KwaZulu-Natal’s girls have done it again: 13 of the province’s matriculants made it to the Independent Examinations Board’s honours roll of outstanding achievers this year and 10 were girls.
St Mary’s DSG in Kloof, and Durban Girls’ College in Musgrave, each had four pupils on the list, which features matriculants who have achieved within the top 5% in six or more subjects and scored 80% or more for life orientation for their final exams.
At St Mary’s DSG, a further three pupils made it to the roll of commendable achievers - who have achieved within the top 5% in five subjects and scored 80% or more for life orientation. Sixteen pupils at the school also achieved within the top 1% nationally for at least one individual subject.
Pupils at the school achieved a total of 341 distinctions.
“Just as they say ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, it takes a whole school and supportive parents to educate children to this level,” school principal Jonathan Manley said in a statement. “Each teacher, mom and dad who played a part in these young women’s educational journey from preschool to Grade 12 can feel proud of these results”.
Manley also said while the attention naturally went to the top achievers, it was important to note that every girl achieved a fine set of results.
St Mary’s DSG once again achieved a 100% bachelor pass rate and 78% of the school’s results were either an A or an B.
“Our girls should be very happy,” Manley said.
In addition to having four pupils on the outstanding achievers roll, Durban Girls’ College also had one pupil on the commendable achievers roll. Acting executive head Marianne Bailey was on Wednesday very proud. “We didn’t expect anything less,” she said.
Bailey said the results were because of the girls’ sound work ethic and a committed and dedicated staff. “It’s a team effort, from the girls and the teachers,” she said.
Two girls at Durban Girls’ College achieved 9 distinctions. Bailey echoed Manley’s sentiments in saying that while the school was proud of its top achievers, it was proud of everyone who had worked to their maximum potential.
Hilton College had one pupil on the roll of outstanding achievers and one on the roll of commendable achievers, and 74% of all symbols achieved by boys at the school were a C or better.
“Realising success at this level is the culmination of hard work and determination on the part of each boy, and on the part of the many teachers and mentors,” the school said in a statement.
Ashton International College also had one pupil on the roll of outstanding achievers and one on the roll of commendable achievers. The school achieved a 100% pass rate and a 93.15% bachelor pass rate. The 73 pupils who wrote the exams achieved 117 distinctions.
“We are extremely proud of the students who worked exceptionally hard, and we congratulate every one on their achievement,” academic and deputy head of the senior college Jenny van Buuren said.
Grantleigh, in Richards Bay, Clifton College and Thomas More College also had pupils feature on the outstanding achievers list.
At Kearsney College, two boys appeared on the commendable achievers roll. Half the boys who wrote maths and science achieved distinctions and eight of the country’s top science achievers were from the school. The school’s 105 matrics achieved 240 distinctions between them. In English, two boys placed in the top 1% of all candidates in the country. The school achieved a 100% pass rate, with a 98.1% bachelor’s pass rate.
“This extraordinary set of results in maths and science is remarkable, and reflects the hard work, dedication and discipline from boys and staff, with support from parents,” said headmaster Elwyn van den Aardweg.
Overall, the IEB matric results showed a slight improvement from last year’s. The 2016 pass rate was 98.67%, up from 98.3% last year, the IEB said in a statement. The quality of the passes also improved, with 87.1% of the 2016 cohort achieving entry to degree study, compared with 85.26% last year.
In terms of the advanced programmes, this year 1407 pupils from IEB schools and 1275 from state schools participated in advanced programme maths; 87.9% achieved a pass of 40% or above.
Also, 98.12% of the 652 pupils who took English AP achieved a mark of 40% or above and all pupils who took Afrikaans AP passed with 40% or above.
A total of 11022 full-time candidates wrote this year’s IEB matric exams in October and November. Of these, 2035 were from KZN. The exams were free of cheating and IEB chief executive Anne Oberholzer said she was proud of what had been achieved.
“With a commitment to hard work over 12 years of schooling, supported by dedicated teachers and parents, these learners have achieved the first major milestone in their learning careers,” she said.