Royden House Junior and Senior School [????-????]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 06:42

Ha! Welcome to the World-Class School

Type
Education (school, college, etc)
Status
Inactive
Photos of this organisation:
(see more)

Photos of this organisation:

1991
1991

Comments

Submitted by
Evan (not verified)
on
Thu, 04/06/2006 - 06:48

I do remember the guy who got mouth washed was not an Indian, he is an Indonesia. His name was Jacky with long thick hair. Mrs. Rudge showed off her big fingers with soap every Tuesday morning.

Submitted by
Evan (not verified)
on
Thu, 04/06/2006 - 06:58

Fresh back- anyone remember Mrs. Benson. She was a six foot tall lady.

Submitted by
Evan (not verified)
on
Thu, 04/06/2006 - 09:05

In reply to by Evan (not verified)

Yes, Fresh, not flash, Mr. Behan told me this is the word to use.

Well it had its faults that's for sure...but what should be remembered is that in the 60s and early 70s the 'ESF' was pretty much a closed shop, taking care mostly of the expat children of the Hongs

There were no 'international' schools back then, not like we have today, so it was ESF, local schools or public schools....and Royden House took up a lot of the non-Chinese speaking (or those preferring to be educated in English), non expats in the traditional sense of the word back then, in the form of Indonesian, Korean, Macanese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Thai, etc.

Oh and the two daughters of an expat on local terms who was basically told by the ESF, we'll take your son because it's more important that boys get a decent education. Best thing that ever happened to me as my brother became, at that time, a bigoted product of this place.

I spent two years at Sacred Heart Canossian School before being put into Royden House and those two years were absolute nightmares for my sister and I.

Rock on memories of RH.

Submitted by
xEvan (not verified)
on
Sat, 04/08/2006 - 00:13

I miss the foods which the cook made. Curry Beef w/rice, Portuguese Chicken Rice and Dried Beef chow Ho etc., everyday we had four choices plus sandwiches and milk or soda.

Submitted by on
Sat, 04/08/2006 - 08:42

In reply to by xEvan (not verified)

I dont recall the four choices. I think we had a specific meal for each day. This was at Kennedy Rd. However, I could be wrong and this may have changed at Sing Woo Crescent where most of us ate out anyway.

At Kennedy, the only food I did try was on Mondays and that was Roast Chicken with Rice. Otherwise I did not bother.

Regarding the mouthwashings with soap, there was more than one boy who succumbed to Mrs Rudge! It was not a pretty sight by any stretch of the imagination.

We had both special meal at kennedy Rd and Sing Woo Crescent. At Kennedy, the kitchen was on the third floor face to the "short bridge" between classrooms. Some boys laughed at the cook who had short hair. At Sing Woo, the kitchen was on the second floor close to the rear narrow stairs.

Submitted by
xEvan (not verified)
on
Sat, 04/08/2006 - 09:22

I had a boring time in weekly assembly, specially at Christmas. We had to sing the looooong boring Christmas song "Twelve days of Christmas". But I was happy to be a RH students.

She wasn't an American. She was a English woman. We did have an American teacher but Mrs Rudge fired her for always having gum in her mouth while speaking. Also, too much American slangs in the classroom.

Submitted by
Sadaf Nawaz (not verified)
on
Fri, 05/19/2006 - 14:00

Hi!

I was a student at Royden House back in the eighties...that's when a couple of new British teachers by the names Mr Loasby and Mr Booth were recruited to teach us....It would be great to get in touch with them...so if anyone out there has their e mail address ..please inform...

PS: Those of us who were there at the time I am referring to, will have vivid memories of Mr Gill as well....so if his whereabouts can be traced it would be great!!!

Submitted by
Jay (not verified)
on
Wed, 07/05/2006 - 13:32

In reply to by Sadaf Nawaz (not verified)

Ahh yes, those mouth washing days were shocking when I was in Primary school, later found it hilarious during Secondary. That thick wooden ruler Mrs. Rudge used to carry around was scary as well.

Mr. Gill irritates me whenever school fees are due...."SCHOOL FEES, SCHOOL FEES PLEASE! NO SCHOOL FEES? STAY AFTER SCHOOL PLEASE"

Teachers/Admins I miss are: Mrs. Strange, Mrs. Williamson, Miss Sun.

Submitted by
Anonymous (not verified)
on
Thu, 07/06/2006 - 14:58

i am looking for royden house school, is it still in central, HK?
is it a good school? can anyone give me an answer? thanks

Royden House doesn't exist anymore...Mrs Rudge passed away many many years ago and although Royden House kept on for a while I believe Mrs. Williamson (Mrs. Rudge's daughter) sold the school. Its still there in Caine Road but under a different name. Mrs. Strange was still there when I visited some 10 years ago, she had become a clone of Mrs. Rudge. I still remember Mrs. Rudge saying to us all... "I will have no Rrrrrrrrrrudeness in Rrrrrrrroyyyden House".

I remember quite a few people getting their mouth washed out with soap. A number of boys also had to drop their pants on stage and receive a good caning. Funny how girls never had to drop their skirts for a caning...unfair I say!

Personally I think that the level of education at RH was pretty bad and most of the teachers working at RH were there because they weren't qualified to work in the better schools. RH was a money factory, school fees, school fees, school fees!! I remember quite a few slackers in my class, some of which couldn't even speak a word of English, they were just thrown in with the rest of us and expected to learn the language overnight. Actually I think the whole education system in Hong Kong has always sucked and schools like RH just profited from it.

Overall my time spent at RH wasn't all that bad, I had some good classmates and walked away with fond memories which wasn't hard because lets face it...the 80's were fun!

Submitted by
Fred (not verified)
on
Mon, 07/10/2006 - 01:10

In reply to by xEvan (not verified)

Are you sure you guys weren't getting your food from the Dai Pai Dong down the road? Food at RH was disgusting! Usually some pile of rice with a gooey corn starch meat sauce that was way too salty and not what would be considered healthy food that should be served to children in a school. Yuuuuuck!

Submitted by
Fred (not verified)
on
Mon, 07/10/2006 - 01:12

In reply to by xEvan (not verified)

Come on...admit it, you probably hated it as a kid but would pay good money to experience it again now. Hehehehe! You're right though, those X'mas assemblies were really tedious.

Submitted by
Fred (not verified)
on
Mon, 07/10/2006 - 01:20

In reply to by Sadaf Nawaz (not verified)

Wasn't it Mr. Mosby?
Mr.Gill was a cool guy, one of few teachers there that was good. I remember he had to cut his hair after a motorcycle accident and never again did we see him with a turban. Don't know what he's up to these days though.

aaaaah i was there before you Fred from 1969 to 1975....

i didn't really apply mself...and got away with it ....i left with one HKGCE in English - as a native English speaker it would have been pretty bad not to have managed to get that!!!! was then packed off to a crammer in England where i got 5 O Levels and 2 A Levels in a year an a half

Yup...slightly before my time.

By the way, Royden House is now called Sear Rogers International School. The students there have it good, school has been cleaned up (somewhat) and classrooms have air conditioning now. In my day we had to sweat it out during the summer with the windows open and all the wonderful summer smells coming in from the street (not forgetting the ones emanating from the class itself).

Did you ever come back and settle in Hong Kong Fiona or did you decide to stay away?

For those of you who might want to see if Mrs. Strange or any of the old teachers are still there here is the contact info:

Sear Rogers International School
110-118 Caine Road, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong
Tel: 2547 5479 Fax: 2547 0673

How it has changed though...how it has changed, not all for the better in my opinion. Time for a cup of coffee, it cures all.

Submitted by
Anonymous (not verified)
on
Fri, 07/14/2006 - 21:43

In reply to by Fred

Are there ever any Royden House ex-student reunions? Would be nice to get together and have a drink or something?

Submitted by
Janet (not verified)
on
Wed, 10/11/2006 - 18:50

I wanted to get in touch with my classmates. If you are in this year, please contact me.

Janet

Submitted by
Mahesh H (not verified)
on
Sun, 11/05/2006 - 00:49

In reply to by Sadaf Nawaz (not verified)

Hi all. Don't know if anyone is even looking at this anymore. I went to ROyden House School from kindergarten until I graduated in 1989. My whole damn life :) I'm now in the US in san Francisco.

So, does anyone have the contact information for Mr Loasby, or remember Mr. Cousins/Cozens?

Who all is here? What year did you graduate?

Submitted by
Mahesh H (not verified)
on
Sun, 11/05/2006 - 00:52

Hi all - anyone here in my class or around the same year? I went to RHS all the way from kindergarten to F5 in 1989. If you were around the same age, you would know me. I was part of the crazy group of guys that always caused trouble, but in a good way :) - Mahesh, Arnaldo, Santos, Dilip, Bhatti. Remember us? Please write. Would love to hear from you.

greetings, I'm an ol'alumni having attended only KinderGarten+ in the sixties, but have always wanted to go back to re-live the first moments of consciousness .

I have been searching for RHJS in vain, only to learn from you the school name has changed 8)

furthermore would greatly appreciate a site where I can input this address to know the exact location of the school, for the school's official site only has a map of the "other" school in Kowloon .

Submitted by
sarah Lee (not verified)
on
Tue, 11/28/2006 - 18:52

In reply to by Mahesh (not verified)

Mrs Rudge and mouth wash!!!!!-long forgotten words !!!
Anybody remember Mrs. B?
I'm looking for Sanna Lee and Joanna Kim.
If you see my message,pls pls send me a mail!

Submitted by
JJ (not verified)
on
Fri, 02/02/2007 - 02:59

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Ha! Royden House I was there in 1977-1978.
Are u guys in HK now?

Submitted by
Anonymous (not verified)
on
Sun, 02/04/2007 - 08:13

In reply to by sarah Lee (not verified)

Hello, I was wondering if Janet Kim is the sister of Joanna kim and if anybody still contacts Albert Yum who lived in stanley. I used to be very close to that long-haired guy. I still have a picture with Mrs. Benson, Mr. Behm, and Mrs. Gill. Does anyone know where Mrs. Benson is nowadays??? Please email me if you know about any of this.

Hi:

The photo u had posted, must be between 1980-83. The front guy's name is Denis Lim (Indonesian) and the back is a Korean and I think his name sounds like Soong?

LEt me know if these r your classmates because that would we were all in the same class?

Submitted by
Ellen (not verified)
on
Tue, 07/10/2007 - 08:45

In reply to by Janet (not verified)

Hi Janet,

Just found your post looking for old classmates. Hope you remember me.

Ellen