The Western Cape Education Department has urged parents, who have applied online for admission into public schools in 2022, to start checking whether their applications have been successful or not, and to confirm their final choice of school.
The department said the provincial admissions website recorded 408 672 applications from 149 633 registered users during its admissions process in February and March this year.
“The process ended on 31 March 2021, and school governing bodies have since been applying their admission policies to determine placements for next year,” department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said in a statement.
Hammond said that on Monday, the website started to display the outcome of the process to inform parents as to whether their application has been successful or not.
Hammond noted that some schools may indicate “pending”, which means they have yet to upload their final outcome, and this should be finalised this week.
“Parents can log onto https://admissions.westerncape.gov.za/admissions/login, they can then go to ‘Track Application Status’, select name of learner and then under ‘Application Status’, it will inform the parent as to whether their application was a) successful, b) unsuccessful or c) has been placed on the waiting list. The parent must then either ‘Withdraw’ or ‘Confirm’ their application,” Hammond said.
Once they have confirmed acceptance at a school, parents must print and submit a copy of the application, as well as certified copies of the supporting documents, to the school within seven days of confirming on the system with the school or district office, if they have not already submitted hard copies to the school.
“Parents must please note that [they] only have until 25 June 2021 to confirm their final choice of school for 2022.
“Parents are reminded that if they do not confirm a place at a school by 25 June 2021, then the system will automatically accept the first successful offer from a school on the system for them.
“If a parent has been unsuccessful at all the schools they have applied to and are notified of a successful placement after 25 June 2021, then they have three days to accept the place offered. If parents require support getting access to their profiles on the website, [like] forgotten passwords, then they can contact any of the officials listed on the website or their nearest district office,” Hammond said.
They website link is https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/admissions-202122.
If a learner has not been accepted at a school, Hammond advised parents to first engage the school governing body to establish the reasons why the application was unsuccessful, get clarity on the admission process followed, and to motivate for the application to be reconsidered.
“Parents are advised to stay in touch with the school and request that the learner be placed on a waiting list as some places could still open as parents confirm.”
The department has also appealed to parents who have yet to apply for 2022, to do so immediately.
“They must please contact their nearest schools or the district office urgently. We need to ensure that as many learners as possible register this year so that we can plan appropriately to place all learners for 2022,” Hammond said.