Placement offers will only be issued to applicants with complete and verified documentation.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has warned parents that being among the first to apply for a place at a school does not guarantee admission.
The 2026 online admissions for Grade 1 and Grade 8 closed at midnight on Friday, 29 August 2025.
Not first-come, first-served
The GDE reminded parents that placement is not based on who applies first, but on specific criteria applied in order of priority. These include:
- Home address within the school’s feeder zone, closest to the school
- Sibling or previous school connections
- Work address within the feeder zone
- Home address within a 30km radius
- Home address beyond 30km
This means a child whose parent applied on the first day, but lives outside the feeder zone, could be placed after someone who applied later but resides within the school’s area.
Placement period to begin in October
Placement offers will only be issued to applicants with complete and verified documentation.
The placement period will start on 16 October 2025 and continue until all pupils are placed.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane urged parents to act quickly to avoid disappointment.
“We urge all parents who have not yet completed the full five-step process to do so immediately. Failure to act before the deadline will result in disappointment and loss of placement priority,” Chiloane said.
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Why documents matter
Parents have until 12pm on 9 September 2025 to upload or submit certified copies of all required documents.
According to the department, proof of home address is particularly important because it is the key factor in school placement.
“Applications without this document will be regarded as incomplete,” the GDE stressed.
Incomplete applications will not be considered for placement offers, and fraudulent or invalid documents will result in forfeiture.
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More than 800 000 applications recorded
By Thursday evening, the department had registered a total of 800 530 applications on its online system.
These included 345 493 applications for Grade 1 and 455 037 for Grade 8.
Despite the high numbers, officials expressed concern about incomplete submissions.
“To date, 52 929 incomplete applications have been recorded,” the GDE said.
These cases include parents who registered details but failed to finalise school selections, and those who applied but did not upload the required documents.
When approached by The Citizen for updated figures, the department said this would only be furnished ahead of placements in October.
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