Applications closed at midnight on April 12. Picture: Pixabay
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has received a record number of applications for Grades 1 and 8 for the 2025 academic year.
Online applications for the new academic year closed at midnight on April 12.
The Western Cape MEC for Education, David Maynier said the department received a record 102,680 applications for Grade 1 and 8 learners.
“This is an increase of 5,936 on last year’s on-time window, during which applications for 96,744 Grade 1 and 8 learners were received,” Maynier said.
“We thank the parents who put in the effort to apply on time and helped us to plan for a place for their child in a school next year.”
He said all applications received after the deadline would be considered as late applications and would only be considered after the applications received on time.
Late applications will be accepted until May 12, but they will be flagged as late.
“Parents of Grade 1 and 8 learners who decide to relocate to the Western Cape after late online applications close on May 12, or who did not apply before this date for any other reason, will need to contact their district office for assistance as soon as possible,” Maynier said.
“We urge parents not to wait until the last minute to apply. The window for Grade R applications and transfer requests for Grades 2 – 7 and 9 – 11 will run from August 1 to 16.”
With all on-time applications on the system, schools across the province now have little over a month to consider all applications they received.
Parents are reminded they do not need to drop off hard copies of certificates at this stage. They will only need to do so once an offer from a school has been received and accepted the offer as their final choice of school.
“Parents will start seeing the outcomes of their applications online from May 30, and we will remind them of this as the date approaches. The date has been shifted by a day from May 29, to accommodate the public holiday for the general election,” Maynier said.
Parents must then accept or decline successful offers before June 14, 2024, and we encourage them to do so as quickly as possible.“
Parents are urged to confirm their choice of school speedily when they have received offers from multiple schools.
“These parents are essentially ‘double parking’ on the system, stopping schools from offering these places to other applicants until they make their choice,” Maynier said.
“If a parent has not confirmed their choice by June 14, the system will automatically confirm their top-ranked school that has made an offer. All other offers will then be removed and those places can be offered to other learners,” he said.
“Parents who do not receive an offer on May 30, should not be disheartened: places always open up as parents confirm their final choices. We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to place every learner whose parents applied on time as quickly as possible.”
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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