By the time the 2025 admissions window closed last Friday (12 April), the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) had received applications for a record 102 680 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.
The WCED thanks the parents who put in the effort to applying on time and helping the department to plan for the placement of their child in a school next year.
All applications received after the deadline will be considered late applications, which will only be considered after the applications that were received on time. Parents will still be able to capture late applications on the online system until Sunday 12 May, but they will be flagged as late applications.
Parents of Grade 1 and 8 learners who decide to relocate to the Western Cape after late online applications close, 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 afterwards. The WCED urges parents not to wait until the last minute to apply.
The window for Grade R applications and transfer requests for Grades 2 to 7 and 9 to 11 will run from Thursday 1 to Friday 16 August.
What happens next?
Now that on-time applications have closed, schools will have a little over a month to consider all the applications they have received.
Parents are reminded that they do not need to drop their certified hard copies off at this stage. They will need to do so only once they have received an offer from a school and accepted the offer as their final choice of school.
Parents will start seeing the outcomes of their applications online from Thursday 30 May, and the WCED will remind them of this as the date approaches. The date has been shifted by a day from Wednesday 29 May to accommodate the public holiday for the general election.
Parents must then accept or decline successful offers before Friday 14 June, and the department encourages them to do so as quickly as possible.
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.
If a parent has not confirmed their choice by 14 June, the system will automatically confirm their top-ranked school that has made an offer. All other offers will then be removed, so that those places can be offered to other learners.
Parents who do not receive an offer on 30 May 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,” assured the WCED.
