The "Primary One Admission System" is a mechanism established by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to uniformly manage the admission of students to all government and aided primary schools. If parents wish for their children to enjoy free primary education, they must understand this Primary One allocation mechanism early on.
There are over five hundred primary schools in Hong Kong, with nearly ninety percent being government and aided schools (collectively referred to as "government-aided primary schools"). All of them must use the "Primary One Admission System" for student admissions, while only private, direct subsidy, and international schools have the autonomy to admit students. In simple terms, the current mechanism is divided into two phases: "Self-allocated Places" and "Central Allocation".
Phase One: "Self-allocated Places"
In the first phase of "Self-allocated Places", all government-aided primary schools across Hong Kong will allocate 50% of their places for distribution. Parents can apply for admission to any government-aided primary school without being restricted by school networks. The students admitted in this phase fall into two main categories: the "Mandatory Admission" category and the "Scoring Category".
Mandatory Admission: According to the current system, government-aided primary schools must first admit siblings of current students or children of school staff. Applications from these students are guaranteed to be accepted, hence they are referred to as the mandatory admission category, which accounts for approximately 30% of the school's Primary One places. If there are insufficient places, they will be filled from the originally reserved places for "Central Allocation".
Scoring Category: 20% to 50% of the school's Primary One places will be allocated based on the scores obtained from the "Scoring Criteria", which determines the priority order for allocation. In simple terms, the higher the score, the greater the chance of being admitted. Students admitted through this method are referred to as the scoring category.
From the above, it can be seen that the first phase primarily emphasizes "connections" and "hereditary rights", with approximately half of the students being admitted during this phase. Those not admitted will need to apply for admission in the second phase.
Phase Two: "Central Allocation"
In the second phase of "Central Allocation", parents will determine the order of their school preferences, allowing a computer to allocate places based on "random numbers". The schools available for selection are mostly limited by the area of residence. This phase mainly emphasizes "strategies for school selection order" and "luck", which is why it is colloquially referred to as the "big lottery".
The school selection form for central allocation is divided into two parts: "Part A - Schools not restricted by school networks" and "Part B - Schools restricted by school networks". In Part A, each primary school offers about 5% of places for the central allocation, and parents can choose no more than three primary schools located in any school network. In Part B, each primary school offers about 45% of places for allocation within the school network, and parents can decide the order of their school preferences according to their wishes.
Overall, the central allocation is fundamentally based on the choices made by parents. If the demand for school places exceeds supply, the computer will allocate places based on random numbers to ensure fairness.
Seize the Time Be Well Prepared
Enrolling in primary school in Hong Kong involves the above phases. If your child is going to enter Primary One next year, parents should start preparing before September of this year, deciding on the order of their preferred schools and planning their application strategy.