Kindergarten Education Scheme Website Enhancement Grant

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EDUCATION BUREAU CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM NO. 126/2020

From : Permanent Secretary for Education To : Supervisors and Heads of Kindergartens, Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres and Schools with Kindergarten Classes Joining the Kindergarten Education Scheme

Ref. : EDB/(KGA2)/GRT/2/1 Pt.1 (C)

Date: 27 August 2020

_________________________________________________________________________________

Kindergarten Education Scheme Website Enhancement Grant

Summary

The purpose of this circular memorandum is to inform kindergartens, kindergarten-cum-child care centres and schools with kindergarten classes (collectively referred to as “KGs” hereafter) joining the kindergarten education scheme (“Scheme-KGs”) of the details about the provision of the one-off Website Enhancement Grant.

Background

2. The Government has implemented the new kindergarten education scheme starting from the 2017/18 school year. A major focus of the Scheme is to enhance KGs’ support for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) children. Parents of NCS children are encouraged to send their children to KGs with an immersed Chinese language environment as early as possible to facilitate their early exposure to and learning of the Chinese language. To facilitate parents in obtaining school information, KGs joining the Scheme are reminded through annual circulars and briefings that application forms, school- based admission mechanism and selection criteria must be provided in both Chinese and English.

KGs should also create an icon or provide a simple message in English on the home page of the school website prominently to let parents of NCS children know instantly how to obtain the English version of the information when browsing the home page of the school website. At the same time, KGs should also provide the link to the English version of the website of the Education Bureau (EDB) on K1 Admission Arrangements in KGs on the school website to facilitate parents of NCS children in obtaining relevant information provided by the EDB. In addition, the Profile of KGs and KG-cum- Child Care Centres (the Profile) has been published in both Chinese and English to provide information on every KG for parents’ reference when making school choices. Starting from 2018, a new column

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“Support to NCS Students” has been included in the Profile, and both Chinese and English versions of the Quality Review Reports will be uploaded onto the EDB’s website, to serve as reference for parents of NCS children.

Details

3. All Scheme-KGs should provide basic school information in both Chinese and English. At the same time, we encourage KGs to enhance their websites in providing more information in Chinese and English, enriching webpage contents, and enhancing the design for easy access to relevant information. To facilitate KGs in enhancing their school websites, the EDB will provide a one-off Website Enhancement Grant to all Scheme-KGs.

4. The Website Enhancement Grant is a two-tiered grant with details as follows:

(i) Tier-1 (Grant rate: $10,000)

All Scheme-KGs should provide the following basic school information in both Chinese and English on their school websites:

1. Introduction of the school

2. School-based admission arrangements for nursery (K1) classes in KGs --- please make reference to EDB Circular Memorandum No. 73/2020 “Admission Arrangements for Nursery Classes in Kindergartens for the 2021/22 School Year”

and relevant guidelines

3. School’s support to NCS children 4. School fee information

5. “Profile of KGs and KG-cum-Child Care Centres” --- provide a link to the webpage indicating the KG’s school information

6. Provide a link to the EDB’s webpage on Admission Arrangements for Nursery (K1) Classes in KGs

7. Enquiry telephone number and email address for parents of NCS children

KGs should ensure that the above information in both Chinese and English is clear and easily accessible to facilitate parents in browsing their websites. KGs that already have websites with Chinese and English versions of the above-mentioned basic information can still apply for the Tier-1 grant to enhance their websites, e.g. by increasing webpage contents in Chinese and English versions and enhancing the design.

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(ii) Tier- 2 (Grant rate: $20,000)

Should Scheme-KGs enhance their websites so that all information therein is in both Chinese and English, they can apply for the Tier-2 grant. Subsequent to the enhancement, all information on their school websites (including the aforementioned basic information) must be provided in both Chinese and English except in special circumstances, such as teaching materials are in Chinese only; or contents are not produced by the school and only Chinese or English version is available. KGs that already have websites with all information provided in both Chinese and English can still apply for the Tier-2 grant to make further enhancement on their websites, e.g. by enriching the webpage contents and enhancing the design.

5. In gist, if schools can provide all information on their websites in both Chinese and English, a grant of $20,000 will be provided. For other KGs, they must provide the aforementioned basic information in both Chinese and English and a grant of $10,000 will be provided to them. KGs may also use the grant to enhance their websites in other aspects. KGs having received the grant are required to complete enhancement of their websites by 31 December 2021.

Application and Payment Arrangements

6. All Scheme-KGs should complete the application form in Annex 1, indicating their preference for the Tier-1 grant or the Tier-2 grant, and return the form by fax or by post to Kindergarten Administration 2 Section on or before 15 September 2020 (Address: Room 1432, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; fax number: 3579 4010).

7. In general, the EDB will inform KGs of the application result in October 2020, and the Website Enhancement Grant will be disbursed to KGs as early as practicable.

8. KGs may use the grant to procure services or employ additional staff to enhance their school websites. In this regard, KGs must follow the procurement procedures as stipulated in the Guidelines on Procurement Procedures in Kindergartens issued by the EDB. On employment of additional staff, KGs are required to follow relevant guidelines as stipulated in the part of “Appointment of Staff” in the Kindergarten Administration Guide (July 2020 updated version) issued by the EDB.

Financial and Accounting Arrangements

9. KGs should keep separate ledger account to properly record all income and expenditure of the Website Enhancement Grant, and report these items in the annual audited accounts for submission to the EDB. All books of accounts, records of purchase, receipts, payment vouchers and invoices must be kept by KGs for accounting and auditing purposes. As a usual practice, the relevant records should

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be kept for a period of not less than seven years. The EDB may request KGs to provide relevant documents for examining the use of the Website Enhancement Grant, if necessary. KGs are responsible for ensuring the effective use of the grant, all of which should be used for expenses related to website enhancement. KGs are required to return the amount of grant they received in full to the EDB if they are subsequently identified to have used the grant for purposes other than specified, and/

or are no longer meeting the requirements set out in this Circular Memorandum.

10. KGs may deploy, where necessary, any portion of the basic unit subsidy other than teaching staff salary and related expenses and/or school funds, and the related expenditure should not be recognized for fee revision purpose. The grant or its surplus, if any, should not be transferred to any other accounts.

11. KGs should use the grant by 31 December 2021, and complete and return the Report on Use of the Website Enhancement Grant attached in Annex 2 by 31 March 2022 to the EDB. Upon receiving the reports, the EDB will conduct inspection of KGs’ websites to ensure that they are in compliance with respective requirements set out under the two-tiered grant. Any unspent balance of the Website Enhancement Grant as at 31 December 2021 should be returned to the EDB. If non- compliance with the respective requirements under the two-tiered grant is found, KGs should make prompt rectifications. Should KGs fail to do so, they are required to return full amount of the disbursed grant to the EDB, and the KGs’ application to continue joining the Scheme may also be rejected.

12. If the KG closes, is revoked of its status as a Scheme-KG, or withdraws from the Scheme by the end of the 2024/25 school year, the grant should be returned to the Government in full.

Enquiries

13. For enquiries, please contact Kindergarten Administration 2 Section at 3540 6808/ 3540 6811.

Ms Y Y SO

for Permanent Secretary for Education

c.c. Heads of Sections - for information

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Annex 1 Kindergarten Education Scheme

Application for the Website Enhancement Grant

To: Permanent Secretary for Education

(Attn: Kindergarten Administration 2 Section)

(Please put a “” in the appropriate boxes)

I (name), as the Supervisor of ____________________________________________________________ (name of kindergarten), hereby confirm that our KG will -

apply for Tier-1 Website Enhancement Grant (Grant rate: $10,000). I understand and will abide by the arrangement and requirements stipulated in the EDBCM No. 126/2020 on the Website Enhancement Grant.

apply for Tier-2 Website Enhancement Grant (Grant rate: $20,000). I understand and will abide by the arrangement and requirements stipulated in the EDBCM No. 126/2020 on the Website Enhancement Grant.

NOT apply for the Website Enhancement Grant as our current school website has met the respective requirements set out under the Tier-1 / Tier-2 ^# Website Enhancement Grant, and we have no plans in further enhancing the school website at this stage.

I also confirm that upon receipt of the grant, if our school is identified not spending the grant in accordance with the requirements as stipulated in this Circular Memorandum for website enhancement, or our school closes, is revoked of its status as a Scheme-KG, or withdraws from the Scheme by the end of the 2024/25 school year, the grant will be returned to the EDB in full.

Name of School(Chinese)*：

Name of School(English)*：

School No. & Location No.：

(Format：xxxxxx-0001) －

Signature of Supervisor：

Name of Supervisor：

Date：

# Please delete as appropriate

* Must be identical to the chop

Please complete and submit this form by fax or by post to

Kindergarten Administration 2 Section on or before 15 September 2020

(Address: Room 1432, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong;

Fax number: 3579 4010)

School chop

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Annex 2 Kindergarten Education Scheme

Report on Use of the Website Enhancement Grant

To: Permanent Secretary for Education

(Attn: Kindergarten Administration 2 Section)

(Please put a “” in the appropriate boxes)

(To be filled by KG receiving the

Tier-1 grant

)

1. With the provision of the Tier-1 grant (grant rate: $10,000), our school has spent the relevant grant as stipulated in EDBCM No. 126/2020 for meeting the requirements of providing basic school information in Chinese and English in our school webpage:

Other enhancement(s) made (if applicable):

(To be filled by KG receiving the

Tier-2 grant

)

2. With the provision of the Tier-2 grant (grant rate: $20,000), our school has spent the relevant grant as stipulated in EDBCM No. 126/2020 for meeting the requirements of providing all contents in Chinese and English in our school webpage (except for teaching materials in Chinese or contents produced by other organisations with only Chinese or English version available).

Other enhancement(s) made (if applicable):

3. As at 31 December 2021, the Website Enhancement Grant of our school is fully depleted;

has a balance of $

with the grant deployed mainly for procuring:

translation services technical support services

other services: ___________________________________________________________

(to be continued) Please complete and submit this form by fax or by post to

Kindergarten Administration 2 Section on or before 31 March 2022

(Address: Room 1432, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong;

Fax number: 3579 4010)

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4. I confirm that:

(a) our school will keep separate ledger account to properly record all income and expenditure of the Website Enhancement Grant. All books of accounts, records of purchase, receipts, payment vouchers and invoices will be kept for at least 7 years by the school for accounting and auditing purposes. If the actual balance of the annual audited accounts does not match with the above, the school will notify the EDB as soon as possible to follow up; and

(b) if our school fails to provide relevant documents for review, uses the grant outside the ambit as stated in this Circular Memorandum, or fails to comply with the respective requirements under the two-tiered grant, the amount of the grant received will be fully returned to the EDB, and our application to continue joining the Scheme may also be rejected.

Name of School (Chinese)*：