Diocesan Girls' School

This article is about the school in Hong Kong. For the school in New Zealand, see Diocesan School for Girls (Auckland).

Diocesan Girls' School (DGS) (Chinese: 拔萃女書院) is one of the oldest girls' schools in Hong Kong, founded in Kowloon in 1860 by the Anglican Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會) to provide a well-rounded secondary education for girls.^[1][2][3]

Diocesan Girls' School Chinese: 拔萃女書院
Diocesan Girls' School crest
Location
1 Jordan Road, Kowloon Hong Kong
Information
Type	DSS, Grant School, primary, secondary
Motto	Daily Giving Service
Denomination	Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Episcopalian)
Established	1860; 164 years ago (1860)
School district	King's Park
Headmistress	Mrs. Stella Lau, SBS, JP
Grades	P1 – S6
Gender	Girls
Campus size	28,336m^2
Colour(s)	Persian blue
Website	dgs.edu.hk

Diocesan Girls' School
Traditional Chinese	拔萃女書院
Simplified Chinese	拔萃女书院
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bácuì Nǚ Shū​yuàn Wade–Giles Pa^2-tsui^4 Nü^2 Shu^1-yüen^4 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping bat6 seoi6 neoi5 syu1 jyun6*2

Diocesan Girls' School

Structure

DGS is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School.^[4] 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. English is the medium of instruction. By 2022, DGS accounts for a total of 49 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking first among all the secondary schools in Hong Kong, and outnumbering the combined number of winners of the next two schools.^[5][6] The school is also a member of the G20 Schools group. It has a "feeder" primary school known as Diocesan Girls' Junior School ("DGJS"),^[7][8] which is currently led by Dr. Holly Ming

History

Pre-war

DGS was originally named the Diocesan Native Female Training School in 1860, when it was founded at Bonham Road and Eastern Street ^[9][10] in Hong Kong Island. The school set up by Lady Lydia Smith, the wife of George Smith (Bishop of Victoria) (施美夫), who was the First Bishop of Victoria sent by the Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East,^{[11][12][13][14]} 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 girls. In 1869, it became the Diocesan Home and Orphanage^[15] and accepted boys as well.

DGS first received government financial assistance in 1878 and was placed under the grant-in-aid scheme, officially establishing itself as a girls' school.^[16] The boys would continue their education at the newly founded Diocesan Boys' School.^[17]

In 1913, the school finally moved to its present site in 1 Jordan Road, Kowloon, formerly a rice paddy field.^[18] 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 Kempeitai 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, she hurried back to reclaim the school premises despite difficulty in crossing the harbour, thus saving the building from being looted.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}

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.^[24][25] The 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 cost considerations. The new school was designed by architects Palmer and Turner, and the preliminary designs was reviewed 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.^[26][27] In 2009, the classes in DGS were temporarily relocated to 101 Castle Peak Road, Sham Shui Po,^[17] whereas DGJS was moved to Tseung Kwan O during the reconstruction. In September 2011, the school returned to 1 Jordan Road upon completion of the new campus.

Headmistresses

Name	Tenure
Susan Baxter ^[citation needed]	1893–1899^[citation needed]
Elizabeth Skipton	1899 ^[28]–1921
Miss Ferguson	1921–1986
H.D. Sawyer	1925–1939
E.M. Gibbins	1939–1946
A.W. Hurrell	1946–1953
C.J. Symons	1953–1985
Elim Lau	1985–1999
Stella Lau	1999 to date

Other related associations

• St. Andrews Church in the Diocese of Western Kowloon in Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui is the parish church of DGS.^{[citation needed]}

List of Top Scorers in Public Examinations

DGS has produced 38 perfect scorers "10As" in the history of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and 14 "Top Scorers" and "Super Top Scorers" in the history of Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), ranking the 2nd amongst all secondary schools in Hong Kong.^[29][30]

Alumnae

• Rebecca Chan Chung^[31][32]
• Solina Chau^[33]
• Irene Cheng^[34]
• Sarah Liao^[35]
• Karen Mok^[36]
• Mary Jean Chan^[37]

See also

• Education in Hong Kong
• List of secondary schools in Hong Kong
• Diocesan Boys' School
• Diocesan Native Female Training School

References

1. "拔萃女书院-香港油尖旺区中学". Ruyile.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
2. "拔萃女書院 Diocesan Girls' School 女拔萃, 女拔中學, 女拔萃書院". Shooland.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
3. "拔萃女書院 Diocesan Girls' School 學校大全". Bookofschool.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
4. "SSP Profiles 2016/2017". Chsc.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.^{[permanent dead link]}
5. "Past- Awardees". Youth Arch Foundation. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
6. . Youth Arch Foundation. 7 February 2023. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
7. "ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE" (PDF). Legco.gov.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
8. "香港拔萃小学：香港拔萃女小面試 3000童爭100學位 被指是今年最难考的小学 - 家在深圳". bbs.szhome.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
9. "DIOCESAN GIRLS' SCHOOL". Dgs.edu.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
10. "The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Sian, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c: With which are Incorporated "The China Directory" and "The Hong Kong List for the Far East" ..." Hongkong daily Press office. 23 May 1877. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
11. China Bound and Unbound: History in the Making - An Early Returnee's Account. Hong Kong University Press. 1 December 2009. ISBN 9789622091719. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
12. "History of the Society for promoting female education in the East". archive.org. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
13. "UCL Bloomsbury Project". Ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
14. "The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East". 國家圖書館出版社. 23 May 1891. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
15. Fung, Yee Wang; Chan-Yeung, Mo Wah Moira (1 November 2009). To Serve and to Lead: History of the Diocesan Boys' School in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789622099982. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
16. Wordie, Jason (23 May 2017). Streets: Exploring Kowloon. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789622098138. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
17. "School History". Dgs.edu.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
18. "DGS Diocesan Girls School - Gwulo: Old Hong Kong". gwulo.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
19. Matthews, Clifford; Cheung, Oswald (1 October 1998). Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong University During the War Years. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789622094727. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
20. "Diocesan Girls' School". Dgs.edu.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
21. Rebecca Chan Chung, Deborah Chung and Cecilia Ng Wong, Piloted to Serve, 2012.
22. "Diocesan Girls School [1913- ] - Gwulo: Old Hong Kong". gwulo.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
23. "Diocesan Girls' School - Jordan - Hong Kong". Yelp. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
24. [1]^{[dead link]}
25. Angelina., Pi, Tsui-man (23 May 1996). "Redevelopment of Diocesan Girls' School". Open Access Theses and Dissertations. doi:10.5353/th_b3198302 (inactive 12 April 2024). Retrieved 23 May 2017.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
26. "DIOCESAN GIRLS' SCHOOL". Dgs.edu.hk. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
27. Ten out of Ten - My Hong Kong. PPP Company Ltd. 23 May 2017. ISBN 9789889979584. Retrieved 23 May 2017 – via Google Books.
28. https://www.doga.org.hk/index.php/alumnae-news/conversations/headmistresses
29. "DSE狀元". HK01. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
30. "歷屆223狀元 皇仁女拔佔四成". Ming Pao Daily News. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
31. "Piloted to Serve: Memoirs of World War II Veteran Rebecca Chung - The American Legion". Legion.org. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
32. http://www.cnac.org/rebeccachan_piloted_to_serve_01.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
33. Kong, Winnie (February 2002). . Diocesan Old Girls Association. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
34. Crawford, Barclay (11 March 2007). "Irene Cheng, teacher and daughter of Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
35. Chen, Audrey (6 December 2004). . Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
36. JpopAsia. "Karen Mok - Karen Joy Morris or Mò Wénwèi". JpopAsia. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
37. Chan, Mary Jean (29 June 2018). "From Linear Time to Playtime". mPT. Retrieved 25 March 2023.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diocesan Girls' School.

• Diocesan Girls' School – Official Homepage
• Diocesan Girls' Junior School – Official Homepage
• Diocesans Old Girls Association – Official Homepage

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