THE best time to apply to get your child into Grade 1 is when they are a year old.
This was the advice given by Janine R adue, head of the foundation phase at Abbotsford Christian School.
Radue said schools generally were overwhelmed by the large number of applications they received each year, forcing them to turn many disappointed parents away.
At Abbotsford Christian School, she said they only had one Grade 1 class, with a capacity for 26 pupils. Of these, 20 were reserved for pupils coming from the Grade R class.
“That means that we only actually had six spaces available for Grade 1 this year,” she said.
“But even then we have so many parents who still ask for forms hoping for a cancellation. Many of them come and camp out at the school in January. But it’s very seldom that we have cancellations and we have no choice but to turn them away.”
Radue said the school was already receiving applications for Grade 1 for 2018.
She said parents needed to apply to as many schools as possible because chances were good the first school would reject the application.
A number of schools contacted by the Saturday Dispatch agreed, saying they were overwhelmed by the number of applications.
Crewe Primary School principal Peter Bebe said this year the school had received more than 400 applications, while only 120 places were available. According to school policy, siblings were chosen first, followed by children from the feeder area.
“After that it’s a bit of a lottery really and we just accept kids randomly based on how many spaces are still available,” Bebe said.
“The situation at the school will become tougher from next year as we will be offering our own Grade R class, which will have 60 pupils. That means there will be 60 spaces less next year, which will be very tough for parents.”
Robyn Vice, acting head of department at Southernwood Primary School, said they had accepted 37 of their Grade R pupils and had three pupils staying back.
“That means we already have 40 pupils in Grade 1. The situation is so bad that we had 12 siblings applying this year but we couldn’t take them,” she said.
The situation is the same for Grade 8.
Hudson Park High School principal Roy Hewett said they had a waiting list of more than 300 pupils.
“It’s been made very clear in many meetings that there is a shortage of schools in the East London urban area,” Hewett said.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department was aware of the situation.
“One of the issues to blame is the migration of families from either rural towns or townships to the urban areas,” Mtima said.
“This has created a situation whereby there are limited spaces in schools. The issue is not a shortage of schools at all.”
Mtima said schools were encouraged to take pupils from the feeder area first before selecting other applicants.
Parents who commented on the Dispatch Facebook page said the situation was dire.
Corrie Klinkradt said her grandson had still not found a school two months before the start of the new school year.
Ntsiki Booi said the problem was not just limited to Grade 1 because she was struggling to secure a place for her son for Grade 2.
“I’m thinking of relocating because of this,” she said.
Shona Botes said parents should consider home schooling as an option. — zisandan@disaptch.co.za
Too few schools for EL's kids
This was the advice given by Janine R adue, head of the foundation phase at Abbotsford Christian School.
Radue said schools generally were overwhelmed by the large number of applications they received each year, forcing them to turn many disappointed parents away.
At Abbotsford Christian School, she said they only had one Grade 1 class, with a capacity for 26 pupils. Of these, 20 were reserved for pupils coming from the Grade R class.
“That means that we only actually had six spaces available for Grade 1 this year,” she said.
“But even then we have so many parents who still ask for forms hoping for a cancellation. Many of them come and camp out at the school in January. But it’s very seldom that we have cancellations and we have no choice but to turn them away.”
Radue said the school was already receiving applications for Grade 1 for 2018.
She said parents needed to apply to as many schools as possible because chances were good the first school would reject the application.
A number of schools contacted by the Saturday Dispatch agreed, saying they were overwhelmed by the number of applications.
Crewe Primary School principal Peter Bebe said this year the school had received more than 400 applications, while only 120 places were available. According to school policy, siblings were chosen first, followed by children from the feeder area.
“After that it’s a bit of a lottery really and we just accept kids randomly based on how many spaces are still available,” Bebe said.
“The situation at the school will become tougher from next year as we will be offering our own Grade R class, which will have 60 pupils. That means there will be 60 spaces less next year, which will be very tough for parents.”
Robyn Vice, acting head of department at Southernwood Primary School, said they had accepted 37 of their Grade R pupils and had three pupils staying back.
“That means we already have 40 pupils in Grade 1. The situation is so bad that we had 12 siblings applying this year but we couldn’t take them,” she said.
The situation is the same for Grade 8.
Hudson Park High School principal Roy Hewett said they had a waiting list of more than 300 pupils.
“It’s been made very clear in many meetings that there is a shortage of schools in the East London urban area,” Hewett said.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department was aware of the situation.
“One of the issues to blame is the migration of families from either rural towns or townships to the urban areas,” Mtima said.
“This has created a situation whereby there are limited spaces in schools. The issue is not a shortage of schools at all.”
Mtima said schools were encouraged to take pupils from the feeder area first before selecting other applicants.
Parents who commented on the Dispatch Facebook page said the situation was dire.
Corrie Klinkradt said her grandson had still not found a school two months before the start of the new school year.
Ntsiki Booi said the problem was not just limited to Grade 1 because she was struggling to secure a place for her son for Grade 2.
“I’m thinking of relocating because of this,” she said.
Shona Botes said parents should consider home schooling as an option. — zisandan@disaptch.co.za
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