SM St. Michael Sandakan
The SM St. Michael Sandakan ( English St. Michael's Secondary School ) is a secondary school ( Malay sekolah menengah (SM) ) in the Malaysian city of Sandakan in the state of Sabah . It was founded in 1888 by the Anglican clergyman William Henry Elton , who also built the church of St. Michael's and All Angels , which is adjacent to the school . The school is the second oldest school in Sabah.
history
founding
The city of Sandakan requested a priest for the Anglican community soon after it was founded. In 1888 the Reverend William Henry Elton was called to serve as an Anglican priest for Sandakan. He arrived in Sandakan on September 2, 1888. Governor Charles Vandeleur Creagh gave him the authority to select a vacant piece of land for the construction of a mission station. Assisted by von Donop, he explored the jungle that bordered the city in the following weeks and finally found a two-hectare plot of land on the Elton Hill named after him , which he could use to build a temporary church with an associated vicariate, a school for boys , a school for girls and the necessary outbuildings seemed suitable. Elton's plans were unanimously adopted on October 5, 1888, in a general assembly of the Anglican parish of Sandakan.
The Elton era
The beginnings of the boys' school were rather modest; in the first two months there was only one student with whom the Reverend Elton made an agreement that he would teach him the Malay language and that he would teach the student in English . In the absence of a school building, classes initially took place in a barrack that the North Borneo government had previously used as a pharmacy. After three months the number of students had grown to six and since Elton had to take care of the building of the church, Bishop George Frederick Hose sent him from Sarawak in 1889 a candidate priest to support him. The boarding school belonging to the school has now started with three alumni . In September 1892 the school got its first English teacher. J. Patrick, the first headmaster, stayed for three years and when he left Sandakan, Elton had to take care of the school and the now 20 boarding students in addition to his pastoral office and the building of the church.
The first years of the institution operating under the name Church of England School were marked by a constant change of school leaders. It was not until 1901 that Elton Hill's eldest son, Henry, became something of a constant. Henry Elton remained in office as headmaster for the next twelve years.
On the night of October 31, 1904, the school was destroyed by a tropical cyclone . The boarding school students had to be evacuated and found refuge in the unfinished but stone-built choir of the church. School operations initially continued in temporary rooms. The Reverend Elton saw the time had come to build a permanent building for the boys' school. With financial support from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), two Anglican missionary societies, construction began in July 1906. Using clapboard and tropical hardwood from the earlier, makeshift church roof, a two-story school building was created. The building was inaugurated in April 1907 and survived until the Second World War. The upper floor was the boarding school, where students were accepted for a monthly fee of nine Straits dollars. This amount already included the school fees. The number of students rose steadily and in April 1911 had reached 90 students. This made it necessary to separate the headmaster's apartment from the school building in order to create more space for the students. The principal's house was built on the parish property for the sum of 1,500 Straits dollars.
The following years heralded the end of the Elton era. First, Henry Elton had to give up his post as rector for health reasons. His father's health was also compromised after 25 years of hard pioneering work. During that time the Reverend Elton had only taken three vacations. Before returning to England in 1913, he managed to repay the debts for the church building, complete the construction work on the boys 'school and the girls' school and hand over all the buildings to his successor free of debt.
The time before World War II
When Rev. D. Brown took over the school management in 1939, the number of students had risen to 150 and the school was eligible to hold the junior Cambridge exam as the highest degree . That same year, Simon Yew, one of the teachers, was awarded the Chief Scouts' Medal of Merit by the governor . It was the first award for a Boy Scout in North Borneo. With the occupation of North Borneo by the Japanese, the number of students decreased rapidly and most recently stagnated at around 25. Soon afterwards, the school was closed by the Japanese and used as a radio station. When Sandakan was destroyed, St. Michael's School was also blown by the flames.
Reconstruction after the war
Immediately after the end of the war, it was thanks to Fu Yun Fatt, a former student and teacher of the school, that a new beginning was possible despite financial and personnel bottlenecks. Fu succeeded in erecting a makeshift school building from attap , bamboo and building materials rescued from the rubble. School operations began in May 1946 with nine teachers, including the teacher SY Voo, who had taught at the school for many years before the destruction.
An ambitious development program began with KD Franklin's tenure, which began in 1951. Franklin's agenda included not only the construction of a new school building, but also a reform of the content of the secondary school. His enthusiasm spread to the population and he managed to raise a donation of 25,000 Straits dollars for the new building in the region. The school building designed by A. Kerridge was inaugurated in May 1953 by Governor Sir Ralph Hone. This increased the number of students to 400 and at the end of 1953 the first exams for the Overseas Cambridge School Certificate were taken .
A further increase in the number of pupils made it necessary to outsource the primary school. In 1959 the primary school moved to a six classroom building on the former Cecily Estate . The St. Michael School was now separated into the St. Michael's Secondary School and the St. Michael's Secondary School .
The school today
Today the school is integrated into the Malaysian education system as a Malaysian-speaking national school . Access to St. Michael Secondary School is possible regardless of religious background, although the school still bears the name of St. Michael in its name.
List of Headmasters of St. Michael
From its inception until today, 31 headmasters worked at the school:
| # | principal | period of service |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rev. William Henry Elton | 1888-1892 |
| 2 | HJ Edney | 1893-1894 |
| 3 | George Mathew | 1895 |
| 4th | Rev. William Henry Elton | 1895-1901 |
| 5 | Henry Elton | 1901-1913 |
| 6th | Rev. William Henry Elton | 1913-1914 |
| 7th | Rev. RJ Hitchock | 1915-1918 |
| 8th | LE Currey | not specified |
| 9 | TO Ellis | not specified |
| 10 | WT Keble | not specified |
| 11 | DS Harrison | not specified |
| 12 | Rev. SM Collier | not specified |
| 13 | BJ Sole | not specified |
| 14th | Rev. J. Palsley | not specified |
| 15th | Rev. R. Cutler | not specified |
| 16 | Rev. Henthorne | not specified |
| 17th | Rev. P. Howse | not specified |
| 18th | Fu Yun Fatt | 1946-1947 |
| 19th | Rev. Jack Sparrow | 1947-1948 |
| 20th | Rev. Norman Cecil Brown | 1948-1949 |
| 21st | Fong Chung Fui (incumbent) | 1950-1951 |
| 22nd | Kenneth Douglas Franklin | 1951-1955 |
| 23 | John Brummell | 1956-1965 |
| 24 | Thien Thau Khiong | 1965-1970 |
| 25th | Vun Foh Foh | 1970-1987 |
| 26th | Tung Yow Choi | 1988-1994 |
| 27 | Ronnie Khoo | 1994-1996 |
| 28 | Dr. Edward Miku Tionsu | 1996-1998 |
| 29 | Henley Liew Yun Ye | 1998-2003 |
| 30th | Lee Poh Chin | 2003-2005 |
| 31. | Koh Kim Whatt | 2006 - March 11, 2009 |
| 31. | Mr. Leong Kwok Cheong | 2009 - today |
literature
- Reverend Brian Taylor: THE ELTON HILL 'DIARY' - The story of the founding of St. Michael's Church (PDF; 3.1 MB), Lai Hing & Company, 1976
- Festschrift 75 Years on Elton Hill, The History of St. Michael's Church Sandakan, North Borneo , ed. from the Church Council of St. Michael's, Sandakan, 1963
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anglican Diocese of Sabah: About the Anglican Church in Sabah ( Memento of the original of September 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed January 21, 2013
- ↑ Taylor, THE ELTON HILL DIARY , pp. 1-3
- ↑ Taylor: THE ELTON HILL DIARY , pp. 4-5
- ↑ a b c d Festschrift: 75 years on Elton Hill , page 13
- ↑ Festschrift: 75 years on Elton Hill , page 14
- ↑ Festschrift: 75 years on Elton Hill , page 15
Coordinates: 5 ° 50 ′ 26.6 ″ N , 118 ° 6 ′ 44.6 ″ E