Playtimes HK Magazine The School Book 2019-2020 | Page 11

LOCAL SCHOOLS
Recent years have seen increasing amounts of expatriate
families considering the local school system. The clear
advantage of which is language acquisition. With China’s
growing importance in the global economy, it is clear that the
ability to speak Chinese will give children a competitive edge
when they eventually enter the job market. All too often,
a couple of lessons a week are not enough for a child to
develop a good command of either Cantonese or Mandarin.
Many families are thus opting for local schools that use
English for the medium of instruction but also teach Chinese
to a near-native level
Local school fees are usually lower than those of their
international counterparts, providing another advantage for
many parents. However, those seriously considering applying
to local schools should be very aware of the high-pressure
environment and heavy workload that tends to be featured
in many local schools. It’s also commonplace for children to
seek extra tuition to keep the pace with their classmates and
to spend long hours on their homework.
Local schools fall into various categories based upon the
amount of Government funding they receive:
● ● Fully Funded Government Schools
These are wholly owned and financed by the Government
and run by the Education Department.
● ● Aided Schools
These constitute the bulk of the local school sector. Many
occupy Government sites but are run by independent
organisations and have part of their costs met by the
Government, based upon fixed teacher/pupil and pupil/
class ratios. A number are owned and run by charitable
and religious organisations, the most common one being
the Hong Kong Anglican Church.
● ● Direct Subsidy Schools (DSS)*
Created in 1991, this category of schools aims towards
high educational standards. These schools receive a
government subsidy equivalent to that provided on a per
unit basis for aided schools but adjusted on a sliding scale
linked to the top-up fees charged. The schools have great
flexibility in deploying resources and are able to design
their own curriculum within the local curriculum and have
full discretion on entrance criteria and admissions.
● ● Private Independent Schools*
Schools in this category provide a similar structure to that
of the international schools but with a bilingual approach.
For schools such as the Independent Schools Foundation
Academy and Yew Chung International School, the
primary language is Putonghua, but the focus is firmly
upon combining eastern and western culture and values.
Application Procedure
Applications for local schools is open to any child that has
the right of abode in Hong Kong and who will be at least five
years and eight months of age on 1st September on the year of
admission to Primary one.
Admission for both categories of local schools occurs in
two stages. Schools generally fill half of the available spaces in
the first stage, which occurs in the autumn before the child is
due to start school. In this first stage, parents apply for what’s
known as ‘Discretionary Place Admission’ to a single school
of their choice, which need not be in their catchment area.
Sixty percent of the places available are given to applicants
who already have a sibling attending or a parent working at
that school. The remaining 40 percent of places are awarded
according to a points-based system. Applicants are awarded
points based upon a set of criteria, which includes being the
first-born of a family, or sharing the same religion as the school,
for example. Once awarded, families have to immediately
decide whether or not to accept the place.
Stage two takes place in January or February of the year
of actual admission. In this central application stage, parents
visit an allocation centre to submit a list of schools in order of
their preference. It is recommended that applicants select
schools within the family’s catchment area since schools
generally only allocate five percent of available places to
Central Allocation applicants outside their catchment area,
and the chances of obtaining these places are generally
agreed to be very slim. Families who apply at stage two
must wait until June to hear if (and where) their child has
been offered a place. If applicants are not successful at this
stage, a round of fevered door knocking must commence – all
applicants will be offered a place, it is just a question of where.
Application Procedure*
Application and admission to DSS and Private
Independent Schools varies greatly from school to school
and is at the discretion of individual schools. The process
generally requires submission of an application form,
followed by one or two rounds of interviews. Many DSS
schools impose written texts . For details, parents should
visit the websites of the schools of their interest.
The School Book 2019-2020
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