ADMISSIONS POLICY

Students must be age appropriate for their grade. The birthday cut-off date for the Primary and Secondary School is 31st August.

Pre-K composite classes include children from the Pre-K1 and Pre-K2 age criteria. For example:

• Pre-K class: 3-4 years old by 31st August of enrolling year (must be fully toilet trained).
• K class: 5 years old by 31st August of enrolling year.
• Grade 1: 6 years old by 31st August of enrolling year.

In exceptional cases, students may be granted a place outside this age requirement if warranted by the student’s past school experience, maturity and assessment results, and there is space availability in an age appropriate class. We operate a wait pool, and acceptance is not based on the date of application. HKA has a rolling admissions policy and will accept candidates on the basis of the given requirements all year round.

Students must possess a Hong Kong Identity Card or valid visa issued by the Immigration Department to be eligible for enrolment at Hong Kong Academy. Parents/guardians are responsible for providing this documentation to the school upon request. Hong Kong Academy does not provide Student/Dependent visas. Students must live with either one or both of their parents. If a student is not living with his/her parents, a legal guardianship must be established and enrolment must be approved by the Head of School.

HKA prioritises the following types of applications. This list is not hierarchical; each item is taken into consideration along with the openings available at any particular grade: 

• Families who embrace the school’s philosophy, core values and curriculum
• Siblings of current students 
• Families who apply for all eligible children
• Previously enrolled students (this does not include students who have left HKA to join another school in Hong Kong)
• Students who bring diversity of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, family blend, learning styles and needs, and gender 
• Corporate debenture holders
• Diversity debenture holders
• Family debenture holders
• Faculty children
• Children of HKA alumni

These priorities do not override the school’s commitment to providing a diverse learning environment. Selection from the sibling wait pool will be made in the following order:

• Gender
• Date of admission of an elder sibling
• Number of enrolled siblings currently attending HKA
• Date of Birth

At Hong Kong Academy, we practice a family policy that gives priority for class places to families who will enrol all their age-appropriate children at our school. This policy sustains our commitment to establishing inclusive classrooms with differing abilities as well as to our community spirit. The school reserves the right not to accept or re-enrol any student in Primary School who has an eligible, school-age, older sibling that does not attend Hong Kong Academy Secondary School.

To enable the school to effectively provide necessary support to all students, HKA requires parents/legal guardians to be transparent about their child’s profile and share their particular learning needs, if any, during the application process. All educational, psychological and medical reports must be submitted together with the application. 

Children who need learner support are admitted upon the same requirements as other students. They must be able to be successful in the classroom with minimal outside support services. We actively seek to admit students who are both neurotypical and neurodiverse, including students who might be exceptionally able in specific or multiple areas of development, as well as students who need additional support in specific or multiple areas of development.

Students who are receiving additional support in the school are required to have all age appropriate siblings attend HKA, subject to space.

The application fee is paid upon application for admission and is a one off, non-refundable payment (see School Fees) that covers the following services:

• Family introduction and individualised visit to Hong Kong Academy.
• Online application processing and maintenance.
• Liaising with current school.
• Student shadow days (in Secondary School).
• Educational assessment of all application documents.
• Meetings with principal or specialists, for example, therapists or members of the Learner Support team (if required).
• All standard face to face, group or online academic admissions assessments.
• Specialist English language attainment assessment (if required).
• Application is one time only and applications are valid until a family enters the school (updates required by family). This means that you do not have to pay the application fee annually.

The application fee does not include:

• Extended assessments which may include Speech and/or OT evaluations and classroom visits. These assessments may carry a pre-agreed additional fee and will result in specialist reports which will be the property of the parents.

The information submitted on this form is being collected in accordance with the HKA Personal Data Handling Policy and its related Personal Information Collection Statements (“PICS”). A copy of the HKA PIC statement can be found here.