CNEC Lau Wing Sang Secondary School held its Form One placement test yesterday as scheduled, requiring new students to take a rapid test first, and seating in the test centre is also segregated as far as possible to minimise the risk of infection.

(Sing Tao Daily) The pre-Secondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test (HKAT), commonly known as the Secondary One Placement Test (SOPT), was held yesterday in the wake of the New Guan epidemic, with secondary schools choosing to take part on their own, and candidates were required to take a quick test first. This year's Secondary One students are affected by the epidemic throughout the senior primary stage, the articulation of the secondary school is of great concern, some parents believe that their children's adaptation is not a big problem; secondary school principals pointed out that, in view of the epidemic is still serious, the school may not organise too many articulation activities, but will be arranged for the articulation of the curriculum and orientation, so that students can adapt as soon as possible.

"The S1 placement test continued to be held under quarantine this year, with Chinese, English and Mathematics being combined on the same day. Most of the students of the Chinese Missionary Alliance's Lau Wing Sang Secondary School in Chai Wan wore their secondary school uniforms and sat for the examination in the assembly hall yesterday. The principal, Mr Mui Chi-yip, said several students were absent from the examination yesterday, mainly because they were on sick leave or had to be quarantined because their family members were infected with the disease. "At present, the number of new confirmed cases is maintained at more than 4,000 per day, which is in fact very difficult to avoid," he said.

Rapid test before returning to school

In the absence of guidelines on immunisation for the placement test, Mui Chi Yip pointed out that the school had made reference to the immunisation arrangements for internal examinations and segregated the seats of candidates as far as possible. All Secondary 1 students were required to complete a rapid test before returning to school, and baffles and special rooms had been prepared in case the candidates felt unwell or had symptoms during the test. Although individual secondary schools did not choose to sit for the SSPA, he explained that under the MOI arrangement, one of the two classes in the school was an English-medium "Multi-English Class", and the school authorities hoped to make use of the SSPA to find out the ability of the new students, especially their English standard. As for absentee students, the school will use their results in primary school to determine their class placement.

This year, the entire senior primary stage of the new S1 students was affected by the epidemic, and the last examination was cancelled, which some parents thought would affect their performance in the placement test. Mui Chi-yip said that there were not many precedents of parents appealing against the placement test in the past, and he believed that the situation would be similar this year.

About a month before the start of the school year, Secondary 1 students are facing changes in the campus environment, teaching language and even the change from half-day to full-day face-to-face classes. Mrs Lai, a parent, admitted that she was worried that her son might not be able to adapt to the pace of learning at the beginning of his secondary school education, so she enrolled him in a bridging programme provided by the school and arranged tutorials for him. "I am not too worried [about school life], my son will be able to adapt to the new environment after a while." Mrs Chan, a parent whose daughter has been promoted to secondary school, also said, "Everyone has to go through a process of adaptation when moving to a new stage," and believed that she would get used to it.

Can't organise too many activities under the epidemic

Form 1 freshman Lam, yesterday, after taking the placement test, admitted that it will take time to adapt to the new environment and new subjects in secondary school, "but I will not be afraid of not being able to get used to it, and I believe that I will meet new friends and spend time on campus together. Some students said that they were not worried about adapting to the same secondary school as their primary school classmates.

Mui Chi-Yip said that the school has organised bridging classes for students to adapt to the English-medium classroom, and will hold an orientation day later this month to provide talks for students and parents, in the hope of enabling students to establish healthy learning habits in the face of the epidemic, and will then arrange activities for new students to get to know each other. He admitted that the school may not be able to organise too many activities for the current cohort of S1 students as the epidemic is still serious, but will encourage students to build friendships with each other after the start of the school year through activities such as class assemblies, so that they can get involved in campus life.