In 1950, the school was renamed “Kau Yan College” when it started to run a secondary school section with English as the medium of instruction.  The school building was used on a shared basis by the primary school in the morning and the secondary school in the afternoon. Due to insufficient space, a new school building was planned. The construction of the new school building was completed in 1957.

To focus on the development of the primary and secondary schools, the kindergarten section was closed down in 1959. In the same year, the secondary school section offered the matriculation course, expanding into a school complete with all levels of secondary education.

Growing Phase (1961-1999)
Upon the completion of the new school building, the school developed at a steady pace, while striving for progress. In 1967, massive riots broke out in Hong Kong, resulting in suspensions of the classes.  Thanks to the protection of God, the school came through the turmoil safe and sound.

In 1972, the Government had introduced free primary education. Our school offered scholarships and bursaries to students in need.  In 1975, Kau Yan College received the initial subsidy from the Government, and since then the primary and secondary school sections had become independent from each other administratively.

In 1985, the Education Department granted approval for the school to change its name to “Kau Yan Primary School”.

In 1989, the School Management Committee accepted the Education Department’s proposal to relocate Kau Yan College to a new school site in Tai Po, the New Territories. At the same time, plans were put in place to make available the school building vacated by the secondary school for the expansion of the primary school.

In September 1991, the secondary school began to move out of the school building in Sai Ying Pun by phases, thus sparing more classrooms for the primary school. Students of the afternoon classes were transferred to the morning classes, so that extracurricular activities could be organized in the afternoon. This change had brought about major improvements to school life in terms of time and space utilization. 

Challenging Phase (1992-Present)
Following the complete relocation of the secondary school to Tai Po, in 1992 the primary school also moved out of the old school premises in Sai Ying Pun to a building freely offered by the Hong Kong Swatow Christian Church as its temporary campus, so as to enable the redevelopment of the school building on the original site. Two separate School Management Committees were also set up for the administration of the secondary school and the primary school respectively.

In 1993, the primary school formally became a whole-day school.

The new school building was completed in August 1995 at the construction cost of about $60 million. Well equipped with teaching and learning facilities, the new school building accommodates a kindergarten campus of 10,000 square feet, which has nine classrooms and a spacious activity area. The primary school is housed in a campus of 50,000 square feet, which comprises a covered playground, an outdoor basketball court, a library, computer rooms, audio-visual lecture rooms and a large school kitchen. There are about 30 air-conditioned classrooms and special-purpose teaching rooms. Mrs. Julie To was appointed as School Principal in March 1995, and Mrs. Joyce Ma as Head of the kindergarten section in September 1995 to assist Mrs. To in resuming the operation of the kindergarten.

In February 1996, the kindergarten section resumed operation.  In 1998, the school kitchen started to serve delicious and healthy lunches for teachers and students on every school day.

In 1999, the school participated in the “A User-friendly Flexi-IT Approach for Education” project as one of the ten pioneering schools.  Organized by the University of Hong Kong and subsidized by the Quality Education Fund, the project provided comprehensive IT proficiency training for all teachers.

In 2001, the school implemented major reforms on its schooling timetable and assessment system in keeping with the trend of social and education developments.  Arrangements had also been made for students of various grades to take part in community care activities, so as to enhance their social awareness. The school computer network was completed in February, and a multimedia teaching room was operational in April. Furthermore, a “Kau Yan Little Garden” consisting of a children playground and a small farm was set up to vividly grace the campus. In that year, the Advisory Inspectorate Division of the Education Department visited 72 whole-day primary schools, and our school was selected as one of the four best-performing schools of the year.

In 2002, our school was awarded a distinction among the 66 participating primary schools in the “Outstanding Reading Scheme”, which was jointly organized by the Education Department and the Hong Kong Information Education City. The “Unique Me” project on moral education was also launched, in which a junior student was paired up with a senior student to promote a caring partnership and the sense of belonging to the school. An exhibition entitled “Festival Gift of Red Ants” was held in March to display the artistic works of kindergarten students.  The art pieces were subsequently compiled into a pictorial book which was highly appreciated by parents and the community, signifying a major step taken by the school towards the development of art education for children.

In 2003, the school operated 18 classes with some 520 students. During the outbreak of SARS, all schools in Hong Kong suspended the classes. To minimize the impact on the students’ learning, our school resumed the classes in the form of small group teaching. As a showcase of the achievements of integrated curriculum with art education, an exhibition entitled “Apron Made of Patches” was held in April to display the artistic works of kindergarten students. The art pieces were subsequently published as a pictorial book. The school’s efforts in developing multiple intelligences through art education were highly appreciated and recognized by parents and the community. In July, a graduation ceremony was held in tandem with a picture exhibition entitled “The World of Children’s Heart” in the Jockey Club Auditorium of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to exhibit the creative works of students.

In December 2004, a Christmas Music Nite was held in the United Christian College (Kowloon East), with more than 450 parents attending the show. In July, the school organized the “Joyful Music of Children” show and published a CD together with a booklet to capture the music pieces. Students were highly involved in these activities, and parents were deeply touched by the children’s performances. In that year, our school was the Grand Champion of Female Athletes (Western District of Hong Kong Island) Group under the “New Asia Cup” Primary School Sports Award Scheme, which was organized by the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation.

In 2005, our school introduced a pilot group teaching programme, with primary five students divided according to their learning ability and needs into four groups for Chinese, English and Mathematics lessons.  In sports, our school was once again the winner of Gold Award for the Female Athletes (Western District of Hong Kong Island) Group under the “New Asia Cup” Primary School Sports Award Scheme.

In 2006, the school organized a series of activities to celebrate its 60th Anniversary, including Open Day, Thanksgiving Worships, Thanksgiving Banquet, Graduation Ceremony and Variety Shows.  In addition, the primary school published “The Learning Journey Enriched with Exploration of Love” which systematically recorded the works of our students. Academically, we extended group teaching to primary six classes, achieving remarkable results.  To broaden teachers’ perspective, three study tours were organized for our teachers to visit Germany, Switzerland, Shanghai and Singapore.  All participating teachers fruitfully benefited from the tours.

In celebrating the school’s 60th Anniversary, the kindergarten section took the opportunity to enable students to learn about the history of Kau Yan School as well as the anecdotes of two missionaries of Kau Yan Church. A learning project entitled “Missionaries Who Wore Braids” was organized, complete with the publication of a story book on the same theme and a pictorial book to showcase the works of the students. Through this project, we aimed for the students to pass on the will of God and make contribution to the society in the future.  In September of the same year, the kindergarten section joined the “National Education in Early Childhood” project, which was organized by the World Organization for Early Childhood Education-Hong Kong and funded by the Quality Education Fund. Among the 199 participating schools, our kindergarten was selected as one of the 20 “seed schools”.

In 2007, the parent education class, in celebrating its 10th Anniversary, published a special book entitled “Grace Added Upon Family”, which was a testimony to the abundance of God’s grace on the families of Kau Yan students. The kindergarten section successfully became an eligible kindergarten under the “Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme” and received subsidies for teachers’ professional development.  In the 2007/2008 school year, Mrs. Julie To pursued a part-time course in Australia, while serving as School Principal. During her absence from Hong Kong, Ms. Tanny Lai became the acting Principal.

In 2008, our school achieved outstanding results in the Secondary School Places Allocation, with 83% of its students allocated to schools of their first choice. Under the guidance of God, as the School Management Committee was able to identify Mrs. Gloria Chan as a suitable successor to Mrs. Julie To as School Principal, Mrs. To decided to retire early in August. Mrs. Gloria Chan became the Principal-designate in May, and the Principal of the school on 1 September 2008. Mrs. Julie To had been dedicated to providing quality education in Kau Yan School for 14 years. Fully committed to the education vision of Kau Yan School, she had established an outstanding team of Christian teachers and created a Christian education culture that enabled each student to develop holistically and to know about Christ through life education. Credit should also go to Mrs. To for her efforts in organizing Sunday parent education classes in Kau Yan Church since 1996, which enabled parents to grow together, get to know Christ and educate our children with a concerted mind. On 12 July, a farewell banquet was held to honour Mrs. To’s retirement. The grand banquet was well attended by parents, students, alumni, pastors, teachers, school managers and school consultants to share the beautiful and memorable moments with Mrs. To.  After her retirement, Mrs. To serves as our school consultant, assisting in the promotion of parent education.

Chan Leung Suk-ching Gloria has been committing to the education sector once she attained her Bachelor Degree from The University of Hong Kong in 1982. In the past 29 years, she has been serving successively as a secondary teacher of a Christian school, curriculum development officer of the Education Bureau, founding principal and education consultant of a direct subsidized primary school.

During her service, she attained a Certificate in Education, an Advanced Diploma in Education and a Master in Education; and numerous certificates related to International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme, family counseling as well as information and communication technology (ICT) in education. She was also invited to various countries around the world for educational exchange and experience sharing. Gloria is very experienced with school administration. She spares no effort in the development of school-based curriculum and enhancement of teachers’ professionalism. Furthermore, she was frequently invited by universities and education institutions to train serving principals and aspiring principals. In recent years, Gloria has been a board member of an international poverty alleviation organization and involves in active promotion of life education. She has been assisting in fund raising for building schools, training local principals and teachers as well as paying visits to Africa, remote mountain areas and underprivileged regions in China.

Her principalship in Kau Yan School is blessed. Gloria leads the school with love and professionalism, as evident by the emphasis on life education, numerous staff development workshops, seminars and visits in and outside Hong Kong. She toured around the world such as Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Finland, UK and Mainland China to gain more insights for leading a quality school. It is promising to find teachers becoming more reflective in their teaching and curriculum design. School-based curriculum is developed vigorously.

There are new modules facilitating all-rounded development of our students. Students are exposed to many valuable learning experiences such as the newly established School Orchestra, sport teams, art programmes, English and PTH drama, gifted programmes, creative projects, enrichment weeks, exhibition of student works, IT projects, environmental projects, poverty alleviation activities and many others.

The development of the Curriculum Mapping Software can upgrade the quality of the school curriculum through thematic design of each learning unit and better scope and sequence among subjects. Helping the needed and the poor is a focus of the school life education. In Christian belief, our care for others has to be realized through action and passion. The school also works closely with many NGOs to help alleviate world poverty. In addition, Kau Yan School starts her three years “Partnership Collaboration Scheme” with The University of Hong Kong.  Currently, the recent educational changes of the school have been widely reported by media and press.

In our school premise development, the 3.6-million Learning Centre started its service in September 2009. It is 5300 square feet and housed about 20000 books. The Wi-fi wireless internet service helps the advancement of technology education in Kau Yan curriculum. The Centre has been proven an excellent centre facilitating students’ self-learning, project-based learning, community-based learning and technology-based learning. It is also an ideal place for exhibition, mass assembly and many innovative learning activities.

To follow the successful path of the Learning Centre, the 3800 square feet Integrated Arts Centre was constructed with an investment of 2.3 millions in September 2010. It is worthy because students’ arts development can be visualized with such fabulous well-facilitated learning place. Students can enjoy the learning of dance, music, drama and some sport games in the Centre.

May God continue to add strength and grace, as well as bless every members of our school to work vigorously in concert, and in the spirit of the love of God and the education vision of the Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong Kau Yan Church, to nurture talents and preach the Gospel for the glorification of God’s holy name.