Impact lives with life and provide high-quality holistic education Embrace Challenges We Soar

Carmel Holy Word Secondary School is committed to providing holistic education and cultivating students’ balanced development in spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical, social and aesthetic education, so that their personal potential can be established and unleashed, good and positive values ​​and character can be established, and a spirit of self-discipline can be established. Principal Lau Wing Sze Believe that every student is unique. The school hopes to help students find their own value through Christian education and a loving teaching team, and teach them to embrace challenges when facing difficulties, fly high, and become pillars of care for the country and society.

All-round experiential learning: get out of the classroom and broaden your horizons

The school attaches great importance to students' learning experience outside the classroom and believes that participating in various activities and inspections can deepen their learning. Therefore, the school flexibly formulates the Friday afternoon class schedule and arranges a variety of activities, such as museum visits, outdoor field trips, class competitions, and career planning lectures, to promote students' all-round development and expand their horizons. In addition, as society returns to normalcy, the school actively organizes various exchange groups. For example, last year it organized a civic science exchange group to Nansha and Qianhai for a two-day and one-night inspection. At the same time, the school also restarted exchanges with sister schools in the mainland. It visited Hainan Middle School to discuss the impact of AI on learning. It also arranged for a sports team to teach Hainan students how to play and then held a competition. Students from China and Hong Kong spent their youthful efforts amidst laughter and established precious friendships.

Principal Lau Wing Sze said: "Last year, we also organized two overseas exchange groups, one of which was a nine-day Austrian music study tour. The activities were very exciting. They not only visited the Vienna Music Museum and Mozart's former residence, went to the Vienna Golden Concert Hall to watch the Vienna Mozart Symphony Orchestra, but also focused on music learning. The students practiced more than ten songs, including English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Songs in Eastern dialects were performed together with students from the Salzburg Music School. They performed live in famous places such as Bad Goisern and the Vienna Town Hall, attracting passers-by to stop and listen. At the same time, the students were very proud to participate in this new experience and gained valuable experience in the local master class music training.

The other is a six-day Japanese exchange group on humanities, arts and culture, covering interdisciplinary learning in the four disciplines of culture, art, history and geography. The students visited the art museum and participated in workshops on Akabane-yaki pottery and Kyo Yuzen. In terms of geography, they explored the Tottori Sand Dunes and Uradome Coast to learn about geology and landforms. In addition, they also visited historical and cultural landmarks such as Kiyomizu Temple and Osaka Castle, and communicated with students from local middle schools to learn Japanese tea ceremony culture and experience wearing kimonos. The activities of the exchange group enrich students’ extracurricular experiences and broaden their horizons.

Establish correct values and cultivate the qualities of a "holy man"

The school is committed to promoting values education and formulating diversified teaching policies, including sharing by head teachers and inviting external organizations to hold lectures, such as Chinese culture and sex education. The school also covers life education and moral education during the all-round learning period on Friday, focusing on the cultivation of various values.

The school promotes high-quality Christian education, and its values ​​mainly revolve around two main lines: First, the values ​​​​taught by the Bible. The school hopes to help students grow in a positive Christian atmosphere. By conducting "experiential Bible classes", the school uses an inquiry method to discuss faith. In the classroom, church volunteers will conduct discussions and group exchanges with students, and serve as life mentors for students, sharing life experiences with them. In addition, during morning and weekly meetings, the school will also incorporate biblical teachings to convey good values.

Another main line is Chinese culture. The school provides students with a diversified sharing platform through Chinese culture. For example, in morning meetings and Friday life education classes, different values ​​are systematically infiltrated into each grade. The life education curriculum combines school-based and Education Bureau curricula, as well as teachers’ personal sharing, to cultivate students’ holy Taoist qualities of “joyfulness, kindness, courage, and courage.” Principal Lau Wing SzeWe hope that students in school can always be happy, be kind to others, be brave enough to take on responsibilities, and dare to accept challenges. "We often teach students to be grateful and encourage them to respect their teachers and be filial to their parents. In addition, the school will also organize integrated education-themed activities to teach students to respect different cultures, and enhance the sense of unity through class competitions to promote cooperation and cohesion among students, thereby establishing a harmonious learning atmosphere."

Diversified English teaching strategies and a strong English learning atmosphere

In order to cultivate students' comprehensive English abilities, the school implements diversified English teaching strategies, and classes are organized into groups according to students' abilities to cater for different learning needs. For example, at the secondary level, the school divides all students into six groups, two of which have slightly stronger English proficiency. As students advance to Form 2 and Form 3, a class with slightly stronger English will be retained. In high school, students continue to be divided into classes based on ability, and teachers teach students in accordance with their aptitude. For students with slightly higher abilities, teachers give them more challenging tasks. For students with average ability, the school hopes that they can make steady progress, ensuring that each student is fully cared for and successfully enters higher education.

The school is also committed to incorporating language elements into multiple subjects and practicing interdisciplinary English learning. To this end, the school has selected four subjects: music, history, geography and science for interdisciplinary learning in English, and has set up a unit in each of the first and second semesters of Form One to Form Three to incorporate elements of English learning. For example, in the Secondary One curriculum, the school combines music and English to introduce Chinese cultural content. Teachers will discuss Chinese opera with students and arrange field trips, such as visits to the Hong Kong Museum of Art or the Xiqu Center. Students are then arranged to conduct a project study, using English to design the costumes and makeup of opera characters, and give an oral report; another topic in Form One is combined with the history subject, with the theme of "Ancient Egypt". The students first study this unit in English in the history class, and then return to the English class. The teacher will arrange for the students to do creative writing, allowing them to imagine going back in time and returning to the adventures of living in ancient Egypt. Through interdisciplinary learning, students not only learn to comprehensively apply knowledge from different subjects, but also expand their English vocabulary.

In order to further improve students' performance, the school also specially designs high school English enrichment courses for Form 5 and Form 6, focusing on teaching different test-taking skills. In addition, for the English transition of the first-year students, the school arranges foreign teachers to teach summer English courses to help the new students get to know each other in a life-like way through simple drawings, self-introductions, etc. At the same time, games are used to eliminate their fear of learning English, enhance their interest in learning, and use English more confidently. The school also launches the Secondary One Youth Project on Saturdays, which includes English enrichment classes. Principal Lau Wing Sze said: "We hope that through the plan, on the one hand, we can strengthen students' English skills and consolidate classroom learning; on the other hand, we can help new students adapt to school life, understand faith and the gospel, and establish good relationships with their brothers and sisters in the church."

Public examination scores jump, admitted to the university of choice

The school’s teaching performance is outstanding and pupils’ results in public examinations have improved significantly. There is a positive value-added in both "Core Subjects" and "Best Five Subjects". The pass rate of each subject is as high as 93.8%. Among the 17 subjects that took the examination, the pass rate of 15 subjects exceeded the Hong Kong average, and the pass rate of 10 subjects reached 100%. Results in the four core subjects have improved dramatically, and nearly 90% of students are eligible for further studies. In addition, a total of 37% of Form 6 graduates were offered university degree programs through JUPAS (Joint University Admissions Scheme), and another 5% of students chose to study for degree programs overseas and in the Mainland. The data fully demonstrates the school’s success in academic training and student advancement, cultivating a large number of outstanding talents for different fields of society.

Equip students with leadership skills to fully demonstrate their strengths

In order to cultivate leadership skills, help students realize their potential and enhance their self-confidence, the school arranges for Form 1 and Form 4 students to participate in the Adventure Training Camp, allowing them to surpass themselves and develop a confident and positive attitude. The school also hopes that every student will have the opportunity to hold a position. Even students at the intermediate level can serve as disciplinarians and encourage them to assume various roles in the class, such as academic president, monitor, class committee member, section leader, etc. The school helps students learn to take responsibility from an early age by creating more positions for their classmates.

The school believes that self-confidence, responsibility and leadership skills can be built through service. The school has established two leadership training programs: the first is "Tomorrow's Star", which targets junior high school students with leadership potential and provides them with basic training, such as organizing activities and leading games. In addition, the school will provide different internship opportunities. For example, on the Secondary One Orientation Day, students will be arranged to serve as group leaders to lead new students to get to know the school.

At the high school level, the school launched the "Stars of the Stars" training course, targeting student leaders from important units of the school, such as student union officers, presidents, disciplinary officers, German ambassadors, etc., arranging them to participate in team-building activities to challenge themselves and enhance team cohesion. Principal Lau Wing Sze said: "We will also recommend students to participate in leadership training courses from external organizations or universities, such as the Youth Association's systematic leadership courses, and the Baptist University student leadership training and character development program. On campus, we also often encourage students to speak on stage to share their campus life and experience as leaders, so that they can demonstrate their leadership skills on these occasions."