EdTalk | Primary-only schools offer benefits which through schools are unable to match

Many parents in Hong Kong feel so overwhelmed by the process of choosing a school for their child that they are adamant they will only do once. Early on, many tend to fixate on through-train schools where their four- or five-year-old can stay for 12 or 13 years with the result that they disregard primary-only schools.

Since our children and our circumstances change, the possibility that a child will change schools at least once is high. With the competition for places always greater in primary school - especially the lower years - parents can and should relax about repeating the process later on and give primary-only schools due consideration.

“Parents have a greater choice than ever for secondary schooling, leading to more options and thoughts,” says Simon Walton, principal of the Japanese International School in Tai Po. “Primary-only schools have suffered in the past, with parental anxiety at Year 4 and Year 5.”

A primary-only school offers many benefits such as a focus on the needs of younger students without the distraction of upper years and the boundaries of top down secondary expectations.

“Schools with a secondary section tend to focus mostly on the older students: they get priority for use of facilities, timetabling, activities and scholarships. For primary-only schools, it is the older primary school students who enjoy these benefits,” says David Priest, principal of the new HKCA Po Leung Kuk School in Tin Hau. “They get the chance to experience leadership or role modelling as ‘big fish in the small pond’, rather than ‘little fish in a big pond’ if they were in a through school.”