Last chance for parents to confirm places for 2023

Statement by Bronagh Hammond: Director for Communication, Western Cape Education Department

Parents and caregivers have until midnight tonight to confirm and withdraw places with regards to successful applications for the 2023 school year.

On 18 June 2022 at 00:01, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) admissions system will be automated to confirm all the applications where parents/guardians have not already confirmed.

The system will then auto-confirm the first successful offer as listed by the parent/guardian on the system.

This particularly applies to learners who had been accepted at more than one school.

Once a place has been confirmed, all other successful offers will be withdrawn. This will, in turn, free up many available places at schools for learners on waiting lists.

The Head of Department, Brent Walters, wrote to schools this week appealing for schools to ensure that their admissions teams are prepared and ready to review their admission lists on Monday, 20 June 2022 and to contact as many parents/guardians as possible before schools close on 24 June 2022, according to the new revised lists.

“There are many parents/guardians who are understandably anxious about their child not having a confirmed place at a school yet. The school holidays will further delay the confirmation process as schools will be closed. Please let us all help parents/guardians to overcome this anxiety and stress by confirming as many places as possible before 25 June 2022,” he said.

The WCED is also appealing to parents who have not applied for 2023 to do so as soon as possible. Parents can call or visit our district offices for assistance where they will be placed on the WCED’s late application list. Schools are requested to ensure that administrative staff provide parents/guardians with district admissions officials’ contact details and not to simply turn parents/guardians away. If a school can assist, and is able to place a learner, the school is encouraged to do so.

The admission process is a process that involves all roleplayers to work together to achieve the same end goal – ensuring that all learners are places timeously in a school ahead of the 2023 school year. While the WCED has begun this process early, compared to other Provinces, this is done so for a reason. We need the combined cooperation of parents, schools and WCED officials to ensure that as many learners as possible are accepted and that the relevant support plans are put in place to accommodate growth in certain areas.

This next phase relies on the cooperation of schools to finalise their admission lists as soon as possible. It will also inform our plans for infrastructure and resource delivery in the months ahead.