When speech, movement or interaction raises concerns, speak with teachers and the appropriate health service. Enquire about available support while assessment is progressing, keeping kindergarten admission, assessment referral and rehabilitation registration as separate steps with their own records.
What to have ready
Before you start
The 2026 School-based Model is being trialled at specified kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres, not every kindergarten. Eligible children at trial schools receive services directly through the school collaboration platform, without Central Waiting List allocation or a parental choice between IP and OPRS. Tier 1 also has a direct support route. Outside the trial, ordinary OPRS for children professionally assessed as having mild disabilities uses the applicable social-worker central-referral procedure.
What to do, step by step
- Record developmental observations, when they began and differences between home and school, keeping existing medical and assessment papers. Ask teachers and the usual health service about the appropriate assessment route. Professionals should determine the clinical question; an online checklist is not a diagnosis or a reason to pay for an alleged guaranteed queue-jumping arrangement.
- Check SWD's trial-school list and ask whether your kindergarten or kindergarten-cum-child care centre participates in the 2026 School-based Model. For an eligible child at a trial school, enquire directly with its collaboration platform about acceptance, consent, assessment information and the package, without joining the Central Waiting List or choosing IP versus OPRS. Check Tier 1 against its own target group and participating service; an OPRS school is not automatically a trial school.
- For ordinary OPRS outside the trial, a child professionally assessed as having mild disabilities uses an appropriate service-unit social worker for CRSRehab-PS central referral. Confirm service and kindergarten details and retain registration, worker contact and update requirements. Do not redirect the trial's direct school route or Tier 1 into central referral as a blanket rule. Confirm submission, waiting status and actual commencement separately for the route that applies.
- Coordinate home-school support and follow-up under the team's advice and review waiting or service status at agreed intervals. Report school, address or Primary One changes early and ask about records and transition. A previous place or older procedure manual should not be treated as guaranteed admission or identical support at a new school under changed arrangements.
Costs, timing, and things to check
Trial, Tier 1 and ordinary OPRS information may appear together. Use the August 2026 trial leaflet and current school list to identify the applicable arrangement. Trial packages integrate and adjust support to the child without a parental IP-or-OPRS choice. Ask about the rules outside the trial separately rather than extending the participating schools' procedure to all Hong Kong kindergartens.
Ordinary OPRS central submissions use appropriate social workers; parents do not operate the professional interface. For the school trial, contact the collaboration platform instead. Keep assessment and service dates, responsible contacts and the next review clear for the actual route. Continue everyday support during waiting or transfer so confusion between systems does not leave the family without follow-up.
A practical example
A parent confirms the kindergarten is on the trial list and asks its collaboration platform about eligibility and evidence, using direct service allocation without a Central Waiting List or IP/OPRS choice. A friend at a non-trial school checks Tier 1 first. If assessment identifies mild disabilities requiring ordinary OPRS, a worker handles CRSRehab-PS. Each family tracks its own applicable route.
Check trial-school participation and the child's category, then use the direct school, Tier 1 or applicable worker-led route.
Official information and enquiries
These are the reference and service entry points for this guide. Check current fees, eligibility, and schedules with the authority. The preparation date is not each source's official update date.