Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School
Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School (also called as KCPS) is a co-educational primary school in North Point, Hong Kong[1] founded in 1953 by the Kiangsu and Chekiang Residents' Association of Hong Kong.[2] It was the first school in Hong Kong to teach primarily in Mandarin Chinese, and for many years continued to be the only school to do so.[2][3]
| Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School Chinese: 蘇浙小學 | |
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| Location | |
30, Ching Wah Street, North Point Hong Kong | |
| Information | |
| Type | nonprofit, kindergarten, primary, international |
| Motto | 整齊嚴肅 |
| Established | 1953 |
| School district | North Point |
| Principal | Wong Po-ming, JP |
| Grades | N1 – Y13 (P2-Y13 in Kiangsu-Chekiang College) |
| Affiliation | Kiangsu and Chekiang Residents' Association Kiangsu–Chekiang College |
| Website | http://www.kcs.edu.hk/ |
| Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 蘇浙小學 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏浙小学 | ||||||||||
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The school has a nursery and kindergarten section, and children are admitted from their second birthday, into the nursery class.
History
The school project was initiated by the Kiangsu and Chekiang Residents' Association of Hong Kong in 1949. Donations of HK$256,722 were raised to build a school on a 2,200-square-foot (200 m2) plot of land on North Point Road donated by its vice-chairman.[4] In 1953, Jeannie Sun Fong-chung (孫方中), then aged 25 and with no experience as an educator, was appointed as the founding principal of the school. She pioneered use of Mandarin as the medium of instruction, because she strongly believed it could cultivate a sense of belonging to China, but also improve students' Chinese language skills. Another revolutionary idea of hers at the time was to employ native English speakers to teach English. In the political environment prevailing at the time, the idea of teaching in Mandarin resulted in being branded "left-leaning".[5] Sun served as the school's principal for 48 years.[6]
Upon application from the school, the Government allocated a 91,000-square-foot (8,500 m2) plot of land at 30 Ching Wah Street,[4][7] the school's present location (then known as the "South campus") and construction began in January 1956. The school moved into its new premises in 1958. The foundation stone was laid by Hong Kong Governor Sir Robert Brown Black on 26 February 1958, and the school was ready for the new intake in August of the same year. The North Point Road site became known as the "North campus" thereafter.[4]
The "international" section of the school opened in 1993, Kiangsu-Chekiang College Secondary School, International Section.
Curriculum
In 1994 the international division of school had Mandarin courses for all students from kindergarten to onward grades. The concept was that students in that division would gain an understanding of Mandarin. As of 1994, music and physical education courses were Mandarin medium for primary four and onwards even though other courses would remain English medium.[8]
Alumni
References
- Eastern. School list of 18 districts. Committee on Home School Cooperation
- 蘇浙小學一班兩個英文科老師 [KCS–two English teachers to each class]. Headline Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 5 January 2012
- 學前機構質素評核報告 [pre-school organisation quality appraisal report] pg 2, Education Bureau Hong Kong, December 2008 Archived 31 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- 蘇浙簡史 [KCS History]. Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School (in Chinese)
- 普通話教學先驅 孫方中: 政府還要研究多久? [Sun: How much longer does the government need to research?]. Ming Pao. 13 November 2007 (third party link) (in Chinese) Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- 香港太平紳士孫方中女士回母校無錫一女中探望師生. 無錫教育網 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.
- 蘇浙小學（全日）[Kiangsu & Chekiang Primary School (W.D.)] (in Chinese)
- Forestier, Katherine (27 March 1994). "Where to go for an early start". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 22 December 2022.