SHHK School-Based Volunteer Primary One Waitlist Priority Scheme
(wef 1 Jan 2022)
SHHK will be implementing the following policies with effect 1 Jan 2022, to better recognise the strong commitment of school-based volunteers for their long term and daily commitment and to improve traffic situation at the schools:
Schools’ primary one vacancies that become available will be allocated to students on the Waiting Lists in the following order of priority:
a) Parent who is an SHHK volunteer and who has served 2 complete terms of service at any SHHK primary school
b) Parent who is an SHHK volunteer and who has served 1 complete term of service at any SHHK primary school
c) All other parent volunteers
The following table summarises the priority tier:
Baseline criteria for waitlist consideration: |
• 2 consecutive years of SHHK membership by 30 June in the year of P1 registration
• At least 80 hours of volunteer work with SHHK
• Had applied under phase 2B and phase 2C
• Currently on the School’s waitlist |
Priority |
School-based volunteer duration |
Distance of home from school |
1 |
Completed 2 terms (21 weeks) |
<1km |
2 |
Completed 2 terms (21 weeks) |
1-2km |
3 |
Completed 2 terms (21 weeks) |
>2km |
4 |
Completed 1 term (11 weeks) |
<1km |
5 |
Completed 1 term (11 weeks) |
1-2km |
6 |
Completed 1 term (11 weeks) |
>2km |
7 |
Did not complete term(s) or did not serve in school |
<1km |
8 |
Did not complete term(s) or did not serve in school |
1-2km |
9 |
Did not complete term(s) or did not serve in school |
>2km |
This new waitlist policy applies only to members whose child/children are born in 2018 or after. Should there be more than one qualified member who fulfilled above criteria, waitlist vacancy allocation will be done through balloting.
There is no change to the qualifying criteria for Phase 2B, which includes a 2-year SHHK membership by 30 June in the year of P1 registration and at least 80 hours of volunteer work.
Q1: Does the new school-based volunteer primary one waitlist priority scheme apply to Phase 2B recommendation?
No it does not affect the SHHK recommendation criteria for Phase 2B. The SHHK Phase 2B criteria remains as:
- Two (2) year consecutive membership with SHHK before 30th June on the year of P1 registration;
- 80 hours of volunteer service with SHHK (includes school-base and non school-base)
Q2: If my child is born in 2016 or 2017, does this new rule apply to me for waitlist?
Q3: For children born in 2016 and 2017, how do you handle waitlist vacancies?
There are 2 baseline criteria: min. 80 hours volunteer service with SHHK and 2-year consecutive SHHK membership. Schools will check with SHHK when vacancies become available. In line with MOE policy, SHHK will prioritise members staying within 1km, then 1km – 2km, then >2km, when considering recommendation for the waitlist vacancy. If there are more than one member with the same criteria, we will conduct a draw among the eligible members.
Q4: Does this new waiting list rule apply only to before starting P1 or will it also be applied to P2 to P5 waitlist?
This new rule only applies to those on primary one waitlist. For other levels, the schools have discretion.
Q5: How do I apply for the waitlist? When can I apply for the waitlist?
Please refer to individual school’s website for details.
Q6: If I apply for phase 2B but not phase 2C, can I still be placed on waitlist?
Yes, you may apply to be on the waitlist but your priority tier for waitlist vacancy consideration will be lower than members who have applied to both 2B and 2C.
Q7: How many vacancies are there for waitlist? How many children actually get in through waitlist?
Vacancies are dependent on many factors and are different every year, and can range from 0 to 3.
Q8: What does school-based volunteering services entail?
Volunteers will mainly be tasked to assist with channelling traffic flow for morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals.
Q9: What are the duty hours like for school-based volunteers? How many volunteer hours can I clock per term?
The hours differ from school to school, please refer to the volunteer application Google forms for details for each school. Volunteer hours clocked can range from 30 hours to 50 hours (based on 5-days service per week) per term of 11 weeks.
Q10: If I volunteer for School A and eventually decide to enrol into School B, will I be able to qualify for waitlist priority?
Yes, as long as you volunteered in one of SHHK’s four affiliated primary schools.
Q11: One term means must complete 5 days of school-based volunteer work per week or one day a week is enough to fulfil the criteria? If we do volunteer work on all Mondays, does it mean that we only achieved 20% of a full term?
Some schools require volunteers to go daily, while others allow volunteers to choose the days they can commit. Volunteers who are able to commit to more days and for 2 consecutive terms are more likely to be deployed. Once you have indicated your availability and are assigned, you will have to go on all the days assigned (whether 5 days or 1 day a week). Please take note that you cannot miss any of the days without valid reasons such as valid medical certificate, official SHN or QO, otherwise you would be deemed “Did not complete term”.
Q12: If I served 2 terms separately, is it considered as 2 terms?
Q13: Can school-based volunteer work be shared between both parents if only one of them is a SHHK member?
For school-based volunteer scheme, spouse is allowed to help out on days where the member is not available. Spouse will have to sign a declaration form (with indemnity clause) to abide by SHHK rules and regulations. If assigned, it is compulsory for both member and spouse to attend the training sessions conducted by the school before they can be deployed.
Q14: If both parents are SHHK members, can both parents combine their volunteer hours? For example, mother does 1 term, father does 1 term.
Yes, you can combine the term and the hours.
Q15: Are all school volunteering opportunities on terms basis? Are there any ad hoc school volunteer work?
Yes there are, but those will not be included under the school-based volunteer primary one waitlist priority scheme.
Q16: Do I have more waitlist priority if I do more than 80 hours as compared to another volunteer who do just 80 hours?
Q17: Will someone having served 3 terms have higher primary one waitlist priority over someone having served 2 terms?
For volunteers who have served at least 2 terms, priority tier will depend on total number of hours served. For example, if volunteer A served 3 terms and clocked 81 hours, and volunteer B served 2 terms and clocked 90 hours, then volunteer B will have priority over volunteer A.
Q18: My child is born in 2018 and I have already completed 80 hours, do I need to complete another 21 weeks to qualify for priority under waitlist?
If you wish to be placed in the top priority tier for waitlist, you may wish to consider volunteering in schools.
Q19: If I have already completed my volunteer 80 hours under the non-school based scheme, can I still apply to be a school-based volunteer in order to qualify for this waitlist priority scheme? Will I be deployed?
Yes, if your child/children are born in 2018 and after.
Q20: I have 2 children, born 2016 and 2018. I did one term of school volunteering, if my 2016 child did not get in to my school of choice, can my one term of school volunteering apply to my 2018 child for his/her primary one waitlist?
Q21: I have 2 children, will my volunteer hours get forfeited or reset to zero after my first child is enrolled into the school?
Your hours will remain valid as long as you remain as SHHK member (no lapse in SHHK membership).
Q22: I am a SHHK volunteer and I would like to enrol my child in Chongfu School. Will I have priority over the Chongfu Parent Volunteers for primary one waitlist if I had volunteered in the other SHHK primary schools for at least 2 terms?
SHHK volunteers who had volunteered in any of the four SHHK primary schools for at least 2 terms and fulfilled the baseline criteria for waitlist consideration, have priority over Chongfu Parent Volunteers on the primary one waitlist.
Q23: Can I apply for the school-based volunteer scheme if I am not fully vaccinated?
We regret to inform that only fully vaccinated volunteers will be deployed as they will be in close contact with our students.
Q24: If the member who sign up for volunteer work is pregnant/unwell, will SHHK allow the husband to fulfil the duty instead?
Q25: If I am sick on 1 day but we did 1 term, is it considered as complete service?
Any absence from duty will have to be substantiated with valid medical certificate, official SHN or QO, otherwise you would be deemed “Did not complete term”.
Q26: If we decide to commit for 1 or 2 terms for school-based, but along the way both parents received quarantine order from MOH, what should we do?
Volunteer is to immediately inform the school and SHHK, and substantiate with official documentations. Under such circumstance, it will not affect the completeness of your service.
Q28: How to check or confirm if I am already qualified as “who has served 2 complete terms of service at any SHHK primary school”?