St Paul's is 50 and doing well

Founded in 1958, SM St Paul is celebrating its Golden Jubilee this month. A top school in Beaufort, it has consistently performed well in the SPM examnination since 2005.in fact, it is one of the top 10 secondary schools in a rural setting. But, unlike achiever schools in the state capital with better access to the media ,its success story is less publicised, be it academic or co-curricular.

A proud present principal Ms Tan Boon Kyee said the school has notched an overall passing rate in the region of 98pc in the SPM examination for 3 consecutive years.

It is as follows:- 2005-98.7pc, 2006-98.8pc, 2007-98.2pc.

"28 students scored 5As and above last year. Of the figure ,3 scored 9As, 1 8As,3 7As ,9-6As and 11-5As. Lian Sooth Tying emerged as the school's best student. She obtained 12As" She said.

And in the PMR examininations, Tan noted there was a marked improvement from an overall passing percentage of 64.1 in 2006 to 79.7 last year. The school secured 78.1 pc passes in 2005.
Of the 33 scorers (5As and above) in 2007, six had 8As ,13 with 7As ,three 6As and 11 got 5As.

On record, SM St Paul also made a name for itself in its co-curriculum (especially in public speaking and debate) at district and state levels, according to the principal.

This year , we were the Beaufort district champion in the Pesta Pantun. The school which represented Beaufort Zone was declared the first runner up in the state level English Debate Competition held in Kota Belud earlier this year.

Last year, the school won the championship title in badminton and basketball tournaments, and was placed third in athletics, all of these district level.

SM St Paul is a 'double session' school with an enrolment of 850 and staffed by 57 teachers. Classes are up to Form Five with one bridge class.

The other pride of the school is form 4 Science student Cliff Asher R.Ongil who was one of the 2007 PMR top ten students in Sabah. A school prefect and a badminton player. this English debater represented Beaufort Debate Competition. He was selected by MEASAT Satellite Systems & Maxis Communications to be part of the 25 international student group to Russia and the MEASAT-3A Communications Sattelite during the school holidays this month.

Daily Express
10th Aug 2008
Special Report