Secondary school nets and Part A cross-net strategy: how the 18 SSPA nets work (2025/2027 cycle)

What this page answers

Students in Primary 6 in September 2026 are in the 2025/2027 Secondary School Places Allocation cycle, with Secondary 1 entry in September 2027. This page covers school nets in Central Allocation only: how the 18 nets match the 18 districts, how the net limits the Part B list, why the three Part A choices can cross nets, and which net Part B uses after a cross-net application is approved. Afterwards a parent should be able to separate “the primary school’s district” from “where we live”, see that Part A runs first and uses the territory band, and see that an approved cross-net move recomputes the net band while the territory band stays the same. This site explains the mechanism. It does not compute an individual student’s actual band.

How the 18 nets are drawn

There are 18 secondary school nets, one for each of the 18 administrative districts. The regional headings below are only a reading aid. Each district is its own net. The New Territories are not one combined net, and Islands is a net on its own.

Each net’s choice list includes that district’s participating secondary schools, plus some schools in other districts that offer places into the net. How many of those other-district schools there are changes from year to year. This page names no secondary school and does not say which other-district school offers places into which net. Both points are settled by that year’s secondary-school list (《中學一覽表》). The Secondary One Choice of Schools form and the list are issued in early April 2027. The Notes for Parents on Central Allocation (《統一派位家長須知》) are uploaded on 8 April 2027. Whether or not Discretionary Places was applied for, the Central Allocation form must still be submitted. The e-platform window is 8 April to 5 May 2027; paper forms go back to the primary school in early May.

What the net decides

Of the places left after repeaters and Discretionary Places, 10% are Part A (not restricted by school net) and 90% are Part B (by school net). Part A takes up to 3 schools in any net, including the student’s own. Part B takes up to 30 schools, and they must be on the student’s own-net list. The net therefore decides which schools Part B may name. The three Part A choices are not limited to that list.

Allocation uses three factors: band, the parents’ order of choices, and a random number (隨機編號). The random number is generated before the run. It is unrelated to the student number or to personal data. When students in the same band compete for a school that is already full, the smaller number goes first. There are two kinds of band. In both, adjusted scores are ranked and split into three equal thirds. The territory band ranks every student in Hong Kong together and is used for Part A. The net band ranks students inside each of the 18 nets and is used for Part B. Bands are computed only when the allocation program runs, after the final headcount is fixed. Individual bands are never released to parents. The Education Bureau states that a school cannot precisely predict an individual’s band from past cohort profiles plus the student’s internal marks or rank.

Part A is processed first, then Part B. In Part A the program takes every territory Band 1 student’s choices in the parents’ order, then territory Band 2, then territory Band 3. A student placed in Part A is not processed in Part B. Part B then takes net Band 1 in choice order. A net Band 1 student whose 30 choices are all full receives a place from the places still left in the net. Net Band 2 follows, then net Band 3. An own-net school may appear once in Part A and once in Part B. The same school must not be repeated inside one part. The Bureau also states that listing only a few favourite schools in Part B does not raise the chance of getting them. The e-platform prompts when Part B has fewer than 20 choices. Fill as many of the 30 as possible.

How the three Part A choices cross nets

Part A’s own name is “not restricted by school net” (不受學校網限制). The three choices may come from any net, including the student’s own. It is the only part of Central Allocation in which a family can name a school in another net without a cross-net application. It uses the territory band, not the net band, and it is run before Part B, across all students together. The places it uses are 10% of what remains after repeaters and Discretionary Places. They are not an extra pool sitting on top of the 90% in a way that leaves Part B untouched. A student allocated in Part A is not processed in Part B. A student not allocated there goes on to Part B, which then uses the net band and at most 30 choices on the own-net list.

Applying for cross-net allocation

Cross-net allocation is for a genuine need. The Education Bureau’s example is moving house. Apply through the primary school, with address proof. The paper deadline and the e-platform deadline are not the same date. Paper must go through the primary school by the end of February 2027. The e-platform has two batches, and the final batch runs to 1 March 2027. Approved students join Part B in the new net. Until approval, Part B stays on the net of the primary school’s district.

The following address proofs are accepted. Each must show the parent’s name and address.

• A stamped tenancy
• A rates or government-rent demand
• A public-housing tenancy
• A home broadband bill
• A residential fixed-line bill
• A gas, electricity or water bill

Not accepted: bank statements, mobile-phone bills, court summons, and tax demand notes.

After approval, the net band in the new net is decided by comparing the student’s adjusted marks with students in that new net. The territory band is unchanged, so Part A still uses the original territory band. Approval forfeits eligibility for a reserved place at a feeder (直屬) or nominated (聯繫) secondary. After repeaters and Discretionary Places, a feeder secondary reserves 85% of the remainder for its feeder primary, and a nominated secondary reserves 25%. Eligible students are in net Band 1 or 2 and put that school first in Part B. If those reserved places are over-subscribed, order is by net band, then by random number. Unfilled reserved places go to open allocation. The percentages describe the eligibility that approval removes. This page names no feeder or nominated school.

A worked example

The following uses a fictional student to show what the form allows. It does not predict an allocation result, it names no real secondary school, and it estimates no chance of a particular school.

Suppose the primary school is in Sha Tin and the home is in Kwun Tong, and no cross-net application has been approved. The Secondary 1 net is Sha Tin, not Kwun Tong. Part B’s 30 choices must come from the Sha Tin net’s list in the Secondary School List. That list is Sha Tin’s participating schools plus whichever other-district schools offer places into the Sha Tin net that year. Names and numbers are in the list; this page does not identify them, and it does not assume that a Kwun Tong school is on it. Part A’s three choices may be in any net, so they may name schools in the Kwun Tong net, the Sha Tin net, or another net. Living in Kwun Tong does not by itself move Part B onto the Kwun Tong list. If Part A allocates a place, Part B is not processed.

If cross-net allocation is approved and the new net is Kwun Tong, Part B uses the Kwun Tong net’s list, still at most 30 schools, again only as that year’s list sets it out. This page does not name the schools on the Kwun Tong net. The net band is recomputed by comparing the student’s adjusted marks with students in the Kwun Tong net. The territory band is unchanged, and Part A is still up to 3 schools in any net. Feeder or nominated reserved-place eligibility is forfeited because the cross-net application was approved. The difference between the two situations is which net’s list Part B uses, and which net’s students the net band is compared with.

Common misunderstandings

“My net is where I live.” It is not. In principle the Secondary 1 net is the district of the primary school. The home district becomes the new net for Part B only after a cross-net application is approved.

“Part A choices are free extra chances, and getting one does not affect Part B.” They are not. Part A uses 10% of the places left after repeaters and Discretionary Places, and it is processed first. A student allocated in Part A is not processed in Part B.

“A cross-net student keeps the old net band.” They do not. The net band in the new net is decided by comparing adjusted marks with students in the new net. What stays the same is the territory band.

“Only three schools on the whole form can be outside the net.” That is not the rule. Three is the Part A limit, and those three may be in any net, including the student’s own. The 30 Part B schools must be on the own-net list, and that list already includes some schools located in other districts that offer places into the net. A school building in another district is not the same thing as a school absent from the own-net list. Names and numbers are in the Secondary School List.

“Moving house automatically changes the net to the new address.” It does not. Cross-net allocation is an application for a genuine need (the Bureau’s example is moving house), made through the primary school with an accepted address proof. Paper is due by the end of February 2027; the final e-platform batch runs to 1 March. Until approval, Part B stays on the net of the primary school’s district.

Next steps

For how Part A and Part B are filled, and why Part B should be filled out, seeCentral Allocation choice strategy. For an estimate of banding (not an actual band), see thebanding estimator. For why no tool can compute an actual Band, seewhy no exact Band is computable.

FAQ