Cape Town - Parents and guardians of children in the Western Cape who applied for school admission during the Western Cape Department of Education’s (WCED) first application process can now view the outcome of their applications.
On Monday, May 29, 2023, the Department of Education announced that schools had finally completed reviewing their admission policies to determine successful applicants based on their capacity for 2024.
To check their child’s application outcome, parents can visit:
https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/admissions-202324
According to the WCED, parents or guardians who encounter technical problems accessing the site can be assisted by calling 0860 142 142, emailing service@westerncape.gov.za or using the “Contact us” link on the login page.
Regarding what parents can do should they have received an offer from a school, WCED spokesperson Kerry Mauchline said parents or guardians must confirm their choice of school by June 19, 2023.
She said after this their highest-ranked choice of school would be automatically confirmed.
“If you have received an offer of a place for your child, a button will be visible that will allow you to confirm and accept the place. We appeal to parents to confirm their places as soon as possible, as this will free up places for other learners."
"This is especially important when a learner has received offers from multiple schools. Once these ‘double parked’ learners are confirmed to a specific school, the places at the other schools can be offered to other learners,” Mauchline said.
If over 41 000 learners have been ‘double parked’, this means over 41 000 spaces can be offered to other learners should they be made available by parents confirming schools for their children, according to the WCED.
Mauchline added that once the choice of school is confirmed, parents would be required to drop off the hard copy documents from their application to their school of choice within 7 days of acceptance.
“There will be learners who are not successful in getting placed during this initial phase. We know it is extremely stressful and disappointing, but we appeal to parents to bear in mind that we are still very early in the admissions process, and thousands of places will still open up,” Mauchline said.
“It is advisable to stay in touch with the schools applied to and to request that the learner be placed on a waiting list,” She said.
“If you do not get a place at any school within the next few months, the WCED will assist you with placement. However, please note that this will only happen towards the end of September, once all the places at schools are full and we can confirm which schools still have places available.”
To parents who have not yet applied to any school, the WCED revealed that while its online admissions system was closed, parents could still apply for 2024 by completing a learner placement form and submitting it at their education district office.