Deadline looms for Grade R, 1 and 8 school placements

CapeTalk’s Sara-Jayne Makwala King is joined by the Western Cape Education Department’s Director of Communication, Bronagh Hammond.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.

Attention parents and guardians! 

If you're planning to enrol your child in a Western Cape government school for Grade R, 1, or 8 in 2026, time is running out!

"We've got about 132,000 applications that have been made over this period, and that is for Grade R, 1 and 8 combined." 

- Bronagh Hammond,  Western Cape Education Department’s Director of Communication 

"We do know that especially in the critical Grade 8 phase, which is where we have our biggest issue with placements, we still have about 20,000 Grade 8s that still have not applied according to our numbers." 

- Bronagh Hammond,  Western Cape Education Department’s Director of Communication 

The application window closes Tuesday, 15 April 2025.

To apply, you need to visit the Western Cape Education Department's Learner Admissions Portal here.

Hamond says the outcome of your application will be shared by 30 May 2025.

She emphasises that placements are decided by individual school governing bodies and not the WCED.

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation