# Diocesan Girls' School

Diocesan Girls' School (DGS; Chinese: 拔萃女書院) is one of the oldest girls' schools in Hong Kong, operated by the Anglican Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會) to provide a well-rounded secondary education for girls.

## Structure

DGS is governed by the Council of the Diocesan Girls' School. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded, the school changed to an operation in the Direct Subsidy Scheme mode starting with Secondary One classes in September 2005. English is the medium of instruction. By 2024, DGS accounted for a total of 52 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards, ranking first among all secondary schools in Hong Kong, and outnumbering the combined number of winners of the next two schools. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools group. It has a "feeder" primary school known as Diocesan Girls' Junior School ("DGJS").

## History
### Pre-war

There was a Diocesan Native Female Training School founded in 1860 at Bonham Road and Eastern Street on Hong Kong Island. That school was set up by Lady Lydia Smith, the wife of George Smith, who was the first Bishop of Victoria sent by the Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East, a sub-society of the London Missionary Society. At first, it admitted only girls. In 1866, it was renamed Diocesan Female Training & Industrial Schools. Because of financial problems, the school had to restrict its services solely to orphans and destitute girls.
In 1869, Diocesan Home and Orphanage was founded to admit both boys and girls, and occupied the building at the corner of Eastern Street and Bonham Road.
Diocesan Girls' School and Orphanage first received government financial assistance in 1900 when it was opened in Rose Villas as a Church of England School principally for Eurasian and European girls. It was placed under the grant-in-aid scheme, officially establishing itself as a girls' school.
In 1913, the school moved to its present site at 1 Jordan Road, Kowloon, formerly a rice paddy field. In the 1920s, the school motto, Daily Giving Service, was adopted. During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, the school was taken over as headquarters of the Japanese Kempeitai until it was re-opened in September 1945 by Ms. Gibbins, then headmistress, who was interned at Stanley camp during the occupation. Immediately upon her release, she hurried back to reclaim the school premises despite difficulty in crossing the harbour, thus saving the building from being looted.

### Post war

In the 1950s, with the closure of the adjacent town-gas depot, the school was able to expand. The old Edwardian edifice was pulled down, and three school blocks were constructed to accommodate the enlarged student body. The school embarked on a large scale school expansion project, and two extension blocks were opened respectively in 1993 and 1996. The new phase of expansion had been completed and was opened officially on 12 January 2007.
In 2005, DGS joined the Direct Subsidy Scheme, in the view to enhance the facilities to meet the demand of increased number of classes. In site redevelopment has been chosen against the use of a new site provided by the Education Bureau, based on cost considerations. The new school campus was designed by architects Palmer and Turner, and the preliminary designs was reviewed by a group of alumni. A fund-raising campaign was launched in 2008 for the redevelopment of the old school campus, which targets on HKD 380 million. In 2009, the classes in DGS were temporarily relocated to 101 Castle Peak Road, Sham Shui Po, whereas DGJS was moved to Tseung Kwan O during the reconstruction. In September 2011, the school returned to 1 Jordan Road upon completion of the new campus.

## Headmistresses

| Name | Tenure |
| Elizabeth Skipton | 1899–1921 |
| Miss Ferguson | 1921–1925 |
| H.D. Sawyer | 1925–1939 |
| E.M. Gibbins | 1939–1946 |
| A.W. Hurrell | 1946–1953 |
| C.J. Symons | 1953–1985 |
| Elim Lau | 1985–1999 |
| Stella Lau | 1999 to date |

## Other related associations

* St. Andrews Church in the Diocese of Western Kowloon in Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui is the parish church of DGS.

## List of Top Scorers in Public Examinations

DGS has produced 38 perfect scorers "10As" in the history of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and 14 "Top Scorers" and "Super Top Scorers" in the history of Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE). The total number of top performers ranks the 2nd amongst all secondary schools in Hong Kong.

## Alumnae

* Rebecca Chan Chung
* Solina Chau
* Irene Cheng
* Sarah Liao
* Karen Mok
* Mary Jean Chan