South Island School

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South Island School
South Island School
School type	Private, comprehensive, international, secondary, co-educational.
Established	1977
Principal	Mr. John Wray
Students	approx. 12001
Years	Year 7-13
Location	50 Nam Fung Road Aberdeen Hong Kong
Information	(852) 2555 9313 sis@sis.edu.hk
Website	http://www.sis.edu.hk/

South Island School (南島中學) is a school founded by English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong, located in Shouson Hill, Aberdeen, Hong Kong SAR China in the southern part of Hong Kong Island.

Contents 1 History 2 Students 3 Timetable 4 Catering 5 Student council 6 Activities 7 Bands 8 Debating 9 External links

[edit] History

In 1977, South Island School was founded as a nucleus of additional classes to accommodate students within the ages of 11 and 18 from Island School, a fellow ESF School. The school moved to its current location at 50 Nam Fung Road in 1983. The first version of the school consisted of the Ching Ling Soon Block ("C-block" in everyday conversation), and an outdoor swimming pool.

As the school grew in size, more facilities were required. The next big change to the school came with the construction of the Stephen Hawking Block ("S-block" for short), and swimming pool became an indoor one, allowing all-year round swimming lessons. [1]

The school also featured in the film "Tiger of Wanchai" rather aptly, given it's style of construction with narrow aperture windows, as a prison. Look out for the Brian Tilbrook ICAC sign.

By 2003, the school was starting to show its age. A growing student population warranted the construction of a new school block. Also, renovation of the now twenty-year old C-block was needed. Construction began on a new eight-story building that would accompany the C-block and the S-block. By 2004, the new block was completed, and was designated the Da Vinci Block (called "D-block" for short).

In the next few years, the school's classrooms were upgraded with the installation of interactive whiteboards, while the renovation of the C-block continued. In 2005, the school announced that it would be switching away from the A-levels to the International Baccalaureate, starting 2007, meaning that the current Year 11 would be the first students to take the IB Diploma Programme. Students will henceforth take six subjects, instead of four at As-levels, excluding General Studies.

[edit] Students

The majority of students in SIS are Hong Kong-born Chinese; however, many other nationalities can be found in SIS, with considerable groups of Indian, British, Japanese, American and Korean students. There are 3 sections:

• The Lower Section (Years 7-8)
• The Middle Section (Years 9-11)
• The Senior Section (Years 12-13)

The school operates a "House" system, and students belong to one of seven "houses", each represented by a different colour:

• Aylward - Yellow (after Gladys Aylward)
• Hillary - Blue (after Sir Edmund Hillary)
• Jefferson - Purple (after Thomas Jefferson)
• Marden - Orange (after Anne Marden)
• Noble - Light blue (after Christina Noble)
• Schweitzer - Green (after Albert Schweitzer)
• Tolstoy - Red (after Leo Tolstoy)

The members of each house compete against each other in athletics, swimming, music and debating, etc. Each house is awarded points depending on the finishing place in each sport. At the end of the year, the House cup is presented to the house with the highest score in the last Assembly before the summer recess.

[edit] Timetable

During the 2006-2007 school year, the School implemented a timetable consisting of 2 hour lessons, with three 2 hour lessons being held per day. The school also shortened the school day on Tuesdays and Fridays, by starting school late on Tuesday (at 10:00 rather than 8:00) and finishing early on Friday (ending at 13:00 rather than at 3:10). The school also implemented a '2 week system', meaning that one timetable cycle would take two weeks to complete.

[edit] Catering

South Island School refectory offers seating space to accommodate the many students during peak hours, and snacks such as chicken wings and hot dogs are sold starting at 10:00 AM, and ending at school closure.The school cafeteria also includes healthier options such as fruit, home-made sandwiches and salads.

There has been recent controversy over the pricing of school food. Many students have complained that confectionery items available within school were overpriced, when compared to the prices of the same product outside of school.But since the start of the academic year of 2007, the prices have dropped slightly.

At the start of the 2006-2007 academic year, "Cafe Ritazza" was opened in the school lobby. It serves a variety of hot beverages such as coffe, hot chocolate and tea, cold beverages like fresh fruit juice, ice chocolate, iced tea. The cafe also sells cookies, muffins and cakes as well as sandwiches like roast vegetable ciabatta. The cafe has been quite a big success with relatively long lines everyday.

[edit] Student council

Students at the school are represented by the Student Council. At the start of each academic year, each year elects a Year Representative from a pool of Class Representatives, which are selected by each class. The elected Year Representatives sit in the Student Council with the Headmaster, the prefects and the Head Boy and Girl. In this forum they debate the issues of the school, and come up with recommendations. The Student Council has not always been effective at solving the problems of the students.

[edit] Activities

Extra curricular activities at the school include [[squash],netball,basketball, swimming and chess, and each student is obliged to take part in two events in inter house athletics and inter house swimming during the year. As well as inter-house competitions, S.I.S. competes in various inter-school competitions, such as basketball and football. The school also has a demonstration team of two Asian martial arts: Taekwondo and Kendo.

[edit] Bands

South Island currently has a handful of bands. Most of them participate in YRock, which is a local youth performance and events program. Bands who participate in YRock performs almost monthly at local venues such as the bar in Central called the EDGE and Hardrock Cafe.

The SKOOLAPALOOZA will start make it's debut show in 2007. Following other school's band/rock shows like KGV's Lion Rock or Rock Aid. Any bands can perform in the SKOOLAPALOOZA and even famous local bands are rumoured to play. Bands can also play at the SIS fair, if they pass the auditions.

Current known bands are: Frodo, King 4 A Day, Discombobulation, Year 11 Band (performs in International Evening)

[edit] Debating

In the Academic year of 2005-2006 a debating team of 6 students was sent in to compete in Hong Kong's biggest inter-school competition, the Sing Tao debating competition. Despite this being only their first time in the tournament, the team reached the finals, where it defeated Ying Wa Girls' School and took home the Sing Tao Debating Cup.

[edit] External links

• Official website