Junior School Headmistress’ Report 2013-2014 The year 2013-14 has been a special one for Diocesan Girls’ Junior School. Not only does it mark the 153rd anniversary since the founding of Diocesan Girls’ School in 1860, but it also marks the centenary celebration of the School’s relocation to her present site at 1 Jordan Road in Kowloon in 1913. The school year commenced in a festive mood as the School was still immersed in the atmosphere of the drama musical, “House of Wonders”, staged by DGS and DGJS in late August 2013. More than 200 Junior School students participated in the production and in their first few weeks of school, students eagerly reminisced with one another their favourite parts of the production and the time they spent with their friends during rehearsals. Euripides, a famous Greek playwright, once wrote, “Experience, travel – these are an education in themselves”. There is no education quite like the lessons learnt from travel. To broaden the students’ horizons by increasing their awareness and appreciation of diverse cultures, the School has organised overseas educational trips for our students in the past several years. Students have visited Macau, Xian, the United Kingdom, USA, etc., which gave them first-hand learning experiences in authentic environments. This year is one of many firsts. For the first time, all Primary Six students had the opportunity to visit a textile factory in Dongguan, China. For the first time, Primary Five and Six students welcomed buddies from Singapore into the DGJS classrooms; and in return, twenty Primary Six students attended school in Singapore for a week in the summer holidays. Sixty-four students also set foot on Latvia for the first time to participate in the World Choir Games. Not only were students given opportunities to learn in the UK, but also two teachers, Mrs. N. Yau and Miss T. Yu, were sponsored to learn abroad at the famous Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London by attending an intensive course on theatrical and performing arts. This has broadened the teachers’ perspective of drama teaching and can enrich our drama education curriculum, enabling our students to appreciate the art. To celebrate the end of their first-term examinations, the PTA arranged the yearly educational visit to Macau for all Primary Six students in December 2013. This is the eighth year that parents and Primary Six teachers have taken the whole graduating class on this trip. - 1 - The Macau trip gave opportunities for our girls to enrich their knowledge on Chinese and Western cultures through visits to well-preserved heritage sites and historical collections in the Macau Museum. The General Studies II Department arranged three tours to China so that students could learn more of Chinese history and culture, and the recent economic developments. In December 2013, forty of our Primary Six students, accompanied by three teachers and one volunteer parent helper, went to Guangzhou to appreciate its unique architecture, so as to deepen their understanding of Guangdong's historical background, cultural features and historic preservation. Later in the year, the School brought thirty Primary Five students to the capital city of Shanxi Province, Xian in April 2014. This four-day journey not only allowed the students to visit the historical relics of this ancient capital, but the students also had the wonderful opportunity to see with their own eyes, the many historical monuments and ancient ruins. Finally, all Primary Six students visited a garment factory in Dongguan in May 2014. This day trip to Dongguan introduced the students to the process of garment manufacturing and the need for environmental protection and team building from an entrepreneur’s point of view. Through the visit, the students realised how closely linked Hong Kong’s economy is to Mainland China. It is indeed better “to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books”. In November 2013, as a school exchange programme with our overseas school partner, twenty-two Primary Six students from Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) visited our School and attended classes with our Primary Five and Six girls for a week. Each SCGS girl was partnered up with a DGJS buddy to help them settle in their new learning environment. Special events were organised for our Singaporean friends, including a Chinese calligraphy class and a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Together with their buddies, they attended a Model United Nations session at DGS to develop global perspectives. They also engaged in a sharing session, “Dialogue on Asian Cities”, to gain a better understanding of each other’s everyday life in Hong Kong and Singapore. In July 2014, it was the DGJS girls’ turn to visit Singapore and attend school in SCGS. Twenty Primary Six students, the Headmistress, two teachers and one parent helper set off for Singapore - 2 - on 20th July for a six-day trip. They woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for attending school at SCGS, which started at 7:10 a.m. At dawn, the girls were eager and excited about starting a school day in a new environment. At dusk, the students endlessly chatted about their day at school or the new friends they met. This encounter on the SCGS campus led to the blossoming of lifelong friendships. Students deepened their appreciation of different cultures and ethnic groups, as they met friends who were not only Chinese, but also Peranakan, Malay, Indian among others. It was a golden opportunity to learn communication skills and understand the importance of collaboration as future global citizens. The Singapore Exchange Programme was an inspiring learning experience for both students and teachers. The trip to Riga, Latvia was an exciting one for our Diocesan Riga Choir, comprising 64 girls mainly from Primary Four to Five, to expand their music horizons. They were awarded the Gold Medal at the 8th World Choir Games in July 2014. The choirs competing in the category of Young Children’s Choirs in this international music competition were from various countries, Estonia, Russia, Latvia, Korea, China and Hong Kong. Out of the eleven teams, our School was one of the three teams which received the Gold Medal. Forty-eight supportive parents accompanied their daughters on this trip, and 115 people in total participated in many special events such as the Street Parade, the Closing Ceremony and other educational visits in Latvia. Thirty students and two teachers participated in the English Curriculum Enhancement Programme educational tour in the United Kingdom for fifteen days from the end of July to the beginning of August 2014. They stayed at the beautiful boarding house of Epsom College. The girls attended lessons on drama, reading and writing to enhance their English language foundation in the morning, and took part in a variety of specialist-led workshops, including music, drama, dancing and singing, in the afternoon. They also went on five excursions to neighbouring areas. They enjoyed a West End musical and visited London, Leeds Castle, Hampton Court Palace and the University of Cambridge. At the end of the fifteen days, some parents joined their daughters and attended a farewell dinner, a celebration of the girls’ learning. They hosted a variety show to showcase the work they had accomplished in the preceding two weeks. - 3 - The School is grateful for the generous fund provided by an old girl, which sponsors part of the cost for these overseas and mainland educational tours. This fund also provides full or partial subsidies to students with financial needs to participate in overseas tours and other educational experiences. Returning to the DGJS campus, the holistic education we provide unleashes the potential of our students, and allows them to blossom and excel in their six years in the Junior School. Excellence in academics, the performing arts and sports is achieved. To foster students’ creativity and imagination while enhancing their literacy skills, teachers devote time and effort to engage students in creative writing during English lessons. The various external competitions available, such as the Hong Kong Young Writers’ Awards 2014, provide abundant opportunities for our students to sharpen their English language skills. In the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools 2014, organised by the University of New South Wales, our girls once again achieved commendable results, demonstrating their good command of the English Language. Out of the 190 students between Primary Three and Six who participated in the competition, 72 were awarded Certificates of High Distinction, for the top 1% of the participants in Hong Kong, and three students received the Medal Awards for coming first in Hong Kong in their year levels. For speech and drama, our students’ accomplishments were similarly commendable at the 65th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival. The girls won 29 first places, 48 second places and 53 third places in the English solo classes. We have done equally well in the Cantonese and Putonghua classes with 31 first places, 38 second places and 34 third places. Our School also came first in the Open Section of the Primary Two Harmonic Choral Speaking Competition and was placed third in the Primary Three Harmonic Choral Speaking Competition. All our Primary 4 and 5 girls participated enthusiastically in their English drama and oral lessons and learned basic drama techniques. The students took ownership of their own production, wrote their own script and developed it under the guidance of their drama tutor. Everyone had a part to play at the end of year drama performance in the school hall to showcase their unique and creative plays to their fellow schoolmates, teachers and parents. The - 4 - Putonghua Club also produced a Putonghua drama and we all enjoyed their performance in the annual Putonghua Variety Show.