A spokesman for the Education Bureau (EDB) said today (August 31) that parents who wish to apply for a Primary One (P1) place in a government or aided school for their children in September next year under the Primary One Admission (POA) System can obtain the application form or download it from the EDB homepage from Friday (September 2) until September 30. All Hong Kong children born on or before December 31, 2017, are eligible to join the POA System for admission to P1 in September 2023 provided they have not attended any primary schools and have never been allocated a P1 place.

     Parents of children who are attending kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres may obtain the application form, explanatory notes on how to complete the application form and a POA information leaflet from their kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres. For parents of children not attending kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres, they may obtain the documents from District Offices (Home Affairs Enquiry Centres) and the Regional Education Offices and School Places Allocation Section of the EDB.

     Parents may also choose to download a web version of the application form from the POA webpage under the EDB homepage (path: EDB homepage (www.edb.gov.hk) > Education System and Policy > Primary and Secondary Education > School Places Allocation Systems > Primary One Admission System). Please note that each applicant child participating in the POA System may use one application form to apply to one government or aided primary school only. If parents have obtained a copy of the three-ply printed version of the application form, they need not download the application form online.

     At the Discretionary Places Admission stage, the school chosen is not restricted to the school net in which the child resides. Parents who wish to apply for a POA discretionary place in a government or aided primary school should submit the completed application form together with the originals and photocopies of all supporting documents directly to the school during school office hours between September 26 and 30. Parents who are unable to submit the application form in person may authorise in writing a representative to bring along the above-mentioned documents to the school on their behalf. Parents should note that, to avoid overcrowding, schools may arrange a drop-in box for parents to place the original copy of the application form and the photocopies of the supporting documents to shorten their waiting time. Under this circumstance, parents should note the corresponding arrangements on providing the originals of the supporting documents to schools for verification. As the Vaccine Pass arrangement has been implemented in schools, except for exempted persons, all visitors have to present their vaccination record and use the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile application to scan the venue QR code before they are allowed to enter schools. Persons with a Red Code or an Amber Code are not allowed to enter school premises in the capacity of a visitor.

     Parents who are unable to submit the application in person or authorise a representative to submit it on their behalf may arrange the submission of the application form and the photocopies of the supporting documents by post between September 26 and 30 (the postmark date should not be later than the prescribed deadline). The school will arrange for parents to provide the originals of the supporting documents to the school for verification on or before October 31. After verifying the relevant documents, the school will return a copy of the application form with the school chop to parents for records.

     Parents should only submit one application for each child. If parents have applied to more than one government or aided primary school, their application for a POA discretionary place will be rendered void. Parents who wish to enrol their children in Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) primary schools and private primary schools (including international schools) should apply directly to those schools as they are not included in the POA System. Parents should also note that children who have accepted the offer of P1 places in DSS primary schools will not be allocated P1 places in government or aided primary schools through the POA System.

     If parents are applying only for the POA Central Allocation, they may return the completed application forms with originals and copies of the supporting documents during the period from September 26, 2022, to February 3, 2023, to the EDB School Places Allocation Section at Office 2, 2/F, Manulife Financial Centre, 223 Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong.

     "When completing the POA application form, parents should fill in the actual residential address of their child. If a false address is given by parents to secure a P1 place for their child under the POA System, the application will be rendered void and the P1 place allocated will be withdrawn. Suspected cases of using a false address for POA applications may be reported to the School Places Allocation Section by calling its hotline at 2832 7700.

     "In line with the Smart Government strategy, the EDB will implement digitalisation of POA in phases starting from 2023. It is envisaged that parents can make school choices and receive results of the POA Central Allocation through the e-Platform at the Central Allocation Stage for POA 2023 at the earliest. If parents wish to submit the application or receive results of the Central Allocation via the e-Platform at the Central Allocation Stage, please provide an email address in the application form for activating the POA e-Platform account. To allow schools and parents to get familiar with the operation of digitalisation of POA 2023, the EDB plans to organise briefing sessions for primary schools, kindergartens and child care centres as well as parents from late November to December 2022," the EDB spokesman said.

     The information leaflet for POA 2023 is available on the EDB homepage for parents' reference. Other details of POA 2023 and the discretionary places quota of each school will be available from Friday on the EDB homepage and the EDB's 24-hour Automatic Telephone Enquiry System at 2891 0088.

Ends/Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Issued at HKT 15:00

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