Parents and caregivers who may have missed the deadline are still able to apply as the online application system will remain open for late applications, says the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).
The department says that during the admissions window, they received applications for around 156 150 learners for the 2024 school year.
With parents applying for more than one school for their children, the total number of individual applications for placement and transfer to schools received is 503 763.
MEC David Maynier noted that any parents who logged a query for technical assistance with department before the deadline will be considered to have applied on time.
“We thank the parents who put in the effort to applying on time and helping us to plan for a place for their child in a school next year.”
Late Applications
The department has explained that all applications received after the deadline will be considered late applications. These applications will be flagged as late and will only be considered by schools after all on-time applications are processed and placed.
They added, “It is imperative that parents do not delay applying any further. By doing so, it will affect our planning processes and could result in delays in placing your child."
School Placement
Maynier noted that since the official application period has closed, schools will have just over a month to consider all the applications they have received.
The department says it is working towards parents seeing the outcomes of their applications online from 29 May 2023, however this will only be confirmed as the date approaches.
Parents are reminded that they do not need to drop off their certified hard copies at this stage. They will only need to do so once they have received an offer from a school and accepted the offer as their final choice of school.
Once parents receive acceptance offers, they are required accept or decline the offers and should do so as quickly as possible.
If no offer is confirmed, the system will automatically confirm the top-ranked school that has made an offer and remove the rest so those places can be offered to other potential learners.
Furthermore, parents who do not receive an offer for school placement should not be disheartened, noted the department as more places will open up once parents have confirmed 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.”
The deadline for all late applications will be Thursday, 25 May 2023. Parents and guardians can visit the WCED website to apply.
