History Of Our School
The name Kennedy School became the school’s official title when it moved to its current premises in Sha Wan Drive, Sandy Bay, Pokfulam in 1989. When it was established in 1961, it was known as Kennedy Road Junior School and occupied temporary premises in Kennedy Road, Mid-Levels.
The school opened on September 16, 1961 with 44 pupils and two teachers, Miss M. Patten and Miss J.E. Holmes. The opening was necessitated by the rapid growth of the expatriate population at that time and because Glenealy School was unable to accommodate all Year 1 applicants. The school was administered by the Hong Kong Government.
The original premises consisted of two delightful old colonial style buildings dating from around 1918. The exact date is not known as the information is missing from the Lands Office records. The main building at No. 26 Kennedy Road was erected as a Japanese school for 80 students. The staff lived in flats on the top floor. A camphorwood tree grew in the courtyard on the Ground Floor level. There was an altar off the main play area guarded by the two stone temple dogs which used to guard the entrance of our present site until donated to a local Japanese school, and the Japanese logo of the Rising Sun was on the gable. The building became Government property following the Second World War. From time to time former Japanese pupils returned to visit and photograph their old school.
The second building at No. 28 Kennedy Road (called the Annex) housed the first Kennedy Road School which operated from 1946 to December 1953. In 1953 it combined with the Peak School (formerly housed in what is now the Fire Station in Gough Hill Path) and moved into the new Peak School premises on the corner of Plunkett’s Road. The Log Book of the original school is still retained in the Peak School. The original Kennedy School had six classes and about 60 pupils.
In 1979, the Hong Kong Government dis-established the five English-medium Primary Schools which it administered and they came under the auspices of the English Schools Foundation. As the premises which housed Kennedy Road Junior School were in a poor state and badly sited for the catchment area, the Government undertook to replace the building. This was not done until 1988 when construction of the present building was begun.
Over 4,000 pupils had attended Kennedy Road Junior School before it moved to Sandy Bay. Leaving the premises in Kennedy Road, which had been occupied for 27 years, was a very sad occasion for staff and pupils and especially for the Principal, Miss Holmes, who had been at the school since it was first established.
The school now has two main blocks – the North Wing, which was the original building and the East Wing, which was added in 1998 and dedicated to Liz Gibb, the school’s Principal from 1990 – 1997 who, sadly, passed away before the East Wing was officially opened.
When the school opened on its present site it had already expanded from 12 classes at Kennedy Road to 18 classes and during the 1990s and with the completion of the East Wing it expanded rapidly to 30 classes with a maximum capacity of 900 children.