Wa Ying College

Wa Ying College is a secondary school in Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is managed by the Chinese Methodist Church.

History

It was founded as Wa Ying Middle School by the Methodist Church in 1913 in Foshan of Guangdong in China. The school quickly established itself as one of the three most prestigious middle schools in pre-World War II southern China. During the War the school relocated to Hong Kong in Tung Chung Fort of Tung Chung on Lantau Island and later moved to Shatin. It returned to Foshan after the war. In 1951, after the Communist Party of China came into power in mainland China, the Foshan-based Wa Ying Middle School was confiscated by the state as the People's Republic of China's atheist Communist ideology does not allow religious organizations-run schools to operate. The Foshan No.1 Middle School , was formed after the authorities merged the former Wa Ying Middle School with the public run Foshan Middle School and sited at the former Wa Ying Middle School.

In 1969, alumni of Wa Ying Middle School based in Hong Kong handed a proposal to the Chinese Methodist Church to re-establish the school in Hong Kong, then outside the People's Republic of China's control. The alumni pledged to raise funds to start the building project and entrusted the school to the church as in the past. With less than 400 alumni, nearly $300,000 was raised. In addition to a loan of $250,000 and a subsidy of two million dollars granted from the Hong Kong Government, the dream to resume the school came true. Construction work began at its present site in 1970.

In September 1971, the new school, now named Wa Ying College in English while keeping the Chinese name of its Foshan predecessor, started with 18 teachers and 12 classes. The school gradually expanded up to 31 classes by the 1983-84 academic year. The school campus has undergone a number of renovations over the years, with the most recent being at the late 2005.

Reputations and Achievements

Wa Ying College is considered a school with an excellent reputation both district-wide and territory-wide. All Form 1 student intakes are band 1 primary school graduates and competition for a place at Wa Ying is highly intense, the admittance ratio for the year 2007-2008 is 14:1. A majority of its Form 7 graduates are admitted to universities in Hong Kong every year.

The school's policies are also known to be highly progressive. Since its re-founding in Hong Kong in 1971, all teachers have been involved in the school's administrative work and the making of school policies through the system of functional committees. The school also pioneered school counseling practices in Hong Kong by introducing social workers into the school and setting up peer counseling schemes . Most of the student welfare affairs have been managed by the democratically-elected Student Union since 1992. Hong Kong Local History and Liberal Studies were also introduced into the school curriculum long before they became fashionable in Hong Kong education. In the upcoming introduction of new Senior Secondary Curriculum, Wa Ying College is one of the pioneer schools that offers Design and Applied Technology as a technology-based elective, while most other schools offer the more common electives such as Finance and Information Technology related subjects at the initial stage.

The school's teachers and students enjoy a very close-knit relationship together and there is a well known saying of "Once a Wa Ying member, forever you remain a Wa Ying member" among Wa Ying's students and alumni.

List of principals

* Mr Fong Wing Cheong
* Miss Ho Seck Fun
* Mr Mak Chiu
* Mr Tsang Kai Man