School History

In September of 1959, the Dominican Monastery of St. Albert the Great in Hong Kong transformed into what came to be known as Rosaryhill School. It commenced with 197 children in the Kindergarten Section and 205 pupils in the Primary Section level of education.


However, the monastic structure used as a school building could only serve its purpose asa more appropriate accommodation was required both in the educational sense, and according to the laws and requirements of the Education Ordinance.


Consequently, the Procurator for the Dominican Missions, Fr. Eutimio Gonzalez, arranged with an architect and a construction company to build a proper school with a capacity for 5,500 students and the foundation of a structure of eight stories was laid. In 1963 a new imposing edifice of Rosaryhill School was completed, ready to receive (by then) 520 children of Kindergarten level and 1,775 pupils of Primary level. Thus the school officially became a center of bilingual learning and a programme of studies was laid down according to the three levels of basic education: Kindergarten (2 years), Primary (6 years) and Secondary (5 years).


The building in the shape of a rectangular structure is divided into two sections by a central portion of floors comprising a hall which occupies the space of two floors; a chapel also taking up two floors; a library and other special rooms occupying the fifth floor area. The western portion of the sixth floor of the building is used as a residential quarters of the friars. There were 6 priests and 2 lay brothers who made up the new community. This small group had the unenviable task of running the entire administration of the school.


The whole school on its tenth anniversary of existence already counted a total of 5,099 students, with the Kindergarten having 919, the Primary 2,318 and the Secondary 1,862.


A Department of Religion was formed as an important part of the whole organization, with a dual role of both attending to the spiritual formation of the Catholic students as well as attending to the promotion of catechetical instruction among interested non-Catholics. In 1965, the Legion of Mary was established with three presidia. Other events worth mentioning were: 1) the publication of the first School Annual in 1966, 2) the first group of Form 5 graduates was presented for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in 1967, and 3) in the same year, the Rosaryhill Old Students Association (RHSOSA) was formed.


Responding to the needs of the students for further academic and professional preparation especially for the purpose of pursuing further studies at a university level, the authorities of Rosaryhill School studied the possibility of offering a programme of pre-university studies. In 1969 this plan was realized, and post Form 5 classes began operating, namely, a two-year course offering subjects for both arts and science streams as well as a commercial and secretarial courses in the Business Studies Section of Rosaryhill School. Fortunately, the economical side of operating and sustaining a sizeable project like Rosaryhill School was greatly relieved when in 1982 the Secondary Section became fully aided by the Government which meant that they agreed to subsidize all the expenses of running the section.

One of the initial difficulties of the school was that of transportation because of its location. This, however, was solved with the introduction of a Department of Transportation in the school which made arrangements for 23 school buses (property of the school) to pick up students at various bus stops in different parts of the island and return them to the same stations after school.
During the school year 1983-84, Rosaryhill School celebrated her 25th anniversary since her foundation with a series of festivities, the most notable being the ones on 3rd of September with the Most Rev. Msgr. John Baptist Wu, Bishop of Hong Kong, presiding at the opening of the religious ceremonies, and on 10th of the same month with the Hon. Director of Education Mr. C. H. Haye presiding at the opening of the academic ceremonies. A special event took place on 29th of October with the priestly ordination of Rev. Benedict Lam at the Catholic Cathedral. The newly ordained priest embraced the Catholic faith when he was a student in Rosaryhill School; later on after completing his academic studies he pursued his religious studies of philosophy and theology in the Diocesan Seminary of Hong Kong, Aberdeen, before going on to the final stage.

As the educational institute expanded through the years, it gradually developed certain features which are somewhat peculiar to the School, and rather interesting. For instance, the Secondary Section has been vaguely ‥coeducational〃 in a way until a few years ago. Only in the last few years can we truly say that it has become totally coeducational with boys and girls sharing the same classes and classrooms and having the same syllabus.
It all started by having a ‥Girls Section〃 and a ‥Boys Section〃, quite different from each other with a well defined division: classrooms and playgrounds were different, timetables were different and even teachers were grouped differently. For a few years, they even had two different Student Councils! Eventually, the two Sections became integrated and streamlined. In 1985, timetables were unified which had a considerable impact on the structure of the Secondary Section with much improved bus services and more efficient use of the teaching staff. In 1999, the lower form classes began to be truly coeducational. We stopped offering Domestic Science only to girls and EPA only to boys, but all had to take both subjects. This last change was bly supported by the Education Bureau since it facilitated the central allocation of boys and girls to our school.
Another instance of an unusual feature is the fact that Rosaryhill School consists of Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary and Business Studies Sections where each section is conducted as an independent and regular school with its own Principal. Except for Kindergarten Section which is formally addressed as Rosaryhill Kindergarten, the rest of the sections are addressed as Rosaryhill School (Primary, Secondary or Business Studies Sections 𩐝 as the case may be). These sections all housed in the same building are coordinated and directed by an overall Supervisor who acts within a framework of the School Constitution which plays an important role in the management of the entire school.

Sometime in the 1980s, the Education Department started planning the introduction of Computer Sciences as a subject to be taught in the schools and, two years later, launched the pilot teaching scheme. Although Rosaryhill School did not join the experimental scheme, she was well aware of its potentials and, in 1984, started to teach the subject to her students. In 1986, Rosaryhill School set up the first administrative computers network, connecting the General Office, Accounting Office, as well as the Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary and Business Studies Sections to a central Novell Fire Server. There were software written to keep track of student information such as accounting records, class and bus rosters, test and examination results, report and student ID cards. Today, Rosaryhill School routinely conducts classes with power point and other computer related teaching and learning aids.
Towards the end of 2005, a three-storey annex attached to the western side of the building and housing the administrative section was replaced by a new one of seven storey providing much needed up-to-date facilities for teachers and students in addition to accommodating the administrative staff. The new annex was officially opened on 18th of December 2005 by The Most Rev. John Tong, the then Auxiliary Bishop of Hong Kong, and assisted by the Dominican Provincial, Fr Bonifacio Solis, OP. The new building is part of the School Improvement Plan, partly financed by a year of intense fund raising activities and generous contributions from many quarters.

Every Catholic school is proud to have on its premises a shrine dedicated to Our Lady, the Mother of our Lord. Rosaryhill School is no different. On the eastern end of the school grounds, next to the Kindergarten play area, stands a group of white sculptured figures representing the Blessed Virgin Maryˇs apparition to the three shepherd children of Fatima. This is where Our Lady warmly and visibly welcomes all who, no matter what race or creed, come to Rosaryhill School in search for the Light of Truth in learning.

The school year 2006/07 signified an important change in the culture of our school. The principal of the Secondary section had been one of the Fathers working in the school; with the retirement of Fr. Francisco de las Heras as principal, we employed the first layman principal, Mr. Francis Tsung. 

In the school year 2008-09 we celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the school with an Opening Mass presided by Mons. John Tong, bishop of HK. The Gala Dinner of 30 November 2008 was well attended and it was the origin of the Golden Jubilee Scholarship.

In the school year 2011/12 there was a significant change in the HK Education, with the abolition of the Form 7, making Form 6 the last course of Secondary Studies, standard course for all students.

The educational change of the school year 2011/12 forced the closure of our Business Studies Section. It mainly catered for Form 6 & 7 students who could not access to standard schools. “After 43 years of fruitful existence, rendering good education to a few thousands of students coming from Form 5 of our school or of other schools, the BSS of RHS closes her doors”. On 27 April 2012 a Closing Ceremony, “celebrating those many years of our BSS”, was held.

In the school year 2010/11 we started with the introduction of Spanish language as a standard subject in all the classes, starting with Primary, then kindergarten and finally also in the secondary up to Form 3. In the school year 2012/13 the Spanish intensive classes started in the Primary, employing Spanish Native teachers who were class-teachers of those classes. The response from parents has been very supportive. As a way of promotion within the school and to let other people know about the implementation of Spanish in the school, on 18 March 2012 we held an Open Day Cum Spanish Carnival that attracted around 3000 visitors.

On 7 October 2011 we had the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Dominican Fathers in HK. They had been in Macau many years before, but when the British founded the HK colony, they moved from Macau to Hong Kong. At the very beginning they only had a house as administration of the missions they had in countries around HK like China, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam.

In the school year 2011/12 two Fathers, who had been relevant to the life of the school passed away. Fr. Lionel Xavier, who had spent most of his life working in the school as Supervisor, Principal of different sections, teacher, director of Religious Department, of the OSA, etc. passed away in Macau on 19 October 2011. Fr. Eladio Neira, who had also been Supervisor of the school and principal of the Secondary Section in the late 1970s passed away in Manila on 25 April 2012.

In the year 2017 the Integrated Management of the Secondary section was approved by the EDB, what meant a new identity, Rosaryhill Secondary School. Although we try to operate Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary as one school, because the way they co-exist in the one building of the school, there are difficulties according to the principles of the IMC, and the differences in the three sections have become more obvious.

The school year 2018/19 was the 60th Anniversary of the foundation of the school. We also had a celebration very well supported by many past students, some of them already grandparents of our actual students. As we have done in previous anniversaries, we had the publication of a commemoration book, and the traditional Thanksgiving Mass, presided by Mons. Michael Yeung, bishop of HK, a very well attended Gala Dinner and the Open Day filled of abundant entertaining activities.

The beginning of the school year 2019/20 was affected by “the social movement” when several school days had the classes suspended. Later in the year, after the Chinese New Year, the pandemic Corona-virus affected Hong Kong quite badly and schools closed for most of the rest of the school year. Teachers had to start with a new modality of teaching, classes on-line. From Kindergarten to Secondary 6 most of the lessons were taught recording them on video that the students watched at home, later with direct ways like “zoom”, “Google”, etc. It was not the ideal way but it was a convenient solution.

The school year 2020/21 started under the umbrella of the Corona-virus and schools opened only half a day, students had to leave school before lunch since eating was not allowed in the schools canteens. Just a few weeks after the school year started, in the second week of November classes were suspended for all Kindergarten levels due to the common flu that was spreading in many schools; a week later also the classes from Primary 1 to 3 suffered the same fate due to a new bout of the Corona-virus; finally, at the end of November, the EDB announced the total closure of schools until 2021. Teachers had to continue with the “zoom classes” as they had been doing previously, but now in a better organized way.

  • 41B, Stubbs Road
  • 2572 0228
  • 2838 6141
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