Loud bells and the noise of students have brought life back to the campus. In the blink of an eye, a new school year has been ushered in. COVID-19 spanned two academic years, during which we experienced suspension of classes, resumption of classes on a controlled basis, further suspension of classes, online classes, and resumption of classes in phases. Despite this, we did not stop.

During class suspension, teachers continued to work hard to produce teaching videos and materials to prepare for the online lessons, and support students to effectively learn in the virtual classrooms, in the hope that we could achieve 'suspending classes without suspending learning'. When classes were resumed in phases, our janitors disinfected and cleaned the school thoroughly. The school also took the opportunity to carry out a series of improvement projects during school suspension; the auditorium was renovated and interactive whiteboards were installed, thus enabling students to learn in a better environment.

In the past year, in the midst of difficulties, I saw the true character of Josephians: diligent, hardworking, proactive and confident. Because of this diligence, students worked assiduously, and passed the DSE with flying colours. Because of their hard work, they were not discouraged even after repeated failures, and won the championship in the CLP Smart City Innovation Energy Competition. Also, to being proactive, members of the school wind band continued to practice during the epidemic, and won the silver award in the Secondary School Ensemble (percussion) of the Hong Kong Joint School Music Competition. In addition, because of their confidence, members of the Bio-Eco Corner remained their poise and spoke with calm assurance in an interview with a magazine.

I truly believe that success is not by chance. Whether it was the stars students scored in DSE, the awards they received on stage, the tears of hard work they shed when realizing their dreams, or their glaring confidence in the media interview, it was the fruit of the entire school's collective effort. Just as the motto on our school badge 'Ad Astra' (meaning to reach the stars) suggests, our teachers will continue to help our students to show the true character of Josephians, letting them shine in different domains.

Poon Wing Keung

Principal