St. Margaret's Co-educational English Secondary and Primary School
| St. Margaret's Co-educational English Secondary & Primary School Chinese: 聖瑪加利男女英文中小學 | |
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| Location | |
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| Information | |
| School type | Direct Subsidy Scheme, Secondary Primary |
| Motto | Pursuit of virtues to perfection with self-renewal spirit |
| Established | 1965 |
| School district | Kowloon |
| Faculty | 85 teachers |
| Grades | P.1-S.6 |
| Colour(s) | Navy Blue, Silver and Red |
| Newspaper | St. Margaret's News |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Website | http://www.smcesps.edu.hk |
St. Margaret's Co-educational English Secondary and Primary School (Chinese: 聖瑪加利男女英文中小學) is a co-educational secondary and primary school in Hong Kong. It was established by the St. Margaret's Educational Organization, a Catholic religious-teaching educational organization.
St. Margaret's Co-ed is one of the limited number of schools in Hong Kong that teaches in English. The school curriculum uses English as the medium of instruction in all subjects with the exception of Chinese-related subjects and other modern languages (currently French, Spanish, Japanese and German).
History
St. Margaret's was founded in 1965, based on the traditions of Catholic Schools. In the beginning, the school was called St. Margaret's Girls College Kowloon, and only accepted female students. In 2001, the school joined the Direct Subsidy Scheme and started to accept boys. In September 2003, St. Margaret's made history as the first school in Hong Kong to adopt a through-train mode from Primary One to Secondary Seven on the same school premises. It was also to be a co-educational, English-medium school.
Admission
Of the students starting Secondary One at St Margaret's, 80% of the total intake is from its primary section, with the remaining 20% coming from other primary schools. Applicants attend interviews in English which are conducted by the Principal and the Vice-Principal (Academic). Also taken into consideration are an applicant's performance in extracurricular activities, awards, certificates and academic excellence. In addition, St. Margaret's applicants may apply for French as an alternative to Chinese. The majority of applicants choosing to study the French language are French, Filipino, Indian and other ethnicities. St. Margaret's welcomes students of different ethnicities and backgrounds to apply, and a diversity of different nationalities can be found in the school.
School Badge
The School badge is composed of three elements: the cross, the fleur-de-lis and grain stalks.
The cross in the lower right corner indicates that the management of the school is based upon the spirit of Christ, while the three fleur-de-lis in the upper left corner symbolise the three great virtues as depicted in The Doctrine of the Mean and The Analects: wisdom, humanity and courage. The grain stalks at the bottom signify the good harvest after strenuous cultivation.
The overall meaning of the badge is that the management of the school is based upon the spirit of Christ, heading towards the three great Confucian virtues of wisdom, humanity and courage. It invokes enthusiasm in learning to seek wisdom, perseverance in performing humanity and awareness of shame to impel the courage to progress. Having these three virtues to cultivate oneself, with the determination to proceed and the persistence to learn, one can accumulate very rich knowledge and experience so as to reach the Confucian state. This is an ideal state of life, in which wise men are never confused, kind-hearted people are never worried and courageous men are never perturbed.
School Motto
English Motto
Pursuit of virtues to perfection with self-renewal spirit is meant to inspire students, to enable them to develop their inborn integrity, to renovate their rectitude, to rectify their conduct and act vigorously as well as to increase their knowledge as treasure. With all these values in mind, students can contribute a lot to the continuous advancement of the world so that many things can come to the realm of greatest excellence and perfection.
Chinese Motto
明德新民，止於至善is a quote from the Classic of Rites Daxue: 大學之道，在明明德，在新民，在止於至善.
School Hymn
by Sister Carmela Santos
Verse 1: All hail to thee St. Margaret's Hail to thee our mother school. Light of all our youthful dreams, Ever guiding one and all. Fount of Knowledge, truth and wisdom true, To thee we raise our heart and soul, Our loyalty we pledge to you, Hail to thee our mother school.
Verse 2: Shining heaven of our hopes and dreams Home of our tender years, With deepest affection, Thy memory we'll treasure as we journey t'wards our goal, Brilliant star of our firmament Leading us on to God. May your children be worthy of thee. True to the end we will always be.
Verse 3: All hail to thee St. Margaret's Hail to thee our mother school. Light of all our youthful dreams, Ever guiding one and all. Fount of Knowledge, truth and wisdom true, To thee we raise our heart and soul, Our loyalty we pledge to you, Hail to thee our mother school.
Houses
There are four houses in St. Margaret's. The four houses were named for the first four words of the school Chinese motto. They are Wise House (明社), Moral House (德社), New House (新社) and Civic House (民社).
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