EDUCATION BUREAU
CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM NO. 87/2022
From : Permanent Secretary for Education To : Supervisors / Heads of government and aided primary schools (including special schools) and primary schools offering local curriculum under the Direct Subsidy Scheme
Ref. : EDB NACS (BP)/ADM/65/1/1 Pt.22
Date : 23 May 2022
Summer Bridging Programme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students
SummaryThe purpose of this circular memorandum is to inform public sector primary schools and primary schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) offering local curriculum about the Summer Bridging Programme for Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) Students1 (the Programme), and to invite schools to apply for funding to operate the Programme in August 2022. Schools wishing to join should note that they may have to refine the modes of operation and related administrative arrangements for conducting the Programme in view of the development of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Background
2. The Programme aims to facilitate NCS Primary 1 entrants’ adaptation to classroom setting with the use of Chinese in learning and help NCS students progressing to Primary 2, Primary 3 and Primary 4 consolidate the Chinese learning at Key Stage 1 (Primary 1 to Primary 3) for bridging over to Key Stage 2 (Primary 4 to Primary 6). To step up the support for NCS students, the Programme has been further expanded since 2013 to allow parents of participating NCS students to join for more effective learning of Chinese with parental support and through home-school collaboration.
Details of the Programme
3. NCS students admitted to Primary 1 in September each year in public sector primary schools2 and DSS primary schools offering local curriculum and those NCS students progressing to Primary 2, Primary 3 and Primary 4 in the above-mentioned
1 For the planning of educational support measures, students whose spoken language at home is not Chinese are broadly categorised as NCS students. In other words, students whose ethnicity is Chinese but who are non- Chinese speaking based on the spoken language at home are also classified as NCS students.
2 NCS students allocated to Primary 1 in public sector schools will be encouraged to join the Programme through a leaflet attached to the Primary One Admission Registration Form.
schools are eligible to join the Programme. Parents and guardians of participating NCS students are also invited to join the Programme.
4. In view of the special holiday arrangements in the 2021/22 school year, in principle, the last school day of the current school year is 12 August 2022. In this connection, the schedule of the Programme is adjusted accordingly and will be held in August 2022 with its duration reduced from no less than 60 hours to no less than 30 hours.
Participating schools should offer the Programme free of charge. The average class size is about 15 students per class. The minimum number of participating students (except special schools) is 10 NCS students of their own school / and from other school(s). For special schools, the minimum number is 5 NCS students. The Programme MUST be completed before the commencement of the 2022/23 school year. The Education Bureau (EDB) will render assistance, where necessary, to participating schools in case they wish to let their NCS students and parents join the Programme run by other schools.
Should the situation of individual schools warrant special consideration, there can be discretion on the minimum number of students required for joining the Programme.
5. The NCS children allocated to Primary 1 in public sector primary schools in the 2022/23 school year under the Primary One Admission System may opt to send their applications to the EDB directly. We will place them to other participating schools running the Programme if the schools to which they are allocated do not offer the Programme.
6. Participating schools are allowed to exercise their professional judgment in designing the content and arrangements of the Programme to meet the different needs of the participating students. For example, schools may arrange parents to accompany their children to attend lessons and participate in diversified learning activities, including basic Chinese learning, appreciation of Chinese culture through movie appreciation and visits, etc. Apart from classroom teaching and learning activities, schools may also consider adopting other modes to conduct part of the learning activities, e.g. conducting real-time online teaching, providing e-learning resources / exercises, learning Chinese through songs and TV programme / movie appreciation for a better understanding of Chinese culture. Besides, schools may adapt the programme content and modes of operation to cater for students with special educational needs.
7. With the reduction of the duration of the Programme to no less than 30 hours for this year, the subvention for 2022 is adjusted to the rate of $12,160 per class. The total amount of subvention will be disbursed to schools according to the number of classes to be approved by the EDB, taking into account the total number of student participants and groupings. Any unspent subvention will be clawed back by the EDB upon further notice after schools’ submission of audited accounts to the EDB. Schools are also required to ensure that the subvention approved for the Programme is used according to the
related Administrative Guide. Otherwise, the EDB may consider clawing back any improperly used subvention.
8. In line with the School Development and Accountability Framework, participating schools should review the Programme and reflect the findings, implementation details, number of participating NCS students and parents, and effectiveness of the Programme in improving the learning of Chinese of their NCS students, etc., in their school annual reports, which should be uploaded onto their school websites by 30 November 2022. The EDB will conduct supervisory visits and collect stakeholders’ feedback through a questionnaire in order to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the Programme.
9. Details of the Programme and relevant information are provided in the Administrative Guide available on the EDB webpage: https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student- parents/ncs-students/support-to-school/summer-bridging-programme/summer-bridging- programme.html
Application Procedures
10. Schools are requested to complete Appendix 1 attached and return it to the Placement and Support Section of the EDB on or before 17 June 2022 if they are interested in applying for the subvention to operate the Programme. Participating schools should also return the duly completed Appendix 2 and the Attachment enclosed on or before 30 June 2022.
11. Please contact the Placement and Support Section for follow-up (Tel. No.: 2892 6190 or 2892 6189) if schools do not receive any notification of the application from the EDB by 24 June 2022.
12. Upon receiving confirmation on the number of students attending the Programme, subvention will be released to the participating schools by August 2022.
Enquiries
13. For enquiries, please contact the Placement and Support Section at 2892 6189 or 2892 6163.
(Dr Verena LAU)
for Permanent Secretary for Education c.c. Heads of Sections – for information
Appendix 1 Please complete and return on or before 17 June 2022
(Fax no.: 3106 2304)
Application for Summer Bridging Programme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students 2022 To: Permanent Secretary for Education
[Attn: Senior Education Officer (Placement and Support)]
Our school applies for participation in the Summer Bridging Programme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students (“the Programme”) in August 2022.
Our school undertakes to ensure that we will observe the terms stated in the Administrative Guide in delivering the Programme. At the end of the Programme, we will conduct evaluation and report the effectiveness of the Programme in improving the learning of Chinese of non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students in our school annual report which will be uploaded onto the school website by 30 November 2022.
Our school understands that we have to contact the Placement and Support Section for follow-up (Tel. No.: 2892 6190 or 2892 6189) if we do not receive any notification of the application from the EDB by 24 June 2022.
Our proposal for operation of the Programme is provided below. You may contact our teacher-in-charge _____________________________ (Tel. No.: ________________________, Fax. No.: _____________________, E-mail: ____________________________) for details.
Please put a “” in the appropriate box.
1. Our school will operate the Programme for NCS Primary 1 entrants, and NCS students progressing to Primary 2, Primary 3 and Primary 4:
by our own school
in collaboration with other school(s) by pooling participants (Please go to Q. 4)
2. Our school proposes to operate the Programme by: (may choose more than one option) hiring outside service(s) (e.g. to collaborate with non-governmental organisation(s)) employing staff
3. The last school day of the current school year of our school is __________ _______________ 2022.
Date Month
The Programme will be conducted for the teaching of Chinese Language only during the period from __________ ________________ to __________ ________________ 2022.
Date Month Date Month
4. During the last summer holidays, our school:
operated a bridging programme funded by the EDB’s Summer Bridging Programme Grant operated bridging programmes funded by other government subventions
did not operate any bridging programmes Remarks (if any):
Signature of School Supervisor : Name of School Supervisor : Name of School :
Date : Treasury School
Code: ( )
School Chop
Appendix 2 Please complete and return with Attachment
on or before 30 June 2022 (Fax no.: 3106 2304)
Summer Bridging Programme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students 2022
To: Senior Education Officer (Placement and Support) Confirmation of Enrolment
I confirm that the following numbers of NCS students are going to attend the Programme. Please find the list of student participants in the Attachment.
No. of participating students from our own school
No. of participating students from other school(s)
(if applicable)
Total no. of participating students
The arrangement of parent participation in the Programme is as follows:
[Please put a “” in the appropriate box]
Our school will arrange parents to accompany their children to attend lessons and participate in learning activities together. There will be parents from our school and parents from other schools.
Our school will not arrange parents to join the Programme.
Signature of Supervisor / Principal* : Name of Supervisor / Principal* : Name of School : Date : [* Please delete as appropriate]
Total no. of pages (including Appendix 2 and Attachment): ________
School Chop
Appendix 2 (Con’t)
Attachment
List of students from our own school attending the Summer Bridging Programme for NCS Students 2022
[Please make copies of this page if the space provided in the table below is insufficient.]
Name of school:
No. Name of student STRN
Class level (progressing to P1,
P2, P3 or P4)
(Example) 1 JOHN SINGH M2379156 P1
1 2
Total number of students of our own school: ______
Page _______ of ________
