St. Columba's National Secondary School () or simply St. Co is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Miri Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , located northeast of Kuching and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest ...

, a city in the

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Malaysian

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

. Established in 1929, it is the oldest school in Miri. The school educates students from Transition to Secondary 5 level and it prepares students for the Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 and

Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination sat for by all Education in Malaysia#Secondary education, Form 5 secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the Genera ...

examinations which are administered by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. It was made a 'Sekolah Harapan Negara' (Nation's School of Hope) in the year 1993.

History

St. Columba's National Secondary School is established in 1929 as a missionary school by the late Reverend Canon Paul Chong En Siong.

Pre-War Period (1929-1941)

In 1910,

was just a small fishing village. Even though

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

had been discovered in Miri, drillings and excavations were carried out only on a small scale by Borneo Company Limited. Foreign

technicians A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skill and technique, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Specialisation The term technician covers many different special ...

and

labourers A laborer ( or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor typed within the construction industry. There is a generic factory laborer which is defined separately as a factory worker. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which ...

who were mainly

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

strongly felt the need for a church. In 1918, Bishop Logie Danson came to

to discuss the building of a new church. On 3 September 1922, St. Columba's Church was completed and officially declared open by R.S Douglas. The church was named

Saint Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Gaelic Ireland, Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the ...

's Church after the Irish-born priest who lived in the 6th century. The presence of the church attracted a few priests to

. One of them was Rev. Paul Chong En Siong (who would later become the founder of Saint Columba's School). The first task given to Reverend Paul was to establish a new school in

. Sarawak Oilfields Limited donated land south of the church and an old building to be used for educational purposes. Surprisingly, the land donated by Sarawak Oilfields Limited is still in use today as the site of Saint Columba's Secondary School (SMK St. Columba). Rev. Chong and Rev. F.W. Synott used the old building which was also an old government quarter as the first classroom. Saint Columba's School was officially declared open on 16 January 1929 with 13 students enrolled. Saint Columba's School was the first

mission school A mission school or missionary school is a religious school originally developed and run by Christian missionaries. The mission school was commonly used in the colonial era for the purposes of Westernization of local people. These may be day s ...

. The establishment of St. Columba's School received a tremendous response from the people of

. Within the period of one month, the number of students had greatly increased. Wan Thau Fen was appointed as a teacher at the new school. After that, two new classrooms were constructed. In the beginning,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

was used as the medium of teaching. In the 1930s, with the increasing number of students, Father Paul felt the need to build a new building with four classrooms. In 1934, Reverend Paul Chong left the school to continue his missionary work in

Kuching Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak Ri ...

Kudat Kudat () is the capital of the Kudat District in the Kudat Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 29,025 in 2010. It is located on the Kudat Peninsula, about north of Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, and is nea ...

and other parts of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

(

British North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo was originally establish ...

). His post as

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

was taken over by Yeo Cheng Ho. At that time, the school faced two major problems: a shortage of classrooms and lack of funds. When Yeo Cheng Ho left for

in 1937, his post was taken over by Lee Kui Choi until the

Japanese occupation of British Borneo Before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the island of Borneo was divided into five territories. Four of the territories were in the north and under British control – Raj of Sarawak, Sarawak, Brunei, Crown Colony of Labuan, Labuan ...

. Back then, the number of students had increased to 107 with seven teachers and four new classrooms. The British Government had started to support Saint Columba's School financially.

Japanese Occupation Period (1941-1945)

On 8 December 1941, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in the Pacific had begun and all the schools in Miri were closed. The

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

landed in Miri on 16 December 1941 and occupied Saint Columba's School, which was used by the

as a storeroom. Lee Kui Choi was arrested and put in jail, but was released three days later. After handing over his duties to Reverend Lim Siong Teck, Lee Kui Choi returned to

Sibu Sibu is a landlocked city located in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It serves as the capital of Sibu District within Sibu Division and is situated on the island of Borneo. Covering an area of , the city is positioned at the conf ...

. The

Kempetai The , , was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, HUMINT, interrogated suspects ...

(Japanese Secret Police) arrested and killed Reverend Lim Siong Teck, Chong En Fui and Joel Paul, a member of the Saint Columba's Church Council. By the end of the

in the Pacific, the

had retreated from Miri. Before they retreated, they destroyed all the school buildings except the toilet and one of the stores. All the school belongings and records were destroyed except for the school's bank records. The Second World War had brought devastation to the school. With the buildings destroyed, some people serving in the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

doubted the future of the school. The school faced major financial problems at this point of time. This period was very critical and crucial in the school's history. Thankfully, the school was gradually rebuilt and is what it is today, one of the best schools in Miri.

Post War Period (1945-1965)

On 14 September 1945, the school made a proposition to Major Pollett, a member of the British Borneo Civil Affairs Unit (BBCA.U) to reopen Saint Columba's School. The proposal was approved and on 17 September 1945 the school was reopened with only two teachers, namely Liew Kit Siong and Molly Leong and 41 students. They were assisted by one untrained teacher. Liew Kit Siong was then chosen as the principal of the school. On the first day, several English medium classes were reopened with 39 students in the morning and 21 students for the Chinese medium class in the afternoon. At the end of the first week, the number of students had increased to 79 and 39 students for the English and Chinese medium classes respectively. Throughout the year 1945, more than 200 students had enrolled. Due to the shortages of classrooms and teachers, most applicants were rejected. Additional classes were held inside Saint Columba's Church (present day St. Columba's Kindergarten). During this period, financial support came from school fees and the monthly support of 100

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

by the Sarawak Oilfields Limited and 80

by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Administration. This helped Saint Columba's School to survive until this very day. Due to the increasing number of students, additional classes were held in the Miri Gymkhana Club (GCM) storeroom.

Administration

Principals of St. Columba's Secondary School

Prefectorial Board

Currently there are 6 Prefect branches. They are: # 3K Branch (Pengawas 3K) # Discipline Branch (Pengawas Discipline) # PRS Branch (Pengawas PRS) # Co-curriculum Branch (Pengawas Ko-Kurikuler) # School Librarian Branch (Pengawas Pusat Sumber) # Class Prefect (Pengawas Kelas)

School Badge

The School Badge was introduced before the

. It started to become widely used in the early 1950s, especially when Yeo Ah Choo became the school

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

. The Saint Columba's school badge is shaped like a mitre with a

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

and the letters "SCS" enclosed within it. The words "Sicut Columba" in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

are found at the lower part of the school badge. The dove symbolises strength, purity and peace. The word "Sicut" comes from a

word which means "gentle like a dove". The letters "SCS" are the initials for Saint Columba's School.

School Song

This song was composed in 1966 by the wife of Mr. Nigel Heyward, who was then principal of the school.

Notable Alumni (famous ex-Columbans)

Watson Nyambek Watson Nyambek (born 27 February 1976) from Miri, Sarawak is a Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarch ...

(Malaysian athlete) – Record holder for Malaysians of 100m sprint record of 10.30 seconds * Bishop Solomon Cheong – Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching since December 2014 * Doria Rachel Jolly - Malaysian Actress

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Columba's National Secondary School National secondary schools in Malaysia Secondary schools in Sarawak Education in Sarawak Educational institutions established in 1929 Anglican schools in Malaysia 1929 establishments in Sarawak