Dr. POON Suk-han, Halina
Dr POON Suk-han, Halina received her Doctor of Education (Distinction), Master of Arts in School Improvement and Leadership (Dean’s list) and Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Distinction) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from The University of Hong Kong. Known for her outstanding achievement in academics, multifaceted experience in leadership, dedicated commitment and valuable contribution to serving the education sector, Dr Poon was bestowed the Medal of Honour from the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 2007. She has also been awarded The First “Reading Dreams” award for good practices in reading education – Outstanding Principal; First Prize Honour, Paper presented at Pan-Pearl River Delta Region School Principals Symposium, Compassion Award of Hong Kong Outstanding Teacher Election and Outstanding Teacher of the Teacher Commemoration Scheme, Education Department, etc.
Dr Poon is a member of the Election Committee (Education Subsector) of the HKSAR. She currently serves as a Council Member of City University of Hong Kong, Ex-officio of the Executive Committee of Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council, member of the Commission on Children, Convenor of the Working Group on Promotion of Children’s Rights and Development, Education and Publicity of the Commission on Children, member of The Advisory Committee of the IT Innovation Lab in Secondary Schools Initiative of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the member of the Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Recruitment Board of the Education Bureau. Her participation in The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change of The Education University of Hong Kong as a Scholar-Practitioner Fellow and a Leadership Advisory Board Member and in the Steering Committee of Big Education Platform as a member has played an essential role in enhancing the education system and development. In the past decade or two, Dr. Poon has also dedicated her enthusiasm in teacher professional training, more particularly, school principals mentoring and school management training. She has been a Part-time Lecturer of the Preparation for Principalship Course for Aspiring Principals at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Instructor of “Leadership Training Programme for Preparation of School Principals” of University of Macao, and guest speaker of various local and international education conferences and forums.
Prior to joining Minxin, Dr Poon was the founding principal of Christian & Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School in Hong Kong. She has spent over 20 years in Sun Kei where she serves as the key leader to give rise to a leading institute with significant achievements in various disciplines. Such achievements include Inviting School Award, Inviting School Fidelity Award, The Greater Bay Area STEM Excellence Award 2021 ‘Top Ten Schools’ Award, Hong Kong Green School Award – Green School Gold Award for 6 times, Chief Executive Award for Teaching Excellence for 3 times, The Best School Team Award in Sai Kung Outstanding Students Election for 14 times, First ‘‘Reading Dreams’’ Reading Education Advancement Award – Outstanding School Award, Outstanding Principal Award, Outstanding Teacher-librarian Award, and Accreditation under the Quality Assessment Management Accreditation Scheme, etc. The public examination results have also been thrilling and encouraging. There have been students being the top achiever in the Hong Kong Advanced Level of Education Examination (HKALE) and second place top achiever in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE). Sun Kei Secondary School also nurtures students to enter leading universities in mainland China and around the world, such as Peking University, Jinan University, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Imperial College London, University of York, Swansea University, University of Manchester, Glasgow School of Art, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, University of New South Wales, University of Auckland and Teikyo University.
Dr Poon had devoted her time to advising many governmental and educational bodies, committees and working groups in enhancing the effectiveness of policy formulation, resources allocation and pursuing high quality education. These commitments included Court Member of The University of Hong Kong; Member of Education Commission; Member of the Advisory Committee on Public Examinations Administration, Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority; Member of the Steering Committee of the Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE), Education Bureau; Member of Task Force on School-based Management Policy, Education Bureau; Member of the Steering Committee of Quality Education Fund, Education Bureau; Chairperson of the Executive Committee, Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council; Convenor of Joint Committee of the Secondary School Councils and the Secondary School Heads Association of 18 Districts; Chairperson of Committee on Respect Our Teachers Campaign and Member of Education Roundtable, etc. In recent years, she has been making every endeavor to strive for better ways of quality education and giving constructive advice on salient topics in education – Increase of teacher-to-class ratio, All-graduate teaching force policy, Rationalisation of salaries for principals, Additional PGM rank, Provision of SENCO, etc.
Dr Poon pledges her lifetime unswerving devotion to education with a pure heart. Being an accomplished leader, she is avid for sustainable school development and advancement. She is keen on building the education platform for teachers and students to unleash their potentials and collaborating with parents to sew up students’ resplendent lives. With the aspiration in steering Minxin kids to be the best and brightest in the next generation, Dr Poon anticipates herself to foster students to cultivate good virtues and broad-mindedness, and to embrace national pride and show our love for our Motherland.
