Nearly 300K Grade 1 and 8 placement offers issued for Gauteng schools

Nearly 300,000 school placement offers for Grade 1 and 8 pupils were issued to parents and guardians in Gauteng on Thursday.

The Gauteng Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Matome Chiloane revealed this after the start of the 2025 Online Admissions placement period for these grades.

Half placement offers already accepted

Of the total 293,057 placement offers issued at 7am, 146,385 offers were made for Grade 1 and 146,672 for Grade 8.

To date, 148,744 offers have been accepted, while about 105,193 offers are still to be accepted by parents, the department announced in a statement.

“While placement offers are being sent out in batches, we remind parents that this process will continue throughout the remainder of the year,” the department said.

Parents must log on to the Online Admissions website (www.gdeadmissions.gov.za) within seven days of receiving an offer to either:

• Accept the offer as final (which places the learner at the school with no possibility of reversal)
• Provisionally accept while awaiting other offers.

Accepting an offer keeps the child in the placement process while awaiting further offers. If a new offer is accepted, the previous one will be cancelled. If no further offers are made within seven days, the last accepted offer becomes final.

Placement offers will be issued continuously until all learners are placed. Parents who do not receive an SMS immediately should not panic, as they can log into the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) website to check for placement updates.

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SMS confirms no further action needed

If an SMS confirms a child’s placement at a specific school, no further action is required from the parent, as the child is considered placed at that school. All placements are subject to the availability of space and the priority placement criteria.

If a school reaches capacity and cannot accommodate a learner, parents may receive a transfer offer for the next closest school with available space. Parents can choose to accept or decline transfer offers.

Parents should take note that, if an application status is marked as ‘application still being processed’, it means an offer will be made in due course, as such parents should not panic.

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Reasons the placement status can change

“We have also noted some concerns from parents whose application statuses changed from ‘documents verified’ to ‘no documents submitted’. This change is the result of a careful review process where submitted documents were checked for authenticity, legibility, and completeness.

“We urge parents to remain calm and patient while we continue to process applications and send out placement offers in stern accordance with the following placement criteria:

1. Home address within the school’s feeder zone closest to the school.
2. Sibling attendance or previous enrolment at the school.
3. Work address within the school’s feeder zone.
4. Home address within a 30km radius of the school.
5. Home address beyond a 30km radius of the school.

“Applications flagged as ‘no Documents Submitted’, will only be considered for placement during late registration period from 11 December 2024.”

Parents who are not satisfied with received offers can submit objections using an online form within seven days of the offer. Objections will be reviewed, and outcomes provided within 14 days.

If unsatisfied with the objection outcome, parents can submit an appeal to the MEC within seven days, which will be resolved in 14-21 days. Appeals are final and binding.

If parents need assistance or clarification regarding their application or placement status, they can contact the GDE’s Contact Centre at 0800 000 789 or via WhatsApp at 060 891 0361. Additionally, parents can visit any of the 15 district offices for further support, where officials are ready to assist with any queries related to the admissions process.

“We remain committed to placing all learners fairly,” said MEC Chiloane.

“We thank parents for their patience and cooperation as we work diligently to secure placements for learners in Gauteng public schools.”

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