60+ — School for the Future

Dr. Esther Ho

I was the first generation of residence of Oi Man Estate. My family chose the nearby Carmel Secondary School for me. As a child from a grassroots family, I didn’t expect much about the future. Yet study at Carmel Secondary School changed my life. I met excellent teachers who showed me how education can shape young people in academics, interpersonal relationships, and values. They lived out, through their words and deeds, the Christian education philosophy as stated in our school motto, “Self-discipline through the understanding of the Word; Service to Mankind through faithfulness to the Lord”.  Most importantly, I met God here. Christian faith has become the anchor of my life goals and values. With His grace I learn and grow throughout the life journey and education career.

Serving as the Principal of Carmel Secondary School since September 2023 has been a new challenge for me. Faces change, yet the overarching core values persist — the love of teachers for students, their dedication and enthusiasm for education have never changed over the years. Teachers and students work together to achieve academic excellence, and the results are impressive. School teams with standing history continues to flourish, for instance, Volleyball Teams, Scouts, English Debating Team, English drama, gifted education, STEAM… etc. Not only do they achieve remarkable results in various competitions, but also consistently commit on building students’ character and attitude. The “Carmel Spirit” is about hard work, conscience, and valuing both the process and the results.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary is an opportunity to revisit God’s grace through the “Carmel Story”, with teachers, students, alumni, and community friends. It is also time to rethink and explore how Carmel Secondary School will continue to inherit and innovate in the next three, five, and ten years. Therefore, we have set the 60th anniversary theme as “60+ – School for the Future.” Placemaking initiatives at various spots of the campus progressively optimize learning spaces which allow new possibilities for learning and teaching, and to facilitate a positive culture. Another focus is to promote innovative context-based learning. Different subjects and teams will design learning tasks or investigations aligned to the theme “School for the Future”. Students are expected to apply what they have learned in authentic situations — from identifying problems that need to be solved, understanding the needs of the group, proposing feasible solutions with cross-disciplinary knowledge, and implementing them as far as possible. We look forward to sharing of learning outcomes by teachers and students at various anniversary celebration activities.

The bible verse for the 60th anniversary of the school is from 2 Timothy 1:6 (NIV): “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Please pray for us, hoping that God’s hand will continue to bless Carmel Secondary School, so that teachers and students can continue to grow in His guidance and become a blessing to this city.

我在愛民邨長大，是愛民邨第一代居民。升讀中學的時候，家人為我選擇了就近的迦密中學。作為一個來自基層家庭的孩子，對未來不敢抱期望。但在迦密中學，我遇到了優秀的老師。他們無論是在學術、待人處事、價值觀方面，讓我看到教育如何造就年輕人，他們以身教言教，活出基督教教育的理念：明道律己 忠主善群。最重要的，是我在這裡認識上帝。信仰改變了我，對人生和未來的想法從此不一樣。回望自己的成長路、在不同教育崗位的經歷和學習，我只能說：全是恩典。

二零二三年九月，我重返迦密中學服侍，擔任校長一職。老師對學生的愛、對教育的投入和熱誠，這麼多年來從未改變。在學術上師生全力以越，成績也亮麗。傳統的大型學校隊伍，包括男排、女排、童軍、英文辯論隊、英語話劇、資優教育、STEAM等，除了在學界比賽成績斐然，也一直以建立學生的品德和態度為重。努力付出 ，認真做好自己的身分角色，「過程」與「結果」同樣重要。這是「迦密精神」的關鍵元素之一。

學校踏入六十周年，我們期待與師生、校友、社區友好一起回顧「迦密故事」，見證上帝的恩典，也藉這個特別的日子，一起思考、探索未來三年、五年、十年，迦密中學將如何在繼續傳承和創新。因此，我們將六十周年主題設定為： “60+ — School for the Future”。除分階段進行校園環境營造，優化、創造學習空間，開拓更多學習的可能性，促進學與教發展，也建構正向文化。另一重點，是推動創新的情景式學習理念。不同學科、組別以School for the Future為主題，在相應的年級和單元中設計學習任務和探究項目。學生可以有更多自發學習和探究的機會，在真實場景應用所學，尋找需解決的問題、了解群體的需要，跨越單一學科知識領域，提出可行方案，也盡可能將之實踐。期待在不同校慶活動中，師生將學習成果與大家分享。

六十周年校慶的主題經文來提摩太後書 1:6 （RCUV）：「為這緣故，我提醒你要把上帝藉著我按手所給你的恩賜再如火挑旺起來。」請為我們禱告，盼望上帝的手繼續恩待迦密中學，讓師生不住長進，使這群體成為這城市的祝福。