Parents were also reminded they will not need to confirm with the schools concerned if they accept the discretionary place offer.

The bureau said parents of successful discretionary place applicants who have also successfully applied for a school place in a non-participating Direct Subsidy Scheme (NDSS) secondary school should decide whether to retain the offer from the schools concerned.

If the parents decide to retain the offer from the NDSS schools, they should disregard the discretionary place offers, and their children will be allocated to the NDSS schools concerned according to the established mechanism.

However, if the parents decide to decline the offer from the NDSS schools, they should notify the NDSS schools concerned and retrieve the originals of the signed Parent’s Undertaking and the Primary 6 Student Record Form on or before April 12 in order to retain the school place successfully applied for at the discretionary place stage.

Meanwhile, a bureau spokesman said starting from this cycle, parents who have registered as Secondary School Places Allocation e-Platform users and bound their account to "iAM Smart+" may browse choice-making information and documents, submit Central Allocation application and view allocation results via the SSPA e-Platform.

To cater for the needs of different parents, traditional paper application forms will continue to be accepted, and primary schools participating in the allocation have been informed to collect copies relevant documents on April 12.

Hong Kong’s secondary school place allocation comprises two stages: allocation of discretionary place and central allocation.

Schools can admit students via discretionary place allocation based on academic performance as well as factors including religious affiliation and parents’ alumni status.

Those who do not get any discretionary place can continue to join the central allocation.

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