The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal has reminded parents that school admissions applications for the 2024 school year are open. The admission application period opened on 12 April 2023 and will remain open for a few months.
The admission application period will close on 30 September 2024. Parents have been encouraged to submit their applications before the application deadlines. Admission applications must be submitted for learners eligible to start Grade 1 and Grade 8 in 2024.
Parents are encouraged to submit their admission applications before the application deadline. This will assist the department in their planning for the 2024 academic year as well as dealing with appeals and place learners who were not allocated a place due to over subscription at schools.
We urge all parents or guardians to co-operate the Department and heed this call so on the first day of the 2024 Academic Year, schools can be focused on teaching and learning and not unnecessary administrative duties pertaining to learner admissions.
Parents and guardians may also submit applications if they want their child to transfer to a new school in the 2024 academic year.
The department encourages parents to submit transfer requests as soon as possible.
They warned that the only transfer requests that will be considered after the deadline is for circumstances where a learner was forced to relocate.
This includes considering transfer applications of learners who lost their parents or guardians and were forced to relocate. They will also consider applications for learners whose parents were transferred by their employers with effect from 1 October 2023. Additionally, these parents will be required to produce evidence of their employment transfer.
The 2024 school year features a significant change as the Department of Basic Education (DBE) ended the use of the staggered school calendar. In previous years, the use of the staggered school calendar meant that schools in coastal and inland provinces would commence their respective school years on different days.
School learners in the country will return to the classroom on Wednesday, 17 January 2024. This will be the first of 203 days they spend in the classroom for the 2024 school year.
