Diocesan Girls' School: Difference between revisions
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'''Diocesan Girls' School''', one of the oldest and most prestigious girls' schools in Hong Kong, was founded in 1860 by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church to provide an all-round secondary education for girls in Hong Kong. Commonly known simply as DGS, the School is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School, a group of administrators who ensure that the school is well-managed and that it adheres to DGS's School Mission. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded; the School commenced operation in the [[Direct Subsidy Scheme|DSS]] mode starting with Secondary One classes in September 2005. It uses English as the medium of instruction, and |
'''Diocesan Girls' School''', one of the oldest and most prestigious girls' schools in Hong Kong, was founded in 1860 by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church to provide an all-round secondary education for girls in Hong Kong. Commonly known simply as DGS, the School is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School, a group of administrators who ensure that the school is well-managed and that it adheres to DGS's School Mission. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded; the School commenced operation in the [[Direct Subsidy Scheme|DSS]] mode starting with Secondary One classes in September 2005. It uses English as the medium of instruction, and has always been ranked the top secondary school for girls in Hong Kong, with students known to be high achievers in academics, music and sports etc. DGS counts a total of 39 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking first among all secondary schools in Hong Kong. The school is also a member of the [[G20 Schools]] Group. It has a "feeder" primary school known as Diocesan Girls' Junior School ("DGJS"), with Mrs Emily Dai, herself an Old Girl of both DGJS and DGS, as its Headmistress. |
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==History== |
==History== |
Revision as of 18:38, 19 March 2013
This article about school may require cleanup. (May 2010) |
Diocesan Girls' School Chinese: 拔萃女書院 | |
---|---|
Location | |
Hong Kong | |
Information | |
Type | DSS, Grant School, primary, secondary |
Motto | Daily Giving Service |
Established | 1860 |
School district | King's Park |
Headmistress | Mrs. Stella Lau, JP |
Grades | P1 – F6 |
Colour(s) | Persian blue (DGS Blue) |
Affiliation | Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Episcopalian) |
Website | dgs.edu.hk |
Diocesan Girls' School, one of the oldest and most prestigious girls' schools in Hong Kong, was founded in 1860 by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church to provide an all-round secondary education for girls in Hong Kong. Commonly known simply as DGS, the School is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School, a group of administrators who ensure that the school is well-managed and that it adheres to DGS's School Mission. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded; the School commenced operation in the DSS mode starting with Secondary One classes in September 2005. It uses English as the medium of instruction, and has always been ranked the top secondary school for girls in Hong Kong, with students known to be high achievers in academics, music and sports etc. DGS counts a total of 39 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking first among all secondary schools in Hong Kong. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group. It has a "feeder" primary school known as Diocesan Girls' Junior School ("DGJS"), with Mrs Emily Dai, herself an Old Girl of both DGJS and DGS, as its Headmistress.
History
Pre-war
DGS was originally named Diocesan Native Female Training School in 1860, when it was founded at Bonham Road and Eastern Street[citation needed] in Hong Kong Island. The School was set up by the wife of Bishop Smith. He was the first Bishop of Victoria sent by [citation needed] the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East, a sub-society of the London Missionary Society. At first, it admitted only girls. In 1866 it was renamed Diocesan Female School. Because of financial problems the School had to restrict its services solely to orphans and destitute Chinese girls in 1869.[citation needed] Later[when?], it became the Diocesan Home and Orphanage and accepted boys as well.
The School[which?] first received government financial assistance in 1878 and was placed under the grant-in-aid scheme, officially establishing itself as a girls' school.[citation needed] The boys would continue their education at the newly founded Diocesan Boys' School.[citation needed]
In 1913, the School finally moved to its present site in 1 Jordan Road, Kowloon, formerly a rice paddy field. In the 1920s, the school motto, Daily Giving Service, was adopted. During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, the school was taken over as headquarters of the Japanese gendarmerie until it was re-opened in September 1945 by Ms. Gibbins, then headmistress, who was interned at Stanley camp during the occupation. Immediately upon her release, Gibbins hurried back to reclaim the school premises despite difficulty in crossing the harbour, thus saving the building from being looted.[citation needed]
Post war
In the 1950s, with the closure of the adjacent town-gas depot, the School was able to expand. The old Edwardian edifice was pulled down, and three school blocks were constructed to accommodate the enlarged student body. The school embarked on a large scale school expansion project, and two extension blocks were opened respectively in 1993 and 1996. A new phase of expansion had been completed and was opened officially on 12 January 2007.
In 2005, DGS joined the Direct Subsidy Scheme, so as to enhance the facilities to meet the demand of increased number of classes. In site redevelopment has been chosen against the use of a new site provided by the Education Bureau, based on costs considerations. The new school was designed by an award-winning architect,[who?] and the preliminary designs was reviewed and polished by a group of alumni. A fund-raising campaign was launched in 2008 for the redevelopment of the old school campus, which targets on HKD 380 million. In 2009, the classes in DGS were temporarily relocated to 101 Castle Peak Road, Sham Shui Po, whereas DGJS was moved to Tseung Kwan O, as the reconstruction begins. In September 2011, the school returned to 1 Jordan Road upon completion of the new campus.
Donations controversy
In 1976, the School handed out application forms for its Primary School together with a solicitation for a "voluntary donation of HK$1,000" towards the construction of a new Primary School building. This drew a great deal of criticism from the public and fuelled the debate about the questionable recruitment practices of elite schools.[1] Symons had responded that the solicitation had been cleared by the ICAC, and in addition that the School had sent out the solicitations "inadvertently". The School was forced to dissociate the request for donations from applications.
The controversy also contributed to demands that the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, of which Symons was the sole representative of the education sector, be made more representative of the sector.[2]
Headmistresses
Name | Tenure | ||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Susan Baxter [citation needed] | 1893–1899[citation needed] | Miss Baxter was the first Headmistress of the school.[citation needed] She first arrived here as a missionary with the Female Education Society in 1860. The number of children in the Diocesan Native Female Training School was 30 in 1863.[citation needed] |
2. | Elizabeth Skipton | 1899[citation needed]–1921 | |
3. | Miss Ferguson | 1921–1925 | Miss Ferguson gave the school its motto "Daily Giving Service" |
4. | H.D. Sawyer | 1925–1939 | Miss Sawyer became Headmistress in 1925 on Miss Ferguson's death. The number of pupils was 222. |
5. | E.M. Gibbins | 1939–1946 | Miss Gibbins made the study of Chinese compulsory for all but European girls. Miss Gibbins also successfully prevented looting of the school during wartime. The war ended in 1945 and the school was re-opened on 1 October. |
6. | A.W. Hurrell | 1946–1953 | Though faced with such difficulties as the destruction of the school building, the absence of books and a library, Miss Hurrell was able to continue with the expansion of the existing school buildings, first with the conversion of a large dormitory from the old playshed. |
7. | C.J. Symons | 1953–1985 | In March 1953, Dr. Symons returned as Headmistress having served twice before as Acting Headmistress. The school then numbered 644 from Kindergarten to the Upper Six. Dr. Symons had served the school for 32 years before retiring and returning to England. |
8. | Elim Lau | 1985–1999 | Mrs. Elim Lau, an Old Girl of the School, took over as Headmistress from Dr. Symons in 1985. During her term as Headmistress, she oversaw the completion of the new Building Extension Phase I in 1993 and Phase II in 1996, which allowed the Junior School to expand from 12 to 18 classes with an improved teacher-pupil ratio, and further equipped the Junior School with a new library and various special rooms for effective teaching and learning. She retired in July 1999, having served the School for 14 years. |
9. | Stella Lau | 1999 to date | Mrs. Stella Lau is also an Old Girl of the School. She took over from Mrs. Elim Lau in September 1999. |
Houses
The five houses are named after headmistresses of the school.
House |
---|
Hurrell (H) |
Skipton (Sk) |
Gibbins (G) |
Sawyer (S) |
Symons (Sy) |
Other related associations
- DGS has an Old Girls Association named Diocesan Old Girls Association (DOGA).
- St. Andrews Church in the Diocese of Western Kowloon in Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui is the parish church of DGS.
Alumni By Field
Business
Communications
Education
Fashion
Government
- Grace Ho, OBE, JP, aka. Mrs. E.P. Ho
- Elizabeth Wong, CBE, JP
- Dr. Sarah Liao, JP[4]
- Eva Cheng
Law
Media & Entertainment
- Vivian Au
- Karen Morris
- Denise Ho (DGJS Alumnus)
- Pauline Yeung
- Elaine Sung
Medicine
Research
Sports
See also
- Education in Hong Kong
- List of secondary schools in Hong Kong
- Diocesan Boys' School
- Diocesan Native Female Training School
References
- ^ Carroll, Millie (5 April 1976). "Mrs. Symons, donations, and the ICAC" (PDF). The Standard. Hong Kong. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
- ^ "Education group calls for representative in Legco" (PDF). The Standard. 16 March 1976. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
- ^ Kong, Winnie (February, 2002). "Solina H S Chau - Class of '78". Diocesan Girls' School. Retrieved 16 March 2007.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ "Meeting with our Secretary For The Environment, Transport & Works Of The HKSAR", The Diocesan Old Girls' Association HK, 2004-12-06