General Information on Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System

Admission to Secondary 1 (S1) in September 2026

Applicable to Students Participating in SSPA
(Students studying Primary 6 in schools participating in SSPA)

General Information

Information Leaflet on the SSPA System 2024/2026 Cycle
Frequently Asked Questions on SSPA 2024/2026
Briefing Session for Parents of Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) Students: Education Support Measures for NCS Students and SSPA 2023/2025 (English version only)

Discretionary Places (DP)

Application to government, aided and caput schools as well as Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) secondary schools participating in SSPA
- Application period from 2 January to 16 January 2026
Application to non-participating Direct Subsidy Scheme (NDSS) secondary schools
- Application period at the schools' discretion (please contact the schools or visit their webpages for details)

Arrangements for Notifying Successful DP Applicants

Secondary schools participating in SSPA will notify parents of all successful DP applicants of their children's inclusion in the Successful Lists for Discretionary Places in writing (e.g. by letter or email) and by phone on 31 March 2026
EDB Circular No. 18/2019

Central Allocation (CA)

Choice-making period from early April to early May in 2026

Announcement of Allocation Results and Completion of Admission Registration Procedure

Release of DP and CA results on 7 July 2026
S1 registration on 9 and 10 July 2026

Pre-Secondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test

For more information, please click here

Applicable to Students NOT participating in SSPA
(including newly-arrived children and students studying Primary 6 in schools NOT participating in SSPA)

Means of Applying for an S1 Place

(I) DP — Application to government, aided and caput schools as well as DSS secondary schools participating in SSPA*

Visit the School Places Allocation (SPA) Section of EDB during office hours from 5 December 2025 to 16 January 2026, bringing along the originals and photocopies of three supporting documents: the student applicants' identity documents, birth certificate, and academic certificate with the highest level of primary education attained/ being attained shown. Eligible applicants will be issued with the Application Form for Secondary One Discretionary Place and an activation code for the SSPA e-platform
- [Please refer to Common Examples of Supporting Documents]
Submit the Application Form for Secondary One Discretionary Place and documents required to the school direct from 2 January to 16 January 2026. For parents registered as SSPA e-platform users and bound their account to “iAM Smart+”, apart from the paper Application Form, they may submit DP applications via the SSPA e-platform
Secondary schools participating in SSPA will notify parents of all successful DP applicants of their children's inclusion in the Successful Lists for Discretionary Places in writing (e.g. by letter or email) and by phone on 31 March 2026
If student applicants are admitted by participating secondary schools or Jockey Club Ti-I College at DP stage, the secondary school concerned will call the parents to inform them of the application results and the related arrangements on 7 July 2026, i.e. the date of announcement of the allocation results

(II) Application to NDSS secondary schools

Application period at the schools' discretion (please contact the schools or visit their webpages for details)

(III) Application for a subsidised S1 place for 2026/27 school year (to be allocated by EDB)*

Applicants may apply for a subsidised S1 place from May to August 2026. Places available after CA will be allocated to eligible applicants by EDB. Parents should visit the School Place Allocation (SPA) Section of EDB during the office hours for submitting the application
The results of the first batch of applications will be announced on 7 July 2026, the second batch by the end of July 2026, the third batch in mid-August 2026, and thereafter students will be informed individually

[*Eligibility for application: Applicants must be a Hong Kong resident, have never been allocated an S1 place through SSPA and have never studied in government, aided, caput and DSS secondary schools]

Digitalisation of S1 Admission

Parents may register to be SSPA e-platform users and login to the SSPA e-platform starting from mid-November 2025. Parents who have registered as SSPA e-platform users with "iAM Smart+" may submit the applications for DP, CA and Cross-Net Allocation (if applicable) via the SSPA e-platform
For enquiries related to the activation code required for account creation, please contact your child’s attending primary school (applicable to participating students) or the SPA Section of EDB (applicable to non-participating students)
Parent Desk: https://esspa.edb.gov.hk/
- SSPA e-Platform Parent’s Guide
- Frequently Asked Questions on SSPA e-Platform (available soon)
School Desk: https://esspa.edb.gov.hk/school
- Frequently Asked Questions on SSPA e-Platform (available soon)

School Places Allocation Section of the Education Bureau

Address : Podium Floor, West Block, Education Bureau Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre, 19 Suffolk Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon

Telephone : 2832 7740, 2832 7700

Office hours : Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 6:00pm; closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.

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General Information on Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System

Admission to Secondary 1 (S1) in September 2026

Applicable to Students Participating in SSPA(Students studying Primary 6 in schools participating in SSPA)

Applicable to Students NOT participating in SSPA(including newly-arrived children and students studying Primary 6 in schools NOT participating in SSPA)

Digitalisation of S1 Admission

Applicable to Students Participating in SSPA
(Students studying Primary 6 in schools participating in SSPA)

Applicable to Students NOT participating in SSPA
(including newly-arrived children and students studying Primary 6 in schools NOT participating in SSPA)