Wah Yan College, Hong Kong (WYHK) is a Catholic all-boys grant-in-aid secondary education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. It was founded by on 16 December 1919. It was a non-sectarian school when it was founded, and the Jesuits took over the operation of the school in 1932.
Subsidised by the Government of Hong Kong, WYCHK is a grammar school using English as the medium of instruction (except for Chinese Language and Chinese History). There are around 60 teachers and 800 students. It is a sister school of Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
The school has an enrolment of approximately 800 students with 60 teachers and a few Irish Jesuit fathers. The supervisor of the school is Rev. Fr. Clement Tsui, S.J., who is an alumnus of the school and a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, and serves concurrently as Rector of Wan Yan College Chapel, located within the campus under the parish of St. Margaret's Church near Leighton Hill. The principal of the school is Davis Chan, the second alumnus of St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong to become the principal of the college after the founder Peter Tsui Yan Sau.
History
The beginnings The school was founded by Peter Tsui Yan Sau on 16 December 1919 on the 3rd and 4th floors of 60 Hollywood Road, which houses the Kung-Lee sugar cane juice store () and is listed as a Grade II Historic Building. On the first day of school there were only four students. In subsequent years, the school also used 54A Peel Street and 33 Mosque Junction as campuses. As the number of students rose, the school moved to a new campus at 2 Robinson Road (the present site of Bishop Lei Int'l House and Raimondi College) after Lunar New Year 1921. On 1 October 1922, the school was listed as a Grant-in-aid school. In 1924, a Kowloon branch was established in Mongkok. A hostel in Wah Yan opened in 1927. That same year the first Irish Jesuit Fr John Neary came to Wah Yan and taught religious studies.
Wah Yan under the Irish Jesuits
In 1932 the school was transferred to the Society of Jesus, after a long series of negotiations between the original administration and the Jesuit fathers. The transfer was completed on 31 December, and Fr Gallagher, S.J., replaced Lim Hoi Lan as the headmaster. The school was also given a new name: College of Christ the King.
In 1933, the college published the first volume of its yearbook, The Star. A house system was introduced in 1934. In 1940 the hostel was closed down.
Wartime Wah Yan In December 1941, with the invasion of Hong Kong by Japanese troops, classes were suspended. Fr Gallagher and Fr McAsey were interned by the Japanese.
During the War, Wah Yan continued operations in Macau for a period of time.
There was another Wah Yan set up during the occupation (called "Wah Yan Chung Hok", meaning Wah Yan middle school) but it closed down shortly before the war ended.
Post-war development After the Japanese troops surrendered, the school reopened on 8 September 1945. Later in the year, Wah Yan Middle School was re-established as the Chinese stream of the school. In March 1946, the Wah Yan Dramatic Society, consisting mainly of alumni of the school and Wah Yan College, Kowloon, commenced activities, and was officially founded the following year. Its first production was "The Thrice Promised Bride".
A night school was started on 17 February 1948. The next year, an afternoon school opened. In 1950 the Chinese stream of the school was closed down.
In 1951, the classes were renamed "forms": Class 1 became Form 6, Class 2 became Form 5, and so on. Class 7 and Class 8 were renamed Primary 6 and 5 respectively.
In 1952 the afternoon school was also closed.
Queens Road East "Mount Parish" era In 1954, construction for a new campus at Mount Parish, Wan Chai started. On 27 September 1955 the new campus was formally opened by Sir Alexander Grantham, then Governor of Hong Kong.
The school newspaper, "Starlet", was established in 1964. In 1971, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong helped to manage the then Pun U Primary School while the Pun U Association remaining the school sponsoring body. The primary school was renamed Pun U Association Wah Yan Primary School, and was established as the feeder primary school. The night school was closed in 1984. The streaming to Arts and Science began in Form 4 in 1986.
On 12 April 1987, the Gordon Wu Hall to the north of the main building was opened. In the same year, Wah Yan achieved its first "10 A's" in the HKCEE examinations.
On 8 May 1992, heavy rainfall caused a severe landslide at the junction of Kennedy Road and Queen's Road East. It killed the driver of a passing car. The landslide caused the laboratory block to sink. Cracks were found in the playground and a crack in the classroom block had to be covered with stainless steel plates. Six classrooms (2H, 2K, 4H, 4K, 6S2, 7A) were demolished in 1993 as a result of the landslide. They were rebuilt and were reopened in 1998. The same year, three Wah Yan students achieved "10 As" in the HKCEE.
The first version of the school website was set up by Dr Ashley Cheng in 1994. In 1997, the Parent-Teacher Association was established. In 1998, all classrooms were fitted with air-conditioning.
School development project There had been plans to redevelop the school since 1995. However, the initial plans were aborted due to lack of funds and local law restrictions on architecture. In 2001 the Education and Manpower Bureau planned to upgrade all existing schools in Hong Kong to millennium standard, and the college successfully applied for part of the necessary funds for redevelopment. The School Development Project (SDP) was formally launched on 26 January 2003, and works were officially started on 25 May 2003 with the demolition of the old music room block.
The original aims of the SDP were to: Upgrade the school campus to millennium standards Provide extra classrooms required by the "through-train" education mode Construct a new assembly hall that can accommodate all students at the same time
The total cost of the SDP was estimated to be HK$104m. It was to be carried out in three phases: Rebuilding the existing music room into a 6-storey multi-use complex. The cost was HK$38.9m. Extension of Phase 1. The cost was HK$4.82m. Rebuilding the hall. This phase has yet to be completed and the cost is estimated to be HK$57m.
Funding for Phase 1 is by the Hong Kong Government's Quality Education Fund and the School Improvement Programme. Funding for Phases 2 and 3 are by fund-raising campaigns hosted by the school.
Phases 1 and 2 (New Annex) have already been completed and were formally opened on 31 January 2006 by Mr Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. Phase III consists of a new school hall annexe with a much larger hall that can accommodate all the students in the school. The annexe will also house five extra classrooms and a lecture theatre.
Phase III was originally estimated to be completed by December 2006; however, lack of funds greatly delayed the completion time. In the summer of 2011, works for Phase III finally started while fund-raising was still in progress. The old school hall has already been demolished. In 2014, the new Wu Jieh Yee Building housing the school hall was finished.
Achievements
WYHK counts five winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking 16th (tied with La Salle College, Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School of MFBM, and Queen Elizabeth School) among all secondary schools in Hong Kong. In 2007 the student organisation of the college participated in the Lunar New Year Stall Competition co-organised by Shell and the Hong Kong Youth Federation and won the grand prize of $10,000.
Campus
The campus at 281 Queens Road East, Wan Chai has an area of about 20,000 m2 (220,000 square feet), on a small hill known as Mount Parish. It was designed by the late Professor Gordon Brown, the founder of the Architecture Faculty of Hong Kong University.
Principals NameYear1. Mr. Tsui Yan Sau, Peter (徐仁壽)1919–19262. Mr. Lim Hoy Lan, Andrew (林海瀾)1926–19323. Fr Richard W. Gallagher, S.J.1932–19404. Fr Edward Bourke, S.J.1940–19485. Fr Albert Cooney, S.J.1948–19516. Fr John Carroll, S.J.1951–19567. Fr Cyril Barrett S.J.1956–19628. Fr Joseph Foley, S.J.1962–19689. Fr Alfred Deignan, S.J. (狄恆神父)1968–197010. Fr Cyril Barrett, S.J.1970–198211. Fr Derek Reid, S.J.1982–198512. Fr Marciano Baptista, S.J. (白敏慈神父)1985–198813. Fr John C. Coghlan, S.J.1988–199614. Mr. Tam Siu Ping, George (譚兆炳)1996–201315. Dr. So Ying Lun (蘇英麟)2013–201916. Dr. Chan Wai Lun, Davis (陳偉倫)2019-
Academics New senior secondary curriculum Since the academic year of 2009–2010, the school has provided a new curriculum for senior students alongside the planned educational reform by the Hong Kong Government.
The HKDSE subjects that are now offered are Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, Liberal Studies, Chinese History, Economics, Ethics and Religious Studies, Geography, History, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, 'Business, Accounting & Financial Studies', Music, and 'Information & Communication Technology'.
Music, Art, Ignatian Value Education, and also Religious Formation, Life Education or Moral & Civic Education will be offered as non-examination subjects.
List of Top Scorers in Public Examinations Wah Yan College, Hong Kong has produced 17 perfect scorers "10As" in the history of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and 1 "Top Scorers" / "Super Top Scorers" in the history of Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE).
7 x 5** "Top Scorers" are candidates who obtained perfect scores of 5** in each of the four core subjects and three electives.
8 x 5** "Super Top Scorers" are candidates who obtained seven Level 5** in four core subjects and three electives, and an additional Level 5** in the Mathematics Extended (M1/M2) module.
Extracurricular activities Extracurricular activities are divided into groups A and B. Group A contains school organisations and clubs/societies operated by students. Group B contains Catholic organisations, sport teams and other unclassified organisations.
Each student may participate in four Group A activities at most. The maximum number of Group B activities that a student may join is left to the discretion of the teacher advisers and parents concerned.
Student Association The Student Association of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong is the student organisation body which has the highest position in the school's management structure. It is led by current students, with the approval of the School Authorities (the School Authorities refer to the Principal, Assistant Principals, the teacher advisers and the ECA Committee of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong) through yearly Student Association election.
The Student Association (SA) is a non-profit making body, which aims to promote the welfare of the students of WYHK and thus to serve the whole student body. The SA allows the students to participate in the administration of the school in matters concerning their welfare. The primary function of the SA is the organisation and co-ordination of all students; and arrangement of extra-curricular activities in the school.The Constitution of The Student Association of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
In the year 2020–21, two cabinet (Novus and Contineo) arose to compete for being the SA. Eventually, Novus won the election by 325 supporting vote, against Contineo's 152 supporting votes, becoming the SA of the next academic year.
List of SA cabinets: Academic Year Name of SA cabinet 44th SA (2010–2011) Zenith 45th SA (2011–2012) Nexus 46th SA (2012–2013) Zafar 47th SA (2013–2014) Iznova 48th SA (2014–2015) Lumino 49th SA (2015–2016) Zefiro 50th SA (2016–2017) Conditus 51st SA (2017–2018) Vincio 52nd SA (2018–2019) Candesco 53rd SA (2019–2020) Eredità 54th SA (2020–2021)Aspirant 55th SA (2021–2022)Novus56th SA (2022–2023)Venoria57th SA (2023–2024)Equinex58th SA (2024–2025)Eunestra