St. Paul Boys interview

hogwarts

One of the assembly speeches by SPC principal, Dr. Kennard. A bit long, but it is a good reflection of the liberal tradition of this school.

Ask the boys!
I try to spend much of recess and lunchtime walking around the school. It provides a great opportunity to chat with the boys and to find out what is happening on the campus. The younger boys are often the most responsive to my tête-à-tête and will generally go into great detail about their classes, teachers and life at home. The older boys can be more reserved and usually focus their conversations on examinations and university entrance. I am always amazed by their willingness to chat, particularly with the Principal, but also to do so in a second language. I see these encounters as my small part to improving their conversational English.
A couple of weeks ago I invited the Committee Prefects to a meeting. I told the 10 senior boys that I was keen to hear about the 'burning issues' and to receive their suggestions regarding improvements around the school. We met again last week over a buffet lunch in the Wong Ming Him Hall and this time they were given the floor - I simply listened and took notes. I had no idea what they would raise or suggest. Maybe fewer assignments and less homework; a shorter school day with a reduction in the number of lessons; a greater selection of foods served up by the canteen; longer holidays, a change to the school uniform, and so forth. Their responses, however, mentioned none of these items but centred on two key points: greater flexibility in procedures and a more attractive school campus.
The Pokfulam Road entrance to the College is closed 15 minutes after the formal end of the school at the completion of the ninth lesson. Any boy who leaves the school after the 15 minutes is up needs to use the Bonham Road entrance. The Prefects pointed out that 15 minutes is not a great deal of time particularly if you wish to go to the Library or see a teacher. To the boys in the lower school who catch public transport in Pokfulam Road the closure means a reasonably long walk to the main entrance in Bonham Road and then down Hing Hon Road. An immediate outcome of my meeting with the Prefects is that the Pokfulam Road door will remain open an additional 20 minutes over the next month. If there is a sufficient number of boys using this exit during the one month trial period the new opening time will become a permanent arrangement.
The Prefects also asked if the Library could also stay open longer - a suggestion that will now be considered by the Librarian and the Library Prefects. There was also a suggestion that the Gymnasium be opened on a Sunday. Many senior boys value the opportunity of remaining after school, on occasions well into the evenings. Some see the benefit of working with classmates on common tasks; others see school as a quiet alternative to working at home or at a public venue. The College has long provided classrooms for after-school study but maybe it is time for us to reconsider what we provide during this time to cater for the study needs of the boys.
The second area raised by the Prefects related to the school environment. A lack of green spaces was noted with a request for more plants and green roof tops. The College has taken action in recent years to give the school a 'greener feel', notably the gardens surrounding the Wong Ming Him Hall and the flower planters on the podium and upper playground. But there is still more that could be done. We have asked the architect to look at ways of greening the roof of the Hall and there is a concerted effort underway to provide additional plants and shrubs. The Prefects are correct in saying that a greener and softer looking school to the concrete surfaces that characterise many Hong Kong buildings will certainly improve the learning environment on campus. I also informed the Prefects that we shall be repainting the external walls of the school over the next twelve months and that their suggestions as to the colour scheme will be conveyed to the architect.
I remember one of my initial thoughts after being shown around the school for the first time in August 2005; where do the boys sit when they are not in the classroom? Since that time we have provided seating and sun umbrellas in the upper playground but the Prefects suggested that we need additional seating wherever there is space for a bench or a chair. We shall soon open up the podium for boys who wish to eat their lunch in this location. Boys need alternatives and places to talk and relax with classmates during non-teaching times.
I have said to the Committee Prefects that I would like to meet with them on a regular basis to hear their views and receive their suggestions. My invitation has been enthusiastically received by the boys. Besides, they did enjoy the buffet lunch!
J.R. Kennard

AVBB

Ving,

Just reply to your previous question, my son is a middle boy and for the language, as I remembered correctly, we couldn't choose it. I believe it just depends on the teacher asked in English or Cantonese ...

原帖由 Ving 於 10-10-9 08:24 發表
Hi AVBB,

Just want to know if your boy is big or small boy and are you using Cantonese in the interview, thx

hogwarts

Yes, the competition is pushing most of the kids and parents in HK into an unnecessary emotional roller-coaster.  We all need to keep ourselves mentally healthy.

Andrewpapa, thank you for yr comments and to be honest, as there is no old boy in the family, we had worries at the beginning.  The trust towards the school was not built in one day.

Regarding the matter of connection, we were not old boys and coming from 街坊幼兒園 with no christian faith, we could say the admission process was fair.

Isaacmommy

Don't get too upset as the competition is really great.
My friend's daughter was rejected by all DSS schools even though she is very smart with excellent English and is a musician at APA.

She was finally accepted by Marymount.
So, don't worry. It's not the end of the world yet. Don't let your son know you're unhappy.

When my son asked me which school is better, I just told him they are all very good. If he gets rejected by any school, I'll just tell him we'll not choose that school. We'll choose another better one.

原帖由 milkonline2 於 10-10-6 15:23 發表
I received the 1st reject letter from st paul boys, burst into tears and my heart is broken and getting hurt.  As my son is the top one in the class as you mentioned.  He is extremely polite and good  ...

thomasha

如果group o個陣其他人繼續活動，Group或者individual係無大關係，就算好似SPCC要等，等o個個部份都計緊分，所以唔應該扣除o係面試時間之外。

原帖由 siumao 於 10-10-12 13:40 發表


你忽略左一樣野, 就係group定individual interview. e.g. st. paul's boy 時間雖短, 但係係group in的; spcc時間雖長, 但係哩段時間包埋individual in之前的等候時間, 你唔會知道自己個仔實際上等左幾耐, 而真正in ...

siumao

原帖由 YUWEI 於 10-10-12 18:00 發表
其實我真的很想講,如果妳屋企淨係一個小朋友,你係唔會明世襲並冇唔公平,人o地當年哥哥考既時候,都係屬於冇關係...
為什麼看不到這一點?? 如果做為家長的妳,今次是第一個小朋友考小學,咁等到妳第二個小朋友要考既時候 ...

Hey~你get錯我意思啦, 我無話想complaint啲乜的意思咖, 只係覺得對我仔嚟講競爭相對大D, 所以expectation都唔會太高, that's all, 我由頭到尾無提過"唔公平", 冤枉呀大人~你唔好咁敏感啦~

diversity

[quote]原帖由 hui3328 於 10-10-12 13:48 發表
However since the change to a DSS school, St. Paul Boys has caught attention of many parents.

In my view, SPC has over 150 years of history. I didn't notice the principal and the school board had 'upgraded' their propaganda work for the sake of attracting students since they have turned to DSS. This school is pretty low profile. With his long history, strong mentorship program, school alumni network and brotherhood connection (primary thro' secondary), it is itself naturally a strong convergent point for many, save its extra efforts to attract attention.

YUWEI

反而我覺得爸媽係舊生,同咩乜董事分,同宗教分係唔公平既.
個人觀感...

原帖由 YUWEI 於 10-10-12 18:00 發表
其實我真的很想講,如果妳屋企淨係一個小朋友,你係唔會明世襲並冇唔公平,人o地當年哥哥考既時候,都係屬於冇關係...
為什麼看不到這一點?? 如果做為家長的妳,今次是第一個小朋友考小學,咁等到妳第二個小朋友要考既時候 ...

andrewpapa

hogwarts,

Great comment, as an old boy and a current parent at SPCPS.  Your comment is quite neutral.  

Yes I admitted that the schools has no 10As, coz they never encourage that.  But we still have loads of excellent old boys serving in this society.

My son is so happy to study in SPCPS, not becoz I push, but just becoz he like.

Let people say whatever they want to say, we can't stop but let them express and feel comfortable.

YUWEI

其實我真的很想講,如果妳屋企淨係一個小朋友,你係唔會明世襲並冇唔公平,人o地當年哥哥考既時候,都係屬於冇關係...
為什麼看不到這一點?? 如果做為家長的妳,今次是第一個小朋友考小學,咁等到妳第二個小朋友要考既時候你就會明...

原帖由 siumao 於 10-10-12 13:40 發表


我的小小觀點, 擺明世襲佔大比數的學校, 外人要入其實真係要特別top至有機...所以in左咁多間, 都唔大期望, 可能最終都係入返自己幼稚園間小學~~

hogwarts

Back to the year my family applied for a seat from SPCPS, there were only 720 plus applicants and we did not know the number, not until the result was out.

That did not mean that SPCPS had worked hard to attract students or the school had improved a lot in the last 7 years.  In my own opinion, it only means the parents are becoming more concern about which school their kids will go.  

When we decided that our boy should go to SPCPS, rather than waiting for the 大抽奖, it was mainly because we did not want to face the 大抽奖 again in P6.  Of course, the family made determination to keep the boy in the safety zone to be accepted by SPC.  At that time, we were told by some parents that SPC was no more the used to be TOP TOP school due to the low brith rate of Western district and the "aging" of teaching staff, so on and so forth.  But, we were also encouraged by many that the school still brings up good students, especially MAN with principles.

We sent our boy both with worries and anticipations.  Also, we prepared to give time and extra resources.  The primary school did not fail our expectations and it was a wonderful journey for my boy, not to mention that there were many great parents and boys.  

Now my boy is in SPC and with eyes on the school for the past 7 years, SPC was what I had expected and still the same good school many old boys had in their memory.  There were no 10 As but many important life-long memories and lessons.  What the old boys treasured most, was the liberal environment there and I trust this important tradition is still being treasured and upheld by the school.  You can read the SPC Principal's latest assembly address "Listen to the Boys" to make yr own judgement.  It is a quality, I would like my boy to learn, not by doing past exam papers but by living in a environment.

No, it is not every parent of SPC will agree with me.  The school, at least the Principal, has made clear statment that "marks" was not their top goal.  Their goal, I trust that they are working hard towards, is preparing the boys for a fast changing world, with Christian faith.

hui3328

I am not that knowledgeable about St. Paul Boys. However to my understanding its secondary school is not a top band 1 school. Its university admission result is not impressive at all, after reading the information in the link.

However since the change to a DSS school, St. Paul Boys has caught attention of many parents. Not sure if its academic standard has been enhanced.

原帖由 milkonline2 於 10-10-12 11:10 發表
Um..... I think every school has its pos. and neg.

However, I want to point out one fact, % of st paul Boys students got to a seat in University is low in 2009. Shown in P 27, http://www.spc.edu.hk/d ...

siumao

原帖由 hogwarts 於 10-10-11 21:53 發表
Well, SPCPS is not necessary the cup of tea for everyone.

However, in an NGO activity yesterday, a fellow volunteer, who was just awarded the outstanding staff award by his servicing medical institut ...

多謝你的分享~看你的文字是最舒服最受用的~

siumao

原帖由 thomasha 於 10-10-12 13:16 發表
Let me recall the duration of the 1st interviews my son has gone or will be going through so far (numbers in bracket are # of candidates per session):

St Paul Boys - 20 minutes (6)
Ying Wa - 1hr (14) ...

你忽略左一樣野, 就係group定individual interview. e.g. st. paul's boy 時間雖短, 但係係group in的; spcc時間雖長, 但係哩段時間包埋individual in之前的等候時間, 你唔會知道自己個仔實際上等左幾耐, 而真正in的時間又有幾耐

我的小小觀點, 擺明世襲佔大比數的學校, 外人要入其實真係要特別top至有機...所以in左咁多間, 都唔大期望, 可能最終都係入返自己幼稚園間小學~~

thomasha

Let me recall the duration of the 1st interviews my son has gone or will be going through so far (numbers in bracket are # of candidates per session):

St Paul Boys - 20 minutes (6)
Ying Wa - 1hr (14)+15 minutes (5) [30 min for 10 candidates to be split into 2 groups of 5, each having 15 min with the principal]
DBS - 1 hr (6)
St Paul Co-ed - 1 hr+ (4-5)
HKUGA - 30 min (6)+20 min (6)
Kau Yan - 45 min (6)
St Stephen's - ~25 min (6) (plus 15 min free drawing session after registration)

As St Paul Boys was the first school interviewing my son, the short duration seemed particularly noticeable.  

As I am not a professional educator, I cannot say 20 minutes is not enough to tell the performance of one child from another in a group of 6.  Maybe they had enough child experts to observe 90 children in 20 minutes (90 candidates split into 5 big groups, each of which were split into 3 small groups of 6 for every 20-minute session).

原帖由 milkonline2 於 10-10-12 11:34 發表
I have no comment.  As I have said before every school has its pos and neg. However, I am absolutely unsatisfied with their short period interview process. Sorry... And I I haven't said this school is ...

HuiTung

原帖由 steve666 於 10-10-12 12:21 發表
對呀，我姪女讀英基，佢有同學申請入左去紅磚屋讀，讀唔夠一個月就轉返舊校。佢話佢地d英文發音唔o岩。

我的case就抱怨紅磚屋唔比佢個女跑!?  

steve666

對呀，我姪女讀英基，佢有同學申請入左去紅磚屋讀，讀唔夠一個月就轉返舊校。佢話佢地d英文發音唔o岩。

原帖由 HuiTung 於 10-10-12 12:14 發表
你朋友的仔仔以前應是讀一些非主流或國際學校吧?  SPC是傳統學校, 我猜他是不慣這種模式吧?  

我認識兩個讀國際學校後來分別派入喇X和紅磚屋的小朋友, 他們讀不夠兩個月就轉回舊校.  難道就說這些不是好學校?

我亦 ...

steve666

我覺得係名氣吸引我地d家長去申請。
至於好唔好都好睇自己小朋友適唔適合間學校。
所以St. Paul boy用佢地揀學生的方法去揀適合佢地的學生。我覺得佢地好合埋。至於冇揀出黎既係米一定唔叻?
我又唔覺，咁短時間點可以睇得出。
宜且每個家長既要求都唔同，有d喜歡深d，有d唔想咁谷。
所以唔可以咁武斷話佢唔係好學校。
我最主要睇佢地學生既品得同埋派位好唔好。

原帖由 cheng2 於 10-10-12 11:19 發表
If this school is not good, why so many apply and so many feel disapponted when not admitted?

In Hong Kong Island, which boys school is good? We usually ranked like that: st paul co-edu, then
st pau ...