WCED urges parents to confirm placement offers received for grades R, 1 & 8

CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is urging parents to confirm placement offers received for schools for the 2026 academic year.

As of 30 May, parents who applied for grades R, 1 and 8 spots started receiving confirmation from schools where their children have been accepted.

In some cases, learners received multiple acceptance offers and parents were urged to decide which school their child would attend.

The department’s Bronagh Hammond said that by confirming placements, the department could speed up allocating learners who still needed to be placed.

"We can confirm that over 44,000 Grade R, 1 and 8 learners have been accepted to more than one school, which will allow for additional places to open up for other learners on waiting lists. We call these learners double parkers. Now, once these double-parked learners are confirmed to a specific school, the places at the other schools can be offered to the learners on the waiting lists."