GDE placement period to commence in September

Parents and guardians of learners who will be in Grade One and Grade Eight in 2024 will know which school their children have been accepted to as of September this year.

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) announced that placement offers will be sent out on September 4 via SMS. The department’s MEC Matome Chiloane said that not everyone will receive the SMSs on the first day of the placement period.

“We would like to provide clarification regarding the placement process. It is important to note that not all applicants will receive an immediate SMS with a placement offer on the first day of the placement period. However, placement offers will be consistently sent out to applicants throughout the entire placement period until all learners are successfully placed.

“We strongly encourage parents to submit or upload their documents before the deadline of July 28, to ensure eligibility for placement. We understand that high-pressure schools may experience significant demand, making this a challenging period,” said Chiloane, who added that they are kindly requesting patience and understanding from applicants, as they work diligently to place all learners.

Meanwhile, parents and guardians are also reminded that all placement is subject to the priority of placement criteria and availability of space per school. Therefore, applicants that cannot be accommodated at the schools they applied to due to the schools having reached capacity, will receive transfer offers of placement at the next closest school with available space.

Transfer offers are made only after confirmation that none of the schools to which a parent applied has available space.

Parents and guardians who are offered a placement at schools that they have not applied to have the option to accept or decline the placement offer.