La Salle College has a rich 90-year history spanning across two centuries...
1917 - 1938 : The Founding Story
5th September : the Brothers of St. Joseph's College opened a junior school called the St. Joseph’s Branch School at Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.
28th April : Brother Aimar acquired by auction a 10-acre hilly plot of land north of Prince Edward Road (future Boundary Street) as the future La Salle College site for HK$120,000.
5th November : Sir William Peel, then Governor of Hong Kong, laid the foundation stone of La Salle College.
6th January : La Salle College was formally inaugurated. Seven Brothers were headed by Rev. Br. Aimar as Director. There were 14 classes with 540 students.
16th May : La Salle College held its first Sports Day with the blessing of the Chapel by Bishop Valtorta.
1st December : The first Matriculation Class was opened.
9th January : The school year recommenced with 17 classes and 640 students enrolled, among whom 120 boarding students.
5th April : Governor Sir William Peel was guest of honour for the school’s second Sports Day.
The school year commenced in January but ended in June 1935 to accommodate the new September start to the academic year.
La Salle College ranked as the largest school in Hong Kong for the first time with 945 students.
In celebration of the coronation of the new British monarch, the school building was decorated with thousands of light bulbs, outlining the College facade and dome.
La Salle College its first Speech Day.
1939 - 1947 : The war years
3rd September : The British War Department in Hong Kong requisitioned the College as an Internment Camp for Germans, enemy aliens of Britain. The Camp operated until 26th April 1940.
21st July : The La Salle Old Boys’ Association was founded with Louie Allaye Chan ('34) as the founding President.
8th December : the HK Government requisitioned La Salle College as a British Relief Hospital. Schooling was terminated. Over 15 teachers, one Lasallian Brother and old boys died in the defense of Hong Kong.
29th January : The Brothers were ousted from LSC and moved to St Joseph’s College.
In February, most Brothers in LSC and SJC communities departed Hong Kong to travel to Indo-China (modern day Vietnam) and escape Japanese-run Hong Kong. Two Lasallian American Brothers were interned briefly in Stanley, but were later allowed to leave Hong Kong. Meanwhile, LSC was converted into Japanese Military Hospital Number 1.
5th November : Principal Brother Aimar passed away in Indo-China (Nhatrang, South Vietnam), far away from his beloved La Salle College.
The Brothers returned to Hong Kong but found the school occupied as a hospital by an Indian Casualty Clearing Station. The Brothers, the Education Department and the Catholic Church negotiated with the military and finally regained possession in August 1946.
In September, classes recommenced with Brother Cassian installed as Principal and 600 students enrolled. The school was in a poor condition and being restored after withstanding the war and occupation by various parties.
24th December : Brother Cassian departed for an 8-month leave in Europe and Brother Patrick Toner took over.
1948 - 1958 : exile in perth street
The British Military Authorities requisitioned La Salle College and turned it into the 33rd General Military Hospital. La Salle College moved to temporarily built hutments on Perth Street, Ho Man Tin.
17th October : school commenced on Perth Street one month later than usual.
22nd February : the first Sports Day since the Second World War ended. It was also the first Sports Day held outside school, on the Police Club Grounds on Boundary Street.
28th March : La Salle College, led by Colony Sprint champion Stephen Xavier, won the Governor Shield for the second time in a row. La Salle A-grade boys won nine out of 11 events and claimed six of the seven records that were broken during the meet.
The first edition of The Lasallite was issued with Brother Hugh Bates as editor.
Stephen Xavier held three of the Colony’s sprints records: 100 yards at 9.9 seconds; 100 meters at 10.8 seconds and 200 meters at 22.5 seconds.
La Salle won the Inter-school Athletics Competition for the third time. Stephen finished third in the 200M race in the Asian Games in Manila, the only medal for Hong Kong.
Brother Cassian was conferred an OBE for his service for the cause of education in Hong Kong.
Two old boys, Father Thomas Lopez and Father John Lopez were ordained as Dominican priests.
La Salle won the Inter-school Athletics Competition for the fourth time in a row.
23rd April : 17th Kowloon Scouts Junior Troop won the Carlton Banner.
Brother Felix introduced a mandatory school uniform along with school tie, and introduced a Student Council and a Prefects Board with a Head Boy, predecessor of the future Student Association.
The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee (25th Anniversary) while at the temporary Perth Street campus.
23rd February : a Silver Jubilee School Exhibition was held, and The Hon. D.J.S. Crozier, Director of Education, was the Guest of Honour.
15th March : the School Choir was formed with 100 members.The choir came second at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.
31st October : Brother Cassian passed away after a bicycle accident.
11th December : La Salle College held its first Speech Day since 1937.
La Salle College was separated into primary and secondary divisions, with La Salle Primary School commencing school in the La Salle College Annex, while La Salle College remained on Perth Street.
1959 - 1981 : back home to the dome
With the help of various old boys, Assistant Superior General of the Brothers, Brother Lawrence O’Toole, the Pro-Secretary of State for the Vatican, Mon. Dell Acqua, and certain Members of the British Parliament, the Brothers finally regained possession of the LSC campus from the British Military Authorities after a 10-year occupation.
1st August : The La Salle College building on Boundary street was finally returned to the Brothers.
7th September : The school reopened.
Brother Aimar’s bust, donated by La Salle Old Boys’ Association, was unveiled by Brother Nicet Joseph, Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers.
The White House was added to the existing four houses.
14th December : the Band from the US Aircraft Carrier Kitty Rawk played for La Salle College and La Salle Primary School students. Around One hundred boys visited the Aircraft Carrier the day before.
The La Salle Evening School was opened by Brother Felix.
Brother Casimir Husarik became the Principal of La Salle College.
La Salle College won the Football Morahan Shield for the third time in a row, as the All Round Champion School in Hong Kong.
La Salle Football teams won eight of the thirteen trophies, three runners up and one third position to once again lift the Morahan Shield. These were the best results the school had ever seen.
23rd December : Brother Aimar's remains were brought back from Vietnam and placed under his bust in the school garden.
September : The La Salle Evening School was transferred to Ho Man Tin to become Chan Sui Ki College.
September : Brother Raphael was appointed as Brother Director and Principal.
Replacing the Prefects Board, the Student Association, a more structured student organization, was founded, where student leaders were elected democratically by upper form students.
The De La Salle statue was damaged by Typhoon Betty and repaired by the students of Brother Paul Sun.
Brother Raphael announces the plan to redevelop the school campus by knocking down the old structure and replacing it with a state-of-the-art campus with a standard football field and swimming pool.
September sees the first school year commencing in the new partially-completed campus. The track and field were yet to be completed.
1981 - 1999 : From dome to quad
19th February : The construction of the new campus is completed. Sir Murray MacLehose, Governor of HK, officially opened the new school campus, coinciding with the school’s Golden Jubilee.
1st September : Brother Alphonsus Chee was appointed as the Principal and became the first Asian Brother to lead the College.
The La Salle College Catholic Society is established.
September : La Salle College came under the Principalship of Brother Francis O’Rourke.
The La Salle Student of the Year campaign is introduced. The first recipient was Edwin Choi Chik Wan.
The La Salle Foundation is established.
The La Salle College Heritage Centre is opened.
The La Salle College - Parent Teacher Association was established, with the aim of promoting close liaison between school and home, and to foster closer relationships between parents, teachers and the school, for the common concern to improve the welfare of students. The first Chairman was Mr. Stephen Chow.
La Salle College qualifies as one of 114 secondary schools in Hong Kong that can continue to use English as the medium of instruction.
The School was led by Brother Patrick Tierney.
2000 - ... : the new millenium
Brother Thomas Lavin became the Principal of the School.
17th April : celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the arrival of the Brothers in HK, and Golden Jubilee of St La Salle being declared “Patron Saint of All Teachers”, an open air Mass was held on the school football pitch, presided by Bishop Joseph Zen.
The School made major strides on IT initiatives, including forming an IT development team and laying of fiber optics ports in all classrooms.
August : Four students scored 10 A's in the HKCEE examination.
The School was suspended from March to April due to the SARS epidemic. For the first time, teachers used the internet and email to actively communicate with students and offer class instructions.
February : The first Family Fun Day was held.
Easter : Campus TV Team is set up.
September : Old boy Dr. Paul Lau became the first layman to take office as the Principal of La Salle College.
Two Annexes were completed under the government funded School Improvement Programme (SIP) and named the Br. Aimar Wing and Br. Cassian Wing after the school's first and second Principals. The new wings provided an additional 32 rooms.
September : Mr. Wong Yen Kit took the reins as Principal.
La Salle College celebrated its 75th Anniversary.
17th May : The Education Symposium was held as one of the main school anniversary event.
July 2007 : The school Musical "Touching Hearts" was performed.
Brother Steve Hogan was appointed Principal.
Christopher Shum scored the maximum HKDSE score of 49 points (8x5**).
The La Salle College Incorporated Manager Council (LSCIMC) is established.
The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Scheme was implemented to facilitate eLearning.
Mr. Tong Wun Sing was appointed Principal of the School.
July : Thomas Wong became the first student to score 9x5** in the HKDSE Examination.
The aerospace laboratory was established in order to facilitate STEM education.
Career Education, Language Across Curriculum and Service Learning are incorporated into the teaching timetable to promote all-rounded development of La Salle students.