St. Teresa's School Kowloon

St. Teresa's School Kowloon was a Roman Catholic, co-educational, day school with and sections on Prince Edward Road in Kowloon, Hong Kong. STS is known for its high academic standard and strict school discipline.

History

On 8 September 1952 St. Teresa's Parish priest Father Orlando's long-cherished dream - a primary school to accommodate Catholic boys - was materialized in the birth of St. Teresa's School. St Teresa's School was founded by Mrs. Maria Lourdes Bau in Hong Kong in 1952. Its first premises were situated in Boundary Street with only three bright and gaily decorated classrooms. In 1954 it moved into ST. Teresa's Church compound at Prince Edward Road and remain at the same site till present. The number of pupils had since grown steadily from its original enrollment of 140 pupils to 450 pupils in 1957. There were two sessions: A. M. Session and P. M. Session . Both sessions comprised kindergarten and primary classes and were co-educational. The atmosphere in the school was a happy one, and individual attention to the students rules foremost in the daily routine of the staff.

Its position in the church compound enabled St. Teresa's School to participate in all the church activities and to benefit unceasingly from the spiritual care and guidance of its supervisor and Parish Priest, Father Orlando and other Rev. Fathers of St. Teresa's Church.

The STS School Logo used until present was designed by Mrs. Maria Lourdes Bau's husband Mr. Bau when the School was set up. Mrs. Maria Bau was close to the Portuguese family community at the time, and STS recruited quite a large number of Portuguese teachers during the early decades in the 1950's, 60's and 70's.

STS Main banks were Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd and Hang Seng Bank.

Principals

Founding Principal Mrs. Maria Lourdes Bau

Second Principal Sister Cecilia Wong

Present Principal Miss Fang Po Ling


The first School Director was Rev. Father C. M. Orlando, the Parish Priest of St. Teresa's Church.

Admission, study and graduation

Since STS was a Catholic School, most of the pupils admitted or their parents were either Catholic or had a strong attachment to the Catholic Church. Many pupils who started Primary 1 would have come directly from the STS Kindergarten. STS used English as its primary teaching language for all subjects except the few directly Chinese-related ones. STS had two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Catholic prayers were the norm at the beginning and ending of a day's class. In the earlier days, the classes were classified into English class and Chinese class. STS had had both local Chinese teaching staff from the start as well as westerner teaching staff during the earlier period. However, over time the teachers became more localized. All teachers and staff at STS had been women, and the pupil male/female split ratio had been about 7:3. An average class size varied between 26 - 33 pupils per class. At her peak, STS had over 25 teachers and over 600 pupils. The school fees in 2007-8 were about HKD1,400-/month for primary school pupils and about HKD1,200-/month for Kindergarten pupils. STS attracted not only local Chinese pupils, but also had a smaller percentage of pupils from families of different nationalities including Portuguese, British, American, Swiss, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian and Indonesian etc. STS also saw a high percentage of her graduates entering other famous secondary schools in HK, like Wah Yan College, Kowloon, La Salle College, Diocesan Boys' School and Maryknoll Convent School.

School Founder Mrs. Maria Lourdes Bau announced her retirement after serving 45 years as the Principal of the School.

In 2002, STS celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

An open group 'St Teresa's School, Kowloon' has been created in Facebook with members reaching the important 600 mark in January, 2008.

In June, 2008 the School was permanently closed after graduation of the final Primary Six Class, and two K3 Classes, after completing her 56 years of mission.

The last STS Graduation Ceremony took place in June 2008 for the P6 Class and two K3 classes .

The Grand Re-union party for all STS Alumni, their parents and former Principals & teachers took place on school premises in the afternoon on June 28th, 2008.

Songs

Official One

May St. Teresa's be our guide, in all we say or do.

We'll always hold her teachings near, in church, at home, at school.

To maintain our school ideals, we'll strive to do our part.

All hail to St Teresa's, we'll offer thee our heart.


Second One

"God bless St. Teresa's School,

The One that I love, Stand beside her,

And guide her, day by day, month by month through the years.

Bless the principal, Bless the teachers,

bless the students, ever more...

God bless St, Teresa's School,The one that I love."

Publications

There has only been two publications made by the School to date.

The first issue was published in 1956, to mark the 5th anniversary since founding of the School in 1952. The Magazine was named ''Teresian'' with pink colour paper cover. There are a total of 58 pages printed in Black and White inside the magazine.

The second publication was made in 2002, to mark the 50th Anniversary since founding of the School. It is a thicker issue of A4 size. The main colour of the Cover and Back cover is greenish, but without the word 'Teresian' on it.

However, the third and probably the final publication will be made by the end of 2008 to mark the closing chapter of the School, documenting some interesting highlights in the School's 56 years of education mission.

STS Alumni Association

The Alumni Association's full name is 'St. Teresa's School Kowloon Alumni Association' registered as a legal Society with the HK Police in 2008 in accordance with the Society Ordinanace. The Alumni Association President is Catherine Lui and Vice-President Henry Yuen, with Alice Kwan as Secretary and Henry Chan as Treasurer.

Notable Alumni

An estimate of between 3,000-4,000 students have received their primary or kindergarten education from STS.

Among them are,

Michael Tien 田北辰, HK Deputy to the National People's Congress of the PRC, Former Chairman of KCRC and well-known businessman

Loletta Chu 朱玲玲, Philanthropist, 1977 Miss Hong Kong Pageant

Rosamund Kwan 關之琳, Film Actress

Nora Miao 苗可秀, Former Film Actress, and current Radio Program Host in Toronto, Canada

Teddy Chen 陳德森, Film Director

Suzan Guterres 蘇姍, HK Female Singer

Jan Lamb 林海峰, Actor, Comedian, Radio DJ, Singer

Daniel Chan 陳曉東, Actor and Singer

Anthony Lun 倫永亮, Song Composer and Singer

Louis Koo 古天樂, Film Actor

Jo Koo 谷祖琳, Film Actress and Singer

Mary Koo 顧樂儀, 國際航空小姐冠軍, landed as the top Five finalists in 1999 Miss Hong Kong Pageant Contest

Gregory Lee 李永豪, Actor

李泳漢, Actor

Renee Dai 戴夢夢, Singer and former child actress

Mark Rosario, Deputy Headmaster of Diocesan Boys' School DBS

Albert Cheung Chung Put JP 張中弼, Chairman of the Tung Wah Group Of Hospitals, Hong Kong.

Lisa Lau Man Man MH, JP 劉文文, Chairman of Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon

Peter Kam Man Kit 金文傑, Lawyer and 1997 香港十大傑出青年 TOYP Awardee

Joseph Chan 陳偉光, well-known businessman in Vancouver, Canada

Wesley Tam, First Police Officer of Chinese origin admitted to serve in the Australian New South Wales Police Force

Benjamin Wong, MD, FRCPC, Dip ABAI, Former Clinical Scholar, Practicing Subspecialist Physician, Current OMA Section Chair of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Ontario, Canada

Rodrigo Benedicto CORREIA, Portuguese Kayaker, Scout Commissioner

Pun Ka Bo 潘家寶, CEO of JYCI Inc.
Stanley S.K Chan, Chairman of the Het-Sun Groups Co.Ltd