ABOUT SMCKK
SMK Clifford Kuala Kangsar was established in December 1897. It was first known as the Government English School. However it was also known as “Hogan School” named after the first headmaster, Mr. James Percival Charles Hogan. The school started off with 40 students in the first year of its establishment and it grew to 494 students in 1928. Until 1905, this school was a co- ed school, the first co-ed school in Perak. In terms of teaching staff, this school started off with one head teacher and four teachers to cater for 158 students. In the following years, the teaching staff consisted of Europeans, Indians, Chinese and Malays. Only in 1924, the head teacher came from an Arab descent, namely Tuan Syed Shaidali.
In 1928, this school was known as “Clifford School” in honour of the current Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner of Malaya, Sir Hugh Clifford. The progress of this school before the war depended a lot on the diligent efforts of educators of European, Arab, Chinese, Indian and Malay descent. During World War II, this school was a Japanese military base until 1946. After the end of the war, the development and progress of Clifford School was developed diligently by the acting headmaster at the time, Mr. Arumukham together with the teaching staff. During that time, the school faced many problems such as the lack of furniture and books.
Clifford School began offering science subjects in 1946 and in the 1940s, performed quite well in terms of examinations. Those who passed their Senior Cambridge Examination went on to study at institutions of higher learning such as Singapore’s Raffles Medical College, Serdang Agricultural College and foreign universities especially to the United Kingdom.. The Senior Cambridge Examination results also produced the best achievement because not a single Malay child failed at that time. At the age of 100 years old, Clifford School was chosen to be one of the pioneer Sekolah Bestari. When the Block A (the historic block) suffered minor damage, the school management took precautionary measure by closing down Block A from being occupied by the students of Clifford School
