Two months into finding my daughter a suitable high school has left me with no real choice at the end of the day. The challenges you face as a parent of a Grade 7 pupil are completely unknown until you begin the journey. If you live in the area of the High School of choice, that's so easy, you apply in time and you are guaranteed a placement for your child. Unfortunately, I do not live in any of the areas near my school of choice. "High School Shopping" is my new challenge because I now have to apply at more than one school, I am playing safe and not leaving anything to chance, so I am applying to 5 different schools. Little did I know that I have just entered a completely new world. What it meant was taking time off from work to go and collect application forms at the schools, going to open days, going to information sessions, going to police stations to get certified copies (they only certify a certain amount of copies), getting affidavits or getting completion of forms from the current principal&taking applications away. There is also monies involved, paying for application forms, paying on submission of forms, passport photos taken, copies to be made and on acceptance, going to Home Affairs to apply for an Unabridged Birth Certificate and deposits to be made on acceptance. The Sales Pitch at the schools range from good to great and in the end you are more confused and more stressed. If only one is guaranteed a choice but alas, it becomes a waiting game for the next 1+ months, where you will be informed if your child has progressed to Stage 2 (the interview) of the process or if they have been rejected. Once you make it thru' stage 2 - you have an even longer waiting period - I am hoping that by June latest July I will know which High School my child will attend. Now if only my child was a top academic, or top sportsman or a prefect, then I would sleep in peace knowing that I could make a choice. All I can do is live on hope that I have done what I could and hopefully if we lucky the all the schools will accept my child so that she has a choice of school.

Take your daughter with you to the open days, so she can get a chance to see which school she would like most and be comfortable with. By giving my daughter a say, it gave her a stake in her future, and a new, positive attitude which she didn't have in Grade 7. Even if the school she choose was partly motivated by the fact that the leaders at her primary school were not going to this particular school. I applied at 4 schools and got accepted at all 4, despite her not being a leader or sports person, and having above avearge, but not excellent results. Main thing is to get applications in (with all necessary supporting documentation) as fast as possible.

Hi, im in the exact same boat! My son does well academically, and i have applied to 3 different schools. Luckily i started applying at the beginning of Feb, so i could get all the docs ready, he has also written an exam for a bursary, still waiting on a response, the waiting absolutely kills me. We are attending an open day today for the 4th school, i am so nervous because none of the schools that we have applied to are in the arear in which we reside, as i too feel that we need to look at the "top" schools, unfortunately with that comes top school fees, we are looking at between R7,000 to R13,900 per year on tuition alone. If only someone had told me this two years ago so that i could have started saving earlier! lol, but that's the price you have to pay for good education!

I couldn't afford a private school, so I asked around, checked which government schools in my area had good matric pass rates, and took my daughter with me to their open days. We went with her gut - she loved the feel of one school, and I was satisfied with the pass rate, discipline and extra-curricular programme. We didn't live in their feeder area, but the school checked her reports (and my school fee payment record) and was happy enough to admit her. She is still there, and loving it.
Don't panic, most good government schools will be good enough in the end - ultimately, it's up to the child whether they excel or not.

Thank you for the tips. I am applying at former Model C schools that I can afford, Private schools are too expensive. The schoolfees range from R18 000 - R23 000 per annum. The schools have been carefully selected by my daughter and I. We have done all the open days and information days. I have done my research wrt Academic performance of school, academic, sport, cultural, societies that are offered, schoolfees that I can afford, on-route to my work, etc. I have a son in matric so I have some experience wrt "High School" shopping but don't recall having so much uncertainty and having to spend so much time and money at the time. It has just become more difficult to get placement eg. 1 school informed us that they receive 1 000+ applicants but only accept 180 children. A R50 compulsory fee -which is non-refundable had to be paid on submission of this application. My past experience with this school was firstly my son who was one of the top Grade 7's at their school; had leadership titles, top sportsman, involved in activities like "public speaking", choir, drama was rejected in round 1 of selection phase - the reject letter just said "Unsuccessful -apply to a school in the area where you live. My nephew, who went to the feeder school, had high marks; involved in a few sports; top swimmer of the school, an all-round top performer was also unsuccessful. In fact this is why I am worried- his mom applied at 5 schools, he was rejected in round 1 of the selection criteria at 4 of the schools, only 1 accepted him. Luckily it was their school of choice. I am a single parent and there has been no contact or contribution from their dad for the last 7 years. I therefore take full responsibility of the schoolfees and have a good trackrecord at the children's schools - some schools even request your maintenance amount on their forms. My maintenance offers no relief at R500 per child ffor the last 7yrs. I gave up the court battles due to the financial challenges I faced, I could no longer afford legal fees or time off from work. Schoolfees are an issue especially if "Divorced" appears on your forms - I therefore provide my track record. The schools' first criteria for selection process is "Vicinity in which you live" "Top academic results" -"leadership positions" - this is my biggest challenge as my daughter is not a top academic achiever & holds no leadership position & we do not live in the areas of the school. I will never consider the schools in the areas in which I live - it just doesn't compare.