Ten Western Cape matrics who wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) exams are among the lists of top-achieving pupils.
Of the matriculants who wrote the IEB exams nationally, 98 percent have passed, up from 97 percent in 2009.
Matrics from Reddam House, Bridge House, Cedar House and Somerset College were ranked among the IEB’s top 65 pupils, with six outstanding and four commendable results.
All candidates who passed the IEB exams achieved passes that enable them to enrol for a degree, a diploma or a certificate.
Pupils have been asked to go to their schools to collect their results on Tuesday.
Those who attended public schools and wrote Department of Basic Education exams will have their results on Thursday.
The following pupils achieved a ranking in the top five percent of IEB matrics in six or more of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) subjects and achieved a rating of more than 80 percent in life orientation: Adam Botha, Nicole Dale and Clare Phillips from Reddam House; Catherine Makepeace from Somerset College; Tegan Phillips from Cedar House; and Ivano Vanzaghi from Bridge House.
The following four pupils, out of 44 nationally, were within the top five percent of all IEB students in five or more NSC subjects and earned more than 80 percent in life orientation: David Baron (Cedar House), Chane Kulenkampff (Somerset College), Julian Bloch (Reddam), and Suzanne Pretorius (Bridge House).
The IEB exams were written by 8285 pupils at 172 independent schools in the country - 153 more candidates than in 2009.
In the Western Cape there were 558 candidates in IEB exams at 12 schools.
The IEB is an assessment agency independent of state and provincial exam boards. National quality assurance body Umalusi granted the IEB accreditation for the assessment of the NSC.
Chief executive Anne Oberholzer said the IEB was proud of the achievements of the pupils in schools that wrote the NSC through it.
She said results had been sent to schools on Monday and would be distributed by them on Tuesday.
“These performances reflect the dedication of the teachers to the important work they do, of inspiring pupils and ensuring they have the fundamental knowledge and have mastered the key concepts required in each discipline to ensure future success,” Oberholzer said.
“They reflect, too, the amount of work that pupils have done to ensure that they know and understand the important aspects of the subjects they have studied.
“Their education, as reflected in their results, ensures them a successful future in their selected area of study or occupation.”
More pupils had chosen in 2010 to write the IEB’s mathematics paper 3, an optional subject, Oberholzer said.
The IEB continued to work closely with the state education system.
“One of the IEB’s key objectives is to ensure that pupils are able to hold their own in an international setting, especially at the highest level,” Oberholzer said.
South Africa was a country of extremes and officials needed to offer a quality education to all pupils, she said.
“In such an environment, we need collaboration between the key educational institutions throughout the country to offer our learning community as broad a choice of learning opportunities as we are able.
“The IEB will continue to play its part in meeting this challenge.”
A group of pupils who wrote the exams through the IEB had a glimpse of what were said to be provisional results two weeks ago.
“It appears there has been a breach in security in respect of the provisional NSC results for 2010,” Oberholzer wrote on the IEB website.
“The breach appears to be localised, but the rumour has spread and has grown in the telling.”
The IEB was investigating.
“We need to determine whether the results that have been accessed are the provisional results or data from a test database that we use to check systems.”
Oberholzer emphasised that the information seen had probably not been the pupils’ results.
“Furthermore, if they are indeed the actual results of a pupil, they are provisional and have not been approved by Umalusi.” - Cape Times