Diocesan Girls' School (DGS; ) is one of the oldest girls' schools in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, operated by the Anglican

Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (abbreviated SKH), also known as the Hong Kong Anglican Church (Episcopal), is the Anglican church in Hong Kong and Macao. It is the 38th Province of the Anglican Communion. It is also one of the major denominations ...

() to provide a well-rounded secondary education for girls.

Structure

DGS is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded, the school changed to an operation in the

Direct Subsidy Scheme The Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) is instituted by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong to enhance the quality of private schools at the primary and secondary levels. The Hong Kong government has been encouraging non-government secondary schools wh ...

mode starting with Secondary One classes in September 2005. English is the medium of instruction. By 2024, DGS accounted for a total of 52 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking first among all secondary schools in Hong Kong, and outnumbering the combined number of winners of the next two schools. The school is also a member of the

G20 Schools G30 Schools, formerly G20 Schools, is an association of secondary schools founded by David Wylde of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, South Africa and Anthony Seldon of Wellington College, Berkshire, United Kingdom in 2006. The G30 Schools have ...

group. It has a "feeder" primary school known as Diocesan Girls' Junior School ("DGJS").

History

Pre-war

There was a Diocesan Native Female Training School founded in 1860 at Bonham Road and Eastern Street on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

. That school was set up by Lady Lydia Smith, the wife of George Smith, who was the first Bishop of Victoria sent by the Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East, a sub-society of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

. At first, it admitted only girls. In 1866, it was renamed Diocesan Female Training & Industrial Schools. Because of financial problems, the school had to restrict its services solely to

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

s and destitute girls. In September 1869, Diocesan Home and Orphanage was established at the same site for English, Eurasian, Chinese and other pupils, occupying the building at the corner of Eastern Street and Bonham Road. In 1894, Diocesan Home and Orphanage became a boys' school as all girls were transferred Fairlea Girls' School. In 1899, Diocesan Girls' School and Orphanage was established in Rose Villas on Bonham Road. Diocesan Girls' School and Orphanage first received government financial assistance in 1900 as a Church of England School principally for Eurasian and European girls. It was placed under the grant-in-aid scheme, officially establishing itself as a girls' school. In 1913, the school moved to its present site at 1

Jordan Road Jordan Road () is a road in Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It spans from the West Kowloon Highway in West Kowloon, through Kwun Chung and Ferry Point to Gascoigne Road and is a major east–west road in southern Kowloon. History Jordan Roa ...

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

, formerly a rice paddy field. In the 1920s, the school motto, ''Daily Giving Service'', was adopted. During the Japanese occupation in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the school was taken over as headquarters of the Japanese

Kempeitai The , , was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, HUMINT, interrogated suspects ...

until it was re-opened in September 1945 by Ms. Gibbins, then headmistress, who was interned at Stanley camp during the occupation. Immediately upon her release, she hurried back to reclaim the school premises despite difficulty in crossing the harbour, thus saving the building from being looted.

Post war

In the 1950s, with the closure of the adjacent town-gas depot, the school was able to expand. The old Edwardian edifice was pulled down, and three school blocks were constructed to accommodate the enlarged student body. The school embarked on a large scale school expansion project, and two extension blocks were opened respectively in 1993 and 1996. The new phase of expansion had been completed and was opened officially on 12 January 2007. In 2005, DGS joined the

, in the view to enhance the facilities to meet the demand of increased number of classes. In site redevelopment has been chosen against the use of a new site provided by the

Education Bureau The Education Bureau (EDB) is a policy bureau responsible for formulating and implementing education policies in Hong Kong. The bureau is headed by the Secretary for Education and oversees agencies including University Grants Committee ...

, based on cost considerations. The new school campus was designed by architects Palmer and Turner, and the preliminary designs was reviewed by a group of alumni. A fund-raising campaign was launched in 2008 for the redevelopment of the old school campus, which targets on HKD 380 million. In 2009, the classes in DGS were temporarily relocated to 101

Castle Peak Road Castle Peak Road ( Chinese: 青山公路) is the longest road in Hong Kong. Completed in 1920, it has the approximate shape of an arc of a semi-circle. It runs west from Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po, New Kowloon, to Tuen Mun, then north to Y ...

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

, whereas DGJS was moved to

Tseung Kwan O Tseung Kwan O New Town, commonly known as Tseung Kwan O ( zh, t=將軍澳新市鎮, j=Zoeng1 gwan1 ou3 san1 si5 zan3), is one of the nine New towns of Hong Kong, new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on Land reclamation in Hong Kong, reclaimed ...

during the reconstruction. In September 2011, the school returned to 1 Jordan Road upon completion of the new campus.

Headmistresses

Other related associations

* St. Andrews Church in the

Diocese of Western Kowloon The Diocese of Western Kowloon is one of the three dioceses under the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. Its territory covers most of western Kowloon and the western New Territories (excluding the Outlying Islands, Hong Kong, outlying islands of Hong Kong) ...

is the parish church of DGS.

List of Top Scorers in Public Examinations

DGS has produced 38 perfect scorers "10As" in the history of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and 14 "Top Scorers" and "Super Top Scorers" in Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE). The total number of top performers ranks the 2nd amongst all secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Alumnae

* Rebecca Chan Chung * Solina Chau *

Irene Cheng Irene Cheng, Hotung, also known as Tsi-dsi Irene Ho (October 21, 1904 – February 17, 2007; ), was a Hong Kong educationalist. The first Chinese woman to graduate from the University of Hong Kong, she went on to become the highest-ranking woman i ...

Sarah Liao Dr. Sarah Mary Liao Sau-tung, GBS, MBE, JP, FRSC (born 25 December 1951) was former Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong sin ...

Karen Mok Karen Joy Morris (; born 2 June 1970), better known as Karen Mok, is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She is considered one of the leading East Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. Mok is the first female Hong Kong ...

Mary Jean Chan Mary Jean Chan is a Hong Kong-Chinese poet, lecturer, editor and critic whose debut poetry collection, ''Flèche'' (Faber, 2019), won the 2019 Costa Book Award for Poetry. Chan's second book, ''Bright Fear'', was published by Faber & Faber in 2 ...

References

External links

Diocesan Girls' School – Official HomepageDiocesan Girls' Junior School – Official HomepageDiocesans Old Girls Association – Official Homepage
{{International schools in Hong Kong Protestant secondary schools in Hong Kong Yau Tsim Mong District Educational institutions established in 1860 Girls' schools in Hong Kong Through-train schools Anglican schools in Hong Kong International schools in Hong Kong 1860 establishments in the British Empire