Diocesan Boys' School


The Diocesan Boys' School is a boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious secondary schools in the city. The school's mission is "to provide a liberal education based on Christian principles". Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded, the school commenced operation in the Direct Subsidy Scheme in September 2003. It uses English as the medium of instruction.

History

The first foundation

In 1860, Mrs Lydia Smith and the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the Far East set up the Diocesan Native Female Training School, a day-school turned boarding school for native girls, affiliated with the Diocese of Victoria. As stated in its first annual report, the purpose of the school was "to introduce among a somewhat superior class of native females the blessings of Christianity and of religious training". The school sat on Bonham Road, a small concrete house on a paddy field. Lady Robinson became the patron.
The school had a difficult existence. The Second Opium War aroused strong anti-British sentiment and so it was very unpopular for Chinese girls to learn English. The school was closed and then reopened under the name "Diocesan Female School", but its finances did not improve. In 1868, Bishop Charles Richard Alford took the school under his immediate superintendence.

The second foundation

19th century

On 30 January 1869, in a bid to gain popular support, Bishop Alford issued an appeal to admit boys into the school and to turn it into an orphanage. The appeal was well received by the public. In September, the Diocesan Home and Orphanage, for boys and girls, both foreign and Chinese, was established.
In July 1870, William Arthur, formerly of the Garrison School, was appointed as the headmaster and Mrs Arthur as the matron.
In 1878, the school was placed in the grant-in-aid scheme by the Education Department.
In March 1878, Arthur resigned. Bishop Burdon proposed to stop admitting boys into the school and to bring it under the FES. In July, he withdrew his proposal following pressure from William Beswick, honorary treasurer of the DHO, although the Bishop still thought it inappropriate to have boys and girls boarding in the same school campus.
On 1 November 1878, George Piercy, then master of the Government Central School, was appointed to be the new headmaster. Piercy focused on the students' academics, and the school attained satisfactory results in the Cambridge and Oxford Local Examinations scholarships.
On 31 May 1879, the school committee resolved to stop accepting girls as boarders.
In 1891, the school was renamed the Diocesan School and Orphanage. In 1892, the remaining girls were transferred to Fairlea Girls’ School. The Diocesan School and Orphanage was transformed into a boys' school.

Early 20th century

In 1902, the school was renamed the Diocesan Boys’ School and Orphanage. It is unclear when the school was renamed the Diocesan Boys' School, although the name was used as early as 1918.
Rev. William Featherstone, headmaster from 1918 to 1931, introduced the prefects' system, a house system and Speech Day. He also moved the school from Bonham Road to a hill site in Mong Kok. Construction was completed in 1926. In February 1927, the British military authorities took the school for use as a hospital for one year.
When war broke out in China in 1937, the school showed its support towards the Chinese Nationalist Party. In January 1938, a shoe-shining club was organised under the permission of Rev. Christopher Sargent to raise funds for the Nationalist government. Boys went to schools around Hong Kong and polished shoes for teachers and students. In 1939, there was a school strike when a student of Japanese citizenship was appointed as head prefect.
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, most of the school staff, including then-headmaster Gerald Goodban, were imprisoned. The school building was transformed into a military hospital for soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Post-war years

surrendered in August 1945. The school remained under the control of the Kempeitai until November, when all the Japanese soldiers were captured.
On 21 March 1946, J. L. YoungSaye, a senior teacher, got the school to run again. Oswald Cheung and B. J. Monks took up the post of acting headmaster successively. Goodban returned from England on 19 November 1947. Repairs started during the Christmas holidays.
In 1949, Goodban introduced a new house system in which houses were named after former headmasters, along with the Piercy Challenge Shield.
In early 1950s, construction plans for a gymnasium, a Carnegie Hall and a science wing were proposed.
In 1955, Canon George Zimmern, also known as George She, was appointed the next headmaster, the first Hong Kong-born old boy to be given the role. As headmaster, Canon She welcomed students from poor households and affirmed the Chinese language in school culture. Canon She also introduced the Garden Fête in 1955.
It was decided that the primary classes should be dropped for lack of space and that a completely new primary school - Diocesan Preparatory School - would be built, although the decision was only implemented in 1969.
James Lowcock became headmaster in 1961. He brought the school to excel in athletics. Based on his previous experience in the school, he restructured the administration to improve efficiency and appointed more teachers to posts with designated duties.
In 1983, Jacland Lai succeeded Lowcock as headmaster. He brought the school to excel in extra-curricular activities and competitions. A language laboratory and a demonstration room were built. The electrics and alarm installations were renovated, the school walls repainted, and the facilities were computerised throughout the school.

The Millennium

In 2002, Lai was succeeded by Terence Chang, an old boy and then-headmaster of Jockey Club Ti-I College.
On 4 October 2002, the school committee proposed to join the Direct Subsidy Scheme with effect from September 2003. The application was accepted by the Education and Manpower Bureau in March 2003. The DSS was fiercely debated within the School throughout 2002. Chang was highly in favour of joining the DSS, but some students and most teachers opposed the DSS because they were afraid it would shut out students from poorer families. Old boys on the whole were slightly inclined towards the DSS. The school claimed that parents were in favour, though its findings have since been criticised as biased.
A primary school was built on the school campus. The project was financed by the government as part of the deal that saw the school join the DSS. The Diocesan Boys' School Primary Division had its first, partial intake of students in 2004 and expanded its intake with students aged between 6 and 12 over the following years.
In April 2012, Diocesan Boys' School became the first secondary school in Hong Kong to have a school app on iOS and Android.
In September 2012, Chang retired and Ronnie Kay Yen Cheng – an old boy who had been the conductor of the school choirs – succeeded him as headmaster.
In 2019, the school introduced a refresh to the school uniform, with the new uniform now featuring black trousers, two new types of overcoats for winter, a new tracksuit and new shorts for physical education lessons.

Heads and houses

Roster of heads

Houses

In 1922, Rev. Featherstone introduced the club system for sports and drama competitions. All the students were divided among four clubs: the Green, the Blue, the Yellow and the Brown. The Red Club was added in 1947.
Three past headmasters, Piercy, Sargent and Featherstone died successively during the years of the Pacific War. In order to commemorate them, Goodban decided to establish a new house system in 1949. The existing five clubs were re-designated "houses" and named after four past headmasters and Henry Sykes, who was the second master from 1898 to 1920.
In 1955, Canon She founded the new Goodban House to commemorate his predecessor. Lowcock House was added in 2002. In 2004, the Class of '58 fund-raised for a new house in memory of the late Canon George She. In September 2011, the George She House was created.
The houses and their colours are displayed on the right.

School badge and school hymn

School badge

The School badge is composed of seven elements: the Mitre, the Crown, the Crozier, the Key, the Bible, the Shell and the Shield, all of which have deep meaning in the Christian faith.

School hymn

The Diocesan Boys' School Hymn was composed by Rudyard Kipling.

Campus

Diocesan Boys' School has a large campus located on Kadoorie Hill in Ho Man Tin. The school moved there in 1926 from its former campus in the Mid-Levels.
It is in Kowloon City District.

Buildings

Five new buildings were built between 2004 and 2012, when Terence Chang was headmaster. The buildings were designed by architect Thomas Chow, who won three awards from the Hong Kong Institute of Architects: two "Medal of the Year" awards and one "Merit Award – Community Building".
The school uses English as the main language for instruction, although certain subjects use Chinese.
Currently, both the Primary and Secondary Division follow the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority's curriculum. Students start off with a common curriculum in Grades 7 to 9. After then, most students of Grade 10 or above fall into the New Secondary System, and they will take the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examinations. Another batch of Grade 10 students fall into the Pre-International Baccalaureate programme if they choose. After they complete the Pre-IB programme, they will enter the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and will graduate if they pass the IB Finals.
The Pre-IB and IB programmes exclusively use the Michiko Miyakawa Building. Originally, the school intended to admit girls into the IB course but this was later cancelled when it was faced with strong objection and protest from students and parents.
In March 2009, the school received media attention when a Form 4 student complained that he had had a nude female model as a subject in his art class, and alleged embarrassment. The visual arts teacher, employed for 27 years, told reporters that he had been inviting nude models without any complaint for nearly ten years. Then-Headmaster Terence Chang said it was a "big fuss about nothing".

Extracurricular activities

Sports

The Diocesan Boys' School excels at sport. School teams have been crowned Overall Champions in archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, fencing, football, Handball, hockey, indoor rowing, life saving, rugby sevens, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, tenpin bowling and volleyball.
The school's athletics, life saving, swimming and tennis teams have each won more than half of the Overall Championships in the history of their event:
Recently, the school has won the Inter-School Swimming Competition for a record 27 consecutive years and the Inter-School Tennis Competition for a record 19 consecutive years. Athletics team was crowned the Overall Champion for a record 7 consecutive years between 2003/04 and 2009/10, and life saving team was crowned the Overall Champion for a record 23 consecutive years between 1992/93 and 2014/15.
In 2013/14, the school won a record 14 Open Grade/Overall Championships in archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, handball, indoor rowing, life saving, swimming, tenpin bowling, tennis and volleyball; a record 3 Jing Ying Team Championships in badminton, basketball and football; as well as the BOCHK Bauhinia Bowl, the BOCHK Rising Star Award and the Outstanding School Award in Jing Ying Team Sports Competitions.
In 2016/17, the school won a record 14 Open Grade/Overall Championships again in Athletics, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Cross Country, Fencing, Football, Handball, Indoor Rowing, Life Saving, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis and Volleyball.
In 2017/18, the school won a record 3 Jing Ying Team Championships again in Basketball, Handball and Volleyball.
In 2018/19, the school won a record 6 Grand Slams in Beach Volleyball, Cross Country, Football, Indoor Rowing, Swimming and Volleyball.
In March 2003, the school football team made history by becoming the Champion of the All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Football Tournament as a Division Three team. It was the first Division Three team ever to achieve this feat.
The school is the leader in terms of the number of Omega Rose Bowl/BOCHK Bauhinia Bowl won in the Boys Schools Section with 27 victories. The BOCHK Bauhinia Bowl, previously known as Omega Rose Bowl, is the annual award to member secondary schools of the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Secondary Schools Regional Committee achieving the best all-round performance from all sporting events organised by the Regional Committee each year.

Music

The Diocesan Boys' School Music Department contains six choirs, a full symphony orchestra, string and wind orchestras, a Chinese orchestra, and many chamber ensembles. Students have many opportunities to explore their interests and perfect their skills in music. DBS musicians have received critical acclaim on both local and international levels.
The DBS Music Department is currently led by two old boys, Mr. Felix Shuen and Mr. Samuel Pang.

Instrumental

The DBS Orchestra is one of the oldest orchestras in Hong Kong. The current director is Samuel Pang.
The Orchestra was founded during George She's time in 1956, though before that Mr Goodban had already been promoting instrumental music within DBS. The Orchestra first started with only 18 members conducted by Lo King Man. Today, it has over 100 members.
Recent performances include Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Mahler's Symphony No. 1, Brahms' Symphony No. 1, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, Prokofiev's Symphony No.1 "Classical", Mahler's Symphony No.5, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture, Brahms' Symphony No.2, Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Brahms' Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique”, Richard Strauss' Don Juan, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
Having performed extensively in Hong Kong, the Orchestra has collaborated with artists such as conductors Marin Alsop, Kristjan Järvi, Niel Varon and Wilson Ng; violinists Leo Phillips, Chuan-yun Li, Renée Jolles and Christoph Koncz; violist Born Lau, harpist Catherine Michel and pianist Colleen Lee.
In April 2015, the Orchestra premiered Flights Ascending by American composer Heather Gilligan at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts.
The DBS Orchestra was awarded the Gold Prize in the Washington D.C. International Music Festival 2015 with an average score of 93.67 marks. The Orchestra is also the most frequent "Champion" of the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival Symphony Orchestra Category and holds the record for the highest marks ever achieved in that category.
In July 2019, the Orchestra made its European debut. The orchestra performed at the Smetana Hall in Prague, Czech Republic; the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary; and performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at the Großer Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, all three received critical acclaim.
The DBS Strings Orchestra is a division from the DBS Orchestra. Since 2007, it has been a conductor-less orchestra. The ensemble is the most frequent "Champion" of the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival Strings Orchestra Category.
Recent wins at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival
2019
2018
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There are six choirs in the Diocesan Boys' School Music Department.
The Treble Choir and Junior Mixed Choir are for students with treble voices only. The intermediate choirs are for students who are at the earlier stages of adolescent vocal development, while the senior choirs are for students with relatively developed voices.
All six choirs are regular participants of the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival first division competitions. The Senior Choir and the Senior Mixed Choir are regular participants of international competitions, including the World Choir Games. Felix Shuen is the director of both choirs.
Recent achievements
2019
2018
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2016
2015
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2012
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The Diocesan Boys' School Chinese Orchestra originated from a Pipa Ensemble back in the 1950s and developed into a full orchestra in the 1960s. The mission of DBSCO is to promote Chinese music and culture. Since its founding, Diocesan Boys’ School Chinese Orchestra has been an active participant in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and captured numerous championships in the ‘Chinese Orchestra ’ category. Currently, Dean of Culture - Mr. CHO Ka-wai and Mr. WONG Ka-long are the teachers-in-charge of DBSCO and Mr. KWOK Hang-kei is the Principal Conductor and Art Director.
In September 1996, DBSCO was invited to perform in the “75th Anniversary Gala Performance of The British Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech”. In October 1998, the Orchestra was invited by a renowned Erhu master, Professor Wong Kwok-tung to perform in a concert with other Chinese Orchestras in the Hong Kong City Hall. The Orchestra debuted the piece "Capriccio on the Theme of Princess Changping" and performed a couple of other pieces which were highly acclaimed. In 2005 and 2007, the Orchestra had participated in the 2nd and 4th "Youth Chinese Orchestra Beijing Invitational Competition" in Beijing, China and was awarded ‘Sunshine Prize’ in both years. In 2010, the Orchestra was led by Mr. KWOK Hang-kei and held two highly acclaimed concerts in Yunnan Province, China. In July 2014, the Orchestra participated in “International Youth Music Festival II” in Bratislava, Slovakia for three performances and one competition. DBSCO was awarded the Golden Band in the category Ensembles with free instrumentation up to 35 years and got the Grand Prix of the event. In addition, the conductor of the DBSCO, Mr. KWOK Hang-kei was awarded the Best Orchestra Conductor.
In the summer of 2017, the Orchestra participated in the first "Nanyang Music Competition 2017" in Singapore and won three awards, including the first group of the non-professional ensemble gold medals in the group, and the non-professional ensemble group silver. In addition, the whole team of the Diocesan Boys School Chinese Orchestra, with the interpretation of Guo Hengji's work “The Love of Xiangjiang ", won the second place in the youth band gold medal, glory for Hong Kong.
The plucking team also won 17 prizes in 13 students participating in the "Nanfeng Cup International Competition" in the summer of 2018. They also won 4 overall championships in 5 competition groups and served as the closing concert after the competition. Invited guests to perform.

Student Organisations

Prefects' Board

The Prefects' Board was established in 1916 and continues to serve an important function within the school: as its oldest student organisation, prefects are an integral part of everyday school life. They are selected from senior form students and are expected to lead the school in inter-school events, organise functions for the school and uphold discipline within the school on a daily basis. Being tasked to enforce discipline, prefects are allowed to punish students by requiring them to copy lines from the school rules, a system that is unique in Hong Kong. The Board is led by the Head Prefect: under him is the Second Prefect of Activities and the Second Prefect of Discipline. Each year in December during the Christmas service, the Candlelight Ceremony signifies the transition of the previous year's board to the new board, with a new Head Prefect elected by the teachers and other Prefects.

Student Council

Established at the beginning of the 21st century, the Student Council is a democratically elected body by the student population at the beginning of each academic year. Their main function is to organise events throughout the year for students to participate in, such as inter-class competitions in sports and the end of year ball. The Student Council is composed of four main posts, the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. Alongside, there is a body of committee members to help deliver events that the Student Council has planned.

Other

DBS also participates in other competitions, such as art, drama, debate, business, mathematics, computer programming and the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival.
DBS counts a total of 11 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking eighth among all secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Alumni by field

Politics and civil service