St. Clare's Girls' School

The Founding of St. Clare’s School in 1927

The co-foundress, Mother Mary Garbriel and 3 other sisters arrived in Hong Kong in 1926.

They rented a flat in Nathan Road, one of the poorest parts of the community at that time and evaluated the possibility of the project.

On 7 Feb 1927, an English Institute was set up with 7 students. The institute was named after St. Clare as suggested by Father Shak, and the school motto Veritas Vincit, which means Truth Conquers was adopted. It indicates that Christ is the foundation of the school as He is the way, the truth and the life.

At the end of Feb 1927, the sisters moved to 5 Peace Avenue in Homantin. With the increasing number of students, the house at Peace Avenue was too small both for the students and sisters’ quarters. At the end of October, 1927, they moved to 3 Argle Street at Homantin.

Moved to Prospect Place in 1936

Having taken the advice of Bishop Enrico Valtorta, the sisters started to establish themselves in the Chinese district. Eventually, Kennedy Town was chosen to be the new site of the school. The new school was opened in Sands Street in 1930. In 1936, the school moved to Prospect Place, Bonham Road.

In 1945-46, the school was reorganized under a new educational system, with 2 sessions, the morning session for secondary and the afternoon session for primary.

Mt. Davis campus completed in 1959

Due to the increasing number of students, Sr. Elizabeth du Portugal, the head mistress, started applying for a new school building in 1952. The new site at Mount Davis Road was granted by the government and officially opened on 28 November 1959 by the Director of Education Mr. Crozier, and blessed by Bishop Lawrence Bianchi.

Sponsoring Body & Foundress

The congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels is the sponsoring body of the School.

The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels was founded by Sr. Mary of the Sacred Heart, a very young Canadian Missionary. In 1913, when Sr. Mary was in Canton, she decided to set up a novitiate for Chinese Girls. She returned to Canada to pray and work for the idea. Two years later, with a young Canadian girl, she returned to Swatow at the invitation of the Bishop there. After contracting a fever, her companion died. Alone and with the war on, the Bishop advised her to return to Canada and try to found a novitiate there. She then left Swatow in 1915, together with a young girl of 17 whom she had known as a pupil in Canton. That girl later became Sister Gabriel, the co-founder.

In June 1919, the first Novitiate was opened in Quebec, Canada. In 1922 five Sisters sailed for Kwei Yang in Kweichow. New groups continued to come to China until in 1949, when expelled from China, they had 14 houses, four of them in Canton.

Training of girls for the sisterhood was their first work and they did this in several dioceses, but they also had schools, hospitals and worked in leprosaria and in social work. Mother Mary Sacred Heart chose to follow the Franciscan rule due to coincidence. Their first house was near a Franciscan monastery, the Fathers there were her first mentors. So again she got what she wanted - to be a Franciscan with accent on poverty and humility, a badge that would distinguish the Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels to this day.

Today they have Missions In Japan, Tahiti, South America, Africa, Macau and Hong Kong besides a recruiting centre in Canada and the United States. Everywhere they have novitiates.

The Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels are strictly missionaries. Their Mother Foundress always said if God wanted the work to go on, He would send vocations. Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart died in 1979. Mother Gabriel died in 1974 in Canada, after long years of work in China and Canada and incidentally the opening of St. Clare's in Hong Kong.

School Campus

The campus is equipped with various facilities, including 4 Laboratories, Student Activity Centre, Library, Conference room, Campus TV Room,R.E. Corner, etc. Apart from the classrooms, students can also have their lessons at Special rooms like English Room, Language Room, Interactive Learning Centre, Multi Media Learning Centre, Supportive Education Room,etc.

Annual Thanksgiving Mass, Variety Show, Talk, Seminar are mostly held in the School Hall.

The Chapel, which was one of the shooting sites for the romantic comedy All's Well, Ends Well, is located on the 1st floor.

School Song

The school song was written in 1947 by Sr. St. Raphael, Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal and Sr. St. Bertha. Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal was the Principal at that time while the other two were taking their drop in school on mission. Sr. St. Raphael chose the melody of a flower song as the backbone. Sr. St. Bertha, the musician, helped with some modifications and rearrangements while Sr. St. Raphael herself and Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal filled in the words. And the school song, which lasts for 5:10 minutes, is classified as the longest school song in Hong Kong.

Supportive Measures

To cater to students' diverse learning needs, there are small split classes in F.1 English, F.1 & F.5 Chinese, F.5 Mathematics and F.1-F.2 Integrated Humanities. There are also remedial classes and enhancement programs for Chinese, Mathematives and English in various forms.

Alumni

Elsie Leung Oi-sie: Former Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong
Jean M. Wong: Famous dancer and educator
Alice Mak: Creators of the cartoon characters McMug and McDull
Frances Yip: Hong Kong Singer
Chrissie Chau: Hong Kong actress and celebrity model
Ann Hui On-Wah: Hong Kong film director