St. Paul's Secondary School

Not to be confused with St. Paul's Convent School.
St. Paul's Secondary School
Chinese: 聖保祿中學
Location
18A Ventris Road, Happy Valley
Hong Kong
Information
Type Grant School, secondary
Motto Omnibus Omnia - All Things to All Men
Established 1960
School district Wan Chai
Principal Mr. Ching Tsz Pan
Grades F.1 - F.6
Colour(s) Sapphire, black, white
Website

St. Paul's Secondary School (SPSS, Chinese: 聖保祿中學) is a Catholic girls' secondary school situated on Ventris Road in Happy Valley, Hong Kong. It is a Catholic grant-in-aid Anglo-Chinese Secondary Grammar School for girls.

Its former principal, Rev. Sr. Damian Lai, retired in 2006. She was replaced by the vice-principal, Miss Deborah Wu.

History

St. Paul's Secondary School is a Catholic Grant-in-aid Anglo-Chinese Secondary Grammar School for girls. A Band 1 secondary all-girls school of Hong Kong's Top 50 schools. In keeping with the school's founding principle of meeting the changing needs of the times, it always endeavours to take on a leadership role in curriculum renewal. It has been the fore-runner of science education for girls in Hong Kong, and one of the first girls' schools in Hong Kong to offer science subjects and Computer Studies in the upper forms and Computer Literacy in the lower forms. It introduced Integrated Science in the late 60s, Computer Studies in the late 70s, Computer Literacy and Family Life Education in the early 80s and implemented IT in Education in the 90s. It was selected as one of the 10 pilot secondary schools in the IT in Education Pilot Scheme in 1998.

To date, it has widened its curriculum and developed itself into a fully integrated educational institute with Arts, Sciences, Commercial and Social Sciences at all levels.

First foundation

St. Paul's Secondary School owes its parentage to the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres who arrived in Hong Kong from France in 1848. They became involved in local education soon after their arrival. They sponsored and ran St. Paul's Convent School in 1854 and their work of educational excellence became well known in Hong Kong.

Second foundation

St. Paul's Secondary School was founded in 1960 by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres as an extension of St. Paul's Convent School to meet the growing needs of science education of girls in Hong Kong.

It has been the forerunner of science education for girls in Hong Kong. It was one of the first girls' schools in Hong Kong to offer science and computer related subjects.

It offered Integrated Science in the late 60s, Computer Studies in the late 70s, Computer Literacy and Family Life Education in the early 80s and implemented IT in Education in the 90s. It was selected as one of the 10 pilot secondary schools in the IT in Education Pilot Scheme in 1998.[1]

Academics

There are five classes in each of Form 1 to Form 6, constituting a total of 30 classes. Most of the Form 1 students come from St. Paul's Primary Catholic School and the rest come from other primary schools.

The following is the distribution of classes from 2012 to 2013:
．Secondary 1 (Grade 7): 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E
．Secondary 2 (Grade 8): 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E
．Secondary 3 (Grade 9): 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E
．Secondary 4 (Grade 10 New Senior Secondary Programme): 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E
．Secondary 5 (Grade 11 New Senior Secondary Programme): 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E
．Secondary 6 (Grade 12): New Senior Secondary Programme): 6A,6B,6C,6D,6E

Other Learning Experience

Under the NSS Curriculum, 'Other Learning Experiences' (OLE) is one of the three components that complement the NSS subjects. Based on our strong foundation of the five Essential Learning Experiences in the junior forms, senior form students are offered a wide range of OLE opportunities both within and outside school. It is hoped that our Paulinians would be further encouraged to participate in the five areas of OLE, namely Aesthetic Development, Physical Development, Moral and Civic Education, Community Service and Career-related Experiences.

In SPSS, Subject-related Experiences is also included in the OLE Coordination Team to give extra support for activities related to academic learning.

School clubs and teams

Subject-related experiences

Aesthetic development

Physical development

Moral & civic education

( China Praesidium,Miraculous Medal Praesidium)

Community service

Career-related experiences

School hymn

Refrain:
Hark! Daughters of the great St. Paul,
Come, listen to his call:
"O children of this loved school,
The loving nurse of all,
Rejoice in God, do work and pray;
Be true from day to day."

Beloved school of mine,
My pains and joys are thine,
My childhood's early dreams
Are closely linked with thee.
The hope that heaven brings
Thou dost unfold to me,
Thou dost unfold to me.

Sweet are the days of girlhood,
When friends we love and care,
Those golden links of childhood,
Whose sympathy we share.
Do stay and while the hours away,
With us in work and play.
And when we leave
Our dear old school
These mem'ries we'll recall,
These mem'ries we'll recall.
(Repeat Refrain)

School facilities

The whole school is air-conditioned. In addition to standard-sized air-conditioned classrooms, there are well-equipped special rooms including school hall, chapel, Student Activity/Dance Room, Small-group Teaching Room, Computer Rooms, Broadcast Studio, Multi-Media Learning Center(MMLC), Language Laboratory, Biology Laboratory 1, Biology Laboratory 2, Integrated Science Laboratory, Physics Laboratory, Chemistry Laboratory, Library, Lecture Room, Multi-Purpose Room, Needlework Room, Home Management Room, Music Room, Art Room, Interview Rooms.

Extra-curricular activities

Music
SPSS possesses a wide range of musical groups, including the Junior and Senior Choirs, a Full Orchestra, as well as a String Orchestra. The School Senior Choir came first with 92 marks in this year’s Schools Music Festival: Senior Girls Choir Competition Singing in Foreign Language Second Division. The School Junior Choir, out of 27 competitors, came second with 87 marks in this year's Schools Music Festival: Girls Choir Competition Singing in Foreign Language Second Division.

Sports
The School organizes a wide variety of sports teams, including Athletics, Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Table Tennis, National Dance, Fencing. The School is also actively participate in invitation competition organised by various school.

Basketball team

St. Paul's Secondary School is renowned for its outstanding basketball team. In the year of 2002, a group of devoted basketball players have joined the basketball team and changed the prospect of the team. After spending years of effort, the team won the Overall Champion in the Inter-School Basketball Competition 2006/07 which established the greatest success in the school's sports history.

Since then, the basketball team has achieved the followings in the Division One (HK) Inter-School Basketball Competition:

2008/09 A Grade - 2nd runner-up [2]

2010/12 B Grade - 2nd runner-up [3]

Other
Under the NSS Curriculum, 'Other Learning Experiences' (OLE) is one of the three components that complement the NSS subjects. Based on our strong foundation of the five Essential Learning Experiences in the junior forms, senior form students are offered a wide range of OLE opportunities both within and outside school. It is hoped that our Paulinians would be further encouraged to participate in the five areas of OLE, namely Aesthetic Development, Physical Development, Moral and Civic Education, Community Service and Career-related Experiences.
Every year, there are many competitions and activities held in order to provide a learning experience for Paulinians, such as Verse and Play competition and Inter-class Rope Skipping.
SPSS also participates in other competitions, including art, drama and the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival.

Associated schools

Other sister schools:

See also

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ St. Paul's Secondary School 聖保祿中學 – About SPSS – School History
  2. ↑ http://www.hkssf-hk.org.hk/hk/sec/events/basketball/bk_overallresultsHK_0809.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.hkssf-hk.org.hk/hk/sec/events/basketball/bk_overallresultsHK_1112.htm

Coordinates: 22°16′21″N 114°11′05″E / 22.2726°N 114.1847°E