The local birth rate seems to have hit an all-time high, after a very low few years. A friend applied to the two Salvation Army Nursery Schools in Shatin not long after her little girl was born, and she was already at ~80 on both waiting lists. I discussed this with Jasper’s headmistress. She seems to have the same problem: a waiting list of ~120 for next year’s N1 and N2 classes. My friend’s baby girl has a slight disadvantage, in that she was born near year-end, while parents these days apply to kindergartens as soon as they have their kids’ birth certificate and these slightly older kids have taken up all the places.
It would appear to me that if one is planning to have a baby, it is strongly advisable that the baby be born at the beginning of the year. Better chance of getting a place in the kindergarten of choice, not to mention that he/she will be slightly older than his/her peers in the same class and therefore slightly better developed and more confident.