The most popular schools for parents trying to get their children admitted in Grade 1 and Grade 8 next year are in the south of Johannesburg and in Pretoria.

The Gauteng Education Department‚ providing an update on its online application process for the 2017 school year‚ said on Wednesday that as part of its planning for placements‚ it had assessed which schools and areas are under pressure.

Around 790 schools had less than 200 applications and 59 schools had between 1‚000 to 1‚400 applications‚ the department found.

Five schools had over 1‚500 applications.

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Two are in Johannesburg South — Sir John Adamson High School in Winchester Hills and Mondeor High School.

The others are the historical Pretoria Boys High School‚ as well as Afrikaanse Hoër Seunsskool and Laerskool Theresapark‚ all in South Africa’s administrative capital city.

Placement of pupils began on June 24 and runs until September 7.

So far 3‚389 Grade 1 and 3‚145 Grade 8 learners have been placed.