General Information on Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System

Admission to Secondary 1 (S1) in September 2025

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

• Information Leaflet on the SSPA System 2023/2025 Cycle
• Video on the SSPA System 2023/2025 Cycle
• Frequently Asked Questions on SSPA 2023/2025
• PowerPoint on SSPA 2023/2025 [October 2024]
• Parents' Talk on "Choice of Secondary Schools" [December 2024] (Chinese version only)
  • [Please click to view details of talks]
• Briefing Session for Parents of Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) Students: Education Support Measures for NCS Students and SSPA 2022/2024  (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 2025]
  • [Please click to donwload Handbook for Application for Secondary One Discretionary Places]
  • [Please click to donwload Notes for Parents on Application for Secondary One Discretionary Places]
    • Versions: English , Bahasa Indonesia , Hindi , Nepali , Punjabi (Indian) , Tagalog , Thai , Urdu , Vietnamese

• Application to non-participating Direct Subsidy Scheme (NDSS) secondary schools
  • [Application period at the schools' discretion]
  • [Please click to download List of Direct Subsidy Scheme Secondary Schools Not Participating in Secondary School Places Allocation 2023/2025]

• Secondary schools participating in SSPA will notify parents of successful DP applicants of their children's inclusion in the Successful Lists for Discretionary Places on 31 March 2025
• EDB Circular No. 18/2019

Central Allocation (CA)

• Choice-making period from early April to early May in 2025

• Release of DP and CA results on 8 July 2025
• S1 registration on 10 and 11 July 2025

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)

Schedule

• Application to government, aided and caput schools as well as DSS secondary schools participating in SSPA*  
   
  • [Application period from 2 January to 16 January 2025]
  • [Please click to donwload Handbook for Application for Secondary One Discretionary Places]
  • [Please click to download Notes for Parents on Application for Secondary One Discretionary Places (Applicable to Non-participating Students)]
    • Versions: English , Bahasa Indonesia , Hindi , Nepali , Punjabi (Indian) , Tagalog , Thai , Urdu , Vietnamese
    • Visit the School Places Allocation (SPA) Section of EDB during office hours from 5 December 2024 to 16 January 2025, bringing along the originals and photocopies of student applicants' identity documents^{Note 1}, birth certificate, and academic certificate with the highest level of primary education attained/ being attained shown^{Note 2}.  Eligible applicants will be issued with the Application Form for Secondary One Discretionary Place and an activation code for the SSPA e-Platform^{Note 3}
      • [Note 1: If the student applicant is the dependant of an applicant whose application for any of the various talent admission schemes is pending approval from the Immigration Department, please also bring along the original of the relevant acknowledgement letter issued by the Immigration Department]
      • [Note 2: Please click to download Common Examples of Academic Certificate with the Highest Level of Primary Education Attained/ being Attained]
      • [Note 3: If parents cannot visit the SPA Section to submit the application in person owing to personal reason, he/she may authorise a representative to handle the related procedures on his/her behalf. The authorised person should bring along the original of the letter of authorisation signed by the parent (Please click to download Sample Letter of Authorisation), a copy of the parent's identity document, the originals of the student applicant's identity documents, and a copy of the student applicant's birth certificate]
    • Submit the Application Form for Secondary One Discretionary Place and documents required to the school direct from 2 January to 16 January 2025.  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 successful DP applicants of their children's inclusion in the Successful Lists for Discretionary Places on 31 March 2025
    • 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 8 July 2025, i.e. the date of announcement of the allocation results

• Application to NDSS secondary schools
  • [Application period at the schools' discretion]
  • [Please click to download List of Direct Subsidy Scheme Secondary Schools Not Participating in Secondary School Places Allocation 2023/2025]

• Application for a subsidised S1 place for 2025/26 school year*
  • [To be allocated by EDB]
    • Applicants may apply for a subsidised S1 place from May to August 2025.  Places available after CA will be allocated to eligible applicants by EDB.  Parents should visit the SPA Section of EDB during the office hours for submitting the application
    • The results of the first batch of applications will be announced in early July 2025, the second batch by the end of July 2025, the third batch in mid-August 2025, and thereafter students will be informed individually