What Is CAPS? A Plain-Language Guide for Parents
By the AlignWellz team · Published 4 October 2026 · 6 min read
If you have children in a South African school you will hear "CAPS" constantly — on report cards, in teacher messages, on workbooks and on homework help websites. This guide explains what it actually is, how it is organised, and how knowing a little about it can make you a more confident helper at home.
What does CAPS stand for?
CAPS stands for the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. It is the national curriculum policy of the Department of Basic Education (DBE). For every subject it sets out what learners must be taught, how much time to spend on it, and how learning should be assessed. It was introduced in phases from 2012 and replaced the earlier versions of the national curriculum.
The four phases
CAPS organises school into four phases, each with its own subjects and emphasis:
- Foundation Phase (Grades R–3): languages, Mathematics and Life Skills, with an emphasis on early reading, writing and number sense.
- Intermediate Phase (Grades 4–6): adds subjects such as Natural Sciences and Technology and Social Sciences as learners widen their knowledge.
- Senior Phase (Grades 7–9): subjects become more specialised, including separate Natural Sciences, Technology, Economic Management Sciences, Life Orientation and Creative Arts.
- FET Phase (Grades 10–12): learners choose subjects such as Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Accounting, History, Geography and more, working towards the National Senior Certificate (NSC) in Grade 12.
You can see which subjects apply at each stage on our school subjects page.
What a CAPS document contains
Each CAPS subject document describes the aims of the subject, the topics to be taught in each grade, and an Annual Teaching Plan that suggests how to spread those topics across the four school terms. It also explains how learners should be assessed. These are free to read: the DBE publishes them on its CAPS documents page.
Is the order of topics fixed?
Not strictly. CAPS says the order of topics in the suggested teaching plan is not prescriptive, so a school or teacher may reorder topics or spend longer on some. That is why your child's class may be on a different topic from the one a website lists for that term. The term-by-term maths topics on our grade guides follow the DBE's suggested plan, and are best used as a guide — your child's teacher always has the final word on the sequence.
How assessment works
Marks come from assessment during the year (tasks, tests, projects and practicals, depending on the subject and grade) and, in later grades, formal examinations. In Grade 12 a national final examination also counts towards the NSC. Because the details differ by subject and grade, the subject's CAPS document or your child's teacher is the right place to confirm exactly how marks are made up.
Do all schools follow CAPS?
All public schools do. Many independent schools follow CAPS-aligned content too, but some follow other curricula such as Cambridge or the IB, and homeschooling families may use a range of approaches. If your child's school follows a different curriculum, topic names and sequencing will differ from the CAPS plans described here.
How to use CAPS as a parent
- Ask the teacher (or check the school's communication) for the current term's topics.
- Look up those topics so you know what the next test is likely to cover — our grade-by-grade maths guides show every CAPS maths topic by term.
- Use the topic names when you ask for help; "my child is struggling with common fractions" gets better answers than "my child is bad at maths".
- If a gap keeps appearing, look back at the previous grade's topics — a maths help routine at home can fix many gaps before they snowball.