Jubilation filled the Constantia valley last week as thousands of matric pupils received their much anticipated results.
South Peninsula fell just short of a perfect score card, reaching 99%, up from 98.9 percent in 2017, and with 169 students (85%) achieving Bachelor’s degree passes.
Springfield Convent kept their consistent 100% pass rate as did Wynberg Boys’ for the fourth consecutive year.
Muhammad Ansaar Dollie received special mention at the Cape Academy for achieving 96% in physical science with a 92% pass average.
He will be studying at Stellenbosch University.
The school achieved a 91.9% pass, up from 88.4% in 2017.
Wynberg Girls’ also achieved a 100% pass rate, up from 99.4% in 2017, with 168 of the 173 pupils achieving a Bachelor’s pass (97.1%).
Principal Shirley Harding said they are proud of the 2018 matriculants as they showed commitment to their studies.
Na-eela Coleman was the Dux recipient with an average of 93.6% and four pupils achieved 100% for history.
The Western Cape class of 2018 came third nationally, with a 81.5% pass rate; Gauteng was the top performer with 87.9% and the Free State came second with 87.5%.
Shandre Otto, principal of Zwaanswyk High School, was disappointed with their results this year.
The school recorded a 96% pass rate (four pupils failed), down from 97.9% in 2017 with 56% earning a Bachelor’s pass.
“Both of these figures were way below the goal we set for ourselves for 2018 but we are 150 percent committed to improving these results in 2019,” said Ms Otto.
Plumstead High principal Craig George is also disappointed with the school’s results of 89.7%, which was down from 94% last year.
He said this is due to the policy of pushing through pupils who had failed a phase of their schooling and had to be sent to the next grade. “We had pupils who should not have been pushed up to the next grade as they were not prepared,” said Mr George, adding that this will not happen with 2019 Grade 12 pupils.
Norman Henshilwood High principal Jawaad Holland said their 97.1% pass rate was down from 98.6% last year but he believes the 2019 matric class will “step up and make us proud”.
Bergvliet High dropped from 99.5% in 2017 to 98.9% in 2018 with 82.7% (153) of its pupils qualifying for entrance to university with Bachelor’s degree passes. Bergvliet’s principal Stephen Price singled out its top pupils, Sean Petersen and Yaseen-Ali Rawoot who achieved seven subject distinctions.
Jessica Vaughan, Anneke Marx, Rhone Roux and Erin Scholtz achieved six subject distinctions.
At Springfield Convent’s music annexe, new principal Keith Richardson welcomed the parents and the girls.
Deputy head Bronwyn Jansen gave a summary of the results before everyone celebrated the good news of a consistent 100% pass rate and 335 subject distinctions. Abigail Clemo, Rebecca Chapman and Helen Milligan tied in the first place overall.
Zeid Baker, officially appointed principal of South Peninsula last year (“New SP principal preserves school’s traditions”, Bulletin October 18), singled out the school’s 100% pass rate in applied mathematics.
He believes that the quality of passes were better than the previous year and attributed this success to the hard work of pupils and teachers, and the support of parents. He also believes that the broad curriculum offered at the school at a Further Education and Training (FET) level allowed students to excel in subjects that they enjoy doing.
Wynberg Boys’ celebrated a 91% Bachelor’s pass, with 259 subject distinctions.
The top three pupils were Kyle Lamb with 91.9%; Cole Faraday with 88.6% and Liam Hermanus with 88.1%.
MEC for Education Debbie Schäfer congratulated the matriculants.
“Matric results are our second key measure of the state of education in our province. The Western Cape Government has always maintained that indicators of quality go well beyond the overall pass rate.
“We focus on the quality of the passes and the retention of as many pupils as possible in the school system so that we can ensure the best possible opportunities for our young people in the Western Cape,” she said.
The closing date for the application for re-marking is today, Thursday January 10, and the results from re-marking will be released on Wednesday February 6. The closing date for pupils who qualify to enrol for the supplementary examination is Friday February 15.
