Principal’s Report at the 38th Annual Speech Day

Date: 20/11/2020

Guest of Honour Dr. TSE, Supervisor Ms. LAM, School Managers, Distinguished Guests, Parents, Teachers and Students, Good Afternoon.

It is our great honour to have Dr. TSE officiate here at our ceremony today.

The 2019-2020 School Year was an extraordinary one. It posed challenges not only to a new principal like me, but to all students and teachers. School was suspended. Tests and examinations were postponed or cancelled. Learning moved online. All these happened without advanced notice. However, we should be grateful because all of us can meet here to celebrate the graduation of 137 S.6 graduates today. They have passed not only the examinations, but a great test in their life. Due to the sudden class suspension, face-to-face guidance was greatly reduced before the public examinations. But students demonstrated the spirit of the school motto “Knowledge and Perseverance”. They strived for their dreams till the last minute.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected the preparation and implementation of the 2020 HKDSE Examinations, our students achieved very good results this year. Of the 13 subjects taken, the average subject pass rate was 100% and more than 88% of our graduates attained the minimum university admission requirement, i.e. Levels “33222”. The average percentage of Level 4 or above was about 74%. The best students got three Level 5**, four Level 5* and four Level 5**, one Level 5* respectively. Our graduates also obtained very promising JUPAS offers this year. Out of 137 graduates, more than 95% of them received an offer from JUPAS. 86.1% of graduates got Bachelor Degree offers, and more than 40% of these offers were made by HKU, CUHK and HKUST.

We aim to produce all-rounded students and nurture within them a strong sense of responsibility towards the community. More than 50 educational activities, in line with the year’s theme “Harmony, Creativity & Vision”, were held last year. I would like to highlight an Assembly Talk with the theme “Care with mask in adversity” held in June this year. Our alumni Dr. Will LEUNG, Ms. Katrina YAN and Ms. Wai Sum WU gave our students a very touching talk on what they felt and experienced as medical professionals in their hospitals during these challenging days. Their bravery and selflessness are what our students need to learn. For more detailed information you may refer to the Education Schedule printed in the Speech Day Bulletin.

Although many inter-school competitions were cancelled due to the pandemic, our students also tried their best and won many individual and group prizes last year. Our S.6 students LEE Ching Yuet and CHOI Man Wai were awarded the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Prize for their all-round development.  CHAN Cheuk Ying from S.6 and WONG Yat Hin from S.3 were honoured with the 2019 Hong Kong Island Outstanding Students (Eastern District) Award. Our students also performed excellently and won many prizes in various STEM related competitions such as the International Mathematics Olympiad, the Hua Xia Cup Mathematics Competition, the International Biology Olympiad, the International Physics Olympiad, the Australian National Chemistry Quiz, the Secondary School Mathematics and Science Competition, the Hong Kong Secondary Schools IT Knowledge Competition, and others. Our S.5 BAFS students also won the Championship and Outstanding Performance Team in the 2019/2020 HKICPA Accounting and Business Management Case Competition. If you’d like to learn more about the achievements of our students, please refer to the Annual Report and the Speech Day Bulletin.

The 2019-2020 School Year was a milestone for our School Redevelopment Project. It was discussed in three committees of the Legislative Council, namely the Panel on Education, the Public Works Subcommittee, and the Finance Committee. With the joint efforts of the consultant team and the assistance of the Education Bureau and the Architectural Services Department,  the project was finally approved by all the committees and was upgraded to Category A at an estimated cost of HK$285.3 million in July 2020. I must once again express my sincere thanks to the Hong Kong Chinese Women’s Club and the former principals Mr. Wong and Mrs. Wong for their endless support to the school. The construction will be carried out in phases and begin in April 2021. We expect a brand new Hall Block to be in use in late 2024.

2019-2020 was undoubtedly a year full of challenges. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, classes were suspended for a few months and learning and teaching were seriously affected. The school year for S.6 graduates ended prematurely, and the public examinations were postponed to late April. In this year, we lost a lot! Our students lost time spent with teachers and classmates in school. They lost many learning opportunities offered by competitions and study tours. Tragically, some people even lost their lives. However, we have learnt much more from the pandemic. We learnt the importance of personal hygiene. We learnt how important our family members and friends are to us. We learnt to be grateful and treasure what we have today. Let’s believe in the future! Graduates, we’re proud of you. You should also be proud of yourselves. In such a bad environment last year, you did not give up. You strived and tried your very best in your studies. In the road ahead, you may face many big and small challenges. I’m confident that you can tackle all the difficulties and pursue your dreams in the future.  

Thank you.