WHERE WILL MY CHILD GO TO SCHOOL?

By KOPANO MONAHENG

NOT knowing the school you’re going to start a new life at next year is very stressful for Grade 7 and Grade 1 pupils.

However, the ones under the most stress should be the parents and guardians, as they have to plan ahead. New uniforms have to be bought, transport arrangements have to be made on time, and a lot more.

But the Gauteng MEC for Education, Lebohang Maile, said parents have to wait at least a little bit. Parents will receive an SMS notification of where their children will be placed from 12 October.

This comes after the 2027 online school admissions for Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils closed on 4 September, and parents who filled out their children’s applications before the closing date will then be notified.

The Gauteng Department of Education recorded 805,688 applications for Grades 1 and 8 for the 2027 academic year.

A total of 357,468 parents and guardians registered on the Online Admissions System.

But according to the MEC, no placement will commence before the required documents are submitted and verified.

“Once schools complete the verification process, applications are submitted to the relevant district offices for quality assurance to ensure that outcomes are consistent with the application options and documents submitted,” said Maile.

He said placement is considered according to a prescribed order of priority: home address within the school’s feeder zone and closest to the school; a sibling already attending the school or, for Grade 8 applications, proximity of the pupil’s previous school; the parent’s work address within the feeder zone; the learner’s home address within 30 kilometres of the school; and thereafter, home addresses beyond 30 kilometres.

“These criteria are necessary to promote fairness and predictability in a system where demand at some schools significantly exceeds available capacity.”

Where none of the schools originally selected by a parent has available space, the Department may make a transfer placement offer at the next closest school with available capacity.

Transfer offers are made only after it has been established that none of the schools originally selected by the parent can accommodate the pupil.

Parents have seven days to accept or decline a transfer placement offer. Where an offer is declined, a parent may submit an objection within seven days.

The Department requires 14 days to provide an outcome. A parent who declines the objection outcome may appeal, after which the Department has 21 days to respond.
The appeal outcome is final!!