Bro. Aimar Sauron, a French Brother, was the chosen instrument of founding La Salle College. In 1930, he purchased a site at the very edge of Kowloon and in 1932 La Salle College was opened with the pupils of St. Joseph's Branch School forming the nucleus of the student body. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the British Government requisitioned it as an Internment camp for the Japanese. The Brothers however managed to run the school in a nearby annexe until january 1942 when they were expelled by the Japanese. During the Japanese Occupation, the College was used as a Military Hospital and the Brothers were not able to return to resume normal school life until 1946.
In 1949, however, the British Army took it over as a Military Hospital and the Brothers did not return until 1959. The school operated in cramped barracks quarters in Perth Street. Recovery from these set-backs was rapid and La Salle soon became one of Hong Kong's major schools for boys.
When La Salle was built in 1932, its architectural beauty and magnificence held prople in awe. Forty seven years later, it was still magnificent from the outside but functionally rather inadequate. So in 1979, the school authority decided that in the long run it was more practical to knock down the old edifice and erect a new building with up-to-date facilities such as an all-weather-track, an artificial turf football pitch, central air-conditioned classrooms, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a spacious library, a sound-proof auditorium, two lecture theatres and one indoor gymnasium. It is hoped that with such modern facilities, the work and progress in the College will be guaranteed for many years to come.
La Salle College is justly famous both for academic and extra-curricular achievements.
The College badge has as its motto, Fides et Opera - which literally means Faith and Works - and which reminds the school community that their spiritual values should be manifested in good works. |