2020 admissions: Parents to confirm places by 12 July 2019
Statement by Bronagh Hammond, Director: Communications, WCED
Parents from across the Western Cape can now find out if their child’s admission applications for the 2020 school year have, or have not, been successful.
Some schools have already informed parents of the outcome, however, the majority of schools participating in our online admission pilot, have had until this week to upload confirmations or notifications of non-acceptance to parents who have applied to their school.
From the 15th of February 2019 till the 15th of March 2019, the online system received over 277 000 applications from 147 000 different users.
From tomorrow, the second phase of the admission process begins, with parents now having to check their status online to see whether these applications have been successful or not and to confirm their final choice of school. They can visit the WCED Admissions website: https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/admissions-201920
Parents and guardians have until the 12th of July 2019 to submit their confirmations. In other words, if a child has been accepted at one or more schools, the parent must confirm acceptance at ONE of the schools on the list where the application was successful.
Failure to confirm by the 12th of July will result in the system allocating the first school that has marked the application as successful for 2020 to the learner.
Parents have from 7 June until 12 July to confirm. The WCED believes that this gives parents ample time to decide which school they would like their child to attend.
It is not fair to the parents and children, who have received unsuccessful notifications of admission, for spaces to be kept on hold for months on end while parents make up their minds on which schools they should send their children to. We need confirmations from parents so that spaces are opened for unsuccessful candidates.
Parents who receive unsuccessful notifications from all schools they applied to, must remain calm. We are very aware of the stress parents are put under by the application process. That is why we are trying to make the process move quicker so that we can assist in accommodating your child.
Parents that are unsuccessful during the first round, may appeal to the SGB.
It is also important that they request to be placed on the waiting list of the schools where their applications have been unsuccessful at, so that their child may be considered, if and when, openings occur after the second phase.
As parents confirm places, and up to the 12th of July, the WCED and schools will be able to identify where spaces are opening. Schools will apply their admission policies in terms of their waiting lists and they could accept and change the status of learners who have been on waiting lists or unsuccessful to successful. The school will notify parents of any such change. These will then be captured on the system for these parents to confirm acceptance.
We have already received complaints from parents who have not been successful at some schools. It is important to note that the process has not been finalised.
We urge parents to confirm which school their children will be attending in 2020 as this will free up places sooner. Parents can confirm their final choices in the following ways:
You can indicate your choice on the website: https://admissions.westerncape.gov.za by going to ‘Track Applications’ to confirm.
Parents who cannot access the internet can hand in written confirmation of acceptance and/or decline at the various schools applied to where they have been successful. The schools will be able to upload this on the system as proof that the parent has confirmed.
Parents can also send an e-mail to: wced.admissions@westerncape.gov.za to confirm.
Alternatively, if you are not successful with the above, you can whatsapp 067 973 3099 with your name and surname, cell number, learner name and surname, CEMIS number and school number (where applicable) and your school of choice according to your successful applications.
Parents can also call the following numbers to confirm:
- 021 467 2631
- 021 467 2760
- 021 467 2171
These numbers will NOT however deal with complaints or concerns over unsuccessful applications. It is for CONFIRMATION of acceptance only.
We need to first ensure that as many confirmations are dealt with as soon as possible, which will then allow for unsuccessful parents to get notifications from schools where spaces have opened. If these lines are blocked up with complaints, it will only delay the process further.
We hope that all parents co-operate with this process.
Parents having technical problems with the site are encouraged to:.
- Email: Cemishelp.MisTeam@westerncape.gov.za or (Please state it is a technical query).
- SMS – 064 075 2099
We hope that everyone involved in this process works together to make it less stressful for parents, who do not have places, and for schools who will be flooded with appeals on unsuccessful applications.
Media Enquiries:
Bronagh Hammond
Director: Communications
Western Cape Education Department
072 7241422 (please whatsapp or sms me if unavailable)
Bronagh.hammond@westerncape.gov.za