Secondary School Admissions Process

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Sheung Shui
    Posts
    48

    Secondary School Admissions Process

    As my son is now in P6, he needs to go up to secondary school in September. This is not as simple a process as in the UK. Before Christmas the primary school will give out a triplicate form issued by the EDB on which you choose first and second choice secondary schools. You should choose with reference to your child's banding (the primary school will have told you about this) and conduct, as each school's admissions criteria places different weighting on exam results and conduct, as well as an interview. This form, plus a copy of exam results and other achievement certificates has to be handed to the chosen school by the end of January. In March, the interviews will take place (again, the primary schoolwill have prepped the students on this), and then there is a second stage called central allocation, which takes place in April. I'll provide more details nearer the time when I've gone through it myself


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Sheung Shui
    Posts
    48

    Central allocation works like this: The primary school will issue a form from the EDB. This form is divided into Part A and Part B. In Part A you fill in the numbers of 3 secondary schools anywhere in HK in order of preference. In Part B you fill in the numbers of up to 30 secondary schools in order of preference. However these schools MUST be inside your own school net. You are advised to fill in the order with reference to your child's banding. After the form is returned to the EDB, the EDB enters the details on the form into a computer, which will allocate your child a random number. In addition, the child will be banded 1,2 or 3, according to the P6 and P5 (last) primary school exam results. The computer will then allocate all the Band 1 students to their schools, with the lowest random number being allocated first. This means the higher random numbers may not get their first preference. If the school net has more Band 1 students than band 1 places (e.g. North District), it may mean some band 1 students ending up in Band 2, or even band 3 schools. Where the reverse is true (e.g. Shatin), then some Band 2 students with lower random numbers may get into Band 1 schools.

    When all the Band 1 students have been allocated, the computer will then allocate the Band 2 students, followed by the Band 3 ones. (This is why the P6 exams in all subjects are very important).

    Enrolment takes place in July after the summer holidays start.