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This article discusses how a newly established senior secondary school in Hong Kong tried to actively engage students in the school decision-making process. It first explains how democratisation could come about, the actual measures adopted, and the initial success achieved. Then the article proceeds to explain how challenges, such as conflicting interests of the students and tension between students and the administration, surfaced when the school became more established, grew in size, took in more students, moved into a bigger campus, and subsequently needed to face the public examinations. In conclusion, the article discusses changes in school governance that could be helpful in meeting the challenges. Institutionalising student participation, such as forming a student council, is discussed together with other useful changes. It is hoped that this article can be useful to people interested in the democratisation of school governance, and the impact on school democratisation of such factors as institutionalisation and increasing school size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]