Tai Po Sam Yuk Secondary School and Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School are Adventist mission schools in Hong Kong with a combined 1200 students in grades 7 to 12. More than 95% of the students are non-Christian. The schools aim to spread the gospel to them and to help them to develop physically, intellectually, and socially. We will look here at Tai Po Sam Yuk Secondary School (TPSY) to see an example of how these goals are accomplished.
- Spiritual Life – TPSY ensures that a Seventh-day Adventist atmosphere pervades the school. Students from Adventist or Christian homes form a tiny but important core for spiritual activities, but through the year, many others join them in giving talks or testimonies, especially during the bi-annual Gospel Weeks. Some students regularly attend Sabbath morning or afternoon for a Bible study and worship service in Chinese or English. The Pathfinder Club imparts Christian values, including through Northern Asia-Pacific Division camporees and the international camporee in the USA. The chaplains and the parents’ ministry teams strive to meet the spiritual needs of students, parents and teachers.
- Curriculum – Mission high schools follow the Hong Kong curriculum. Much of the teaching and learning is done in English. Students needing extra help attend enrichment classes with local teachers, or workshops with overseas teachers. Special arrangements are made for newly arrived children and for non-Chinese students learning Chinese.
- Extracurricular Experiences – Every student has to participate in at least one of our 42 extra-curricular clubs. These activities help develop leadership, teamwork, creativity, analytical thinking, and social responsibility. Our students win awards for athletics, judo, rowing, Chinese and ballet dance, music, Math Olympiade, Biomedical Quiz, visual arts, writing, and speaking. The school musical groups perform often in Hong Kong, and internationally.
- Social Responsibilities & Services – In our ‘On-site Writing Competition for Primary 5 & 6,’ our students have the opportunity to serve thousands of students and parents. Our English Peer Reading Program serves neighboring schools, and our students serve in other ways throughout our community.
- Finance & Schlarship – TPSY is fiscally healthy. God is abundant in goodness, and we are strongly supported by our conference, parents, and alumni. A sizeable portion of the budget is allocated to student assistance. Nearly 50% of the student body receives some form of assistance.
- Evaluation Reports – Our school reviews by the Education Bureau and by the Northern Asia-Pacific Division report that our students are in an environment conducive to all-round development, receiving solid academic and values/moral education, and our students have performed well in the public examination, the HKDSE.
Since the 1950s, mission schools in Hong Kong have served the community and our students. All the Conference presidents of the Hong Kong Macao Conference, and many church pastors, have been graduates of these mission schools although their parents were not Christians. Guided by the Holy Spirit in the mission of making disciples of students and staff, the school will continue to strengthen our local churches and foster future denominational workers and ministers at home and abroad.
Author
Cheong Lawrence Yu
Serving as a teacher in mission high school in Hong Kong since 1990, as a principal since 1999, and granted the Ed.D from LSU in 2002.