We aspire to become a visionary school with teachers dedicated to inducing evolutionary progress underpinned by our education vision and the education reform. Shortly after the release of the implementation plan of the NSS structure in 2004, our school launched, one year ahead of the official schedule, an overhaul of our curriculum right from Secondary One.  While the pedagogy pendulum is swinging from the old tradition of knowledge stuffing to the new mode of unsubstantiated forums, we seek to strike a balance between the two extremes.  Subject organization, pedagogies, the choice of textbooks and even the duration of a lesson are all re-designed.

In the first place, one of our key priorities is to improve students’ proficiency in the languages, English in particular. With the school adopting English as the principal medium of instruction and learning, language is a basic tool pivotal to learning ability. Over the past few years, our hours of endeavor have been well-rewarded as our pass rate in public examinations has reached its saturation point. Going beyond achievements in examinations, with this academic edge gained, we strive to bring improvement in students’ communication skills and self-confidence.

At junior level, History, Geography and Economic and Public Affairs are integrated into one single subject, Integrated Humanities, thus smoothing out the coverage and avoiding duplication. Science, extended to Secondary Three is mainly experiment-based and the enquiry approach is adopted. Enlightening British science textbooks with supplementary reading materials are used. 

The extended fifty-five-minute lesson span enables the teacher to blend questioning, group discussions, experiments, student reporting, project work and reinforcement into a single coherent piece of teaching. With the students’ attention span improving, the change proves to be viable.

The new curriculum design requirement brought forth by the NSS indeed has been imposing heavy challenges to teachers across the education community. In our school, the Enrichment Course introduced on the first day of our inception eight years ago has honed our teachers the skills to master topics that are new to them, including those in the ever-changing science and humanities. 

Apart from formal lessons, we have been working hard to cultivate among students the burning desire to learn beyond classrooms. We have rephrased the traditional extra-curricular activities into Co-curricular Activities (CCA). In the design and implementation of activities, we need to think in terms of leadership, collaboration, team spirit, environmental consideration, organization and presentation skills. All these cannot be taken as something extra.

Further than CCA, in the school calendar we mark down a number of days when students learn beyond their conventional curriculum. There are two to three Learning Activity Days on which we organize learning outside classrooms. Students are guided to visit museums or cultural spots, work on projects and provide community service. On annual open days, students are given a chance to work on thematic exhibitions. Olympic Spirit, Goble Warming, Hong Kong – Past, Present and Future, Education Reform are a few of the recent topics. The HD School Campus TV is another platform where students are given the opportunity to be exposed to current international and local issues, forums, film and report production. The students are also beginning to furnish or monitor our school garden, organic farm, community weather station, renewable energy centre and Chinese medicine corner.

Not all activities are examination-oriented or knowledge-based. Parallel to striving for their academic excellence, we hope to groom students into intellectuals living their lives enriched with culture and skills. To this aim we recruit a culture coordinator to conduct lunch time thematic activities. Programs include, to name but a few, appreciation of visual arts, thematic and baroque music, classical guitar, Chinese musical instruments, Go, calligraphy, Chinese tea art and Jazz.

While study trips may be a standard item in the agenda of most schools, we insist on running trips under the direct supervision of our own teachers with a strong educational focus on projects and presentation skills as well as cultural exchange. 

Although we do not run International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, we do put in more emphasis on extended reading and project work in many subjects and encourage students to offer social service to the aged and the deprived. Most of the programs are consolidated with guided reflections.

In addition to government subsidy we also charge school fees to provide above-standard quality education. Better facilities and equipment, smaller class size, better qualified teachers and more auxiliary teaching and non-teaching personnel are some of the additional service the school offers with the additional funding resources. However, it is our pledge that no student should be barred from studying in our school because of financial reasons. To this end, we have set up a hefty fee remission and award scheme in support of the needy families and the high achievers.

In line with today’s egalitarian social climate that calls for more attention to the underachievers, we compile our own programmes for students with special needs as diagnosed and assessed by the school education psychologist. At the same time, we strive to promote quality education with better opportunities and resources for the gifted. By doing so, we ensure that the motivated and the talented are never deprived. If elite schools hadn’t been given chances to shine, the present status of Harvard, Cambridge and Tsinghua would not have been reached.

School operating under the Direct Subsidy Scheme are not private schools. As a non-profit-making organization we have the legal commitment that all government subsidy and school fees received must be spent for the well-being of the students. We have the professional pledge that we will do our utmost to ensure that they receive the best education possible.

Chow Sik Cheong, Principal
B. Sc., B. Sc. (Special), Cert. Ed.

憑着對教育理想及教育改革的無限憧憬，我們矢志成為一所具長遠發展策略及不斷創新變革的學校。本校在開校初已意識到課程改革的迫切性，我們早在二零零四年已高度關注有關新高中學制的建議及諮詢文件，並率先在官方公佈具體時間表前在中一級進行課程改革。正當教育改革正由以往的知識密集傳統模式，像鐘擺一樣盪至自由發揮另一極端模式之際，我們嘗試從兩者中取一平衡點。因此我們對科目結構、教學方法、教科書選擇及課時等範疇作出重新規劃。

我們在開校初即致力提昇學生的語文水平，尤以英語為甚。本校的授課語言以英語為主，英語能力對學習能力的影響極其關鍵。我們過去數年的努力並沒有白費，這從公開考試中的及格優良率可反映出來。不過，我們不會以此自滿，更會據此優勢，進一步提昇學生的溝通技巧及信心。

在初中課程方面，我們將歷史、地理及經公科整合成綜合人文學科，目的是結合了不同的知識範疇及避免內容上的重覆使學習更為流暢。科學科則延伸至中三級，並以實驗及探究導向方式學習，我們亦採用英國版的教科書，還附以延伸讀物。

我們將每一節的課時延長至55分鐘，這有助老師進行不同形式的教學，如小組討論、實驗、學生滙報、小組習作等，並將不同的教學內容及方法整合起來相互鞏固瞭解記憶。隨著學生專注力的提升，我們認為這項改動是適切及有效的。

新學制中的課程改革為一般保守的老師帶來極大的挑戰，而本校自開校以來即設立「增益課程」，八年來，無論任教哪科目的老師，都有機會為這個嶄新非傳统的課程備課和講授，這替本校老師帶來教研的機會，打造出不斷創新提升的教學一族，故此老師在處理新課題時已習以為常，無甚困難，對瞬息萬變的科學及人文課題均可應付自如。

在正規課堂以外，我們極鼓勵學生隨時隨地學習。我們將課外活動的名稱易為「聯課活動」。在設計及推行活動時，我們會將領導能力、共融能力、團隊精神、環保意識、組織能力及演示能力等元素融合其中，故此，體育、美術、戲劇等都成為不同形式的學習活動。

除了上述聯課活動外，本校還特設二至三天學習活動日，讓同學在課堂以外學習。學生會參觀博物館或文化景點、進行專題研習，又或從事社會服務。在每年的開放日，學生均有機會參與主題展覽的製作，往年的主題包括﹕奧運精神、全球暖化、香港的過去、現在與未來、教育改革等等。本校已建成了高清(HD)校園電視台，讓學生有更多機會接觸國際及本地時事、文化活動等項目，更訓練他們的影片及報道制作技術。本校亦特設花圃、有機農場、地區天氣報測系統、再生能源中心及中藥角等，提高學生動手能力，讓他們更深入地探索科學。

除了追求學業上的卓越外，我們亦着力培養學生懂得欣賞文化藝術。為此我們特別聘請了一位文化活動統籌員，負責統籌午間的文化活動，活動包括視覺藝術欣賞、圍棋、中國茶藝介紹，以及各類音樂欣賞，如巴洛克、古典結他、爵士樂及中樂等。

雖然現時學習考察團已成為一般學校必備的項目，但本校堅持將文化交流、專題研習及演示技巧等列為學習考察團的重點項目，直接由老師組織活動，以加強考察團的教育意義。

本校雖不設「國際文憑」(IB)課程，但我們在各學科依然強調延伸閱讀及小組研習，而且鼓勵學生從事社會服務，幫助老人及弱勢社群。以上的活動大都附設反思部分，讓同學將學習所得加以內化並與他人分享。

除政府資助外，我們收取合理的學費以維持高質素的教育服務。因此我們亦可享有更好的設施，能調低每班的學生人數，聘請更優秀的教師及輔助教學人員。但為使優秀的學生不會因經濟困難而未能入讀本校，本校特設巨額助學金協助經濟有困難的同學。

為協助未達水平的學生趕上進度，我們會提供額外課程項目，給予經本校教育心理學家評估為需特別協助的學生。此外，我們為資優學生提供更多教學資源，確保他們能享有高質的教育服務，以發揮其特有的潛能。重視精英教育也是我們辦學任務的一環。若精英不獲發展的機會，哪哈佛、劍橋及清華大學的現有地位又怎能達到呢?

最後，直接資助學校並非私立學校。作為非牟利機構，我們確保一分一毫都用得其所，令學生有所獲益。我們亦承諾竭力為學生提供最優質的教育服務。

2008年12月