CNEC Lau Secondary School Shepherd's Wisdom Leads the Flock

25th November 2021

"I am a man of great ups and downs!" The Principal of the CNEC Lau Wing Sang Secondary School, Mr Mui Chi Yip, grew up in a single-parent family with three older sisters. Since childhood, his family had pinned high hopes on him, and he was once a boy who was so outspoken that he was admitted to a prestigious school in secondary school. Unfortunately, he lost his self-confidence when he learnt about the Christian faith and went back to church to participate in activities, which changed his life and made him aspire to be a teacher.

He became the third principle of Lau Wing Sang Secondary School in September this year. He said, "The founding principal, Mr Cheng Tak Fu, was my secondary school teacher. He was very strict and hardworking, and he loved his students. He inspired me not only to nurture students' talents, but also to help them find their way and build a healthy and fruitful life.

Principal Mui particularly admired the dedication of his mentor, "Principal Cheng had a hard time starting the school, and in the past 10 years the school has continued to make progress to band 1C. As a Christian school, we have the principle of teaching without discrimination, and we try our best to teach whatever children God gives us, and to nurture them to become successful and contribute to the society."

The motto of the school is "The Way, The Truth, The Life", with emphasis on spiritual education. Students are expected to use the teachings of the Bible as an indicator of how to behave and conduct themselves in the world. The school has a worship team, a Sparklers religious group, and a Parents' Fellowship, which organises various activities, evangelistic camps, and prayer meetings. "The biggest impression I got from Lau Wing Sang Secondary School is that the students are simple, hardworking and teachable. The teachers are enthusiastic and committed to teaching.

Making Students Heroes

As a religious, Principal Mui hopes to lead the school with the belief of shepherd leadership. The book "Shepherd Leadership: Leadership Wisdom from Psalm 23" mentions meeting the needs of the flock, guiding the immortal soul, walking the right path, knowing the valley, and walking side by side. This means that the most important characteristic of a shepherd leader is to be empathetic, to have the heart of a shepherd, to have his feet in the flock, to know the voice of each lamb, and to guide them personally to the truth".

Therefore, his educational philosophy is based on BUILDS, which is a split of the English language. B stands for Bonding, connected to Christ and rooted in the truth; U stands for Understanding, walking with others and putting oneself in their shoes; I stands for Intelligence, learning from the world and understanding the truth; L stands for Love, full of the Lord's love and living with vigour; D stands for Dignity, full of the Lord's love and living with vigour; and D stands for Dignity. L stands for Love, full of the Lord's love, living with vigour; D stands for Dependable, honesty and trustworthiness; S stands for Service, committing to the community and entering into the neighbourhood.

He quoted Hu Shih's motto of "diligence, prudence, harmony and moderation" as his attitude towards learning. "I expect teachers to be adventurers in faith, developers of knowledge, guardians of morality, and good shepherds of Christ, so that students can be from Zero to Hero, cultivating the cultivation of a rootedness in the Word, the awareness of the Holy Spirit's reminder, the freedom of truthfulness, and the goodness of self-sacrifice and love for others".

The school has a dual class teacher system from S1 to S6, which enhances the care for the students, and hence a strong sense of fondness among the teachers. Principal Mui has been actively meeting teachers and different student organisations to get to know each other. "In September every year, there is a Happy Class Photo, in which the Principal takes photos with teachers and students of each class at different places in the school and posts them on the classroom door as a souvenir."

English is one of the most important subjects in the school. Principal Mui said that two classes at each level of junior secondary education are taught in English, including English Language, Mathematics, Science and General Computer, which are called "Multi-English Classes". One of the "Multi-English Classes" includes Geography, Life and Social Studies, which are mainly taught in English, to consolidate English proficiency at junior secondary level. For non-multi-English classes, Science is taught in English, while Mathematics, Home Economics and General Computing are allocated about 25% of the lesson time for various modes of English extension activities.

"In the future, we will put more emphasis on English. We have two expatriate English teachers in the school, who often communicate with students to enhance their conversational skills. In addition, we have chosen different e-book reading platforms for our students to promote reading, such as the Lexile Scale to understand students' English proficiency. In addition, the English Café on the first floor hosts activities and Netflix programmes for students to learn more English in their spare time".

The Tree of Life symbolises students

The 21st century is all about innovation and cloud technology. The new generation needs to have knowledge, skills and attitudes, and President Mui places special emphasis on character and attitude. In particular, President Mui emphasises the importance of character and attitude, saying, "Research talents are not only innovative, but also have a self-learning attitude and beliefs that are the driving force for success. We are committed to nurturing Y.S. Lau's children's outstanding character, pure and solid learning attitude, which meets the foundation of a scientific research talent and possesses the quality of a future leader in society," he said.

Whilst sharing his educational philosophy, Principal Mui took the press on a tour of the campus. The campus is well landscaped, with an eco-lake, a green garden and an eco-corridor, making it an oasis in the concrete jungle. "When the epidemic subsides, we will plant trees in the fields of the school building".

The Tree of Life sculpture next to the ecological lake is a landmark commemorating the 20th anniversary of the school. The design is based on the theme of a tree and its fruits, symbolising that students in the Lau Wing Sang Secondary School are like a tree that grows slowly and produces fruits of life, which nourish and multiply endlessly, nurturing the love between teachers and students. The sculpture is also engraved with Proverbs 11:30: "The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he who is wise will win.

Near the entrance of the school is a fruit tree, which often produces fruits. Students have harvested mangoes and lemons, etc. On the other side of the orchard is a fruit tree that was planted in 2009. On the other side of the orchard is a relief mural created by teachers and students during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the school in 2009. On the wall are the words "Grow Strong, Lift Up Your Wings and Fly High" encouraging the students, and next to it is a quote from the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, Verse 6, where Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

It is worth mentioning that there are two turtles and an aquaponics system in the ground floor of the "Tilting Corner", which allows students to learn about scientific research projects as well as to participate in caring for animals and planting, and to cultivate the virtue of caring for nature. Alumni have been very supportive of the school, with the mosaic mural and sculptural fountain at the entrance being gifts from the third year Form 7 graduates.

"Some graduates also designed cardboard dolls and wrote calligraphy for the school. Principal Mui said with a smile that one of the calligraphies on the wall of one of the corridors was "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God", which came from the Fifth Form Five graduates. On the other side is an inscription in calligraphy from 1 Timothy 4: "Exercise for the body profiteth little; but godliness profiteth all things, through the promise of this life and the life to come", a gift from the first Form 7 graduates.

Another special feature of Lau Wing Sang Secondary School is the close co-operation between home and school. Recently, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) was awarded the Star of Home-School Co-operation Award and the Most Distinctive Activity Award in the 4th Hong Kong East PTA Election in recognition of its achievements. "Parents are very enthusiastic in supporting the school. The Parents' Fellowship has been established for 15 years and regularly organises talks, parent academies and evangelistic meetings. During the epidemic, parents took the initiative to make a film to cheer everyone up. In July this year, the Parent-Teacher Association invited Professor Kung Fan Ngai to conduct an online activity, organising a health seminar for parents on the new vaccine and sharing information."

Mengzi's Golden Sayings for Teaching Daughters

In the last two years, the new crown epidemic has added a lot of pressure to the education sector, Principal Mui listens to classical music, swimming and running, to maintain physical and mental health, people can not be less interesting, he has been a Chinese language and drama education teacher, speech judge for many years, in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in Chinese, focusing on the study of "Mencius", the most profound sentence: "I am good at cultivating my vastness of Qi".

"A few days ago, I taught my daughter, "If Heaven is going to send a great task to a great man, he must first suffer his heart, labour his muscles and bones, and starve his body," everyone has his own mission and responsibility, and people have to go through different difficulties and trials before they can become a great man. Mencius was taught by his mother when he was a child and became a famous Confucian scholar who practised benevolence and was happy with the people, which is why a

good learning environment is very important.

Principal Mui, who has a pro-people approach, describes his relationship with his children as one of friendship: "Unlike the traditional school headmasters of the previous generation, who were so rigid and dignified, I will talk to my children about rules and regulations, and I will do a good job of teaching them by example, so that I can accompany them in their growth, which is very important for them to do together. On the day of the visit, a group of students were playing ping-pong, and Principal Mui improvised by playing a couple of boards and mingling with the students. He laughed and said that he hoped to build a campus culture full of love, respect, tolerance and acceptance, and to pursue their dreams together with the students.

In recent years, 60% of the school's graduates have gone on to university degree programmes, with more students choosing to serve the community and pursue a career in healthcare. In the future, he will endeavour to develop scientific research, with STREAM as the main direction. "In addition to STEM, the school will also incorporate Religion (R) and Art (A).

Written by Lam Yim Hung