The Education Bureau (EDB) announced today (August 29) that in the Third School Allocation Exercise (SAE) 2019, two school premises under planning in Sham Shui Po District and Kowloon City District are open for application by eligible school sponsoring bodies (SSBs) for reprovisioning of existing public sector primary schools located in Primary One Admission (POA) school nets of Kwai Tsing District and Wong Tai Sin District respectively.
 
     The two new school premises under planning are located at Lin Cheung Road, Sham Shui Po, and Site 1B-4 at Kai Tak Development, Kowloon City. Details of the two premises are set out in the Annex.
 
     "To meet the projected shortfall of public sector primary school places in Sham Shui Po District and Kowloon City District, there is a need to set up an additional public sector primary school in each of the two districts. On the other hand, surplus in public sector primary school places in the neighbouring Kwai Tsing District and Wong Tai Sin District respectively is expected to persist. The EDB now decides to reprovision existing public sector primary schools from POA school nets of Kwai Tsing District and Wong Tai Sin District to Sham Shui Po District and Kowloon City District respectively to help cope with the shortfall in school places in the two districts. This arrangement can on one hand, provide an additional public sector primary school in each of the Sham Shui Po District and the Kowloon City District and on the other hand, alleviate the primary school place surplus in the POA school nets of Kwai Tsing District and Wong Tai Sin District. In addition, the schools allocated with the new school premises will be able to have a facelift improvement in school facilities," an EDB spokesman said.
 
     "Allocation of the school premises will be conducted on a competitive basis. Quality of education will be the prime consideration in assessing the applications. Factors to be considered include the operation track record of the school proposed to be reprovisioned, the quality of the school plan after reprovisioning, especially the arrangement and supporting measures for students to return to school during the transitional period, and the physical condition of the school's existing premises. In respect of the physical condition of existing school premises, we believe that schools with a site area less than 3 000 square metres and premises over 30 years old which have not benefited or have only marginally benefited from the School Improvement Programme will warrant our serious consideration. However, these are not prerequisites for the submission of applications. Each case has to be assessed on its own merits.
 
     "In line with the established arrangement, the successful SSB will be required, upon allocation of the new premises for reprovisioning, to return its existing school premises. For those schools currently located within a private lot under the ownership of the SSB, the school or a third party related to the SSB/school, the relevant private land owner will be required to surrender the existing school premises and site to the Government," he added.
 
     All applications will be considered by the School Allocation Committee comprising official and non-official members. SSBs are required to complete an application form and submit it together with the required supporting documents, a proposed school plan (of not more than 10 pages including all annexes plus a two-page executive summary) and a list of operating school(s). The proposed school plan should cover the vision and mission, management and organisation, learning and teaching, school ethos and support for students, students' performance targets, self-evaluation indicators, etc. The SSB may also make reference to the school(s) that it is operating and their respective performance to substantiate its case.
 
     In line with the EDB's established policy for school allocation, when submitting the application, the SSB should be exempt from tax under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, and be:
 
(1) incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, (the successful SSB would be required to ensure that its articles of association contain all the standard clauses and articles required for allocation of a school premises); or
 
(2) incorporated under other ordinances, with its constitution satisfying the Permanent Secretary for Education as being fit to be considered for allocation of a school premises.
 
     In addition, the SSB must be running one or more public sector primary schools in Hong Kong and must be the registered SSB of the applicant school. In this SAE, only existing public sector primary schools operating in premises below the prevailing standard and designs in POA school nets of Kwai Tsing District (i.e. POA School Net 64, 65 and 66) and Wong Tai Sin District (i.e. POA School Net 43 and 45) may submit application in respect of the planned new primary school premises at Lin Cheung Road, Sham Shui Po, and the premises at Site 1B-4, Kai Tak Development, Kowloon City respectively.
 
     The application form for the Third SAE 2019 and other reference materials can be downloaded from the EDB homepage (www.edb.gov.hk/en/sch-admin/sch-premises-info/allocation-of-sch/index.html). More information on this SAE can also be found on the homepage.
 
     The duly completed application form and supporting documents, together with 22 copies of the proposed school plan with executive summary and list of operating schools, if any, should reach the Infrastructure and Research Support Division of the EDB (6th Floor, East Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong) by 5pm on October 10, 2019. Late or incomplete applications, as well as applications via email, will not be processed.
 
     For enquiries, please call 3509 8413 or 3509 8411.

Ends/Thursday, August 29, 2019
Issued at HKT 18:38

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