Belilios Public School

Belilios Public School is the first government school for girls in Hong Kong, founded in 1890. It was the first bilingual school in Hong Kong.

History

In 1890, the Hong Kong Government set up the Central School for Girls at Old Bailey Street as the counterpart of Central School. With the education of their daughter in mind, Mr. E. R. Belilios, a Jewish philanthropist donated HK$ 25 000 for a new building for the Central School for Girls in 1893, at the old site of Central school , a 3-storeyed building was erected between Hollywood Road and Gough Street.



The school was re-named ''Belilios Public School'' in honour of Mr. Belilios. In 1946 after the , BPS moved to Hospital Road. In April 1965, the school moved again, to its present premises in Tin Hau Temple Road. To mark the occasion, a new school motto ''Climb High, See Wide'', a school song and a new school badge were created.

The founder

The Belilios family had escaped the Spanish Inquisition and settled in Greece. Some members changed the family name to "Belilos" to make it sound more Greek, others retained the original family name.



E.R. Belilios was a successful entrepreneur while in Greece who decided to settle in Hong Kong with his wife. Apparently, he became world famous, back then, because he loved camels and therefore decided to take along a camel to Hong Kong on the luxury liner. It made quite a stir among the world press.



In Hong Kong Belilios prospered. He also formed several trade organizations, and was one of the founders of what is today called the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce. He helped form the Bank of Hong Kong.

Achievements

BPS has been one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong. While the students generally achieve a high academic performance, the school promotes also all-rounded development in different fields of arts, music and sports. Entrance hurdles are high and the school is reputed to have one of the toughest admission criteria in Hong Kong.



The following were achievements in year 2003/04 -

Performing arts

*The 55th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival: 17 Champions, 23 First runners-up in the English section; 28 Champions, 25 First runners-up in the Chinese section.

*One pupil was awarded the Champion in English in the Air 2003-2004

*In the 2004 Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Competition: Second runner-up, Best Creativity and Merit Prize.

*2004 Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition: two groups of pupils entered the final round and one of them obtained the Honourable Mention; one pupil won 2nd Prize in the Award Scheme for Tomorrow’s Scientists of the Nation.

*The 40th Schools Dance Festival: the Honour Award in the Chinese Dance Section.

*The 56th Schools Music Festival: 14 Champions, 19 First runners-up

*Two pupil won 2nd and merit prizes respectively in the Environmental Protection Essay Competition organized by the

Sports

*The school Athletics Team was promoted to Division Two in the 2004-2005 school year;

*The Basketball Team and the Badminton Team : First runner-up in Division One of Hong Kong Island.

*The Table Tennis Team : Second runner-up in Division One

*The Squash Team : Overall Champion; a member of the Squash Team received the Outstanding School Athlete Award 2003-2004 and was elected Outstanding Athlete in Squash in the BOCHK Bauhinia Bowl, and First runner-up in the “Student Sportsperson of the Year” organized by the South China Morning Post.

Notable alumni

* Denise Yue - Secretary for the Civil Service and former Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

* - former member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and Legislative Council of Hong Kong

* - Former Actress

* Cecilia Wong- Distinguished writer and novelist