Speech from Principal 2022-2023

Good morning, Supervisor, teachers and students

        Welcome back to school! I am happy to have the chance to meet you all on this very special occasion, as a new member of the KTMC family.

        At the beginning of the school year, I would like to extend my sincere welcome, on behalf of the school, to the new members of our teaching staff. This year, we have a total of 7 new teachers: Mr Cheung Wong, History teacher; Mr Huang Hing Yip, English Language teacher; Mr Kho Hon Lam, Mathematics and Computer Literacy teacher; Ms Lee Hoi Ying, Mathematics teacher; Ms Ng Kit Har Susanna, who joins us again as an English Language teacher; Ms Tsang Mei Yee Margaret, Religious Education Teacher, and Mr Yeung Chun Wai, Eocnomics teacher. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce and welcome our social workers at school: Ms Tong Lee Na and Mr Yiu Chi Nang. Let us express our appreciation to them by giving a round of applause, and wish them all a good year ahead!

        Apart from welcoming our new members, there are new appointments on the middle management level. Dr. Fung Hong Sang is promoted to the rank of SGM as the coordinator of STEM Education, Gifted Education, and WebSAMS. Mr. Yung Hap is promoted to be an SGM as the coordinator for School Estate Maintenance and Development. Mr. Chow Yuk Kwan is promoted to be an Acting SGM as the Head of the Value Education KLA and the convenor of Catholic Education Development. Mr. Ho Chun Pong is appointed to be the Discipline Master and Mr. Lam Tat Wai the Guidance Master. With the succession of these leadership roles, I believe that KTMC will continue to strive and flourish positively, constructively and remarkably.

        The academic year of 2021-2022 has been another challenging yet fruitful year. Though some major school events like the Swimming Gala had not been held as scheduled, new forms of activities evolved. For instance, we had the ‘Sports Days’ tailor-made on the school campus. The Annual School Picnic took place at Ocean Park, and the music contest was conducted through the form of live broadcast. A number of inter-house and inter-class competitions were resumed as well. What is most treasurable about going to school is the face-to-face encounters we can have with the people in this loving learning community. These two days, you may have noted from the news that starting from 1 November, schools can only resume the whole-day timetable with a threshold of 90% of students and staff having received 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. We do not only hope that you can take the right precautions in protecting yourself physically, but also resume a normal school life in full gear. We hope that this goal can be accomplished soon.

        At the beginning of the new academic year, I would also like to invite all of you to set an achievable goal for yourself, strategically planning ahead the actions to take and closely monitoring the progress of your work. The S.6 cohort in 2022 did fight a hard job in their public examinations. This year, though we observed a higher percentage of students reaching L5* or above, there was a drop in the proportion of students reaching L5 and L4 on average, resulting in a decrease of students being admitted to the 8 UGC-funded universities. Overall, we have 42 out of 118 students getting an offer in the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, accounting for 35.6% of our S.6 population. We have two students being admitted to the MBBS programme and one at Pharmacy. We mention these brilliant results to you today not only for sharing our happiness and joy, but also we hope that they can be concrete goals for you to target at right at the start of the school year. Some S.6 graduates shared with us that the frequent, unexpected abrupt changes that took place before the HKDSE had seriously upset their study plans and revision strategies. With this valuable experience shared, I hope that our current S.6 students can be better prepared psychologically, and be ready to develop the resilience and courage to cope with some other unprecedented challenges.

        Academic-issues aside, we are very concerned about the positivity developed in your character. This year, the core values of Catholic education we aim at emphasising are “Love” and “Family”, and the theme of our school life is: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. (John 15: 12) 這是我的命令：你們該彼此相愛，如同我愛了你們一樣。（若望福音 15：12）. In God’s family, each and everyone of us is loved by our Heavenly Father. What makes our relationships valuable is the bonding between us. We are tied to each other, all accepted as one, despite the weaknesses and fragility we may find in ourselves. Because of love, we can have our identity developed, our courage grown, and we feel safe that our dreams can blossom.  We are blessed to have KTMC as our second home, as our sanctuary, for God’s love is omnipresent. As long as we are faithful to our relationships in this family and with God, we are empowered.

        With many unknowns ahead, I believe that 2022-2023 will be another year full of challenges. Great challenges come with great opportunities. Let’s have faith in ourselves, and more importantly, in our Heavenly Father, who will always guide us in our way, and to overcome all the obstacles ahead. May the peace of the Lord be with you and in your soul throughout the year!

        Thank you and may God bless you all.