St Catharine's School for Girls, Kwun Tong
St Catharine's School for Girls, Kwun Tong (Chinese: 聖傑靈女子中學) is located in Hong Lee Road, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. It is a girl's secondary school. Its motto is 'Brave Gentle Sincere'. The mission of the school is 'To deliver quality education to students, making them virtuous, all-round and knowledgeable'.
History
The school was established by its first principal, The Rev. Joyce M. Bennett, who was contacted by the Educational Department in 1965. Ms Bennett first visited the school site at Ngok Yue Shan in late 1965. As the government first requested an establishment of 24 classes in the school, Ms Bennett then planned to set up four different subjects (Arts, Science, Commerce and Technical) to satisfy the government.
The school name
The government proposed to name the school "St. Anne's". But the Chinese members of the school organizing committee thought that the name is not good when translated into Chinese. After a long search, Ms Bennett proposed the name "St. Catharine's", after Catherine of Alexandria, the patroness of young maidens and female students, and her birthday, 25 November, was considered a suitable day for school celebration.
Class names
The school set up five Form One classes in September 1968. As Ms Bennett thought it is unwise to name the five classes with ‘A’ to ‘E’ since people may think the classes are ranked according to the students' quality, she eventually picked five women from the New Testament as the names of the classes:
- Mary: A woman who was attentive to Jesus' teaching,
- Martha: A busy cook,
- Dorcas: A seamstress,
- Priscilla: A tent-maker and
- Phoebe: A deaconess
These women were all considered good role models for the girls.
External links
Coordinates: 22°19′09″N 114°13′10″E / 22.3191°N 114.2195°E