St. Mark's School (Hong Kong)

St. Mark's School Chinese: 聖馬可中學
Address
18 Oi Yin Street, Aldrich Bay Shau Kei Wan Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°16′53″N 114°13′35″E / 22.281318°N 114.226516°E / 22.281318; 114.226516
Information
School type	Aided (Grant School)
Motto	ΕΥΘΥΣ ("Straightway")
Religious affiliation(s)	Christianity
Patron saint(s)	St. Mark
Established	1949
Status	Open
Authority	Sheng Kung Hui
Chairperson	Dr. Allan Yuen
Principal	Mr. POON Siu Chi
Chaplain	Rev. Frankie Lee
Staff	56
Grades	F.1 - F.6 (Equivalent of Grades 7-12)
Gender	Co-Ed
• Grade 7	(F.1) 189
• Grade 8	(F.2) 186
Average class size	40
Language	English
Classrooms	32
Campus	Aldrich Bay
Campus size	~5700 sqm
Houses	Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn
School colour(s)	Navy Blue
Website	http://www.stmarks.edu.hk

The St. Mark's School (Chinese: 聖馬可中學) is a band 1 school located in the Eastern District of Hong Kong^[1]

History

St. Mark's School was founded at Glenealy in Central in 1949, first known as St. Paul's English PM School. The founding Principal was Mr. Leslie Wah-Leung Chung (鍾華亮) (1917-2009) ^{[2] [3][4][5][6]} .^[7][8][9] It was renamed St. Mark's School in 1953, and moved to Shaukeiwan Road in 1956. In 2001, it was relocated to its present site, a brand new building in Aldrich Bay.

In 2009, St. Mark's celebrated its Diamond Jubilee.

The Parish Church of this school is the Holy Nativity Church.

School logo and motto

The logo of St. Mark’s School is a lion with outstretched wings, a symbol of the undaunted spirit of St. Mark. The ribbon beneath the feet of the winged lion carries the Greek word "", which translates as "straightway" in old English.

"Straightway" has a two-fold meaning. Character-wise, it means one should be honest, frank, and morally upright. It also means straight-away, doing at once what should be done now and not putting it off.

As students of St. Mark’s School, we should always be truthful to others, as well as be ready to take up responsibilities and act immediately.

Academics

St. Mark's School adopts English as the medium of instruction. With the exception of a few subjects, the entire curriculum is taught in English. These subjects are: Chinese Language, Chinese Literature, Chinese History, and Religious Education. St. Mark's School is regarded as one of the top schools in the Eastern District, with students obtaining excellent performance in public examinations. It is also one of the 22 members of the Council of Subsidised Schools in Hong Kong.

Extracurricular activities

There are 5 houses in St. Mark's School, namely Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury. There are various inter-house sports competitions over the academic year as well as the annual Sports Day and Swimming Gala. In addition, students are encouraged to enrol in many different student societies and to take up numerous leadership opportunities.

School hymn

^[10] Father in heav'n, who lovest all,
O help thy children when they call;
That they may build from age to age,
An undefiled heritage.

Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,
With steadfastness and careful truth;
That in our time, thy grace may give
The truth whereby the nations live.

Teach us to rule ourselves alway,
Controlled and cleanly night and day;
That we may bring, if need arise,
No maimed or worthless sacrifice

Teach us to look in all our ends
On thee for judge, and not our friends;
That we, with thee, may walk uncowed.
By fear or favour of the crowd.

Teach us the strength that cannot seek,
By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
That, under thee, we may possess
Man's strength to comfort man's distress.

Teach us delight in simple things,
And mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done
And love to all men 'neath the sun.

References