• The Western Cape Department of Education has closed the first phase of Grade 1 and Grade 8 school admission applications with over 102 000 applicants.
• The province will let parents know of their children’s placement outcomes on 30th May 2024.
• Parents will have until 14th June 2024 to accept placement offers.

As different provinces around the country prepare to open registrations for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for 2025 school admission, the Western Cape has already closed its first round of applications out of fear of not placing all students in time.

In an announcement, the Western Cape Department of Education said that by the time the 2025 admissions window closed on Friday 12th April, it received a record 102 680 applications for new learners to begin Grades 1 and 8 next year.

A week before the deadline, the department had only received just under 60 000 applications. “Receiving all the applications on time will make a big difference to our planning and preparations for 2025,” the province’s Education MEC David Maynier said at the time.

While the province is still accepting applications, all those applications received after the cutoff date will be treated as late. In total, the province had over 125 000 applicants for Grade 1 and 8 for 2024.

The province had been accepting applications via its online portal, but also through over 120 in-person collection depots at malls, schools and other facilities.

Now the province has set a final deadline for all late applications to be captured for Grades 1 and 8 starting in 2025, 12th May 2024. After this deadline, no more applications will be captured by the province’s online system.

Parents who still want to apply after this date will need to contact their respective school district office for assistance.

If you are a parent who applied during this first phase, you will only know the outcomes of your applications on 30th May 2024. Previously the date was the 29th May, but the date was moved to accommodate the public holiday of the General Election.

After this, parents will have until 14th June 2024 to accept or decline the successful offers from nearby schools for their children.

“It is especially important for parents 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,” the department explains.

Those parents who don’t confirm by 14th June will have their children automatically placed by the system.

“Parents who do not receive an offer on 30 May 2024 should not be disheartened: places always open up as parents confirm their final choices,” it adds.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to place every learner whose parents applied on time as quickly as possible,” the department concludes.

The next application window is for Grade R applications for school admission and transfer requests for Grades 2 – 7 and 9 – 11, if a learner is planning to move schools.

[Image – Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash]