King George V School (KGV, pronounced "K-G-Five") is a coeducational international secondary independent school of the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
(ESF), located in
Ho Man Tin
Ho Man Tin is a mostly residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, part of the Kowloon City District.
History
Section of lists of villages in the book ' (literally ''The History of Xin'an County'') published in twenty fourth year of Jiaqing era ...
, Hong Kong. The school has more than 1,900 students and is one of the oldest schools in Hong Kong. Students take
IGCSE
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainm ...
s/
GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
s followed by the
International Baccalaureate Diploma
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year Curriculum, educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification fo ...
or the British
BTEC programme. There is a Learning Enhancement Centre (LEC) for students with learning difficulties. The campus has an area of . The school is one of three ESF secondary schools in
Kowloon
Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
and the
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
, the others being
Sha Tin College
Sha Tin College (STC) is a co-educational international secondary school in Hong Kong and a member of the English Schools Foundation.
Established in 1982 as the Shatin Annexe based in the campus of KGV School in Kowloon Tong, the school ...
and
Renaissance College.
History
Pre-WWII period
KGV is the oldest of all schools in the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
. It first opened in 1894 on
Nathan Road
Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, aligned south–north from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po. It is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors, and was known in the post–World War II years as the Golden ...
, and originally catered for the children of British people living in
Kowloon
Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
. At the time, the school occupied just one small building. It was destroyed in a typhoon in 1896, and Kowloon College opened in its place in 1902. A major opening ceremony took place and was attended by many of Hong Kong's elite, including
Major General Gascoigne, the
Apostolic Vicar
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
of
the territory's diocese Louis Piazzoli
Louis Piazzoli, PIME (12 May 1845 – 26 December 1904) was the Apostolic Vicar of Hong Kong from January 11, 1895 to 1904.
Biography
Born in Bergamo, Italy, Piazzoli was ordained as a priest on 1 September 1868.
Piazzoli arrived in Hong Kong in ...
, and the
Colonial Secretary J.H. Stewart Lockhart. The school was built using donations from Hong Kong businessman
Sir Robert Hotung. The school was subsequently renamed the
Kowloon British School, then the Central British School, and later King George V School.
By 1930, the number of students in the school had grown to 300. Wooden huts were built at the back of the school to create extra classrooms. The playground was only . The then-headmaster, Mr. Nightingale, asked for a new and bigger school site, which was acquired, and the site plan was designed by teacher Thomas Richmond Rowell. Classes at the new site began on 14 September 1936. The first headmaster of the new school was the Reverend Upsdell. The present school is still on the same site. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Sir
William Peel, the then governor of Hong Kong, and the building was subsequently named the Peel Block in his honour.
WWII period
In 1937, the
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
army invaded China and many European women and children were evacuated from
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
to Hong Kong. They needed a place to stay in the summer and the school was used as a
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
. As
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
developed past 1939, the government started to worry about the safety of the children and in August 1940 the government ordered the evacuation of European women and children from Hong Kong. Thereafter, the school site was used by British forces as a hospital. When Hong Kong surrendered in the
Battle of Hong Kong
The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...
, the school site was taken over by the Japanese and used as a hospital for
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
. It is rumoured that the Pavilion was once used as a torture chamber under the
Japanese occupation and that ghosts of tortured victims inhabit the clock tower and room P14, which is currently used as a Media Room. Dead bodies were also said to be buried under the school field, although, when this was extensively excavated in preparation for the construction of an artificial playing surface in 2002/3, no such evidence was found. When classes at KGV resumed after WWII, the back of the stage still had the
Japanese military's Rising Sun Flag
The is a Japanese flag that consists of a red disc and sixteen red rays emanating from the disc. Like the Japanese national flag, the Rising Sun Flag symbolizes the sun.
The flag was originally used by feudal warlords in Japan during the Ed ...
painted on its back wall.
When the news was received that Japan had surrendered, the Japanese general commanding the school left holding his sword high. As soon as he left, the school raised the British
Union flag
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
, probably the first to be raised in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
following the
Japanese surrender
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
.
Post-WWII period
The school re-opened in the summer of 1946 and in 1947 children of all nationalities were able to join the school. Since it was no longer exclusive for British pupils only, the school's name was changed on the school's speech day of 1948 to 'King George V School,' as
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
was
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
when the foundation stone of the Peel Block was laid.
In 1979, principal Angela Smith decided that KGV should join the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
, and the transfer was complete by 1981. KGV is currently the oldest functional school in the ESF.
Additional Information
![Spitfire KGV](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Spitfire_KGV.jpg)
In 2006, KGV was the first school in Asia to perform the musical, Les Misérables: School Edition.
In 2009, musician
Mika
Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People known just as Mika
* Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr.
* Mika (footbal ...
visited King George V School. He viewed the artwork based on his music (created by Advanced Diploma students) and helped finish a mural on the B-block wall, painting "I am not what you think I am / I am made of gold." He followed by performing ''Grace Kelly'' for the students.
A truncated body of a Spitfire fighter-aircraft was present in the lower south east corner classroom of KGV School up until the late fifties. There was also a cut-away R.R. Merlin engine on display with it. It was eventually stored in the basement of the "sports" pavilion, until the Air Commodore had it removed, restored and one year later it was placed at the Cenotaph in Central for remembrance day painted in the
''colours
'' of the air commodore's fighter plane during the war. The story of the Spitfire aircraft at KGV was once a major "legend" that no one had too much detail about, although this story is now largely forgotten by the current student body.
Students and the House System
There are more than 1,800 students of some 28 different nationalities enrolled in the school. Students are accepted from many ESF feeder primary schools in the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
including Kowloon Junior School, Beacon Hill School, and Clearwater Bay School.
The students are placed randomly in either of the four houses, unless the students have lineage in the school. If the student has or had family members enrolled in KGV, they are automatically placed in the same house as those family members.
The house system is the basis for school competitions (excluding inter-school events). Houses are named after prominent former faculty members.
The houses, and their associated colours, are as follows:
*Crozier (green) – named after
Douglas James Smyth Crozier, a KGV teacher who fought to defend Hong Kong in WWII, and whom went on to serve as the
Director of Education of Hong Kong, served on the
Executive Council of Hong Kong
The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It is ...
, and was an official member of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...
; during the 50's and 60's.
*Nightingale (yellow) – the headmaster who first asked for a new school building, which is now the current school site.
*Rowell (blue) – a teacher who designed part of the current site of the school.
*Upsdell (red) – the first headmaster to serve in the school building located at the current school site.
Form groups are formed vertically and horizontally. Year 7 has their own set of tutor groups, and then groups of around fifteen in the year group bands 8-9, 10-11, 12-13.
Curriculum
The curriculum adopted by KGV, as an international school, is significantly different from the
system commonly practiced in Hong Kong.
Middle School Curriculum
The Middle School Curriculum is designed for Years 7 to 9. All subjects (Art, Drama, English, History, Information Technology, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Religious Studies, Geography, Science, and Design Technology) are compulsory, and students must learn Mandarin and a European language (
French,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
or
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
). In Year 9, students can choose to drop either language they are studying for Global Perspectives, or take double Chinese if the European language is dropped. A coherent skills based curriculum is being introduced in 2014.
In Year 7, students are not put into academically levelled sets apart from Maths and Chinese classes because it is considered as a "transition" year, offering a wide variety of "inquiry" opportunities, transitioning from the "PYP" inquiry format learning to KGV's Middle School Curriculum.
IGCSE
In Years 10 and 11, all students follow a course leading to
iGCSE
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainm ...
(International General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations in their chosen subjects. Some subjects are compulsory, but there is a choice to suit the aptitude and interest of students. All students are required to study the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science (split into
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
,
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
as Single Award, Double Award and Triple Science), PE, and PSHE (
Personal, Social and Health Education
Personal, social, health and economic education is a school curriculum subject in England that focuses on strengthening the knowledge, skills, and connections to keep children and young people healthy and safe and prepare them for life and work. ...
). Students must choose four further subjects by choosing one of the subjects from each of the boxes. Students cannot choose more than one Design & Technology subject, choose more than one European language, or study both Business and Economics.
The boxes are designed to be balanced and to ensure that students can build on their strengths whilst keeping their options open for the future.
IB Diploma
Starting from September 2007, KGV replaced the existing British
A-Level Program with the
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
diploma, offering the
Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
. All students have to complete the core syllabus, consisting of an
Extended Essay,
Theory of Knowledge
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Ep ...
and
Creativity, Activity, Service, as well as six subjects, wherein subjects in First Language, Second Language, Individuals and Societies, Science and Mathematics are required. Artistic or creative subjects are also offered, though these are optional.
BTEC
From September 2011 the school replaced the
A-Level Programme (which was an option for students who did not want to take IB) with the BTEC International Diploma, a vocational course.
Sports
KGV is known for its sports from athletics to volleyball; games often take place within the school campus as the school is one of the few in Hong Kong equipped with an on-site AstroTurf playing field. In 2008 and 2009, KGV were back-to-back winners of the
Bauhinia Bowl
The Bank of China (Hong Kong) Bauhinia Bowl Award (中銀香港紫荊盃) is an annual award given by the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation to member secondary schools of the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Secondary Schools Regional Committee ( ...
, marking it as the best co-educational sporting school in Hong Kong for that academic year. Overall, KGV holds the record for the most Bauhinia Bowls won by a co-educational school in Hong Kong, with its 21 wins placing it two clear of Island School's nineteen wins. 25 male and 20 female alumni from KGV have been prior winners of the Bauhinia Bowl sportsboy/sportsgirl of the year award. KGV's many sporting trophies are displayed in a trophy cabinet outside the assembly hall and records of individual and team accomplishments are preserved in a section of the school library.
Rugby
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
has been a traditional sport at KGV for a very long time. In the 2007–2008 term, the A-grade rugby team won the 15s, 10s and 7s tournament; this had not been achieved before in the history of the school. This team includes many Hong Kong rugby representatives and the 2010 Larry Abel award winner; Aiden Bradley. A single word, "MANA" (meaning 'pride'), is shouted out at every practice and match to build up confidence in team members.
The school has recently embraced female rugby. The women's team includes many Hong Kong Bauhinia U16 rugby representatives, as well as players for the Hong Kong U18 Development and U18 Nationals for XVs and VIIs. In 2013 the women's team won the cup against the Hong Kong Standard Charter Select team in the first Bill Williams 7s tournament with a women's section.
Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
has been a popular sport with KGV students for many years, with strong Junior and Senior teams. The KGV Junior Boys won the Hong Kong Schools league in May 2018.
Football
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
has been a traditional sport at KGV for a long time.
The school often takes part in the Jing Ying Inter-School Football Tournament which is regarded as the elite football tournament within Hong Kong with the best school teams participating. The B-grade boys KGV team won the HKSSF championship in the 2018–2019 season.
Girls' Lacrosse
Girls'
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
was introduced in 2011. In May 2012, the KGV Girls' Lacrosse Team joined the Hong Kong Lacrosse League, which was between two adult teams and HKIS.
Basketball
The season of 2011–2012, KGV A-grade boys'
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team had won the HKSSF Division 3 basketball championship, it was first time for KGV basketball to win a championship.
Netball
The netball team at KGV has been one of the school's best performing athletic teams. The teams are divided according to A, B, C grade depending on the player's age.
Swimming
The girls and boys swimming teams compete separately in the annual Hong Kong Schools Sports Foundation (HKSSF) interschool competition, with the girls team achieving a promotion to the Division 1 competition in 2018 and the boys team continuing to perform strongly in Division 2. KGV has produced many swimmers who have won podium places in their events at the HKSSF swimming competitions.
Additionally, KGV swimmers regularly represent the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
at the annual
Wheelock Swim for Millions charity race Wheelock and similar may refer to:
Firms and buildings
* Cooper Wheelock, a manufacturer of fire alarm and general signaling products
* Wheelock and Company, formerly British Hong Wheelock and Marden Company Limited
* Wheelock College, a small li ...
organised by the community chest. 2015 marked KGV's best showing in the competition with the boys opens team winning the school relay and the overall competition while the staff team came third in the corporate relay.
Facilities
Buildings
Peel Block
Completed in 1937, this block is named after
Sir William Peel, the
Governor of Hong Kong
The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...
from 1930 to 1935. His name can be found on the foundation stone at the north-east corner of the building, it was personally laid there by the governor himself. This is the first block built on the present school site. It is protected under Hong Kong law because of its age and historical significance. The building's plan view is shaped like the letter E and has two storeys. The Peel Block is the administrative centre of KGV, it currently houses the School Hall, a gym, an archive room, equipment storage rooms, the Middle School Office, a reprographics room, the Learning Resource Centre, SSC rooms, the school's PTSA shop, the staff room and offices on the ground floor, and only one media classroom.
Since the KGV site was used as a hospital and a dungeon by the Japanese in World War II, there are many rumours about this block. Many have said that the former computer room is haunted and was a torture chamber during the Japanese Occupation, while others say that footsteps can be heard on the Peel Block's roof (or along the upper floor) at night. These rumours entertain the students in the school and make KGV a very unique place for both students and teachers.
The Hall, located in the centre of this block, has hardwood flooring in the centre and marble flooring on the side walkways and up halfway along the wall. At the front of the hall is the stage, and to the rear, there is a second balcony level. The hall is outfitted with advanced sound and lighting equipment, and used for events ranging from weekly Assembly to Speech Day (a award ceremony for Year 9s and above) to music and dance competitions. Before the 2013 construction of the Science Block and the Performing Arts Block, the building mainly housed science classrooms.
Hall
The Hall, located in the centre of the Peel Block, has hardwood flooring in the centre and marble flooring on the side walkways and up halfway along the wall. It is used for events ranging from assemblies, Speech Day, to music and dance competitions. The large hall is two stories tall, and includes a terraced balcony at the rear, for additional seating. Traditionally, manned theatrical (projection) lighting was staged at either end of the balcony's front rail/wall, often with a central "spotlight", for theatrical and/or orchestral recital performance evenings; video cameras on tripods were also set up here during the 80s and 90s, for filming many of KGVs traditional and other events.
Annex Block (AN)
Completed: 1982
Relocated: 2011
Demolished: 2013
The Annex Block housed two classrooms on the ground floor and two on the second floor. These classrooms were used exclusively for teaching Chinese and Spanish. However, this building has now been demolished and in its place stands the new science block. A second Annex block was situated next to the field on the current cricket field. That block was also demolished in late 2013 as rooms dedicated for modern languages are now available in the New Block; the space is used as basketball courts and cricket fields.
New Block (DT & Language Block)
Situated on the south side of the campus, the New Block, completed in 1964, is three stories tall and is currently home to classrooms used for Language Subjects and DT, a computer help centre, and the nurse's office. The block is incorrectly referred to as the language block by most KGV students and staff.
Activities Centre
Completed in 1983, the Activities Centre formerly consisted of two drama studios, a drama office, and PE changing rooms. The Activities Centre now houses one of three art studios on campus and three PE rooms.
Link Block
Built in 1984, this five-storey building links the New Block, the Peel Block and the Activities Centre, with covered walkways on connecting floors. This building houses DT, mathematics, English classrooms, art studios, pastoral offices, and computer labs.
Jockey Club Sarah Roe Centre
The Jockey Club Sarah Roe Centre (JCSRC) was built in 1986 with funds donated from the then
Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club
The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...
and named after Mrs. Sarah Roe, an occupational therapist, who was a founder of the Child Development Centre at the
Matilda Hospital. The first floor of the building used to house the Parents, Teachers, and Students' Association (PTSA) store. The Jockey Club Sarah Roe School, originally on the ground floor, was later relocated into the Senior Student Centre. Currently, the Garden Rooms are being used as a Learning Enhancement Centre, and the second floor as six classrooms that are used mainly for language oral exams and separate exam supervision; two of them are occupied by the student support team.
Sarah Roe School / Senior Student Centre / Vertical Extension / IS Block
Completed in 1996, the original building was erected on the footprint of KGV's two tennis courts, which were re-homed atop the building's roof. The
Hong Kong Jockey Club
The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...
Sarah Roe School (JCSRS) is housed on the KGV site, and occupies the ground, as well as most of the first floor of the building. This facility educates students with special needs across the
English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English Sc ...
, and is the only such unit in the entire foundation. KGV occupies the remaining floors. The remaining two floors are fully occupied by KGV and provide classroom spaces for humanities subjects, as well as staff offices.
Previously, the first storey was used by KGV, and it housed BTEC Art Rooms, while the second storey of the building formally housed the Senior Student Centre. In 2001, a vertical extension to the building was completed. This added a third floor to the building, providing ten more classrooms as well as one of the four new computer labs on campus at the time.
Now called the IS block for the second to third stories, it holds one multi-purpose room and classrooms for Individual Societies
B-block
Completed: 1999
Demolished: 2014
These six ground-floor classrooms were meant as "temporary" classrooms, but as KGV grew, these classrooms became necessary and thus became a permanent fixture. Modern Languages were predominantly taught in these six rooms which occupy the "piazza" area encased inside the square formed by the Peel, New, and Link blocks. In 2014, rooms dedicated for modern languages opened in the New Block, meaning that there was no longer a specified use for the B-block. Thus, the B-block was being used for temporary Humanities classrooms, due to the Vertical Extension renovation. B-block classrooms were demolished in October 2014, making way for the expansion and renovation of the piazza area.
Science Block
Built in 2013, the Science Block is a five-story building with a roof garden. This building mainly houses science laboratories, but other facilities are also found on the block, such as media classrooms. The Guilford Lecture Theatre covers the ground level of the building. There is a link between the second floor Science Block that allows students to access the third floor of the New Block. There were also two balconies on the second and fourth floors, where students can look over the field. In Summer 2019, these two balconies were turned into Classrooms, where they were called Breakout rooms, with numbers BR4 on fourth floor and BR2 on the second floor respectively. They are used as media and multipurpose rooms. Other non-science related rooms located there is ME1/ME2 which are both media rooms.
Performing Arts Block
Built in 2013, the Performing Arts Block is a five-story building built on the former canteen area and PTSA store, behind the Peel Block and beside the Swimming Pool. The building hosts a canteen, the Music Department, drama studios and changing rooms. Similar to the Science Block, the Performing Arts Centre also features a rooftop centre, the rooftop garden includes a small amphitheater for any performing uses.
Pavilion
Built in 1940, this block occupies the south-west corner of the school field. Originally equipped with two changing rooms with showers (through the rest of the 20th century), they were converted into two classrooms (X1 and X2), leaving the storage and maintenance sheds on the ground floor. The classrooms have now been converted back into changing rooms. Although there is no conclusive evidence, it is believed by some students and teachers that the Pavilion was used as a torture chamber during World War II when the Japanese occupied the school, and traditional belief was that it was haunted.
Other facilities
School Field
KGV's
artificially turfed field is
ESF's multipurpose sports facility. It has markings for various sports, such as rugby, football (soccer), hockey, and also has a long & triple jump track running the perimeter of the field. The field itself is 100 metres long, and is flanked on its school side by a 100-metre-long sprint track and seating facilities for students. Prior to the
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...
ing, there was opposition to the use of artificial turf. However, huge amounts of money spent on maintaining the natural grass on the field's base of hard clay was uneconomic and impractical, and the field would become a large dust bowl after a month or two of use and students would often get injured playing on the field.
The field was reopened on 29 April 2014 after a HK$34 million renovation. On the opening day, 575 students broke the
Guinness World Record
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
of 'Most Participants in a Beep Test', previously held by a college in Australia. This is the second world record broken by the school, the other being 'Most People Planking Simultaneously' with 1,549 students on 16 December 2011. In 2014, the field was rebuilt and to celebrate, the school went for the world record of Most People Participating in the Multi-Stage Fitness Test. A then-record of 575 beep test participants out of the 587 participants who started successfully completed the required number of intervals. This record was ratified by the Guinness World Records until it was broken by
AFC Harrogate in 2017.
Swimming Pool
Built-in 1979 the school's swimming pool is located behind the Peel Block. It is a 22-metre swimming pool with six lanes, normally in operation from April to November. As well as for sports, it used to play host to a variety of activities such as
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
emulations by the history department and re-enactments of the
Red Sea Crossing by the Religious Studies department; however these have now been cancelled. Also, Swim Heats in the school are normally held there. In 2016 some of the swim heats for the Swimming Gala were held in the pool a few days after the main event due to a thunderstorm on the main day.
Tennis Courts
The two tennis courts are located on the roof of the SSC (Senior School Centre). They are sometimes used during PE lessons and during events involving Tennis. The KGV Tennis team practices there. However changes to the PE curriculum has meant that the two tennis courts are virtually unused.
Future site development
There were plans to amalgamate King George V School, Jockey Club Sarah Roe School and Kowloon Junior School to allow the three schools to grow further and work more closely given the close proximity of the three schools. This project was known as the Kowloon Learning Campus (KLC). This caused over 100 parents to sign a petition against the KLC in 2015. The then-KGV Principal Dr. Edward Wickins was appointed as the executive principal of the KLC who often informed the students of KGV of the progress of the KLC. However, in 2017 the ESF Board announced that the same goals the KLC would work to achieve would have also worked with three separate schools. Hence, the project was scrapped, and Dr. Edward Wickins retired after twelve years at KGV that same year.
Notable alumni
:''See also
:Alumni of King George V School, Hong Kong''
*
Loletta Chu
Loletta Chu (born 7 September 1958 in Mandalay, Myanmar) is a Chinese actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the winner of the 1977 Miss Hong Kong Pageant.
Early life
Chu was born in Mandalay, Myanmar, in 1958 into an ethnic Chine ...
– the winner of 1977
Miss Hong Kong Pageant
The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973.
The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice Lam ...
*
Anders Nelsson
Anders Nelsson is an actor and musician who emerged in the 1960s Hong Kong music scene. He was a member of the popular Hong Kong group The Kontinentals as well as the front man for Anders Nelson & The Inspiration. In later years he became an ac ...
– singer, songwriter, music producer, and director of music company
*
Kim Gordon
Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...
– American musician, songwriter, and visual artist.
*
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into th ...
– lead singer of Australian band
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
.
*
Martin Booth
Martin Booth (7 September 1944 – 12 February 2004) was an English novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press.
Early life
Martin Booth was born in Lancashire England, the son of ...
– author of over 70 books and poems, including ''
Industry of Souls'', ''
Music on the Bamboo Radio'', and ''
Gweilo: Memoirs of a Hong Kong childhood''.
*
Dermot Reeve – England cricketer, known as an unorthodox all-rounder.
*
Tim Bredbury
Tim Bredbury () (born 25 April 1963) is a former Hong Kong professional footballer. Bredbury is a UEFA A/AFC A licensed coach and is currently the head coach of Hong Kong Third Division club Kowloon Cricket Club.
Early life
Tim Bredbury was bo ...
– Professional Footballer. Former clubs include Liverpool, Seiko, South China A.A., Sydney Olympic, Selangor and the Hong Kong National Team.
*
Kemal Bokhary
Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary ( ur, , ; born 25 October 1947) is a judge in Hong Kong. He was one of three Permanent Judges of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal from its inception in 1997 until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in Oc ...
– former Permanent Judge of the
Court of Final Appeal
*
David Millar
David Millar (born 4 January 1977) is a Scottish retired professional road racing cyclist. He rode for Cofidis from 1997 to 2004 and Garmin-Sharp from 2008 to 2014. He has won four stages of the Tour de France, five of the Vuelta a España an ...
– professional cyclist on the Garmin-Chipotle Team & Tour de France Stage Winner
*
Jason Tobin
Jason Tobin, credited in Chinese as To Jun Wai (杜俊緯), is a Hong Kong-British film and television actor best known for his work in the lead role of Young Jun in the Cinemax series ''Warrior''.
Early life and education
Tobin was born in Hon ...
– British-Chinese actor known for his role as Virgil Hu in
Justin Lin
Justin Lin (, born October 11, 1971) is a Taiwanese Americans, Taiwanese-American film director. His films have grossed US$2.3 billion worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002), the ...
's
Better Luck Tomorrow.
*
Victor Fung
Victor Fung Kwok-king (; sometimes Victor K. Fung; born 1945, Hong Kong) is the Group Chairman of Li & Fung group of companies. Together with his brother William, he owns a controlling stake of 32% in the business, which was founded by his gra ...
,
GBS – Chairman of the
Airport Authority Hong Kong
The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA or AAHK) is the statutory body (governed by the Airport Authority Ordinance (Cap. 483)) of the government of Hong Kong that is responsible for the operations of the Hong Kong International Airport.
History
...
,
Li & Fung
Li & Fung Limited is a Bermuda-incorporated, Hong Kong-based supply chain manager. In 2020, it was reportedly struggling to turn its century-old business around for years.
On 13 February 2017, it was removed from the blue chip index: Hang Sen ...
Group, the Hong Kong-Japan Business Co-operation Committee and Co-Chair of the
Evian
Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year.
Today, Evia ...
Group.
*
Loletta Chu
Loletta Chu (born 7 September 1958 in Mandalay, Myanmar) is a Chinese actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the winner of the 1977 Miss Hong Kong Pageant.
Early life
Chu was born in Mandalay, Myanmar, in 1958 into an ethnic Chine ...
– winner of
Miss Hong Kong Pageant
The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973.
The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice Lam ...
1977, Hong Kong socialite.
*
Aarif Lee
Aarif Rahman (, born 26 February 1987), also known as Aarif Lee Zhi-ting, is a Hong Kong actor, singer and songwriter.
Early life
Born in Hong Kong, Aarif Rahman is of mixed Arab, Malay and Chinese descent. He grew up in Hong Kong and attende ...
,
Toby Leung
Toby Leung Ching-kei ( Chinese: 梁靖琪, born 27 February 1983) is Cantopop singer and actress from Hong Kong. She entered the music industry in 2004 when the MusicNationGroup discovered her talent. Together with Macy Chan, Elise Liu (廖 ...
,
Charles Ying, and
Shiga Lin
, known as Shiga Lin ( zh, t=連詩雅, j=Lin4 Si1 Ngaa5), is a Hong Kong singer and actress.
Lin was signed to Warner Music
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational ent ...
– Cantopop singers and actors from Hong Kong.
*
Rowan Varty
Rowan Varty (born 20 March 1986) is a British-born Hong Kong rugby union player. He plays for the Hong Kong Cricket Club in the HKRFU Premiership. Rowan has also captained the Hong Kong national rugby union team, Hong Kong Sevens team and bee ...
– Hong Kong rugby player.
*
Jaimes McKee
Jaimes Anthony McKee (; born 14 April 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward or winger.
He was the top scorer of the Hong Kong Senior Shield in the 2006–07 season and the top scorer of the Hong Kong First Divisi ...
– Hong Kong
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player.
*Brigadier
Mike Stone – former
chief information officer of the British
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
*
Perry So - former assistant and associate conductor of the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (Cantonese: 香港管弦樂團), commonly abbreviated as HKPO or HKPhil (Cantonese: 港樂), is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1947 as an amateur orchestra under the name Si ...
References
External links
King George V School
{{Coord, 22.321540, 114.182953, display=title
Secondary schools in Ho Man Tin
Secondary schools in Hong Kong
English Schools Foundation schools
Educational institutions established in 1946
International Baccalaureate schools in Hong Kong
Grade II historic buildings in Hong Kong
Streamline Moderne architecture in Hong Kong
1946 establishments in Hong Kong
Schools in Hong Kong