Participating school sharing

S.K.H. St. Peter's Primary School

Hello everyone! We are vice principal Ms Wu and discipline master Mr Wong from S.K.H. St. Peter's Primary School! We are primarily responsible for the school ethos and student support. By participating in the Service Leadership 3Cs for Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders training programme organised by the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change of EdUHK, we had the opportunity to share our experiences with teachers outside of our school. We took this opportunity to share with them our expertise in promoting whole-person development for our students.

Our development plan

This school year is the first year of a three-year development plan. Principals, vice-principals, administrative groups and departments have begun to explore and analyse the needs of our students during the school year. We consulted all staff members in the process of formulating the major concerns. Finally, we have successfully established the school's concerns, one of which is related to the scope of our work as "equipping ourselves, worshipping god and loving people, embracing the future".

We believe that students will face different types of challenges in the future. Students need academic knowledge and an attitude towards learning in the face of adversity and the constant pursuit of progress. We want students to blend Biblical teachings and Chinese virtues to become confident and so cultivate their character and encourage responsibility. Students should look at the overall situation, be able to consider and appreciate others and respect multiculturalism.

Challenges and difficulties we face

To achieve the objectives within the concerns, all subjects in the school must work together, including in curriculum design, activity planning, teacher training and educating students. Unfortunately, this school year, the outbreak of Covid-19 significantly reduced face-to-face teaching. Although online teaching can prevent students from stopping learning altogether, the outbreak affected the lesson hours, curriculum design, and school activities. It was challenging for teachers to spend so much time and energy on curriculum planning and tailoring the curriculum given the severe restrictions.

Working with the church to nurture students with Christian values

The school has religious lessons, and in addition to learning Bible knowledge, students can also apply Christian values to daily life. Students can build an all-rounded Christian education with a close relationship with the S.K.H. Saint Stephen's Church and our school pastor.

Although students could not attend the church worships during the epidemic, the school has held online Christmas and Easter worship. In addition to games and interactive sessions, the school pastor also shared with students. Students understand the meaning of the festivals and learned how to share the love of Jesus Christ with others and apply it in their daily lives.

The Religion subject panel has introduced the 'Peter curriculum', and the Religious Ministry has introduced the 'Thanksgiving and Praying Rewards' Program. Through curriculum design, activity planning, and filming videos for students, teachers enabled students to learn the personal qualities of St. Peters, and God's loyalty and fortitude at home. This also allows students to face adversity and challenges through praying and showing gratitude.

Multi-channel moral education to nurture student values

Although the epidemic caused a significant reduction in face-to-face lessons, teachers made every effort to find opportunities to improve students' moral education. The school has created different platforms to create opportunities for a wide variety of events.

Through the online Zoom Chat Room, the school invited different teachers and guests to share so that students could have a range of learning experiences while also caring about society and expanding their altruistic values. For example, the school had guests from the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences explain Hong Kong's past epidemics. By understanding history, students can understand that we should keep calm, keep working in the face of sudden challenges, continue to play our role in our community, and be considerate of others.

The school organised online morning assemblies, including choirs, prayer sessions and sharing. Various departments have taken advantage of the platform to implement their annual plans. The Student Counselling Group adapted their lunchtime activities to sharing during online morning assemblies. The Discipline Committee also organised the 'Our Peter Good Children' programme to promote the school's appreciative culture by collecting teachers' compliments to students and praising them at morning assemblies to affirm their good behaviour.

Following the Education Bureau announcement that some face-to-face classes could be resumed, the school has introduced a broadcast sharing scheme to promote moral education by broadcasting during recess.

Our reflection

We are very grateful for the efforts of all teachers at our school! The above sharing is the result of the efforts of all teachers. Now, the epidemic is a massive challenge for all schools. After participating in the Service Leadership 3Cs for Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders training programme organised by the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change, EdUHK, we became more capable of communicating with colleagues and understanding their difficulties and needs in the face of challenges. In the decision-making process, we consulted all teachers, and respected their wishes, we also balanced different factors. We believe that as long as all teachers share an aligned vision, we will enrich and equip our students to meet the challenges of the future!