Gauteng releases 300 000 school placement offers for 2027

Gauteng has released approximately 300 000 placement offers for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for the 2027 academic year, with parents urged to accept offers within seven days.

Education MEC Lebogang Maile confirmed that placements began at 16:00 on Thursday, 15 October, following verification and quality assurance processes.

Of the offers released, 130 233 had been accepted by Friday, while the remaining parents were encouraged to respond within the stipulated period.

The Gauteng Department of Education received 781 476 applications before the online admissions process closed on 4 September. These comprised 335 346 applications for Grade 1 and 446 130 for Grade 8, representing 346 556 individual learners.

Maile acknowledged that demand for public schooling continued to place pressure on existing infrastructure, particularly in rapidly growing communities. More than 20 secondary schools received over 1 800 Grade 8 applications each, highlighting the competition for places at sought-after institutions.

The department said placement decisions would consider factors including proximity to the learner’s home, siblings attending a school, the parent’s work address and available capacity. However, not every learner would necessarily secure a place at their first-choice school.

Parents will receive SMS notifications or can check their profiles on the online admissions system. They must visit www.gdeadmissions.gov.za to accept offers, either as final or provisional while awaiting other offers.

Parents with incomplete applications or outstanding documents were advised to contact their district offices to resolve delays.

The department said parents could object or appeal through the prescribed process only where a learner had been transferred to a school they had not applied to. Appeals would not guarantee placement at a preferred school.