Development & History

The school was established by Caritas Hong Kong on 1st May 1981 as part of the Caritas Hong Kong Special Education and Training Service, and it is the fifth school in Hong Kong specially designed for children with severe intellectual developmental disorder.

1. May 1981 ~ January 1988

Caritas Lok Kan School was established in 1981 at 1/F, Caritas Centre, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. The then principal, Ms. Sze Wong Shui Ha with six teaching staff in charge of three classes. It provided special education services for children with severe intellectual developmental disorder in Kowloon district and home-based training for children living in Hong Kong Island. By 1984, the school had been expanded to seven classes. Due to insufficient classrooms, two classes were operated with “outreaching-tutoring” model. The school not only provided necessary education service according to students’ needs, but also provided tutoring for parents to coordinate with teaching. The school introduced speech therapy service in 1986. Although there was an urgent need for other auxiliary medical services, the school could not receive relevant funding approval.

2. February 1988 ~ 1993

In 1988, Caritas Lok Kan School moved to 42 St Francis Street in Wan Chai, a school building formerly used by visually impaired students. We had become the first school for children with severe intellectual developmental disorder in Hong Kong Island. The school was next to a slop, while classrooms and special rooms were located on different floors. Although the floor area is sufficient, students can only use one small elevator for daily access, which is not ideal for both teachers and students. Three months after the relocation, the school started to provide residential service for students in need, which greatly alleviates the students' difficulties in daily travel and relieved the pressure of parents. By 1990, the school had expanded to provide 6 classes of primary school education and 4 classes of secondary school education, with a total 80 students, 32 of whom were provided with accommodation.

3. 1993 ~ August 2007

In 1993, Caritas Rehabilitation Services established another school for children with severe intellectual developmental disorder, Caritas Lok Yi School in Lei King Wan. The then principal, Ms. Sze Wong Shui Ha, along with some of the staff members and students moved to the new school. Dr. Ng Kwok Hung took over as the principal of Caritas Lok Kan School. The school capacity was reduced to 4 classes for primary and secondary school education respectively.

At that time, Hong Kong was experiencing an education reform. The Government and the community have invested in the education system which allows us to improve the school infrastructure, including the application of information technology, multi-sensory rooms, alternative communication system, multimedia production centre, modular software and digital toilet record system. The introduction of new equipments has improved the learning and teaching efficiency. The school has also undergone full digitalisation in administration, financial management and information management. The school structure has also experienced multiple reorganisation to the current school management model.

4. September 2007 ~ Present

In September 2007, the school moved to the current location in Tin Shui Wai. It is located in a quiet and low-density neighborhood. With an area of about 6,000 square metres, the two-storey school building adopted an open design. It is suitable for students with multiple disabilities and also serves as a multi-functional space for the general public.

The school's design incorporates modern aesthetics, accessibility and environmental protection concepts, have won various awards from the Hong Kong Buildings Department and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects.

In 2010, the school began to provide seven-day residential services, focusing on connecting with the community and the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong to embrace social inclusion, enriching student life, and helping students with group development.

In response to the admission of students with complex medical cases and palliative care services, the school has to introduce the people-oriented philosophy, which combines learning with personal development, hoping to create a colourful future for our students.
In 2021, we opened a class for students with moderate intellectual developmental disorder in order to expand our service to support the needs of children with intellectual developmental disorder.

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