Independent schools pass with flying colours
Local pupil only one in province placed on the national list of achievers
Independent schools in the Eastern Cape enjoyed excellent matric results, with a number of pupils earning distinctions.
The 2020 IEB National Senior Certificate results were released on Thursday.
The IEB is an independent assessment agency, separate from state and provincial examination boards, operating within the constraints of Umalusi, a council for quality assurance in general and further education and training.
The province’s top achiever is Sarah Mccausland of Merrifield College, next to the N6 outside East London.
Mccausland was the only pupil in the province to be placed on the IEB’S 82-strong national list of outstanding achievers.
Mccausland was placed in the top 5% nationally for six subjects excluding Life Orientation. She achieved eight distinctions with an average of 92% and was placed in the top 1% nationally for Life Sciences and Geography.
Last year, 12,024 full-time candidates sat down to write their exams in October and November across 233 examination centres.
IEB board CEO Anne Oberholzer said the 2020 candidates had achieved a pass rate of 98.07%, fractionally lower than last year’s pass rate of 98.2%.
The IEB pass rate is measured only at national level as there is an inconsistency in the number of schools which implement the IEB programme across the country.
The Eastern Cape has 14 IEB schools with 612 matriculants, which is small compared to Gauteng and Kwazulu-natal, which have 109 and 38 schools respectively.
Oberholzer said the class of 2020 produced excellent results under very difficult circumstances.
She said: “These achievements are proof that the Grade 12 year on its own does not provide the understanding, perseverance and resilience needed to achieve excellent results in the matric year — but that is the culmination of work and learning over 12 or 13 years of quality schooling.”
Merrifield College executive head Guy Hartley said: “I am particularly grateful to our staff for their agility and commitment in moving between online learning and in-person teaching to ensure that the full curriculum was covered rigorously in an unprecedented matric year.”
The head of academics and deputy head, Bridget Fielding, said the school’s matrics had displayed tenacity and determination during the Covid-19affected exam period.
“We are extremely proud of all our Grade 12 learners. Regardless of their final marks, they all did themselves proud.
“They were determined and worked hard under incredibly stressful times. They knuckled down and did the work.”
Fielding said the school received a 100% pass rate.
Other top achievers at the school were Zoë Sparg with eight distinctions, Catherine Williams-jones with seven distinctions and Camille Beau, also with seven distinctions.
St Andrew’s College in Makhanda also celebrated a 100% pass rate, with all but one of the 75 boys achieving a bachelor pass.
Headmaster Alan Thompson said that three boys had received a full house of seven distinctions.
Those boys included the head boy, Jonathan Shamwana from Lusaka, the Dux scholar, with an 89% aggregate.
Jordan van der Meulen from Adelaide had achieved an aggregate of 88% and Michael Stavridis from Port Alfred 86%.
“The St Andrew’s College matric class of 2020 has produced a superb set of results in both the IEB and the Cambridge International A Level examinations,” Thompson said.
“These results are a reflection of the extraordinary commitment of boys and staff under the challenging circumstances of 2020. I am delighted with these results as our academic excellence strategy of the past three years is really adding value to the St Andrew’s College offering.”