School marks a milestone in HK education

The Anglo-Chinese institution is celebrating 100 years of providing quality, holistic and values-based education to young women

TRADITION AND innovation may seem like incongruous standards, but after almost 100 years, St Stephen's Girls' College has earned a reputation as an established school with a progressive philosophy towards education.

Founded in 1906 by the Church Missionary Society, St Stephen's is celebrating its centenary year as one of Hong Kong's first Anglo-Chinese girls' schools, with special events running until November next year.

From the beginning, St Stephen's has played a pivotal role in educating young Hong Kong women. Its graduates were among the first female students at the University of Hong Kong in the 1920s.

'We've really promoted women's education in Hong Kong,' said the Reverend Jenny Nam Wong Chun-nai, principal of St Stephen's.

The sense of history is palpable at its third home on Lyttelton Road, Mid-Levels where its campus occupies a large swath of the sloping hill. Known as a school for the wealthy before its policies changed to serve the entire community in about 1930, the government-aided school has more than 1,100 students at its secondary school, about 800 in its primary and kindergarten sections and 150 staff.

Sections of the main building are more than 80 years old, and it was declared a historical monument by the government for its similarities in style to a traditional Chinese courtyard house. Sadly, much of the school's historical documents were lost during the second world war, when it was occupied by the Japanese army and used as a hospital and academy. Inseparable from all this history, however, was the desire to be at the forefront of education.