St. Francis Xavier's College, Kowloon

School History

In 1893, the Marist Brothers were invited to teach in St. Francis Xavier's College, Shanghai, which was founded by the Jesuit Fathers. In 1896, our Brothers were given full responsibility for the College. After the College was re-organised in 1950, our Brothers came to Hong Kong and gave religious instruction in St. Martin's English School. Two years later, the Brothers were askedto take over St. Martin's. In 1954, with the help of the Education Department, new school premises were built at the junction of Maple Street and Sycamore Street.

On 9th December 1955, classes were resumed in the new premises. At the same time, it was renamed St. Francis Xavier's College to emphasize the link with the St. Francis Xavier's College, Shanghai.

The following May, our first batch of graduates took part in Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.

In September 1978, our school accepted the Government's invitation to become a Subsidised Secondary School.

The building of our West Wing was completed in April 1984.

A full-year celebration programme for our 40th Anniversary began in December 1994.

In August 1996, an air-conditioning system, donated by our alumnus, was installed in the School Hall.

In March 1998, the SAR Government confirmed the suitability of our school to continue using English as the medium of instruction.

In May 1999, with the generous contribution from the parents of our students and some former students, all classrooms and special rooms were equpped with television sets, video cassette recorders, portable CD and cassette players, over-head projectors and screens.

To celebrate the 45th Anniversary, our Open Day, withthe theme "Mission 2000" was held in December 2000.

The following table shows the brief history of our school:

Year	Date	Event
1817	2ndJanuary	Father Marcellin Champagnat founded the Marist Brothers in La Valla, France.
1891	8th March	The first Marist Brothers left France and went to Peking & Tientsin of China for the greatest adventure of their life.
1893		The Brothers were invited to teach in St. Francis Xavier’s College, Shanghai, which was founded in 1874 by the Jesuit Fathers.
1895		The Brothers took over full responsibility for St. Francis Xavier’s College, Shanghai.
1949		Owing to the change of the situation, the Brothers gradually left the Mainland and came to Hong Kong.
1952		Three Brothers, Bro. Peter Ziegler, Bro. Vincent Kunert & Bro. Bosco Wei, taught in Pooi Sun English College.
	March	The Brothers gave religious courses in St. Martin’s English School at 28B Grampian Road, 1st floor, Kowloon City.
	September	The Brothers were asked to take over St. Martin’s English School with Rev. Bro. Peter Ziegler (Bro. Pierre-Stanislas) as the Principal.
1953-1954		With the encouragement of the Bishop, negotiations were opened with the Education Department in view of obtaining a site on which to build a school.  These were successfully completed in 1954, after the Congregation had been incorporated in Hong Kong.
1955	March	Construction work of a school building began on the new site at the junction of Sycamore Street and Maple Street, Taikoktsui, which was a squatters area and a quarry for granite rock.  Rev. Bro. Ange Lapp who initiated the project was actually the master mind of the whole scheme.
	July	The students of St. Martin’s English School said farewell to the old premises in Grampian Road which was closed ever since then.
	September	The school reopened at Tang King Po School on Tin Kwong  Road with Rev. Bro. Kenny T. Doheny as our first Principal.  The enrolment of students reached the 600 mark.
	6thDecember	The long awaited occupation permit for the new school building was issued.
	9thDecember	Classes were resumed in St. Francis Xavier’s College at K.I.L. 6421, Maple Street, Taikoktsui. The name emphasizes the link with St. Francis Xavier’s College, Shanghai, one of the oldest Marist Institutions in the Far East.
1956	June	The first group of 56 S.F.X. students took part in the H.K. School Certificate Examination.
	20thAugust	An English Evening School for the poorer children of the Shamshuipo area began to function on the premises.
1960	September	The enrolment of students reached the 1000 mark.
1962	January	A typing class was opened through the generous help of the German people who contributed to the purchase of 42 new typewriters.
	September	The figure of students was 1092.
	December	The 1st School Album was published.
1963	May	Rev. Bro. Vincent Kunert became our second Principal.
1964	25thNovember	Our brother school, St. Francis Xavier’s School Tsuen Wan, opened.
	6thDecember	The 1st Open Day was held to mark the 10th Anniversary.
		The 1st generation of the school bulletin "Athenaeum" (文宬) was published.
1965		The 2nd School Album was published.
1966		The first Matriculation class was established. The 3rd School Album was published.
1967		St. Francis Xavier’s College organised the 1st Sports Day.
	12thNovember	The 2nd Open Day was held with Bishop Francis Hsu officiating at the Opening Ceremony.
1968		The extension work of the East Wing was completed.
1969		The 2nd generation of the school bulletin "Xaverian" (聖芳濟學報) was published.
1970	September	The enrolment of studentsreached 1,466, the highest figure so far.
	November	The first Swimming Gala was held.
1971	August	Rev. Bro. Gregory Seubert was installed as our third Principal.
1972		The 4th School Album was published.
1975		The 5th School Album was published.
	August	Rev. Bro. Bosco Wei took over the school as our fourth Principal.
1976	September	The English Evening Tutorial became an Evening Secondary School.
1978	September	St. Francis Xavier’s College became a Government subsidised school.
1979	24th May	The school premises was allotted a house number as 45, Sycamore Street, Taikoktsui, Kowloon.
1980	2ndOctober	With the aim of raisingfund for building a School Hall, St. Francis Xavier’s Building Fund Group was set up, with Mr. A.A. Braga as the chairman.
1981	2ndFebruary	Fund-raising Campaign began.
	20thFebruary	The first Fund-raising Walkathon for the School Hall took place at Shing Mun Reservoir.
	3rd May	The 1st phase of construction work began with demolition of the Covered Playground.
1983	6th June	The 2nd phase of construction work was launched.
	21stOctober	The second Fund-raising Walkathon was held at Shing Mun Reservoir.
	22ndDecember	The Open Playground was resurfaced.
1984	25thJanuary	The construction work ofthe West Wing completed.
	24th April	The Opening Ceremony of the School Hall named Champagnat Hall on the top floor of the West Wingwas held. It was officiated by the Hon. C.H. Haye, CBE, J.P., Director of Education Department, the most Rev. John Baptist Wu, Bishop of Hong Kong & Rev. Bro. Basilio Rueda, FMS, Superior General of the Marist Brothers.
1985		The scholarship named "Kwok Tak Leuk Prize (II)" was established in memory of the sudden death of Master Kwok Tak Leuk, our outstanding graduate of 1979, who died young.
1987	January	The 3rd generation of the school bulletin "Xaverian" (芳泉) was published.
1989	30th May	The celebration of 200th Anniversary of Blessed Father Marcellin Champagnat took place in Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Wan Chai.
	September	The number of Form 6 classes increased to three, with two Science classes & one Arts/Commercial class.
	1stOctober	The House system was set up, using the Chinese characters (溫良剛毅) of the school motto to name the 4 Houses.
1991	October	A Fund-raising campaign named "Air-con in May" was launched.
1992	21stFebruary	A Fund-raising Walkathon took place at Shing Mun Reservoir.
	May	Air-conditioners were installed in all classrooms.
1994	August	Our Principal, Rev. Bro. Anthony Cheng, began to run the school as our fifth Principal.
	2ndDecember	The one-year celebration programme for the 40th Anniversary began with an Opening Ceremony in the school playground.
1995	September	The enrolment of studentswas 1216.
	October	The Prefect Association was set up.
	18th-19thNov.	To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, our third Open Day, namely "Education, a Mission of Love", was held.
	1st December	The Closing Ceremony of the 40th Anniversary was presided over by His Eminence Cardinal John Baptist Wu, Bishop of Hong Kong, in the school playground and the Celebration Dinner of 104 tables took place at the Ocean City Restaurant.
1996	April	The 40th Anniversary memorial Album "Mission", our 6th issue, was published.
	August	An air-conditioning system, donated by our alumnus, was installed in the School Hall.
1997	5thDecember	The 1st SFX Night was held in Champagnat Hall.
1998	March	Our school was approved to be one of the E.M.I. schools in Hong Kong.
	10thOctober	The Ruby Jubilee Celebration of Rev. Bro. Denis Condado, the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Rev. Bro. Bosco Wei and the Silver Jubilee Celebration of Rev. Bro. Paul Saw was held in Champagnat Hall.
	November	Fund-Raising Campaign for Installation of Information Technology Equipment was launched.
1999	March	IT equipment was installed in every classroom.
	18th April	Blessed Marcellin Champagnat was canonized by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's, Rome.
	5th June	The canonization celebration in Hong Kong was held on the day before the Feast Day of the Blessed Marcellin Champagnat.
	29thDecember	Our 2nd Principal, Rev. Brother Vincent Kunert passed away at the age of 82, after 65 years as a Marist Brother.
2000	April	The optical fibre network in the school campus was completed.
	October	The Student Union was established and took the place of the Prefect Association.
	2nd-3rdDecember	To celebrate the 45th Anniversary, our fourth Open Day, with the theme "Mission 2000", was held.
	7thDecember	The Celebration Dinner of 45th Anniversary took place at the Ocean Palace Night Club and Restaurant.
2001	2nd June	The Parent-Teacher Association was established.
	July	The 45th Anniversary memorial Album "Mission 2000", our 7th issue, was published.
2002	September	The Reading Enhancement Scheme was implemented. Reading lessons were first introduced to Form one students. The Staff Appraisal System was introduced.
	8thOctober	The construction work of a new wing began under the School Improvement Programme (SIP).
2003	July	The construction of wireless LAN coverage in the whole school campus was completed.
	September	The Language Enhancement Scheme was introduced and keeping the reading scheme as an element.
2004	2ndOctober	The Thanksgiving Eucharistic Celebration of Brother Denis Condado for his 75th Anniversary of Religious Profession and Brother Rudolf Urban for his 50th Anniversary of Religious Profession was held in Champagnat Hall.
	4thDecember	The one-year celebration programme for the 50th Anniversary was launched with the Blessing and Inauguration of the Golden Jubilee Wing.
	18thDecember	SFX50 Games Day was held.
2005	27thFebruary	SFX50 Walkathon took place at Shing Mun Reservoir.
	14th March	Handing-over of the Jubilee Wing.
	29th-30thOctober	SFX50 Open Day, the fifth Open Day of our school, was held.
	3rdDecember	The SFX Golden Jubilee Banquet took place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
2006	May	Re-name of school library to “Gilbert Library” after renovation, thanks to the donation of a former student.
	20th May	Our 1st Principal, Rev. Brother Kenny Doheny, passed away at the age of ninety-four, after seventy-eight years as a Marist Brother.
	August	The fifth principal, Rev. Bro. Anthony Cheng, retired and took up new duties in the Training Centre in Malaysia.
	October	The 50th Anniversary Commemorative Album, “Once a Xaverian, Always a Xaverian”, our eighth issue, was published.
2007	3rd March	Establishment of SFXC Alumni Association.
	April	Our beloved Rev. Bro. Denis Condado, after the 78th year of his religious profession, passed away at the 95th year of his age.
	June	SFXC Foundation Ltd. was corporatized to adopt a two-tier structure comprising the Board of Directors and the Management Committee.
	August	For the first time, our school, together with St. Francis Xavier’s School, Tsuen Wan, jointly organized New Teachers Induction Program.
2008	January	Establishment of SFXC Ambassador Scheme to appraise academically outstanding students in junior levels.
	15th May	Resumption of Swimming Gala in Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool.
	29th May	The third general meeting of Marist School Leaders of China Province took place in our school Hall.
	September	Our school joined the Quality School Improvement Project launched by the Education Research Unit of CUHK.
2009	March	Student Exchange Program started whereby senior level students of SFXC and SFXS, TW, joined the program
	September	Re-structure of senior secondary curriculum to cope with the 3-3-4 academic structure.
	9th-13thNovember	External School Review was conducted
	3rdDecember	The one-year celebration programme for the 55th Anniversary was launched with the main theme of “We Thank, We Love, We Pass On”.
2010	March	Launch of a “Mentoring Program” in which ex-students from various walks of life shared their work-place experience with our students.
	August	Our sixth principal, Mr. Yuen Chi Fai, retired after his thirty-eight years of services.
	30th-31stOctober	To mark the 55th anniversary, the Open Day was held in the school campus.
2011	September	Optimization of Class Structure from 5 classes to 4 classes.
	December	Co-organized “Forever SFX” with SFXS, TW and MSAA.
2012	July	First cohort of HKDSE Graduation, with 49.1% admission rate to local university degree programmes.
	November	Celebration of 60th Anniversary of Marist Brothers dedicating to education in Hong Kong.