to encourage students to work for a just society, and to serve the needed, etc..

It is widely agreed among Wahyanites that, compared with other secondary schools in Hong Kong, WYK offers more freedom to students, and values independent learning highly. Students organizations (clubs, societies and associations) are given much autonomy to organize activities, and they are partly supervised by students themselves.

[edit] Class structure and curricula

At present, each form from F.1 to F.5 has 5 classes, called W, Y, K, S, J (standing for Wah, Yan, Kowloon, Society of Jesus). For F.6 and F.7, there are 3 classes in each form, namely S, B, and SS (standing for Science, Biology and Social Science). The subjects taken are stated as follows:[2]

Form 1:
English Language, Chinese Language, Putonghua, History, Geography, Ethics, Chinese History, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Visual Arts, Music, Physical Education, Library and Learning

Form 2:
English Language, Chinese Language, Putonghua, History, Geography, Ethics, Chinese History, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Visual Arts, Music, Physical Education

Form 3:
English Language, Chinese Language, Putonghua, History, Geography, Ethics, Chinese History, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Visual Arts, Music, Physical Education

Form 4 & 5:
Science Stream (usually four classes, W, Y, K and S): English Language, Chinese Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Chinese History, Religious Studies (non-HKCEE), Music (non-HKCEE) (Form 4 only) and Physical Education (non-HKCEE); students must also take two more electives, Biology/Computer & Information Technology and Geography/History.
Social Science Stream (usually one class, J): English Language, Chinese Language, Mathematics, Economics, Principles of Accounts, Chinese History, Computer & Imformation Technology, Religious Studies (non-HKCEE), Music (non-HKCEE) (Form 4 only) and Physical Education (non-HKCEE); students must also take one more elective from Geography and History.

Form 6 & 7:
Class S: Use of English, Chinese Language & Culture, Physics(AL), Religious Studies (not for examination) and Physical Education (not for examination); students must also take two more electives, one from Pure Mathematics(AL) and Biology(AL) and one from Chemistry(AL) and Computer Studies(AL)
Class B: Use of English, Chinese Language & Culture, Chemistry(AL), Religious Studies (not for examination) and Physical Education (not for examination); students must also take two more electives, one from Pure Mathematics(AL) and Biology(AL) and one from Physics(AL) and Economics(AL)
Class SS: Use of English, Chinese Language & Culture, Religious Studies (not for examination) and Physical Education (not for examination); also, students have to take three or four more electives, one from Principles of Accounts(AL) and History(AL), one from Physics(AL), Economics(AL) and Chinese History(AL), and one ALs or two ASLs from Geography(AL), Chinese Literature(AL) and Mathematics and Statistics(ASL) with Computer Applications(ASL)

Moreover, Catholic students have a biblical lesson every week.

[edit] History

[edit] Formative years

Established in 1924 by Mr. Peter Tsui Yan Sau (徐仁夀, formerly a teacher at St. Joseph's College), WYK is one of the oldest and most prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong, and was the first English-speaking college to be administered by local Chinese. During the 1930s, Mr. Tsui, himself a devout Catholic, saw the need of the pupils for greater spiritual guidance, decided to gradually hand over the administration to the incoming Jesuits, while the latter was actively seeking to serve in some local education establishments. Besides the two Wah Yan Colleges in Hong Kong and Kowloon, the Jesuits also sought to form a Catholic University in Hong Kong. Yet with the University of Hong Kong already established in 1911, the Jesuit fathers turned to organise a Catholic male hostel for its students, which hostel was to become Ricci Hall of the University. Mr. Tsui left Hong Kong and became a successful rubber planter and hotelier in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah of the British Malaya. He died in Hong Kong on 19 February 1981, age ninety three.

[edit] Pre-war developments

Before the Second World War, the school was located on Portland Street and later moved to Nelson Street in 1928. Under the auspice of A. E. Wood, then Secretary for Education, the School was added to the Grant List, and was hence under Government subsidies. A branch was also opened on Austin Road to cater for students in senior years, the premises becomes the Tak Sun Primary School after the war. A South China Morning Post article in 1928 reported the WYK to be the biggest school in Hong Kong with a student population of 500. Despite new facilities, however, senior students were still required to cross the Victoria Harbour for laboratory lessons at the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

In 1941, Hong Kong was attacked by the Japanese forces, the Jesuit priests of the College helped organise the evacuation of the Kowloon civilians to the Island as they closed down the school. During the occupation, the Japanese prohibited its resumption on political grounds. The Nelson Street campus was so thoroughly looted that, Mr. Chow Ching-nam (周淸霖), then Headmaster, could only salvage nothing but a small portion of school registers and documentations, and the students had to bring in their own stools when the College reopened after the war.

[edit] Expansion and maturity

Around 1947, the School Authorities began the search for a new campus as its size further increased. A proposed acquisition of a site on Ho Man Tin Hill Road was turned down and after negotiations with the Government of Hong Kong, a piece of former paddy field was granted, and it hence moved to the current premise on Waterloo Road in 1952, where the school is to remain until now. This provision of land was quite vast by Hong Kong standards, making WYK one of the largest campus in the urban Hong Kong area. This precedent was soon followed in the case of land provision for Wah Yan College (Hong Kong), where the plot granted by the Government was also of significant size. The present campus was officially opened by the then Governor Sir Alexander Grantham, in 1953. In 2005, a new annex of WYK was officially opened providing new science labs, music room, a Computer Assisted Learning Room (commonly called CAL Room) and a student activity room.

Although WYK is a Catholic school run by experienced missionaries, it was still not quite the part of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Colonial administration during the sixties. Several reasons could account for this phenomenon. Perhaps the most significant being the absence of a permanent expatriate element in the student body, for Wah Yan has long accustomed to a full Chinese intake.

WYK is known as the cradle of new Chinese ink painting in recognition of an experimental teaching method pioneered by former Arts teacher Mr. Laurence Tam (譚志成)in the late 1960's. Mr. Tam left WYK in 1971 to become a curator of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.


[edit] Famous alumni

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ School Goals as on the official website
  2. ^ School Administration

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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