Competition to enter St Paul's Co-educational College heats up

The competition for first-year places at St Paul's Co-educational College, one of the city's most sought after secondary schools, is set to be more intense this year, with almost 20 per cent fewer places reserved for children from outside its primary school than last year.

St Paul's affiliated primary school has five graduate classes this year - compared with four last year - and all the classes' pupils are eligible to attend the college in MacDonnell Road, Mid-Levels.

That meant the number of "non-through-train" places at the school had been cut to 90 from 110, principal Anissa Chan Wong Lai-kuen told potential applicants and their parents at introductory sessions held yesterday.

Some 1,300 parents and children attended the two sessions, filling the hall and spilling out into the canteen. Chan said the school received about the same number of applications each year. Applications opened on Friday and will close on Friday. The school would interview around 400 applicants, Chan said.

She said during the interviews several teachers would rate each candidate based on their skills in Cantonese, Putonghua and English, as well as their knowledge of mathematics, logic and science. The interview accounts for 30 out of 100 points, with academic performance, non-academic talent and principals' recommendations making up the rest.

Jade Leung Yuen-shan, whose daughter is now in Primary Five, said she wanted to start preparing early and had sent her daughter to learn Putonghua, English, ice-skating, singing and piano, which cost her HK$3,000 to HK$4,500 a month.