Student Leavers & Withdrawals

Student Leavers

Parents who wish to withdraw their child from Discovery College are required to submit a Student Withdrawal Form via the ESF App*. The online Student Withdrawal form is the ONLY official way for parents to inform Discovery College of their children leaving the school.

As per the Terms and Conditions of Offer shown on the Acceptance Form when a student joins Discovery College, there is a deposit paid equivalent to 2 months’ fees. The first half of the deposit is credited against the first month’s fees while the remaining half will be credited against the fees for the last month of enrolment, subject to the Student Withdrawal Notice being received at least two calendar months prior to the student’s last date of attendance.

For students leaving at the end of an academic year, notification is required no later than the 1st of May, if the remaining half of the deposit is to be credited against the fees for the last month of enrolment. If notification is not received by the 1st of May deadline, the deposit will be forfeited and ESF Billing will assume your child is returning after summer and parents will be liable for the tuition fees for September even if the student does not return to school.

Remarks:
1. If a family has more than one child attending ESF schools, please submit an individual withdrawal notice for each child.
2. Tuition fees are charged for a complete month. There’s no pro-rata adjustment for attendance for part of a month.
3. Any change of last attendance date / cancellation of withdrawal is subject to the availability of school places at respective schools.
4. If there is any credit balance / refundable capital levy on account, refund will be made via the designated auto-pay account.
5. Please expect the financial settlement, including any eligible refund, to be completed within two calendar months after the student’s last date of attendance. (For secondary students who may be on examination leave, the last day of attendance is deemed to be the last day of the academic year.)

* To access the form, please tap on the Ding! icon and scroll down to forms.

Subsequent Change of the Last Date of Attendance

Parents who wish to change the last date of attendance after a notice has previously been submitted, are required to notify the change to the Admissions office at admissions@dc.edu.hk and submit a new online Withdrawal form via the app with the revised last date of attendance.

Any subsequent change of the last date of attendance may be declined as change depends on the availability of a school place for the student.

The remaining half of the deposit made when accepting the offer of a place will be forfeited if the change of the last date of attendance is submitted less than two months prior to the last date of attendance, even though the first Student Withdrawal Notice was received at least two months prior to the student’s last date of attendance.

The receipt of the withdrawal form will be acknowledged via email by the Admissions office within two working days. If the withdrawing parents do not receive the acknowledgement email within three days after submission, please contact the Admissions Office.

Cancellation of Student Leaving / Withdrawing

Parents are required to inform the Admissions Office at admissions@dc.edu.hk before the last date of attendance. The cancellation may be declined as the cancellation depends on the availability of a school place for the student.

Offer of School Places

As soon as the submitted Student Withdrawal Form is received, Discovery College will offer an admissions assessment / interview for the Year Group in question to applicants on the relevant waiting list who, if successful at assessment / interview, will be offered the current student’s place to start after the last date of attendance as per the Student Withdrawal Notice.

Withdrawal of “Prospective Student”

Should a parent decide to withdraw a prospective student before the student’s scheduled first day of school, the parent is required to complete and return the Student Withdrawal Notice to Discovery College when they subsequently decide not to take up the school place. All the information as per the notice is to be included except that, instead of:
· the student’s “Class”, the year group should be written; and
· “last date of attendance”, “prospective student” should be written

As per the Terms and Conditions of Offer shown on the Acceptance Form, the admission deposit equivalent to two-month’s fees, is non-refundable and non-transferable and will be forfeited.

Reports, Transcripts and References

The purpose of the Gateway reporting system is to allow parents to access data at any time. This information can be both viewed and printed and as a result, the College does not issue hard copy student reports. For viewing or printing reports online, please click here for guidelines. Please note that access to a child’s school reports will cease the day after the last date of attendance, and parents are, therefore, encouraged to download school reports before this date.

At different times during the year students leave us to move to schools around the world and need references or copies of their Discovery College transcripts. The office to contact for all requests for references or transcripts is the admissions office (admissions@dc.edu.hk), who will oversee the collection and collation of information from different staff members. The admissions office should be provided with the following information and given 10 business days to complete the process:

  • the contact address (email) of the individual at the intended school to whom the information is to be sent; and
  • that which is being requested, e.g. reference, reports, transcript.

The college is not able to provide open references and will only provide confidential references directly to a receiving school. Parents requiring an attestation of learning for a future school application are able to download school reports from Gateway for this purpose.

The college will only provide a reference / transcript according to the Discovery College Reference Form / Transcript Document.