Ying Wa Girls' School

Ying Wa Girls' School
寸陰是惜 (Time is Precious, Treasure every Minute)
Location
76 Robinson Road, Central Hong Kong
Information
Type	Grant, Day, All-female secondary
Established	1900
President	Revd Ping Kit Wu
Principal	Mrs. Ruth Lee
Grades	Form 1 - Form 7
Number of students	circa 1,200
Affiliation	Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China
Founder	Miss Helen Davies (London Missionary Society)
Medium of Instruction	English
Houses	Davies, Hogben, Hutchinson, Silcocks, Jenkins
Website	http://www.ywgs.edu.hk

Ying Wa Girls' School (Chinese: 英華女學校) is an HKCCCC secondary day school for girls in Central, Hong Kong. It is located at 76 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels. Total enrolment currently stands at slightly under 1,200.

History

Ying Wa Girls' School was founded in 1900 by Helen Davies of the former London Missionary Society. It started off as a boarding school for girls and expanded to include a secondary section in 1915 and a two-year kindergarten in 1916. It ceased taking on boarders in 1940. In 1930, the first ever YWGS student was admitted into the University of Hong Kong.

In 1967, it became purely a secondary school. It is one of the 22 Grant Schools in Hong Kong. Since 1966, Ying Wa Girls' School has become one of the related schools of the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China. It was also the first secondary school to have a student association in Hong Kong history. It is also the first organisation in Hong Kong to have the sponsored walk idea.

School Uniform

The school's uniform is a light blue cheongsam, with silver school and house badges right under the hook of the collar.

The school uniform of Ying Wa has a unique design. It is hemmed with wide dark blue lines along the bottom hem, sleeve and collar; and the stiff collar, a bit higher than others, is tailored to allow little slack between the collar and the neck of the students, when it is hooked up. The students sometimes find the strangling feeling around their neck awkward especially when they look downward to read or write at the desk. The tightly-fit stand-up collar permits poor ventilation, keeping perspiration inside the uniform, which becomes soggy when the weather is hot and humid. Yet the school dress code stipulates that the collar must be kept hooked closed at all times, even in the hottest tropical summer. It is uncomfortable to wear and it takes some time for new students until they get used to it. Yet, once they learn to endure these hardships, the uniform turns to the most significant pride and icon of their blissful life in Ying Wa.

Class Structure and Curriculum

There are altogether 31 classes in the school.
Form 1: 5 classes (A,B,C,D,E)
Form 2: 5 classes
Form 3: 5 classes
Form 4: 5 classes (NSS Curriculum)
Form 5: 5 classes (NSS Curriculum)
Form 6: 3 classes (2 Arts and Business classes, 1 Science class)
Form 7: 3 classes (2 Arts and Business classes, 1 Science class)

Secondary One to Three offer a broad general curriculum with a good balance among languages, arts, science, cultural and practical subjects as well as religious education and physical education.

In Secondary Four and Five, the classes are divided into two streams with three classes concentrating on arts and commercial subjects and two on science.

At the end of Secondary Five, students sit for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.

In Secondary Six and Seven, the broadened curriculum includes Use of English, Chinese Language and Culture and some Advanced Supplementary (AS) Level subjects, in addition to the Advanced Level (AL) subjects.

All students will take the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination at the end of Secondary Seven for admission to tertiary institutes through the Joint University Programmes Admission System (JUPAS).

As an E.M.I. (English as the Medium of Instruction) school, Ying Wa adopts English as the teaching medium in most subjects with the aim of achieving biliteracy (Chinese and English) and trilingualism with the inclusion of Putonghua.

Lessons are arranged on a 5-day week basis.

House system

There are five Houses, named after the five early principals of the school:

• Davies (green)
• Hogben (yellow)
• Hutchinson (blue)
• Silcocks (orange)
• Jenkins (red)

University offer- 2009

Tertiary Institutes (No. of Entrance) The University of Hong Kong (20) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (14) The H.K. University of Science and Technology (7) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (20) The City University of Hong Kong (2) The Hong Kong Baptist University (8) The Open University of Hong Kong (1) The Shue Yan University (2) Overseas Education (4) Others (4)

Total -> 82

See also

• Ying Wa College
• List of secondary schools in Hong Kong
• The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China
• London Missionary Society

External links

• Official Website