‘All-time low birth rate’ sparks Kentville Kindergarten’s three-year closure

Kentville Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong announced its three-year phased closure on Friday after nearly 60 years of operations, citing the “all-time low birth rate” and emigration of young families. 

The school will stop K1 intake in year 2024/25, and then K2 intake in year 2025/26. It will finally close its doors at the end of the year 2025/26. 

The school has informed the Education Bureau of the closure plan in a formal notice. 

The school’s founder and supervisor Helen Wong Wai-han attributed the closure largely to the “all time low birth rate in Hong Kong” and the emigration of young families in the school’s target age group. 

“Like all schools in Hong Kong, Kentville is negatively impacted by the sharp decline in birth rate and the emigration of young families. This has caused a sharp reduction in enrolled students.” said Wong. 

Wong also noted that 30 percent of school’s 74 personnel, including Supervisor, Headmistress, management and senior teachers are at or near retirement age. 

The school saw a significant reduction in this school year’s newly enrolled K1 student as well, dropping by 40 percent from 500 to only 300. 

“After very careful consideration, we concluded that a ‘Three-Year Phased Closure’ will have the least impact on currently enrolled students. We hope parents will continue to support the school to enable students to complete their three-year cycle at Kentville Kindergarten,” Wong said. 

Wong also expressed her deepest gratitude to the parents of the more than 30,000 graduates who entrusted the school with their children’s early education throughout these six decades.