St Joseph's College (Hong Kong)

St Joseph's College
St Joseph's College
Address
	7 & 26 Kennedy Road; Central; Hong Kong
Information
Type	Grant School, Boys' secondary school
Motto	Labore et Virtute; (Labour and Virtue)
Established	1875; （143 years, 44 days）;
Principal	Mr Perrick Ching King-bor
Supervisor	Rev Brother Jeffrey Chan, FSC
Faculty	89
Grades	Secondary 1 – 6
Number of students	c.1198
Colour(s)	Green and White
Newspaper	Green & White Gazette
Yearbook	Green & White Magazine
Affiliation	Catholic (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools)
Medium of instruction	English
Patron saint	Saint Joseph
Website	Official school website

St Joseph's College (SJC; Chinese: 聖若瑟書院; Sidney Lau: Sing³ Yeuk⁶ Sat¹ Sue¹ Yuen²; demonym: Josephian), established in 1875, is the oldest Catholic boys' secondary school and one of the leading boys' schools in Hong Kong. It is located in the Central Mid-Levels district and has around 1,100 students. Apart from Chinese related subjects and French language studies, the medium of teaching is English.

The sponsoring body of the College is the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, incorporated in Hong Kong under the St Joseph's College Incorporation Ordinance, Cap. 1048 of the Laws of Hong Kong. The stated mission of the College is "to educate students in areas of intellectual, physical, social, moral and emotional development" and "to impart a human and Christian education...and to do so with faith and zeal".^[1]

The north and west blocks of the College are declared monuments of Hong Kong.^[2] The 26 Kennedy Road extension of the canpus is also one of the Grade I historic buildings.

History

Foundation of the College (1875-1880)

The College was previously a Portuguese commercial school named St Saviour's College, located on Pottinger Street in 1860. Father Timoleon Raimondi, who was then the bishop of the Colony, convinced Rome to send the Lasallian Brothers to the British Colony.

On 7 November 1875, six Lasallian Brothers arrived in Hong Kong: Brothers Hidulphe Marie (Director), Hidulphe de Jesus, and Hebertus from the Boarding school of Marseilles; Brother Adrian Edmund and Aldolphus Marie from the Novitiate of London; and Brother Isfrid from Paris. They renamed the school after Saint Joseph, the patron saint of workers and the Universal Church.^[3]

At the time of the takeover the school had just 75 students. That year, hundreds of Portuguese families had taken refuge in Hong Kong as a disastrous typhoon had swept over Macau, and after some weeks the school's enrollment had doubled. Brothers Hidulphe had to suspend intake of Chinese students. To provide an extension, a house (Buxley Lodge) situated at 9 Caine Road was purchased in 1876.

Robinson Road (1881-1917)

St Joseph's College at Robinson Road c. 1910

In April, 1880, Brother Cyprian was appointed Director. He had been a teacher in New York and Quebec and had held the directorship of several schools in his native land, Canada as well as teaching in London and Paris. In order to cater for the needs of the fast-growing school, a piece of land in Glenealy below Robinson Road was bought and a two-storey Victorian building became home to the College in 1881.^[3]

In January, 1884, Brother Ivarch Louis took over the directorship, to be succeeded in 1889 by Brother Abban. Enrollment had then increased to 409 and two Chinese staff were employed by the college; in the same year a third floor was added to the school building for the accommodation of the boarders. The wings were further added in 1901.

The Kennedy Road campus (1918- )

Front entrance

The North Block and West Block

On 13 February 1918, the Robinson Road campus was severely damaged by an earthquake. The Club Germania at 7 Kennedy Road was subsequently purchased on 3 September. Because pupils living on the Kowloon side had to cross by ferry round-trip every day, a branch school was set up on Chatham Road, Kowloon, which, in 1932, became the La Salle College.

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945, the College was used as a clinical depot by the Imperial Japanese Army. Some Brothers fled to Vietnam and became guests of the Dominicans and the Jesuits, while others were kept as prisoners of war in the local concentration camps. The campus was kept in shape by a minor staffer called Ah Yiu, who would also smuggle essentials into the camps for the Brothers.^[4]

The College soon resumed classes after the war. In 1962, Club Germania was demolished and a modern eight-storey building (New Building) was erected under Principal Brother Brenden Dunne.^[5]

Campus

The College is located near the central commercial district of Hong Kong.

The college architecture is a combination of typical colonial European (British Imperialist) and modern styles. The Charles Kao Block^[6] (Old Building, north block), constructed in 1920, houses most of the classrooms. The Chapel Block (west block) houses the Old Hall, music room, laboratories, lecture room and school chapel. These buildings were built in a Colonial style reflecting European influences. The two blocks are declared monuments of Hong Kong since August 2000.

The modern New Building (south block), which replaced the original Club Germania on the site, houses the higher grades' classrooms. The New Hall, senior laboratories, a library and computer rooms are located here.

Recently, the College successfully acquired the former St. Paul's Co-educational (Kennedy Road) Primary School at 26 Kennedy Road, a Grade 1 Historical Building,^[7] from the Education Bureau.^[8]^[9]

Staff

The College is governed by the School Management Committee. It is formed by the supervisor, the principal, two vice-principals, a teachers' representative, a Parent-Teacher Association representative, an Old Boys' Association representative and three Lasallian Brothers.

The faculty includes 67 classroom teachers, a careers mistress, a discipline mistress, a counseling mistress, a sports master, a librarian, one Native English Speaking (NET) teacher, a French teacher. Laboratory technicians, IT technicians and a library assistant are also employed. A part-time social worker is accessible to the students. The current school supervisor is Brother Chan Jeffrey.^[10]

Extra-curricular activities

Sports

Sports have been played been since the college was established. In 1877, just two years after its establishment, the College held the first local inter-school sports competition with St. Paul's College, and around 1880 it established one of the first modern football teams in China.

The first local inter-school athletic meet with Queen's College and Diocesan Boys' School was held in 1899, and in 1903 the first local inter-school football league was formed with the two schools.

Scouting, Red Cross and St. John Ambulance

Winners plaque of the Prince of Wales Banner Competition

The College established a Scout troop in 1913 which was the first within the Catholic Church community in Hong Kong. As other Boy Scouts in Hong Kong were connected with the Protestant Boys' Brigade and British Boy Scouts, the St Joseph's College troop registered with The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom as its 1st Hong Kong Boy Scout Troop, two years before The Boy Scouts Association established a branch in Hong Kong.^[11]

On 1 November 1967, an ambulance cadet division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade was established at the College and was the first ambulance cadet division after the first re-organization in the 1950s.

Music

Since 1974, the College has taken part in the champion title in Male Voice Quartet, Folk music, Solos and Duets, the Dorothy Smith Trophy (Boys Junior: Treble Choir), the Music Society Shield (Mixed Voice Choir), the Dr. Karl Hohner Shield (Melodica Band) and the Moutrie Challenge Trophy (Piano Solos: Final) in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

The school has set up different music groups so as to enhance students' interest in music through various performances and joint-school events. The School Orchestra was established in 2000 and has performed in different public events and concerts. In March 2013, the School Orchestra performed with Tonbridge School Orchestra from the UK during its overseas Tour to Hong Kong.

Established in 2007, the Chinese Orchestra aims at giving Josephians an opportunity to perform Chinese music through different performances. The school has also established other music groups such as the Josephians' Chamber Orchestra, Junior Choir, Senior Choir, Melodica Band and Chinese Drum Band. Each year, the school organises a concert called the "Green and White Concert" in early July. The 10th G&W Concert was organized at City Hall, Hong Kong in 2012 with various special features.

Information Technology

St Joseph's College developed an Apache web server as early as the 1990s and launched Green & White Online, one of the first secondary school websites in Hong Kong. As of 2016, the college has a Computer Society, founded in 2015.

Motto, badge, colours and rally

The school motto Labore et Virtute (Latin); "勤勞與美德" (Chinese); Labour and Virtue (English) — is meant to sum up the life of Saint Joseph. He was a workingman, a carpenter by trade and his virtue made him worthy to be the foster-father of Christ.

The badge of the College displays a shield divided into three divisions. The top division shows the Signum Fidei (sign of faith) - a five-pointed, radiant star, which is taken from the insignia of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. It reminds people of the spirit of faith of the Institute. The right lower division shows three chevrons symbolizing broken bones, reminding students of the bravery and zeal the Saint promoted.

The left lower division shows the book of knowledge on top (with the Alpha and Omega inscribed) and a lamp below; together they symbolize the importance of education, something which Jean-Baptiste de la Salle emphasised. The shield stands with a compartment with supporters each of French lily, since the Lasallian family originates in Rheims, France. The top features a ribbon with the name of the College, and a crest with a cross (Catholicism) and a crown (used to symbolize Hong Kong as a British Crown Colony before 1997). Below the shield are three shells symbolising baptism. The motto of the college is also found at the bottom of the badge.

The combination of green and white has become the official colours of the College over the years. Green represents Ireland's shamrock, while white represents France's fleur-de-lis. The Lasallian Brothers of the College mostly come from Ireland and France. The school rally is based on a traditional Irish song O'Donnell Abú. Brother Marcian James Cullen (1868-1938), an Irish brother and director of St. Joseph's College in 1921, adapted the song and wrote the lyrics for the rally. Brother Marcian James also posted to other La Sallian Schools in Malaya and Singapore and the same song was used in a few other schools there as well.

References

↑ St. Joseph's College (2006). St. Joseph's College School Profile 2006-2007
↑ List of declared monuments of Hong Kong as at 12 Jan 2007
1 2 The Birth of Lasallian Schools in Hong Kong Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine., lasalle.org.hk; accessed 4 February 2018.
↑ St. Joseph's College Editorial Board (2003). "The Unique School: a detailed account on the campus of our college". Green & White 2003 134-147.
↑ Felix Chun (1998). "My days in St. Joseph's College". Green & White 1998 1:132-143.
↑ St. Joseph's College. "SJC Annual Report Final Version (2013-2014)" (PDF).
↑ "School extension applications open". Government of Hong Kong.
↑ "堅尼地道前校舍批予聖若瑟擴校 (Kennedy Road former campus approved for St. Joseph's extension)". Sing Tao Daily.
↑ St. Joseph's College. "Message from Principal". Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
↑ List of current teachers, sjc.edu.hk; accessed 4 February 2018.
↑ Scout Association of Hong Kong History of Hong Kong scouting, scout.org.hk; accessed 4 February 2018.

External links