Wah Yan F.A.Q. for members of the two PSAs

Important Message: Although no secrets are revealed in this article, the information are personal to all the students and the two schools themselves in nature just as information regarding your own family would be to you. Please therefore treat this with respect and only use for a bona fide purpose. The Supervisor has kindly made this effort wholly for the benefit of the old boys fraternity and not meant as a performance pledge nor to be taken as any kind of warranty in structure policy planning future or otherwise. These information also do not in anyway or to any extent bind the school management teams whatsoever.

Please click on a question to view its answer or scroll down the page to view all:

Q 01. Who are the sponsoring bodies of WYHK, WYK and PUWY?

Q 02. What is SMC and who are the members?

Q 03. How are students admitted to Wah Yans?

Q 04. Why are the two Wah Yans producing fewer 9-A students in recent years?

Q 05. How are the two schools performing at public exams in recent years?

Q 06. Are the Schools in danger of becoming CMI (Chinese as the Medium of Instruction)?

Q 07. What are our students' achievements in music in recent years?

Q 08. What are our students' achievements in sports in recent years?

Q 09. What are our students' achievements in social services in recent years?

Q 10. How are our Scouts doing in recent years?

Q 11. What are the funds to which I can donate directly to WY and her sponsoring body?

Q 12. What are the funds to which I can donate to WY through the PSA?

Q 13. What are the funds to which I can donate to WY through other parties?

Q 14. What is the Schools' position on DSS (Direct Subsidy Scheme)?

Q 15. Can WY implement small class education without going DSS?

Q 16. Can WY implement teachers enhancement programmes without going DSS?

Q 17. What is the vision of Jesuit education in HK?

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Q 01. Who are the sponsoring bodies of WYHK, WYK and PUWY?

The sponsoring body of Wah Yan College Hong Kong is The Society of Jesus while the sponsoring body of Pun U Association Wah Yan Primary School (PUWY) is Pun U Association but administrated by Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

Q 02. What is SMC and who are the members?

SMC is the School Management Committee, which is established under the Education Ordinance to manage the school. The SMC is the highest decision making body of the school after the sponsoring body. The School Supervisor is the chairman of the SMC appointed by the Society of Jesus and members of the SMC are called School Managers. Members include nominated members from the sponsoring body, the principal, assistant principal/s, representatives from the teachers, past students and parents and an independent school manager.

Q 03. How are students admitted to Wah Yans?

For WYHK, 30% of Form One students are enrolled by the school through Discretionary Stage and the other 70% Form One students are allocated by the EDB through Central Allocation. Altogether about 75% of Form One students come from PUWY. For Form 2-4, students have to sit for the Entrance Examination which is usually held in early July and they will be enrolled only when there are vacancies made available by departing students. Students from other schools will not be enrolled to Form 5 & 7 usually.

For WYK, 130 students in Form One are centrally allocated by the Education Bureau from primary schools in the Yau-Tsim-Mong District and 60 are admitted at the discretion of WYK.

Q 04. Why are the two Wah Yans producing fewer 9-A students in recent years?

In WYHK, we seek to nurture our students whose acquisition of knowledge and skills is joined to Christian values, who will also become reflective learners. We also target at excellence, which is one of our characteristic of Jesuit education. However, we do not strive to produce students with 9 or 10 A. Even then, we still have at least one student achieving 9 or 10 distinctions every year since 1992, with the exception in 2003 and 2004.

As for WYK, it is our aim to provide an environment for natural, happy and healthy growth of our students.  It is not our policy or our sole aim to train 9-A or 10-A students and very few students in WYK enter for more than 8 subjects.

Q 05. How are the two schools performing at public exams in recent years?

In WYHK, the results of HKCEE continue to improve, both in the percentages of total pass, credits and distinctions alike, especially in the two languages. In recent years, we also have a growing number of students in the following two areas: (a) achieving 14 points or above in the best 6 subjects, and (b) qualified to apply for the Early Admission Scheme in H.K. or exemption from the entrance examinations for the Beijing University and Tsing Hua University in China.

For WYK, the credit percentage at the HKCEE has remained within the 45%-50% range for many years, which is very good among schools that do not have their own primary schools.  The credit percentage at the HKALE were very high in 2006 and 2007 (45% and 48% respectively, which were very good by absolute standards) and more than 80% of the F7 graduates had offers from the three local universities, HKU, CUHK and HKUST.

Q 06. Are the Schools in danger of becoming CMI (Chinese as the Medium of Instruction)?

The relevance of the following information is subjected to the changing MOI (Medium of Instruction) policy proposed by the Education Department Bureau (EDB).

No. Our EMI (English as the Medium of Instruction) status to a certain extent depends on the performance of PUWY. In the recent 3 years, we have enrolled over 90% of students capable to receive instruction in English, i.e., EMI schools, which is higher than the minimum requirement of 85%.

Since we have to enroll at least 85% of our Form One students allocated through the Central Allocation from PUWY, we depend largely on the performance of their students. Gratefully we are not in any immediate danger of losing our EMI status.

For WYK, the percentage has been around 96-97 and it does not show signs of dropping.

Q 07. What are our students' achievements in music in recent years?

In WYHK, we have established the Junior School Choir, Senior School Choir, String Orchestra, the Concert Wing Band and the Chinese Orchestra. They participated at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, and the School/One Family Foundation Annual Concerts. They were frequently invited to perform for the public, especially during some major occasions/festivals. The following table shows our achievements in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival in the recent years.

In WYK, the Orchestras, School Choirs and individual students competed in the 58th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and obtained gratifying results. We captured 11 first places, 16 second places, 15 third places, 9 honours, 62 distinctions and 53 merits. One hundred and sixty groups/individual students took part in the 59th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival (06-07).  They scored 3 First Places, 14 Second Places, 7 Third Places, 1 Honour, 61 Merits, with 70 others attaining Proficiency. A large-scale musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, was staged in the summer of 2006 by the students and girls from other schools were invited to play female roles.

Q 08. What are our students' achievements in sports in recent years?

In WYHK, we have 26 school sports teams of various levels representing some 13 different sports including athletics, swimming, fencing, football, basketball, volleyball, table-tennis, badminton, tennis, water-polo, windsurfing, cross-country and orienteering. Our boys show a high degree of sportsmanship both on and off the court. The following table shows the achievement of our boys in sports in the Inter-school Competitions

In WYK (06-07):

Athletics –

Hong Kong Junior Age Group Athletic Meet (October 2006) – Open Competition
A Grade Triple Jump – Champion
B Grade Triple Jump – Third Place
C Grade Shot Put – Second Place

Hong Kong Junior Age Group Athletic Meet (January 2007) – Open Competition
A Grade 110m Hurdles – Third Place
A Grade Triple Jump – Champion
A Grade Triple Jump – Third Place
A Grade 4x400m Relay – Third Place
C Grade 800m – Second Place
C Grade 1500m – Second Place

Yaumatei-Tsimshatsui-Mongkok District Athletic Champions (November 2006) – Open Competition
B Grade 110m Hurdles – Third Place
B Grade 100m – Champion
B Grade 200m – Second Place
B Grade Long Jump – Champion
B Grade 4x400m Relay – Champion
C Grade Long Jump – Second Place
C Grade 400m – Champion, Second and Third
C Grade Shot Put – Third Place
C Grade 4x100m Relay – Champion

Hong Kong Youth Athletic Championships (May 2007) – Open Competition
B Grade 110m Hurdles – Third Place
C Grade 800m – Champion
C Grade 1500m – Second Place
C Grade 4x400m – Champion

Hong Kong Inter-school Athletic Championships – Inter-school Competition
Overall 10th in Division One
A Grade Shot Put – Second Place
A Grade Discus – Second Place
A Grade Javelin – Fourth Place
B Grade 100m – Fourth Place
B Grade Long Jump – Fourth Place
C Grade Triple Jump – Third Place

Swimming –

One student in Form Six represented Hong Kong at the 2006 Asian Games.
Hong Kong Inter-school Swimming Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 7th Place in Division One
A Grade 100m Backstroke – Champion
A Grade 200m Individual Medley - Champion

Archery –

One student in Form Five represented Hong Kong at the 18M Compound event at the 2006 Hong Kong Youth Outdoor Archery Competition (an open competition) and broke the Hong Kong Youth Record of the event.  He represented Hong Kong at the Archery Competition in Taiwan in June 2007.  In addition this athlete holds 4 local records in indoor archery.

Football –

One student in Form Four was selected to represent Hong Kong at the Sixth National Inter-city Games in China in 2007.

Hong Kong Inter-school Football Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 12th in Division One – relegated to division two in the coming season

Ballroom Dancing –

One student in Form Two won honours in major dancing competitions:
Second Place in the Samba at the Fifth Hong Kong Inter-school Standard and Latin Dance Competition, Fifth Place in the World Amateur Dancing Competition (世界業餘國際標準舞十項大賽暨精英匯演青少年組), Champion in Rumba and Fifth in Samba at the Fourth Hong Kong Youth Standard and Latin Dance Open Competition.

Badminton –

Hong Kong Inter-school Badminton Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 8th in Division One

Basketball –

Hong Kong Inter-school Basketball Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 6th in Division One

Tennis –

Hong Kong Inter-school Tennis Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 5th in Division Two

Table Tennis –

Hong Kong Inter-school Table Tennis Competition – Inter-school Competition
Overall 2nd in Division Two – promoted to division one in the coming season

Q 09. What are our students' achievements in social services in recent years?

For WYHK, in the proud tradition of ‘Men For and With Others’, our students particularly those from the Red Cross, Award for Young People, Interact Club, Scouts and the Catholic Association managed to provide many service hours to our social community. The following table shows the total number of services hours and the number of Gold, Silver and Bronze awards presented to our students serving a minimum of 200 hours, 100 hours and 50 hours respectively each year.

For WYK, the same “Men for and with Others” being the model of our students, opportunities are provided for students to alert themselves to social injustices and the sufferings of the less fortunate classes in the hope that they will grow up socially aware and become agents for change. A large number of service programmes were carried out during the year by the Social Service Committee of the Students' Association and other groups in addition to those organized by the religious societies. Social issues on justice and human rights are frequently discussed at weekly assemblies. Most students did some amount of voluntary work in their spare time.  A group of volunteers did service in Thailand during the summer.  All Form One students did at least 10 hours of service each between September 2005 and June 2006.  The practice would gradually be extended to all students in the school depending on the resources available.

While the Social Service Committee of the Students’ Association was largely responsible for organizing large-scale social service activities, other clubs and societies held their own service programmes on a smaller scale. The religious groups did their share of service work to the sick, the poor and the bereaved.

The Caritas Bazaar (Kowloon Region) held on 6 November 2005 attracted more than two hundred students to spend time to prepare and decorate a stall to raise money for the poor.  The activity provided a good opportunity for students to learn lessons in organization and to render service. Their work was richly rewarded by the large crowds of visitors patronizing their stall.  They also won the third prize in Stall Decoration and the third prize in Game Stall Design.  There was also a Raffle Tickets section, which involved another group of enthusiastic students. Wah Yan students helped to raise over $120,000 for Caritas, which exceeded the donation received in the preceding year by more approximately 15%.  Many old boys came back to help students run the Bazaar Stall.  This was a sign of their love for the school and commitment to serve people in need.

The Red Cross visited the school on 13 January 2006 and collected blood from about 70 students and teachers.

The School Prefects and Scouts rendered service both inside and outside of the school. These groups, with their good discipline and respectful attitude, gained public recognition over the years and were specially chosen by public organizations and government departments to serve at public programmes such as the Music and Speech Festivals and the Interschool Athletic Meets. The Students’ Welfare Committee of the Students’ Association served our own students. They helped students in buying stationery items, used textbooks, school crests and badges. They also assisted students to order newspapers at a discount.

Q 10. How are our Scouts doing in recent years?

WYHK: The Wah Yan 15th HK Scout Group continues to prosper. They continue to participate in different competitions and have received many awards including Championship in the Commissioner’s Shield, and Scout Raffle Ticket Selling Competition for the Pun U Cubs in the recent years. In the Carlton Competition 2006 for secondary school Scouts, we were awarded the champion in HK District and 1st Runners-up in H.K. In this year Carlton Competition (2008), we are once again the champion in the HK District. The competitions between the five districts of the whole SAR will be held in late March, 2008. Our scouts from the HKXV unit represented Hong Kong at the World Jamboree held in the United Kingdom last August. In the past 3 years, we have altogether 14 scouts presented with Chief Scout Awards and 46 scouts presented with Golden Bauhinia Awards, the highest awards for scouts in schools. 

WYK: Information in the next edition.

Q 11. What are the funds to which I can donate directly to WY and her sponsoring body?

In WYHK, we have established different funds for different purposes. We welcome donation from our past students, parents and friends of Wah Yan. You can send cheques made payable to “Wah Yan College Hong Kong” to Wah Yan College Hong Kong, 281 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong. Please specify your desired fund/s, your name and contact information. Tax exemption receipts will be issued to donations of HK$100 or above.

(i) Jesuit Education Fund – to support the running and development of Wah Yan College Hong Kong by providing additional teaching facilities and resources to enhance the quality of education for our Wahyanites in addition to the government grants.

(ii) Nursing Fund– to support the regular medical checkup of all Jesuits connected to the Wah Yans in Hong Kong. The Fund supports partially the cost of their medication when necessary.

(ii) Scholarship Fund – to provide grants for education of students with financial need as well as scholarships for the outstanding students of WYHK.

(iii) Relief Fund– to provide limited financial assistance to students with sudden change in family or suffering from serious sickness that would need long and expensive treatment.

(iv) School Development Project (SDP) Fund– to support the additional development in the School Improvement Project (SIP) which was subsidized by the EDB, and to redevelop the School Hall into an indoor gymnasium complex with additional rooms and other facilities.

Q 12. What are the funds to which I can donate to WY through the PSA?

A 12. You can also donate to WYHK through the PSA for the General Fund, which is used by the school to support students’ activities, Let’s Fly Higher projects, and to acquire additional facilities for the students. There is also the Jesuit Nursing Fund held by the School. But as donations solely come from old boys, it is the PSA which regularly see to it that the Fund remains at a sufficient level to meet medical needs and daily nursing care of the Jesuit fathers.

Q 13. What are the funds to which I can donate to WY through other parties?

You can also donate to the Wah Yan Trust Fund which was established by Fr. Barrette, S.J. in 1982. It is to provide financial assistance to students from both WYHK & WYK to complete their tertiary education either locally or in the overseas.

You can also donate to Wah Yan One Family Foundation (often referred dearly to as the “OFF”) which was established with the purpose to provide financial assistance to implement the “Small Class” teaching in our two schools. 

For WYK, it is the Fr. Kelly Educational Fund Limited. Its function is to donate money to the school for educational expenses that are not covered by the EDB.

Q 14. What is the Schools' position on DSS (Direct Subsidy Scheme)?

The two Wah Yans have no intention to adopt the DSS system in the near future. Fr. A.J. Deignan, S.J. has put his letter concerning our stance and the reasons on   the respective PSA homepages. Please kindly refer to the letter for further information.

Q 15. Can WY implement small class education without going DSS?

We believe we can. We have implemented small class teaching for a few years by using Government funds provided through the Additional Capacity Enhancement Grant (known as the ACEG) to employ more teachers without converting to DSS. With the support of many enthusiastic alumni and parents, the Wah Yan One Family Foundation (WYOFF) was set up to provide funding for small class education into the future.

Q 16. Can WY implement teachers enhancement programmes without going DSS?

Yes, we can.  In fact many teacher enhancement programmes are organized or supported by Government Funds. Besides, the WYOFF is to sponsor meaningful educational programmes proposed by our teachers for the students, and also for our teachers’ professional development.

Q 17. What is the vision of Jesuit education in HK?

The Jesuit Education Board in Hong Kong is the guiding organization for the College, other than the statutory Management Committee.  Its vision statement is

“We offer a holistic, liberating and transforming Catholic education within a learning   community for students and staff to become progressively competent, committed, compassionate, spiritual, and ethically discerning persons with a universal heart contributing to the welfare and happiness of all, in particular the poor and the neglected.”

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