幼稚園概覽 Kindergarten Profile 2006/07

	Registration Parents should identify whether a kindergarten or kindergarten-cum-child care centre is registered with the Education Bureau (EDB). All registered schools should have obtained a certificate of registration issued by EDB, specifying the name and location of the school, which should be exhibited at a conspicuous place in the school premises. In addition, parents should check that the school registration number assigned by EDB has been included in the advertisement or leaflets published by the school concerned.
	Admission In Hong Kong, children between the age of three and six may attend pre-primary institutions which are privately run. Some kindergartens operate with an attached child care centre to provide caring services for children aged below three as well (i.e. kindergarten-cum-child care centres). Non-Chinese speaking children are encouraged to study in kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres which adopt Chinese as the medium of instruction so that they can integrate into the local community and master the Chinese language as early as possible. Enquiries about the admission details may be made to the schools direct. Parents may also visit any one of the four Regional Education Offices of EDB and the Joint Office for Pre-primary Services for enquiries on kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres respectively:
	Hong Kong Regional Education Office 53rd floor, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: 2863 4646 Kowloon Regional Education Office Podium-1/F, East Block, Education Bureau, Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre, 19 Suffolk Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon Tel: 3698 4108 New Territories East Regional Education Office 22nd floor, Landmark North, 39 Lung Sum Avenue, Sheung Shui, New Territories Tel: 2639 4876 New Territories West Regional Education Office 19th floor, Chinachem Tsuen Wan Plaza, 457 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories Tel: 2437 7272 Joint Office for Pre-primary Services Room 2312, 23/F Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Tel: 2835 2725
	Medium of Instruction The medium of instruction adopted by most of the kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres is Chinese, which is the mother tongue of most children.
	Facilities and Environment Kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres should provide a safe and hygienic learning environment with adequate space and facilities so that children can play and learn in a pleasant manner.

	Fees and Charges School fees, meal charges for whole-day classes, registration fees (reservation fees) and application fees to be charged by a kinder-garten or kindergarten-cum-child care centre are subject to the approval of EDB. They are required to display the fees certificate and relevant approval letter(s) at a conspicuous place in the school premises. Kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres should incorporate all the necessary expenses relating to teaching and school operation into the school fees, which may include: Salaries (including payment for supply teachers), provident fund, mandatory provident fund, long service payment of teaching and non-teaching staff; The honorariums/salaries of supervisors; Rent and management fees, rates and government rent for the school premises; Furniture and teaching aids which include library books, reference materials, worksheets for teachers and students; Expenses on repairs, maintenance and improvement works of the school premises including installation of air conditioners, double-glaze windows and exhaust fans, maintenance contract; Water and electricity (including air-conditioning) charges, telephone line, fax line and internet service charges; Cleaning fees (including cleaning contract and the provision of cleaning facilities to students) ; Expenses on printing, paper, teachers’ stationery and other consumables for teaching activities; Postage charges and publications for school use; Insurance premium and expenses on first aid and fire safety equipment for school; Audit fees and other service charges in connection with school administration; Transport fees for school administrative purposes; Expenses on regular learning activities for all pupils, conducted either inside or outside school including birthday party, graduation ceremony, picnic and visit, etc. ; Student handbooks, reports or identity cards and graduation certificates; Other expenses directly related to teaching activities, school operation and maintenance of the standard of education service. (Note : Kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres need not charge all of the above items) Approved ceiling of Admission Examination Fee (Application Fee) is $30. Approved ceiling of Registration Fee is $660 (half-day) and $1150 (whole-day) or half of the monthly tuition fee, whichever is lower. The registration fee received by the school will be deducted from the school fee of the first month of the school year or refunded to parents (if appropriate). Kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres should observe the following rules when selling or providing paid items / services to pupils: Schools should inform parents in writing that acquisition of such items or services is entirely voluntary; Schools are required to list out clearly the charges and quantity of each item so that parents can select the items or services required; Schools should avoid charging parents in one lump-sum for the whole package of items or services required for the whole school term so that parents may choose to replenish the items or continue using the services in the middle of the year; The items or services provided should be directly related to teaching activities; Schools should set down proper arrangements for returning goods or refunding; and The profit margin of each item should not exceed 15% of the cost.
	Permitted Accommodation and Admission Kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres are required to display at a prominent place inside each classroom (kinder-gartens)/ school premises (kindergarten-cum-child care centres) the maximum number of pupils permitted in that area. Kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres should not allow the number of pupils to exceed such maximum number.
	Curriculum Planning The curriculum of a kindergarten or kindergarten-cum-child care centre should be designed to cultivate children’s interest in learning and to cater for their balanced development. Some of the important features are:
	Teaching should be conducted mainly through games and activities, including conversation, stories, simulated games, visits, etc. Teachers should organize music activities and physical play for children each day. Teachers should use children’s mother language as the medium of instruction. There is no need to ask children to do homework. Children aged three to four should not be asked to write. Children should not be asked to do dictation or any test or examination.

	Teacher to Pupil Ratio and Qualified Kindergarten Teachers’ Requirement In order to enhance the quality of pre-primary education, with effect from the 2003/04 school year, the teacher to pupil ratio for all kindergarten levels should at least be 1:15. As from the 2004/05 school year, all kindergartens are required to employ 100% QKTs in the required teaching staff establishment, based on the above teacher to pupil ratio.
	Admission Age of Kindergartens With effect from the 2001/02 school year, in addition to admitting children aged three years or above, kindergartens of which their school year starts in August or SeptEDBer may also admit children who have attained the age of two years and eight months before 1 SeptEDBer of the school year of admission to the nursery classes. For example, if a child was born on or before 31.12.2004, kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres of which their school year starts in August or SeptEDBer of 2007 may admit the child to the nursery class.
	Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme Starting form the 2007/08 school year, the Government will implement a Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Except for the transitional arrangement, kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres eligible for redemption of voucher should be non-profit-making (NPM), offering local curriculum and charging a tuition fee not exceeding HK$24,000 per student per annum (pspa) for a half-day place and HK$48,000 pspa for a full-day place. A transitional period of three years until the end of the 2009/10 school year will be provided for private independent kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres satisfying all prescribed requirements of eligible NPM kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres save for the NPM status to redeem the vouchers from parents whose children are enrolled in the nursery classes or above in these schools as of the 2007/08 school year and throughout these children’s education in the same school. For details of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, you may visit the homepage of EDB at www.edb.gov.hk or call 2891 0088.
	Quality Assurance The quality assurance mechanism for kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres will be formalized as from the 2007/08 school year onwards, building on the ground work of the set of performance indicators for school quality already established.
	Good Practices Kindergarten inspectors of EDB make reference to the Performance Indicators in assessing the quality of kindergartens and commending their good performance in certain domains. In order to let the public further understand the quality of pre-primary education, EDB has uploaded the affirmed good practices of quality schools, such as children’s self-initiated learning, the strategy of school self-evaluation, home-school co-operation, on EDB homepage for the reference of parents and the public.
	Harmonisation of Pre-primary Services After harmonising kindergartens and child care centres which took effect from the 2005/06 school year, there were some 400 child care centres upon conversion to kindergarten-cum-child care centres being under the monitoring of EDB. Apart from education for children between the age of three to six, kindergarten-cum-child care centres also provide services to children aged under three. Parents may refer to the Profiles on child care centres. The details on harmonisation is available on EDB website at http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeid=175&langno=1 for reference.

Admission