Sha Tin College - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sha Tin College is a private secondary school in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

and a member of the English Schools Foundation

English Schools Foundation

The English Schools Foundation is an organisation that runs 20 educational institutions, most of which are international schools, which are all located in Hong Kong...

– the largest independent schools organization in Asia.

Established in 1982 as the Shatin Annex for students living in the New Territories, based in KGV School

King George V School

King George V School , often shortened to "KGV" is a co-educational international secondary independent school of the English Schools Foundation, located in the Ho Man Tin area of Hong Kong. Currently school 1,700 students in the Kowloon peninsula, it is one of the oldest schools in Hong Kong,...

in Kowloon Tong

Kowloon Tong

Kowloon Tong , formerly Kau Lung Tong, is an area in Hong Kong. Within New Kowloon, it is administratively divided by Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District...

and later relocating to Fo Tan

Fo Tan

Fo Tan is a suburb of Sha Tin District, Hong Kong. It was developed as a light industrial area, but this activity has declined markedly in recent years. There are residential areas to the east, alongside the MTR line, and in the foothills to the west....

in 1985, the school follows the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

system of I/GCSE

General Certificate of Secondary Education

The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...

and the International Baccalaureate Diploma

IB Diploma Programme

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...

. The school is currently led by Principal Marc Morris. Enrollment stands at approximately 1,200 students, drawn mostly from the New Territories

New Territories

New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...

and Kowloon

Kowloon

Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...

areas. Sha Tin College was until recently the youngest of the ESF secondary schools, being founded in 1982.

Students graduating from Sha Tin College enrol in universities around the world, with predominant areas being Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

. Sha Tin College is located on a hill in Fo Tan

Fo Tan

, Sha Tin

Sha Tin

Sha Tin, also spelled Shatin, is an area around the Shing Mun River in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District.-Geography:...

and provides education from Year 7 through Year 13. Sha Tin College's houses are based on an explorer theme and each of the six houses is named after a famous explorer.

The school had its own indoor gym

Gym

The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...

nasium built in 2002, with two basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

courts, six badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

courts, three volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

courts and a rock climbing

Rock climbing

Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

wall; there is also a swimming pool

Swimming pool

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

, astro-turf, two cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

nets and extra classrooms for its neighbouring primary school, Sha Tin Junior School

Sha Tin Junior School

Sha Tin Junior School is a primary school run by the English Schools Foundation in Fo Tan, Sha Tin, Hong Kong.The school opened in 1988, and the founding principal Gordon Lewis remained in this post until his retirement in 2004. He was subsequently awarded an OBE in recognition of his services to...

. The junior school can be viewed as its sister school with students having the option of directly graduating into the college.

Students

The school currently has about 1,200 students enrolled, from ages 12-13 to 19.
Sha Tin College accepts students from an academic perspective, mainly students already fluent in English. The student population and demographics are predominantly Asian – notably middle-upper class Hong Kongers carrying dual citizenship – when compared with other international schools.

Students from the New Territories

New Territories

and North Kowloon

Kowloon

are generally assigned to this school, with the exception of Sai Kung and Clearwater Bay.

Tuition fee

As a member of the ESF, the foundation receives an ongoing subvention from the Government of Hong Kong

Government of Hong Kong

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, commonly the Hong Kong Government, is led by the Chief Executive as Head of the Government, who is also the head of the Hong Kong SAR...

. However, students are further required to pay a tuition

Tuition

Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...

fee equivalent to that of many universities across the world, in addition to supplementary costs such as uniforms.

As of the 2008-09 school year, tuition is HK$

Hong Kong dollar

The Hong Kong dollar is the currency of the jurisdiction. It is the eighth most traded currency in the world. In English, it is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively HK$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

89,250 (US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

11,500) per annum.

Curriculum

GCSE

General Certificate of Secondary Education

(General Certificate of Secondary Education) is the curriculum designed for Years 10 and 11, being broad and balanced. Sha Tin College offers both the international IGCSE and GCSE programs, which are interchangeable.

The school provides subject choices to suit the aptitude and interest of students. This choice is structured in a way that it is balanced and it ensures students can build on their strengths whilst keeping their options open in the future.

All students taking the I/GCSE course study the following:

Core
- English Language
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
- English Literature
  English literature
  English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
- Mathematics
  Mathematics
  Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
- Science
  Science
  Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
  
  (dual award) - Biology
  Biology
  Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
  
  , Chemistry
  Chemistry
  Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
  
  and Physics
  Physics
  Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
- iPSE
  Personal and Social Education
  Personal and Social Education is a component of the state school curriculum in Wales. PSE became a statutory requirement in schools in September 2003, and is compulsory for all students at Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 , and shares some similar elements with Personal, Social and Health Education and...
- PE (the course is compulsory but the exam is optional)
Choices
- A second language - French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  , Japanese
  Japanese language
  is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
  
  , Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  , Mandarin I/GCSE or EAL (English as an Additional Language)
- Humanities - Business
  Business
  A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
  
  , Economics
  Economics
  Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
  
  , History
  History
  History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
  
  , Religious Studies
  Religious studies
  Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
  
  or Geography
  Geography
  Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
- Arts and Design - Drama
  Drama
  Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
  
  , Music
  Music
  Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
  
  , Art
  Art
  Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
  
  , ICT or DT (Food, Resistant Materials, Electronics, Graphics)
- Another subject from any of the above

The elective subjects are mostly subjects already studied in Years 7-9 (with the exception of Business Studies and Economics), which provides continuity. The fourth option allows students to specialise by taking a second subject from one of the previous choices. This gives good degree of freedom within a structured framework.

The IB Diploma Programme

IB Diploma Programme

is the curriculum for the senior school (Years 12 and 13). Most students elect English A1 and another foreign language, often Mandarin; the remaining four groups are scattered through various subjects of Humanities, Maths, Science and a sixth choice.

Houses

In accordance with British house system

House system

The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...

tradition, the entire student body is divided into six separate houses upon admittance into the school. Students remain in these houses until graduation and attend sporting events and various other activities as part of their house.

Originally there were four houses of Armstrong

Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....

, Drake, Hillary

Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...

and Scott

Robert Falcon Scott

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...

, named after various explorers throughout history. This is a departure from tradition of other ESF secondary schools, whose Houses are generally named after school benefactors or school founders. In 1998 two more houses (Kingsley

Mary Kingsley

Mary Henrietta Kingsley was an English writer and explorer who greatly influenced European ideas about Africa and African people.-Early life:Kingsley was born in Islington, London on 13 October 1862...

and Tasman

Abel Tasman

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...

) were added to increase competition and a growing demand for more student places by school applicants and their parents. Tasman was derived from the house of Scott and Hillary, while Kingsley was derived from the house of Armstrong and Drake. The colours for each house are as follows: Armstrong is yellow; Drake is blue; Hillary is green; Kingsley is purple; Scott is red; and Tasman is orange.

In the 2006-07 school year, a new form of Year 7 students, 7Z, named after Zheng He

Zheng He

Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...

joined the six forms and was a de facto form. Students in form 7Z were still split up into six normal houses, so Z students would support their respective houses in inter-house events. The existing 7Z became 8Z in the 2007/08 school year. Unfortunately, 8Z was told by the Head of Year that it would be separated because of the loss of students throughout the year. The students have since returned to their own houses and joined other teaching groups.

The students engage in the annual Sports Day and Swimming Gala whereupon points are earned and compiled according to houses. Other inter-house competitions include netball, volleyball, cricket, rounders, basketball, badminton, chess and debating, among others. Credits and commendations earned by students also contribute to the final house point total. In general there is much rivalry between each house during inter-house events although there is little differentiation during normal school periods.

Each house is headed by a Head of House, Charity Head and two Sport Heads from senior school. The Heads are in charge of organising the events within their house throughout the year.

There is a generally a trend for siblings to be placed within the same House to avoid sibling conflicts, but when they are twins, they are placed in different houses to avoid confusion within the form. However, in the 2008-09 school year, there have been reports that many siblings were relocated to other houses so that their timetable could be arranged.

For each year, there is one form for each house. Each house has a form tutor who is as such affiliated with that house. The form tutor can choose to stay with that form until the end of Year 11, where they subsequently reach senior school. Upon reaching senior school, students are jumbled up and put into nine separate forms, more often than not with completely different tutors. However, after their form graduates, teachers may opt for a Year 12 form or vacant tutor spots throughout the school. The form tutor is responsible for that form and sees them in a daily 20 minute session. He/she deals with mostly administrative tasks such as collecting forms and organising house events, and in senior school acts as the students' CAS advisors. There are usually student reps from each form who deal with various types of activities.

Uniform

All students in Years 7 to 11 are required to purchase and wear the issued school uniform

School uniform

A school uniform is an outfit—a set of standardized clothes—worn primarily for an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries . When used, they form the basis of a school's dress code.Traditionally school uniforms have been largely subdued and...

. Uniforms are generally school-specific in terms of colour and style. Students in the senior school (Years 12 and 13) are allowed to wear presentable casual clothing. On the last day of Year 11 it is customary to get signatures from fellow classmates and friends on one's uniform and also customise it often by ripping it and/or putting patches on it, although some students donate their uniforms to schools in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

.

Sha Tin College uniforms consist of a standard white button-up shirt with the school logo emblazoned on the left-chest pocket. Boys are expected to wear the straight-legged navy trousers while girls have the option of navy trousers or skorts. No tie is required but the uniform also includes a navy jumper, fleece, scarf and P.E. shorts with the gold and blue school logo emblazoned on all. Students of the upper school are also allowed to have two facial piercings; and people in the lower school are allowed one. Students are required to wear black leather shoes, while trainers are not allowed.

The PE uniform has changed since 2002. It used to consist of a white polo shirt with a diagonal stripe across the front in one's house colour. The new uniform is a polo-styled shirt in yellow, blue, green, purple, red or orange according to the student's house colours, with navy collars and navy tracksuit shorts or bottoms. There has also been an addition of a PE hoodie to the list of items of uniform.

Later, the PE uniform has changed to a plain house colour shirt with your house name sewn on the sides of the sleeve. The pants were navy blue with a school logo on the back pocket.

Starting from November 2007, students can receive detentions for not wearing proper uniform, including shoes.

Sports

Sports facilities include a swimming pool, a multi-purpose sports hall with badminton, basketball and volleyball courts as well as climbing facilities and an astro-turf. All are shared with Sha Tin Junior School

Sha Tin Junior School

, the College's neighbouring feeder school

Feeder school

Feeder school is a name applied to schools, colleges, universities, or other educational institutions that provide a significant number of graduates who intend to continue their studies at specific schools, or even in specific fields....

.

Additional activities such as canoeing

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

, rowing

Watercraft rowing

Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection.This article...

and hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

are available to students during CAS Week and camp, while many existing extracurricular activities offer golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

or other sports. The annual inter-house Sports Day is commonly held at the Hong Kong Institute of Education

Hong Kong Institute of Education

The Hong Kong Institute of Education is one of eight subsidised tertiary institutes under the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong. It is the only one dedicated to teacher education....

stadium in Tai Po

Tai Po

Tai Po is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui and the Tai Wo Town on the other side of the Lam Tsuen River, near the old Tai Po Market Station of the...

. Given the school's mountain-top location, the inter-house cross-country run is held on-site. Students are expected to run up and back down the hill, circle around Mei Wo Circuit, a neighbouring residential area, with students in middle school and above needing to run back up and down the hill again, finishing at the gates of the school.

Basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

has been a long standing tradition of Sha Tin College. The school is often regarded as the best ESF school at basketball. Competitions are held at both the inter-house level and at the inter-school level. A-Grade boys have beaten every single ESF school this year by an average margin of around ten points. This shows the dominance Sha Tin College has over other schools in this respect.

Football used to be popularly played on the main netball court before class, during long break, lunch hour and afterschool. However as the population density increased in the school and the space was limited, it has been disallowed due to safety issues. Now it is more often played on the roof of the hall and the sports hall with astro-turf.

Netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

is a popular sport at Sha Tin College and is an inter-house as well as inter-school sport.

Volleyball

Volleyball

is a neglected sport in Sha Tin College, the only major event being the annual staff-student charity volleyball game.

Rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

is a popular choice for students; previously, the school had an excellent reputation for it, but due to the graduation of most of the senior players such as the League winning Classes of 2004 and 2005, and the school slowly becoming more local, with academics becoming the top priority. The U19's girls squad recently won the U19 'B' League.

Badminton

Badminton

is quite a popular choice for students during their selection of activities for P.E. classes. Badminton is also normally used for charity events; such as '24-hour badminton' where students go on shifts to play badminton continuously for 24 hours and stay sleeping at school. Each year it raises nearly $30,000 going to various charities such as Oxfam.

Field Hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

is a popular sport played at Sha Tin College. It has teams for both senior and junior boys and girls. It also contains many students that are currently playing for Hong Kong development squads.

CAS Week

Since the implementation of the IB Diploma into the school, CAS Week has become a vital and predominant part of the high school culture in Sha Tin College, taking place in October each year. CAS

Creativity, Action, Service

Creativity, action, service is a mandatory core component of the IB Diploma Programme. It aims to provide a 'counterbalance' to the academic rigour of the educational programme. Before the 2010 examination there was a 150 hour requirement, with an approximately equal distribution of creativity,...

stands for "Creativity, Action and Service", an important part of the IB philosophy and curriculum, and activities during CAS Week mostly revolve around these three themes.

Students from Years 7-9 take part in whole-year camps at various facilities around Hong Kong whereas students from Years 10-12 take part in CAS Week activities ranging from trips overseas such as Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Malaysia, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, the Philippines, mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

or North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

to Hong Kong- or school-based activities such as "Global Feast" (C), "Football Camp" (A) or "Teaching English in Local Schools" (S).

School Fair

The Sha Tin College and Junior School Fair takes place at the end of November each academic school year in order to raise additional funds for school equipment, such as computers and interactive whiteboards. 10% of the proceeds gathered from the Sha Tin College Fair is donated to the various charities elected by the Houses individually, such as the Esther Benjamins Trust

Esther Benjamins Trust

The Esther Benjamins Trust is a UK-registered charity which rescues and rehabilitates Nepali child trafficking victims, provides residential refuge to street children and dependents of prisoners and supports education programmes for deaf and disabled young people in Nepal.Its two main programmes...

and Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity International

Habitat For Humanity International , generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or simply Habitat, is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing, a self-described "Christian housing ministry." The international...

.
The School Fair comprises musical entertainment, game stalls and a raffles sale.

Blocks

Sha Tin College is arranged into four blocks plus one that is shared with the Junior School. Each floor of each block is often devoted to a particular subject. Each room has a room number consisting of three digits. Each digit represents the block number, floor and room respectively.

Hall block

Ground floor: undercover area, PTA bookshop, nurse, PTA office, senior school common room
First floor: Drama studio
Second floor: hall
Third floor: hall balcony
Roof: astro-turf pitch (connected to the fourth floor of Block 1)

Block 1

Ground floor: English as an Additional Language and Psychology rooms, main entrance, general office, girls' toilet
First floor: English rooms, staff toilets
Second floor: History, Geography, Philosophy and Religious Studies rooms (collectively known as PRS from Years 7-9), toilets
Third floor: Modern foreign languages rooms (Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian), toilets
Fourth floor: hall balcony, Mathematics rooms and Physics lab
Roof: rooftop garden

Block 2

Ground floor: Design and Technology workshops
First floor: Food Technology and Mathematics rooms, detention room, staff room, after-school detention room
Second floor: Library, Geography room
Third floor: Senior School Centre, seminar rooms, careers, Film Studies and Psychology room
Fourth floor: Science labs (Physics, Chemistry and Biology)
Fifth floor: Science labs (Biology and Chemistry)

Block 3

Ground floor: Chartwells cafeteria
First floor: Art and Information Technology rooms
Second floor: Art rooms
Third floor: Information Technology rooms
Fourth floor: Business Studies and Economics rooms
Fifth floor: Music rooms
Sixth floor: Drama studios

Block 4

Ground floor: swimming pool
First floor: swimming pool entrance, changing rooms, toilets
Second Floor: Sha Tin Junior School classrooms (Year 5 & 4 )
Third floor: toilet and changing rooms; Sha Tin Junior School classrooms
Fourth floor: sports hall
Roof: astro-turf pitch

Cafeteria

In 2007, the school decided to change the cafeteria to the present one run by Chartwells. The current cafeteria is managed by Chartwells, a subsidiary company of the Compass Group Hong Kong

Compass Group

Compass Group plc is a global contract foodservice and support services company headquartered near London, United Kingdom. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world and has operations in over 50 countries...

. It is simply referred to as "the cafeteria".

In previous years, there were two cafeterias, Mr Sy's and Café Concepts. According to the school, Mr Sy retired from service and the canteen stopped operating in 2006, which only left Café Concepts for students to buy from. Managed by Chartwells, the cafeteria took over Café Concepts at the start of the 2007/08 school year in August.

Transport

There are two minibus

Public light bus

A Public light bus is a common public mode of transport in Hong Kong. It mainly serves the area that standard Hong Kong bus lines cannot reach as efficiently. It is also colloquially known as a minibus or a van, defined as a kind of share taxi....

routes stopping at the College. The most commonly used 69K route goes to Sha Tin Station, while the 811A passes through Fo Tan Station. In the past, there was a coach which went to Sha Tin Station just after school, but it ceased to operate beginning term 2 of the 2007/08 school year.

There are also many school buses serving the school, with the school PTA hiring six Citybuses

Citybus (Hong Kong)

Citybus Limited is one of the three major bus operators in Hong Kong. It provides both franchised and non-franchised bus service. The franchised route network serves mainly Hong Kong Island, cross-harbour routes , Ocean Park, North Lantau and Hong Kong International Airport...

as school buses as well as other private school bus companies services.

Route 1: Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong , formerly Kau Lung Tong, is an area in Hong Kong. Within New Kowloon, it is administratively divided by Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District...
Route 2: City One
City One
City One Shatin is a residential area in the District of Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. City One is located 12.5 kilometres north of Central. City One is the largest private residential estate in Sha Tin District. There are a total of 52 blocks of residential buildings...

Sha Tin
Sha Tin
Sha Tin, also spelled Shatin, is an area around the Shing Mun River in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District.-Geography:...

/Fairview Park
Fairview Park (Hong Kong)
Fairview Park is a substantial private residential estate in Yuen Long District, New Territories, Hong Kong.-History:...

/Fanling
Fanling
Fanling , also known as Fan Ling and Fan Leng, is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the North District...

/Palm Springs
Route 3: Fo Tan
Fo Tan
Fo Tan is a suburb of Sha Tin District, Hong Kong. It was developed as a light industrial area, but this activity has declined markedly in recent years. There are residential areas to the east, alongside the MTR line, and in the foothills to the west....

/Kowloon
Kowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
Route 4: Hong Lok Yuen
Route 5: Tai Po Road
Tai Po Road
Tai Po Road is the second longest road in Hong Kong . It spans from Sham Shui Po in Kowloon to Tai Po in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Initially, the road was named Frontier Road....
Route 6: Ma On Shan/Sha Tin
Sha Tin
Sha Tin, also spelled Shatin, is an area around the Shing Mun River in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District.-Geography:...

Prior to the 2006/07 school year, Route 2 had a station in Hong Lok Yuen. However, that has been since filled by Route 4.

Notable Alumni

Stephanie Ho
Trad Nathan: Keyboardist from The Amity Affliction (Australian Post Hardcore Band)
The Amity Affliction
The Amity Affliction is an Australian post-hardcore band from Gympie, Queensland formed in 2002.The band's current line-up is Joel Birch , Ahren Stringer , Ryan Burt and Troy Brady...

Shatin College in Popular Culture

Shatin College's campus has often been featured in movies and music videos. These include:

Stephen Chow's Fight Back to School (逃學威龍): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPxSWtdxoW4&feature=related

Leslie Cheung's All's Well, Ends Well (家有囍事): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvMQ98xNvKc&feature=related

G.E.M.'s 等一個他: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ordZIcwXZTs

External links

Official website

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