Catholic High School, Malaysia

Catholic High School Petaling Jaya
SMJK Katholik/公教中学

Loyaltities, Sincerity, Diligence, Moderation
Location
Jalan 10/3, 46000, Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Petaling Jaya
Malaysia
Information
Type Conforming
Established 1956
Founder Brother Philippe Wu
Chairman Dato Seri Lim Hock San of LBS Group
Principal Mr.Ong Boon Puah
Grades 100% pass for STPM
Number of students 3100
Medium of language English, Chinese, Malay
School Code BEB 8653
Students Co-educational
Website www.chspj.edu.my

Catholic High School Petaling Jaya (CHSPJ), more commonly known as SMJK Katholik, is a coeducational government school in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, recognised as a Cluster School of Excellence by the Malaysian Ministry of Education. Founded in 1956 by Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu of the Marist Brothers, it has over 3100 students. It has an area of 8.4 acres (34,000 m2) with six blocks of classrooms with different designs, three blocks of science laboratories with lab assistants, a school hall with a/c, a sports complex, 11 toilets and a school field full of green grass. CHS is the first school to install solar panel on rooftops to save the world by using "clean energy" and also to cut down on their over-priced electric bills. CHS has 14 uniform bodies, 36 societies, 5 sports houses and 14 sports and games clubs. The students of CHS are known as 'CHS-ians'.

History

CHSPJ at dusk seen from the school field

Established by Brother Philippe Wu, a Marist Brother from the Marist Congregation based in Singapore, it was first called Marist High School. The Marist High School shared classrooms with the Maxwell Secondary School as there were no school buildings available. A School-Building Planning Committee was formed to design a new building to house the school. The government approved and allocated a piece of land in Cheras but the committee decided that it was unwise to build the school on the piece of land allocated due to its poor location and expensive building costs.

Later in 1956, the committee purchased a piece of land in Petaling Jaya that spanned 10 acres (40,000 m2) with the money collected from a fund-raising project. A new two story building with 20 classrooms was constructed. The foundation stone was laid by the Right Reverend Monsignor Tan Sri Dominic Aloysius Vendargon, the first local Roman Catholic Lord Archbishop of the Diocese of Kuala Lumpur. In the same year, Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu was appointed the Brother Provincial of the Marist Brothers and the premiership of the school was passed to Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu.

In 1959, the first batch of students sat for the LCE Examination. The principal at the time, Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu expanded the school by building a block of science laboratories and a library. In 1961, the first batch of Form 5 students sat for S.C/F.M.C Examination and thus the pioneer batch of CHSians graduated.

In 1962, the school's premiership was handed over to Rev. Bro. Lawrence Tung. During his tenure as principal, the school purchased two buses for co-curricular use and improvements were made to the school field. In accordance with the Education Act of 1961, Catholic High School became a conforming school and changed its name to SM Katholik. However, the name Catholic High School still remains in use and the school is still commonly referred to as such.

From 1963 to 2005, the school saw an expansion in facilities and an increase in student population. Several blocks of class rooms were erected, and a hall, canteen, sports facilities and laboratories were built.

In 1984, the school became a co-educational school. The following year, the Form Six Classes opened its doors to female students.

In 1989, the appointment of Mr. Cheok Cheo Foh marked the end of the era whereby Marist Brothers were no longer the principals of the school. To this day, the Marist Brothers do have a signifiant say as to the leadership and the direction of the school.

In 2001, Madam Tan Lin became the first female principal of Catholic High School, succeeding Mr. Lee Kim Tian. During her tenure as principal, the security of the school was tightened by installing closed-circuit television, an automatic pole gate at the entrance and introducing new rules and measures to ensure the safety of the 3350 students. The school hall was upgraded and an air conditioning system was installed. Madam Tan Lin retired on 5 September 2007. Her successor is Madam Lee Kim Lai (sister of Mr Lee Kim Tian)who took office on 22 October 2007.

In September 2011, Madam Lee Kim Lai retired as the principal of Catholic High School and Mr Ong Boon Puah was installed as the new, and current principal of Catholic High School.

Sports

In July 2007, the school's all-boys' cheer leading team, Calyx All-boys, made their début in the national inter-school cheerleading competition, Cheer 2007, and managed secured the title as "Best Newcomer".

CHS has made appearances in the arena of Ultimate Frisbee. In the year 2006, CHS competed in the UM Open, sending three teams (one Open, one Men Novice, one Women Novice).[1] In the next year, CHS sent a few representatives to join All Star at the Valley Ultimate's Hard-Core Ultimate Frisbee[2] and also sent five teams to make a clean sweep at the Subang Jaya Community Youth Under-18 Ultimate Open.[3] In the year 2008, CHS competed in competitions such as the UiTM Open where the team received the title of Most Promising Team,[4][5] Taylor's Ultimate Mini[6] and sent representatives for the Malaysia Ultimate Open held at international level.

In 2012, the cheerleading team, Calyx All-girls was the champion of the category of All-Girl School Division, and Calyx Junior also was the champion of the category of Junior Division in Charm Cheerleading Championship 2012 which was held in 1 Utama. Besides that, Calyx All-girls got second place in the National Youth Day cheerleading competition and the winner of Best Make-Up Award for Cheer 2012.

In 2013 and 2014, 2 of the school's swimmers (Yap Siew Hui and Yeap Zheng Yang) took part in numerous international swimming competitions and came back with abs and tons of medals.

Music

Catholic High School Band was established in 1982 under Brother Paul Sung, a former principal of the school, by starting off as a marching band with 30 members under Xavier Anthony as the first band tutor; and subsequently under Mr. Eric Lee, also a former band member of the school, till date. Catholic High School Band performed at the Music Festival held in Spain 2001, but their greatest achievement was winning the 2000 and 2005 National High School Marching Band Competition - and six years as Selangor State Marching Competition Champion. Since, Mr. Eric has led the gradual transformation of the band from marching-oriented into orchestration-oriented; as a result, the band has successfully won 2 gold medals from the Winter Band Festivals held in Hong Kong in 2011 and 2015.

The school has an Oriental/Chinese Orchestra, and a harmonica and guitar band.

For the 50th Anniversary Jubilee Concert, Tan Lin introduced the Catholic High School Symphony Orchestra, which was formed ad hoc, comprising members from the brass band, Oriental Music Orchestra and other string instrument players selected from the student body. In 2009, a some pupils formed a partnership with the CHS Band to found the Catholic High School Sinfonietta under the aegis of CHS Band. The CHS Sinfonietta provides a platform for string musicians to play in an orchestra, as well as students to inexpensively learn string instruments. The CHS Sinfonietta first performance was as a String Quintet during the Teachers' Day celebration and their second performance was during the retirement ceremony of Ms. Yong Moi Moi and Mdm. Tan Tiu Hang as a string quartet. On 25 December 2010, the CHS Sinfonietta performed in the One Utama shopping mall as one of its Christmas guest performers. With the CHS Sinfonietta up and running and gaining traction, CHS is one of the few schools in Malaysia with a fully fledged school orchestra, a marching band and a classical Chinese orchestra.

In 2010, the CHS Choir participated in the World Choir Games held in Shaoxing, China. The choir won a silver award.

School vision and mission

Notable alumni

Sister schools

References

  1. ↑ Supreme UM Ultimate Open!
  2. ↑ HCF 07 - One more title for Satu Lagi
  3. ↑ SJC YUO - Clean sweep by Catholic High School
  4. ↑ Phenomenal INTI Ultimate Tournament!
  5. ↑ Lions are Roaring champions UUO
  6. ↑ Wildcats win Taylor's Ultimate Mini
  7. ↑
  8. ↑

External links

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