MOSSEL BYA NEWS - Parents of prospective Grade R and Grade 1 learners camped out overnight in front of Milkwood Primary School last weekend to try to secure a place at the school for their children for the 2021 academic year.
Braving rain and wind, parents arrived throughout Sunday to get a place in line to enrol their children at the sought-after school.
Armed with the necessary documents and a steely determination, it was clear that these parents were willing to go the distance to make sure they would not be turned away because of lack of space for their child.
Admission
Applications for admission to schools for Grade R, Grade 1 and high school opened on Monday, 17 February and parents with camping chairs and blankets arrived throughout Sunday, all eager to be the first in the queue to present their applications the moment the school opened on Monday morning.
As explained by Milkwood's principal, Van Wyk Dames, the parents received numbers according to their position in the queue. Parents then filled in registration forms with the school secretaries who noted the number parents had received as well as the time that the registration form was completed.
Enrolments therefore work on a first come, first served basis. While the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) does have an online application platform, the system crashed on Sunday and continues to operate very slowly due to network constraints.
Accommodating the high numbers of learners is a problem that Western Cape schools face yearly. High levels of learner retention as well internal migration by learners from other provinces is putting increasing pressure on schools to satisfy learner demand.
Even though the WCED advises parents to apply to at least three schools, advice seconded by Dames, the school remains the only option for some parents.
As the only English-medium public primary school in Mossel Bay parents of English-speaking children who cannot afford the high fees at Curro Independent School feel that their best chance of securing their child a place at Milkwood is to camp out in front of the school.
Parents committed
Andiswe Ntoso, who hopes to enrol her son in Grade 1 in 2021, says she had arrived at 14:20 on Sunday to get her place in line. "I arrived last year at 23:00 to get my son enrolled in Grade R, but I was too late to get him a place. He has to do Grade R at MossKiddos now. I really hope that he will be accepted for next year. This is the only school I applied to."
Milkwood is the only option for Fallon Edwards as well: "My friends' kids go to Milkwood and I saw the difference the school made in them. Milkwood has a good reputation and I have never heard anything bad about the school. I hope my son gets a place for next year. I camped out since 13:00 yesterday afternoon."
Dames says the school is unable to accommodate the high numbers of pupils who apply to the school.
"Parents have been camping outside for about the last five years, but their numbers have been escalating. The problem is that there are not enough English schools in Mossel Bay to accommodate all the learners. If there were more English schools we would not have this problem."
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