Gloria 1 Christian High School (Indonesian: Sekolah Menengah Atas Kristen Gloria 1), popularly known simply as Gloria 1, is a privateChristian high school in Surabaya, Indonesia. It was founded in 1996 by the Gloria Christian Education Foundation (YPK Gloria) under the name Gloria Christian School,[3] where it reorganised itself under its current name in 2002. Students are drawn primarily from Chinese Indonesian background and is considered one of the most favoured in the city.[4]
History
Gloria Pacar (1984 – 1996)
Gloria Christian School began with an awareness of the need for Christian services in the field of education, which resulted in a formal educational institution being established by the Abdiel Christian Church, a Hokkienese concentrated branch of Christianity in Surabaya.[5]
In 1984, the first school was opened at GKA Gloria building on Jl. Pacar 9, with a total of 36 students for kindergarten and elementary school, as well as 9 teaching staff. Early school activities were held on spaces provided by the church.
Gloria Christian School (1996 – 2002)
On July 17, 1996, Gloria Christian School was opened in West Surabaya, precisely at Jalan Kupang Indah (Kupang Indah St.), taking in the space previously held by Surabaya International School.
The Gloria Family Day event was marked by this event.
The school offered education from kindergarten (TK-KB) to secondary (SMA). Each year, classes continued to grow until the entire building becomes incapacitated, which prompt the Foundation to relocate its high school to another location, separate from Gloria's main campus, and thus, detaching itself (albeit still within the same governance) from Gloria Christian School and becomes Gloria Christian High School.[6]
Gloria 1 Christian High School (2002 – Present)
In 2002, learning activities for high school were officially moved to a new building on Jl. Raya Sukomannunggal Jaya 25A.
Gloria Christian School expanded its high school system to Eastern Surabaya in 2008, at the Pakuwon City residential complex, which precipitated Gloria Christian Senior High School to be renamed as Gloria 1 Christian High School, while the latter is named Gloria 2 Christian High School.
Overview
Governance
The school is directly governed by the Gloria Christian Education Foundation, an organisation under the auspicious of the Abdiel Christian Church, whom oversees 3 other day school and 1 international school in Surabaya. The day to day management of the school is executed by the Executive Board, which members are appointed by the foundation.[7]
The executive board appoints the school headmaster, who has the responsibility to execute the school's day to day operation. The headmaster usually deputised his power to 3 other senior role within the school, namely: deputy headmaster for student's affairs (also known as the Dean of Students) (Wakil Kepala Sekolah bagian Kesiswaan), deputy headmaster for finance and procurement (Wakil Kepala Sekolah bagian Sarana dan Prasarana), as well as deputy headmaster for academic affairs and the curriculum (Wakil Kepala Sekolah bagian Kurikulum)
The current headmaster is Kim Ruthie, who took office in 2023 in succession to Kennedy Yuandy.
Most students from Gloria 1 are drawn from Chinese Indonesian background, although no such data is available. According to the Indonesian MoE database, there are a total of 407 students (2023-2024) that make up the student body, with 208 of whom being a boy, and the rest (199) girls.
As a Christian school, most of its students adhere to some form of Christianity, mostly presbyterian, with 3/4 of its students adhering to it. About 18% of its pupils are Catholics, followed by Buddhists (5.4%), Islam (0.49%) and Hindus (0.25%).
146 students enrolled to Gloria 1 in 2023, with 127 students being on 11th grade and a further 134 students being in 12th grade.[8]
No students have been recorded to fail in Gloria 1, with its school track record being as clean as 100% of its students passing through high school and earning their HSD.[8]
There are 40 teachers in the school, 3 of them being honorary (honorer). This makes the student to teacher ratio being at 10.17, which is a relatively healthy amount.[8] All of the school's teaching forces are degree taught, with at least 8 teachers being certified at a higher level.[8]
Student life and facilities
Over in its year in existence, the school has developed an extensive facilities to cater the needs of its students. The school has its own hall, which are used by its students every tuesday (10th grade), wednesday (11th grade) and friday (12th grade) for weekly church services. Students are also obliged to attend a flag raising ceremony every monday, an event where the school headmaster and deputy headmaster often make speeches about school agenda for the week, which are organised by its Student Council.
As a day school, students of Gloria 1 do not board, and return to their home after school days. Students are required to be at school 7:30 each morning and do their daily devotion. At 8:00 AM, students will then attend their classes according to their major and schedule. Gloria 1 operates a moving class system, where students themselves are the ones who move in-between classes, as oppose to the teachers.[9] Each classes last 45 minutes, and its students are given a 5 minute grace period to enter the next class from the previous, after which a disciplinary action would be taken. If the classes are located at the far end of the school or if the previous class were PE, in which students would be required to change from their school sportswear to the school uniform, a 10-15 minutes grace period would usually apply. Students finishes school at 15:25, yet most of them stayed longer (until at least 17:00 or even 21:00 for basketball) as the school obliged its year 10 and year 11 students to take at least one extracurricular.
The school hosts both an indoor and outdoor sports hall, as well as 4 laboratory, each for physics, biology, chemistry, and computing.[10] The school also has an auditorium, used for english listening classes, a recording studio for members of the school band, gym, common room for the students' council sabbatical officers, students counselling room, school health unit, library, and a student dining room.[11]
Unlike any other school in Indonesia, students of Gloria 1 dine-in together with their teachers in the school's dining room. Both students and teachers may choose a dish and a dessert from 3 designated points, often serving different styles of cuisine (e.g. Chinese, Western, Japanese, Indonesian, etc.). Students meal are included in the yearly tuition and operation fees.[12][13]
Sports
DBL East Java Championship where Gloria 1 (blue) fought against St. Louis School (white), the two school has shared many years of rivalries in sports and education.
Gloria 1 is particularly well known for its elitism in sports, particularly basketball, with the school investing heavily on the matter. Its team, nicknamed Bluestars, has 5 titles (2011, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023)[14] in the Development Basketball League championship.[15]
For many years, the school has had an extensive rivalry with St. Louis School, where it (almost always) meet the team in finals within the league.[15] It is also a very well known fact that the Girls Team of Gloria 1 will (almost always) win the league, whilst the reverse is true.[14] Gloria 1 invest heavily in finding pupils with incredible sporting talent, often offering 100% scholarship for people all over Indonesia. Its alumni has often went on a scholarship for their exceptional talent in sports, and some have even went to the United States to train under the league's flagship program - the DBL Camp.[16]
Training to be on the school team are said to be "exhausting", and may add up to an additional 7 hours in school, or even 10 hours if it is near the tournament's date. The school forbids failing (albeit talented sportsperson) students to be recruited on the team. The school obliged all school team members to still be on their best academic excellence whilst pursuing their hobbies.
Outside of basketball, the school also provides extensive training for futsal, table tennis, badminton and chess. The school also host the annual Gloria Cup, where school in Surabaya compete with one another in a variety of sports.
Societies
Like many other school in Indonesia, Gloria 1 recognised the presence of OSIS (Student Council) within its jurisdiction. Unique to Gloria 1, is that its Student Council are branded as the United Student Council, which are sub-divided into 4 departments - Department of Nationality, Department of Creativity, Department of Public Relations, and the Department of Publication & Documentation. The united student council is usually made up of 20 students, with extras being recruited later on following the academic year. The student council organises the weekly school ceremony, the students media, student elections, the yearly national day parade, and many events monthly.[17] Also unique to the student council of Gloria 1, is that its Religious Affairs Department are not dependent on the United Student Council, in other words, independent, with its own 20 members, budget, and chaplain. That department is styled as the Service Committee, which organises the weekly school services and other major christian celebration, such as Christmas and Easter.
To run as a sabbatical officer, students are required to fill out a registration form and attend an interview with the outgoing officers. After which, if successful, candidates are contacted and required to attend the Basic Student Leadership Training, known as LDKS, where they will live in school for 2-3 nights to be trained and assessed in leadership. Once a president is elected (usually November), he/she would be invited by the school to form a government, and the president has all rights to choose his council members within the scope of the participant of the LDKS, usually with the advice of the outgoing president.
The school also has many societies that caters for many different hobbies. This includes: Volleyball, Badminton, Table tennis, Futsal, Photography, Videography, Environment, Bands, Arts & Crafts, Book Club, Culinary art, Computer Programming, Choir, Classical Guitar, Cheerleading, Cooking Class, Fashion Design, Sewing, Robotics and Basketball.[18]
Boys' Brigade
Gloria 1 students expedition to Coban Talun, Malang, as part of the Boys' Brigade
Pupils of the school in their first and second year are required to serve in the school's Boys' Brigade, a British-based Christian uniformed youth organisation.[19]
In the broader sense, the organisation first came to Indonesia through the Boys' Brigade in Singapore. Within the school itself however, the uniformed group was founded in 2004 as the Boys' Brigade 7th Surabaya Company, where it operated in a limited, and often, voluntary capacity.[19] In 2010, the school made it mandatory for its students to serve within the cadet in order to train their leadership, obedience and strength. Members of the Boys' Brigade will earn badges for every modules and tests they have taken, this includes target badge (compulsory), christian education (compulsory), camping, drill, gymnastic, community service, first aid, hobbies, swimming, expedition, pipers, etc; which will be displayed in their badge sleeve.
Older and senior Boys' are allowed (if nominated by the company) to gain promotion into a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), where they will be trained and assessed in the Leadership Development Camp for 3 days, often with hardships involved. Supposed a member pass the assessment, they will be promoted into a Lance-Corporal and have the right to wore a chevrons on their upper left and right arms, as well as displaying the "NCO Star" in their badge sleeves. NCO serves as the first point of contact if officers are not on duty, and often held leadership position within the Brigade's parade and (to a certain extend) within the school system as well.[19]
