Marymount Secondary School

For other uses, see Marymount (disambiguation).

Marymount Secondary School
File:Marymount Secondary School.JPG Entrance of Marymount Secondary School at No. 123 Blue Pool Road Motto: The Lord is My Light
Location
Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Information
School type	Grant School
Established	1927
Principal	Mrs. Julie Ma
School colour(s)	Blue and yellow
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Website	www.mss.edu.hk

Marymount Secondary School (Chinese: 瑪利曼中學) is a Band 1 EMI Roman Catholic girls' secondary school in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Her primary school is Marymount Primary School. Marymount is also well known by its school choir which receives a lot of prizes in the Hong Kong Schools' Music Festival as well as International Competitions.

Marymount focuses on "Multiple Intelligence s", most of it students are all-rounded.

History

Marymount has been ranked amongst the best secondary schools in Hong Kong, with students known to be strong in academics, music and sports etc. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group.

The School, originally known as Holy Spirit School, was founded by the Maryknoll Sisters, an American religious order, on 10 January 1927 in Hong Kong. Back then, the school was on Robinson Road in Central Mid-levels. There were only 8 classes of students sharing four tiny classrooms. In the 1930s, the school moved to a slightly larger building in Caine Road. There were seven classrooms, but conditions were still cramped by today’s standards. By 1941, the school was offering a complete course leading to matriculation, and so was one of only a small handful of schools at that time which prepared girls for university.

Marymount School Song O Marymount, my Marymount, Thou Beacon of the truth, O glorious the vision bright, That guides the steps of youth! To Thee we pledge our loyalty, O School we love so well, We live to love and follow Thee, O Alma Mater True, We live to love and follow Thee, Our pledge we now renew. O Marymount, blest is thy pow'r, And wonderful Thine aim, High virtue, wisdom, precious flow'r, Thy seal to all proclaim, To Mary our most cherished boast, Our school sweet model fair, We pledge our word to honour Thee, O Alma Mater True, We pledge our word to honour Thee, Our hearts do thou renew.

In 1941, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Hong Kong. The school was closed until 1948. When the school reopened, Hong Kong was facing a new challenge as many thousands of immigrants were pouring across the border to escape the civil war on the mainland. Marymount rose to this challenge by offering places to as many girls as it could.

As the school continued to expand, a new building with better facilities became necessary. In October 1957, the school moved to its present location on the wooded slopes near the top of Blue Pool Road, overlooking Happy Valley. At the same time, it was renamed Maryknoll Sisters’ School. Initially, the building housed both Secondary and Primary Sections, but in 1961 the Primary School was relocated to the premises at Tai Hang Road, directly above the secondary school. During the school year 1978–79, the Maryknoll Sisters handed over the sponsorship of the school to the Columban Sisters.

In September 1983, the name of the school was changed to Marymount. Throughout its history the school campus had also been home to a convent, with the nun’s dormitories housed on the fourth floor and the site of the library originally being a chapel. It was only in 1993 that the nuns vacated their premises in order to make more room for the ever-growing student population.

In 1991, Mrs. Nancy Wong became the school’s first Chinese principal, and the first principal who was not a member of a religious order. In 1996, the Columban Sisters initiated the transfer of the sponsorship of the school to the Christian Life Community(CLC), the process of which was completed by September 1997. The CLC is an international Catholic lay community with a keen interest in education and commitment to the service of youth, and which receives spiritual guidance from the Jesuits of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. The CLC has pledged to preserve the same school spirit, foster the traditions and continue to provide quality education at Marymount.

Mrs. Wong oversaw the school’s transition from being managed by the Columban sisters to being managed by the Hong Kong Christian Life Community. The CLC is a Catholic lay community which works to support education and the needs of young people,

The Secondary School operated up to 29 classes with over 1000 students until 1998, offering arts, science and social disciplines up to Form 7. With the restructuring of the school, the total number of classes is at 26 by the 2003. The Primary School operates 24 classes and has about 900 students.

In 2003 Mrs. Wong retired and the post of principal was taken up by Ms. Veronica Ma. Upon Ms. Ma's retirement in 2014, the former principal of Marymount Primary School, Mrs. Julie Ma, was appointed as the principal of Marymount Secondary School.

Over the years, many generations of girls have received an education at Marymount, and the Primary and Secondary School together now accommodate nearly 2000 students.

Annual Production

The students of Marymount Secondary School perform a drama production every year and these are some of the productions.

• 2007 - Orpheus
• 2008 - Hemlet
• 2009 - The King&I
• 2011 - Othello
• 2013 - William Shakespeare's The taming of the shrew
• 2014 - Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Houses

There are four houses to which students and teachers are randomly assigned.

• Jupiter – Red (Jupiterians)
• Mercury – Yellow (Mercurians)
• Uranus – Orange (Uranians)
• Venus – Blue (Venus Babies)

Each house is headed by a House Committee and 2 Teacher Advisors, the House Committee includes a House Captain, two Vice-Captains, a Cheering Leader and 7 form representatives (S.1 would have 2) who is elected by the students. Every year, students compete in inter-house events, such as the annual Sports Day and Swimming Gala. Scores would be counted at the end of the Academic Year, and the house with the highest scores would be the Champion of the Year. These events aim to uphold the sense of belonging of all the students of Marymount Secondary School.

Curriculum

English is the medium of instruction for all subjects except Chinese Language, Chinese Literature, Putonghua and Chinese History. In forms one and two, there will be no exam instead of a Test named Common Test twice each academic year. A modular system is adopted in order to facilitate project-based learning and critical thinking. In senior forms, students prepare for the HKDSE and HKALE and select subjects from option blocks. French is also offered.

Student council

Marymount has an elected Student Council which promotes student welfare and acts as a channel of communication between the school and the student body as well as organising a range of activities throughout the year. Students can take part in the Student Council (colloquially known as the "SC") as elected class representatives in the role of Spokesman or Councillor, or as the Executive Board's Chairlady, Vice-Chairlady, ECA Coordinator, Service Coordinator, Sports Coordinator, Secretary, Treasurer or Public Relations Officer. The Executive Board members are nominated by students, and elected by the students. The Spokesman and the Councillor of each class are elected by its own class members.

Talent Quest The Student Council would be organising various events, and the highlight of each year would be the Talent Quest, colloquially known as "TQ". Each year, there would be a theme for the Talent Quest. For Example, The theme of Talent Quest 13-14 is Agent, for 14-15, it's Techromacy, and for 15-16, it's Atlantis. There will be guest singers too. For Student entries, there will be different Categories:

• Chinese Solo (Singing)
• Chinese Group (Singing)
• English Solo (Singing)
• English Group (Singing)
• Dance
• Foreign
• Open
• Class

There will be heats and semi-finals, then the finalists would perform on stage on the final Talent Quest. The teacher would be playing the role of adjudicators, and will announce the winners that day.

Extra Curricular Activities

Clubs

There will be an ECA period every Day 5. Students can choose 1 club that they are interested in each group to participate. Students can also not join any of the ECA Clubs.

Group 1 Academic Club

• Chinese Club,
• Putonghua Club,
• English Society,
• Mathematics Club,
• Science Club,
• History Club,
• Technology & Living Club,
• Asian Culture Club,

Visual & Performing Arts Clubs

• Chinese Drama Club,
• Dance Club,
• Drama Club,
• Visual Arts Club,
• Theatrical Make-up Club,
• Theatrical Fashion Club

Group 2

Interest Clubs-

• Hong Kong Award for Young People (HKAYP),
• Junior Police Call (JPC),
• First Aid Club,
• Sports & Health Club,
• Computer & Information Technology Club

Teams

• Junior Choir,
• Intermediate Choir,
• Windband,
• String Orchestra,
• English Debating Team,
• Swimming Team,
• Table Tennis Team,
• Tennis Team,
• Athletics Team,
• Basketball Team,
• Dance Team (Chinese Dance, Modern Dance, Hip Hop),
• Odyssey Of Mind,
• Cross Country Team,
• Badminton Team

Community Service Groups

• Community Youth Club (CYC)
• Girl Guides
• Interact Club
• Z Club (Zonta Club)

Pastoral Care Service Groups

• Careers Guidance and Service Team
• Civic Education Team
• Environmental Education Team
• Guidance Team

Service Groups

• Campus TV,
• Student Council,
• Student IT Team,
• MSS Messenger (Magazine),
• MSS Yearbook Committee,
• ECA Committee,
• Music Committee,
• Service Committee,
• Sports Committee,
• Tuckshop Prefects,
• Librarians

Uniform

Summer uniform

For Forms 1 to 4 students, their summer school uniform is a blue or yellow A-line knee-length cotton dress. The dress, regardless of its colour, has a pocket on each side with a zipper in the front middle, white pointed collar, and short white sleeves. Students can choose which colour of uniform they wish to wear to school. Short or knee-high plain white socks and dark brown or white shoes are mandatory.

For Forms 5 to 6 students, their summer uniform is a white short-sleeved blouse matched with a light blue, knee-length cotton skirt. They may wear low heeled black, dark brown or white shoes.

Winter uniform

The winter uniform for Forms 1 to 4 students is a long sleeves beige blouse or goldenrod turtle-neck sweater worn with a rust-coloured woollen jumper on top. Students wear darkbrown socks or pantyhose and dark brown shoes. The students may wear a beige scarf with 2 brown stripes on each end.

Forms 5 and 6 students, the top is a beige blouse buttoned at the back with a dark brown coat, or a goldenrod turtle-neck sweater (same sweater as Forms 1 to 4 students), worn with a rust-coloured woollen skirt. Students may wear low heeled black shoes and beige/dark brown pantyhose.

Cardigan

The summer cardigan is white with the school badge embroidered in blue on it. The winter cardigan is similar to the summer cardigan, but is in brown with the school badge embroidered in white on it.

Winter jacket

The winter jacket comes in two colours, camel and beige.

On the exterior of the jacket, there is a collar the school badge is sewed on the left. Each side has a pocket. Four buttons are on the front. These buttons bear the school shield on them. There are also two buttons on both sides of the sleeves, and two straps to go along with them. These buttons also has the school shield on them. The cuffs are adjustable.

On the interior of the jacket, the upper lining is made of flannel and the lower half has a padded lining. There is another pocket on the inner lining of the jacket.

Notable alumnae

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Deborah Simms – Olympic Swimmer
• Carrie Yau – Hong Kong Government Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
• Emily Lau – Hong Kong Legislative Council Member
• Anna Wu – former President of the Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission
• Sandy Lam – Cantopop singer
• Catherine Bragg – United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
• Pat Chan – former pop singer
• Valerie Chow – 1991 Miss Hong Kong 1st runner up and an actress
• Bernadette Linn - Director of Lands, HK Government
• JW (Jessica Wong) - Singer

Dr. Carolyn Woo - President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services Dr. Agnes Chan

External links

• Sponsoring Body