The Education Bureau announced today that parents of Primary 6 students participating in the 2026 cycle of the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) system who wish to apply for Secondary 1 Discretionary Places (DPs) for their children must submit their applications to the secondary schools concerned between January 2 and 16, 2026.

Parents who have registered as SSPA e-platform users and bound their accounts to “iAM Smart+” can from tomorrow browse revelant information, submit DP applications and subsequently view their application results.

Paper application forms will still be accepted. Parents of P6 students will each receive two paper application forms from their children’s primary schools. Parents of students not studying in primary schools participating in the SSPA system can obtain the application forms at the bureau’s School Places Allocation Section.

The bureau remarked that parents should not submit applications to more than two secondary schools participating in the SSPA, otherwise their applications will be rendered void. In addition, parents should not submit duplicate applications via the e-platform and in paper.

Primary and secondary schools should not request students or parents to disclose their order of school preference. Likewise, applicants and their parents should not disclose such information.

Additionally, parents are strongly advised to consider the schools in all respects, so as to make suitable choices for their children. They may refer to the Secondary School Profiles for reference.

As students who are successful in the DP application stage will not be allocated a school place in the central allocation, parents are advised to only apply to schools of their preference. The bureau will match students’ preferences against schools’ Successful/Reserve Lists for Discretionary Places. If a student is successful in both schools to which he or she has applied, allocation will be based on the student’s order of preference.

If students are included in the Successful Lists for Discretionary Places, their parents will receive notifications from the relevant schools on March 31 next year. From 10am on the same day, e-platform users can also view notifications for successful DP applicants online. Parents do not need to reply to the secondary schools to accept or decline the DP offers.

The DP allocation results and the central allocation results will be released on July 7 next year.