Maryknoll Convent School Foundation Foundation … Convent School Foundation Foundation Newsletter ... Convent School ... we strongly believe in the way we go in this modern era

Be Forward-Looking

PursueExcellence

RealizeFull Potential Serve Home,

Country, World

Maryknoll Convent School Foundation

Foundation NewsletterA Newsletter for MCS Foundation MembersJune 2017

foundation.mcs.hk

SERVE HOME, COUNTRY, WORLDServing our home, country and the world is to continue to promote the notion that service is a way of life for Maryknollers, our duty to home, to country, to the world; and to provide experiences that enable students to grow as individuals and contributors to society.

PURSUE EXCELLENCETo pursue excellence is to instill in our students and teachers a strong growth mindset where they are inquisitive, resilient, reflective and responsible in all their pursuits, aim high while staying humble, seek out opportunities for improvement and celebrate both participation and achievement.

REALISE FULL POTENTIALRealising full potential is to optimize the conditions for students to realise their potential to the full by proactively seeking out the best available academic and non-academic opportunities, based on individual students’ needs and gifts and an appropriate balance of support and challenge.

BE FORWARD-LOOKING Be forwarding-looking in leading the school, developing teachers and staff and most important of all, creating learning and development opportunities for students preparing them for the globally connected VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world.

In this Newsletter, we would like to showcase some of our recent efforts in grooming our Primary and Secondary students striving towards all these attributes.

Our vision for the School stated that “we envisage our students to be individuals with moral, ethical and religious values, intellectually competent, compassionate in serving others and capable of continuing self-development to meet the challenges in life and to contribute to society.”

Last year, the Foundation clearly identified 4 Strategic Foci so that our School and our stakeholders, including, teachers, students, alumni and parents etc. could follow suit. They include:

61 girls from Primary 3 to 5 joined a choral music camp organized by the Hong Kong Professional Musician Association. They attended choral and instrumental (ocarina) training conducted by a highly regarded Austrian Choirmaster and two experienced Hong Kong conductors. The girls gained valuable experience and developed new music skills through the intensive training.

The four-day music camp ended in two impressive Graduation Concerts. Parents and guests were amazed by the girls’ variety and dexterity in their performances.

Primary Section

MaryknollConvent SchoolFoundation

http://foundation.mcs.hk

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Foundation NewsletterJune 2017

Easter Music Camp(17 – 20 April)



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Exchange Programmewith Shanghai Schools

(April)

19 Maryknoll Primary 5 students, accompanied by 4 teachers and 10 parents, joined the six-day School Exchange Programme in Shanghai during the Easter Holidays this year. The students had lessons in Shanghai Qibao Foreign Language Primary School (QFL) and enjoyed the activities with their Shanghai buddies. With the arrangement of Principal He of QFL, our teachers met their counterparts at Minhang Experimental Primary School and had a sharing and discussion on the implementation of STEM education. Teachers attended a Maths demonstration and seminar. Apart from academic exchanges, the girls visited Our Lady of Lourdes Church and some attractions, such as, the Former Residence of Sun Yat- sen and Soong Ching-ling, China Art Museum and Science & Technology Museum. Both students and teachers had a fruitful and memorable experience in Shanghai. After the trip, the participating students shared with their schoolmates their achievements and learning experiences.




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Junior and SeniorChinese Dance Teams

(27 April)

Both Junior and Senior Chinese Dance teams received Honours Award in the 53rd Hong Kong Schools Dance Festival. Our Junior Dance Team participated in the winner’s performance at Sha Tin Town Hall on 27 April.




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Values Education Talks(February – April)

For all-round quality education for our students, it is crucial to work in partnership with parents. In this context, we organized with the Hong Kong International Institute of Educational Leadership a series of six talks on “Values Education” for parents from February to April 2017. The topics included, Parenting, Creativity, Conscience, Positive Psychology, Resilience and Mindfulness.

The speakers shared their expertise in the related topics, to enhance parental awareness and competence for positive parenting. The series enjoyed warm support and keen participation from parents and teachers.

=)


Talented students performed during lunch time throughout the months of April and May. They demonstrated their talents in singing, dancing, drama etc. There were over 60 entries and the Final will be held on 30 June which is the School’s Fun Fair.



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Secondary Section

Talent Quest -

Maryknoll Got Talent (April and May)




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Earth Keepers Certificate Programme in Guilin

(April)

Secondary students and staff spent their Easter vacation learning about the earth. The Earth Keepers Certificate Programme, included, organic farming, woodland hike, mudbrick making, kayaking and collaborative team building, habitat studies, heritage studies, shelter building and interviewing traditional bamboo craftsman etc. It was indeed an extremely fruitful experience for all those who participated!




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Primary and Secondary Sections

Dedicated to Holy Mary, Mother of God, the month of May begins with "May Crowning" as our traditional Roman Catholic ritual each year. This is such a special event which is celebrated by both the Primary and Secondary Sections.

Crowning the statue of the Lord's Mother celebrates and honours Her as the one chosen by God to bear His Son, our Saviour. May Crowning is the moment our student representative places a crown of roses on Our Lady’s statue, accompanied by the singing of a hymn to the Blessed Virgin.

For the Primary Section, student representatives from P1 to P6 offered prayers and flowers to Our Lady. For our Secondary Section, each class representative participated in a procession to offer roses, accompanied by the whole school singing hymns, praying the rosary, and culminating to the final crowning of Our Lady.

May Crowning to Honour Our Lady(May)




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Reminiscing Our Maryknoll Sisters and the Values They Behold

Further to the School’s Vision and Mission, the Foundation clearly identified 4 Strategic Foci last year. Perhaps, we could spend some time now to refresh our memories of our Maryknoll Sisters and reminiscent the values they behold; values that are the cornerstone of Maryknoll and not dissimilar to our 4 Strategic Foci which we strongly believe in the way we go in this modern era.

The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic were the first Catholic congregation in the United States established for sending missionaries overseas. The congregation was founded in 1912. The Motherhouse, now the Maryknoll Sisters Center, is situated in Ossining, New York.

MCS Serving both Chinese and non-Chinese Children; Symbolizing the World Vision of the Maryknoll Sisters

In November 1921, 6 Maryknoll Sisters arrived in Hong Kong. They settled at 19 Chatham Road adjacent to the Rosary Church.

They moved to 103 Austin Road in 1923. Two years later (1925), the Maryknoll Sisters established their first school in Hong Kong. On 11 February, they opened a kindergarten for 12 Portuguese children in the convent. This became Maryknoll Convent School (MCS).

7 years after Maryknoll Sisters arrived in Hong Kong, MCS moved to King’s Terrace, adjacent to the convent in 1928 and moved again to Torres Building, 2 Kimberly Road one year later. By then, the Sisters could claim many nationalities among the students: Chinese, Japanese, English, Portuguese, Irish, French, German, Russian, American, Indian etc.

The 1920s:


MCS Response to New Circumstances, reflecting Maryknoll Sisters’ Leadership are Extremely Forward-looking The 1930s:



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The Japanese Occupation (December 1941 - August 1945)

Many of us may still remember the days when our MCS building became a hospital for Japanese soldiers. For two months, the Maryknoll Sisters remained in the building until they were sent to the Stanley Internment Camp in February 1942. Subsequently the Sisters were released and repatriated. By January the following year, all Maryknoll Sisters left Hong Kong and did not return until late 1945.

1930s was a decade of challenge. Kowloon Tong was developing as a settlement for Chinese and Portuguese families. To correspond with the development of the government and the local Catholic Church, the Maryknoll Sisters bought a 200,000 square feet piece of land at the corner of Waterloo Road and Boundary Street for the construction of the MCS building.

MCS moved to its present campus in May 1937.

MCS in Pursuit of Excellence under the Leadership of Two Exceptional Principals

The postwar years opened tremendous opportunities with the explosion of the local population. The 1950s witnessed an upsurge in demands for education.

In 1950, MCS celebrated its silver jubilee. The long-awaited convent, whose construction had been delayed during the war, was completed three years later (1953). The Maryknoll Sisters moved into the adjacent convent and the entire MCS building was then devoted to teaching purposes.

For more than 20 years until 1958, Sister Ann Mary Farrell was the principal of MCS. Under her leadership, MCS continued as a grant-in-aid school for its outstanding standard of education. MCS maintained its high moral and academic standards, expected by the Maryknoll Sisters, students and the Hong Kong community. Sister M. de Ricci Cain succeeded Sister Ann Mary Farrell as the principal

The 1950s:


The 1960s: MCS Expanding and Realizing its Full Potential



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The 1960s were years of expansion. The MCS Secondary Section moved to the new building at 5 Ho Tung Road in 1960. With the increasing number of students, the school campus required expansion. The Sisters assumed greater responsibilities, for both the Primary and Secondary Sections. In 1961, Sister Miriam Xavier Mug became the principal of the Primary Section succeeded by Sister M. Corinne Rost who took up the post in 1967. Sister Rose Duchesne Debrecht became the principal of the Secondary Section in 1965.

The Student Association was inaugurated in 1967. Ms. Shelley Lee was the first president elected by the students. The students with the guidance of Sister Jeanne Houlihan drafted the constitution.

The values of MCS As Elaborated by the Maryknoll Sisters

“We believe in the dignity of the

person, therefore the primary

responsibility of the school is to

provide experiences that will enable

the student to grow as an individual,

spiritually, physically, intellectually,

aesthetically, psychologically and

affectively and to become an

informed, sensitive responsible

member of society.”

“We believe that a student’s total educational success is dependent upon the degree to which she recognizes she must and can make responsible judgments in all her experiences, both in and out of the classroom, and tempers these judgments with compassion for other human persons.”

“We believe that a student’s total educational success is

dependent upon the degree to which she recognizes she

must and can make responsible judgments in all

her experiences, both in and out of the classroom, and

tempers these judgments with compassion for other

human persons.”

“We seek to develop the student’s capacities and to create an atmosphere in which the student can develop herself as an individual and in

which she can develop a sensitivity to the abilities,

limitations and needs of others.”




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Staying Connected with our Alumnae and StudentsIn order to keep the alumnae informed of how our students, current and former, pursue excellence in various areas, MCS Former Students' Association (FSA) actively updates the latest news on the Facebook page. Please click to “LIKE” their page (https://www.facebook.com/maryknollfsa/) for frequent updates. Please find below a few latest news which may be of interest to you:

Alumnae

Current Students

Rachel Cheung won the Audience Award at the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Finals)https://www.facebook.com/maryknollfsa/posts/447659058933320?notif_t=like&notif_id=1497029495955373

Jennifer Tang pursued her dream and became a pilothttps://www.facebook.com/mcs.fsa/posts/1604371182906272?notif_t=like&notif_id=1496821060339027

Secondary Section Debating Team Achieve Championshiphttps://www.facebook.com/maryknollfsa/posts/443239809375245?notif_t=like&notif_id=1496306313141981

Janine Yip (S.2B) winner of the 2016-17 China Secondary Schools Essay Writing Competition (Hong Kong Region)https://www.facebook.com/MCSartsmusic/posts/1178914918885924?notif_t=like&notif_id=1495251674218910




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Primary Session MCS girls performed outstandingly in various competitionshttps://www.facebook.com/maryknollfsa/posts/443657739333452?notif_t=like&notif_id=1496411214076166

Maryknoll Convent School FoundationThirteenth Annual General MeetingDate: 23 September 2017 (Saturday)Time: 3:00 p.m.Venue: Maryknoll Convent School (Secondary Section) 2/F., Jockey Club Wing 5 Ho Tung Road, Kowloon Tong

We hope to see you there!

Our First Ever Orientation DayDate: 14 October 2017 (Saturday)Time: 3:00 p.m.Target Audience: Ordinary and Executive Foundation Members

Please do not miss this opportunity!


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Maryknoll Convent School Foundation Foundation … Convent School Foundation Foundation Newsletter ... Convent School ... we strongly believe in the way we go in this modern era