Before learning about the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) system in Hong Kong, it is important to understand that Hong Kong secondary schools are categorized into four main types, namely aided secondary schools, government secondary schools, Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) secondary schools and private secondary schools. Among them, aided and government secondary schools are required to participate in the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System of the Education Bureau (EDB) for admission of students. DSS secondary schools may decide on their own whether or not to accept applications for S1 Discretionary Places and participate in the Central Allocation of Secondary School Places (CASPA). The EDB will announce the list of DSS secondary schools not participating in the SSPA System before the application for allocation of Secondary School Places for that year. Private secondary schools are not required to participate in the SSPA System of the EDB. For DSS and private secondary schools not participating in the SSPA System, parents are required to make enquiries and applications to their preferred target secondary schools on their own.
Hong Kong secondary schools are divided into 4 categories
| Secondary School Category | Government subsidies/subsidies | Secondary School Places Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Aided secondary schools | there are | Required Participation |
| Government Secondary School | there are | Required Participation |
| DSS Secondary Schools | there are | It is up to you to decide whether you want to participate or not |
| Private secondary schools | No, it's not. | Non-Participation |
Secondary School Places Allocation System
"The Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System is a Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) method formulated by the Education Bureau (EDB), covering government and aided secondary schools as well as some participating DSS secondary schools. The SSPA System is divided into two phases: the first phase is the Discretionary Places Allocation (DP) and the second phase is the Central Allocation (CA).
Stage 1 "Discretionary Places
In Phase I of the Discretionary Places Scheme, no more than 30% S1 places will be available for parents' choice. Parents can choose up to two secondary schools and submit application forms to the schools, regardless of the district. Applications are normally invited in January each year and the secondary schools concerned will notify the applicants for interviews. Under the latest EDB arrangements, secondary schools are required to notify admitted students of the allocation results on a specified date (usually in March or April) before the commencement of the Central Allocation stage. Under the new arrangement, admitted students are no longer required to participate in the Central Allocation and need not take any action. They only need to wait for the results of the Central Allocation to be announced in early July and then register with the schools.
Notes for Self-allocated Places Application
- Each secondary school offers a maximum of 30% S1 places for parents to choose;
- Parents can choose from a maximum of two secondary schools;
- The choice of secondary school is not restricted by district.
The second phase of the Central Allocation
If they are not admitted by the school in the first stage of Discretionary Places Allocation, they need to enter the second stage of Central Allocation, commonly known as the Grand Lucky Draw. Parents need to fill in theForm for Selection of Schools for Secondary School Places AllocationThe allocation of places is made on the basis of allocation groups, school preferences and computerized random assignment numbers. Submission of forms starts in May and the results are announced in early July.
Schools will allocate a minimum of 65% places in this phase. If schools do not utilize all 301 TP3T of places in the first phase of Discretionary Places, these places will also be included in the second phase. In addition, the remaining 5% places will be reserved for repeaters in secondary schools.
Notes for Uniform School Places Allocation Application
- Each secondary school provides at least 651 TP3T places;
- Fill in the "Form for Selection of Schools for Secondary School Places Allocation";
- Allocation will be made on the basis of the allocation group, the order of selection of schools and the computerized random numbering.
Completion of the Form for Selection of Schools for Secondary School Places Allocation
The Form for Selection of Schools under Secondary School Places Allocation is divided into two parts, Part A and Part B. Priority will be given to applications under Part A, followed by applications under Part B:
- Part A: Part A is not restricted by school nets. Parents may fill in any secondary schools participating in the Central Allocation exercise, including those in their own school nets, but can only fill in a maximum of 3 secondary schools. This section accounts for 10% of the "Central Allocation" places.
- Part B: Part B is restricted by the school net to which the child belongs. Parents may fill in up to 30 secondary schools in the school net and prioritize them according to their preference. This section accounts for 90% of the Central Allocation places.
How is the "allocated group" demarcated?
In each school year, the Education Bureau (EDB) will categorize all Primary Six students into three banding groups based on their scores in the three tests and with reference to the results of the Pre-Secondary One Admission Test in the previous years of primary schooling. All Primary 6 students in Hong Kong will be categorized into three banding groups based on their scores, and then sorted and divided into three groups according to their scores, i.e. Band 1, Band 2 and Band 3, which are commonly known as "Band 1", "Band 2" and "Band 3" respectively. Each band accounted for 33.31 TP3T of all Primary 6 students in Hong Kong.
- The "first assignment group" is the 33.31 TP3T students who ranked highest in points;
- The "second assignment group" is the 33.31 TP3T students who ranked in the middle of the scale;
- The "third assignment group" is the 33.31 TP3T student with the lowest score ranking.
Unified School Places Allocation (USPA) is the allocation of places according to groups.
In the Central Allocation, priority of allocation is given to students in Band 1, also commonly known as Band 1, according to their choice of school and random number. In Band 1, students with the smallest random number will be given the highest priority for allocation to the school of their first choice.
The computer will first consider the first choice schools of all students in Band 1, then the second choice schools of those students who do not receive a place, and so on. Only after all students in the band have been allocated a place will the computer process the choices of students in the "second allocation band", commonly known as Band 2, and so on. Therefore, the later the band, the lower the chance of getting the desired school. Therefore, the Unified School Places Allocation (USAP) requires a strategy for choosing the order of schools and a little bit of luck.
Therefore, it is very important to fill in the "Form for Selection of Schools for Secondary School Places Allocation". Generally speaking, elementary school are very nervous because the allocation of students to the top ranked popular secondary schools will directly affect the reputation of the elementary school itself. Take my child's school as an example, the school also organized a seminar in the school auditorium for parents whose children were not admitted by the school in the Discretionary Places Allocation (DPA) exercise. I am glad that I attended the seminar and listened to the advice of the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) School Selection Tips, so I adopted the strategy of "attacking and retreating" in the order of choosing the schools, and as a result, my child was allocated from the second band (Band 2) to the second band (Band 3) of the school. As a result, my child was allocated from Band 2 to his preferred Band 1 secondary school.
Lastly, we suggest parents to fill in the "Secondary School Places Allocation School Selection Form" to increase the chance of being allocated to a Band 1 secondary school!
