Matric joy and sorrow
… as schools contemplate 2015 exam results
QUEENSTOWN Girls’ High School recorded an unprecedented 24th consecutive 100% pass for the matric class of 2015 with 91.08% of the 101 candidates obtaining Bachelor’s passes.
There were 18 girls who obtained A aggregates and 238 subject As. Top (and first in the Queenstown district) was Uviwe Mbombela with six distinctions. She was one of four girls with six As, there were also four with seven As and five with five As each.
Acting principal Annelise Pieterse said, “GHS constantly performs well because the teachers and girls work hard. There is no short cut to success, hard work is the only way. We are delighted and I pay tribute to the teachers and girls for their commitment.”
Of the 105 candidates at Queen’s College, all but one passed, with Du Toit Bartman recording seven distinctions, Qawe Bula and Ndayeni Manzi obtaining six and five with five As. There were 115 subject dis- tinctions and the school had a record number of Bachelor’s exemptions, 91.
Headmaster Brendan Grant said, “We are proud of the boys and their teachers who have put in a huge amount of work. Naturally we are disappointed for the one boy who did not make it and the fact that we did not achieve a 100% pass rate, but we had a large number of subject distinctions which are a credit to all concerned.”
At Hexagon High School an elated principal Malcolm Lentoor was celebrating a 10% increase on the 2014 matric pass rate with 97,5%.
The school boasted top pupils Qaqamba Bidi, Matholongwe Khazimla and Zenande Ketelo who each recorded five As, with 66,6% of the matric class qualifying for Bachelor’s passes. Lentoor attributed the good results to extra classes and Saturday classes.
Get Ahead College also celebrated a pass increase from 87% to 90%. All the pupils who failed are eligible to write supplementary exams. Principal Peter Bosman said the top pupil was Sindiso Quwe who achieved four As.
A total of 35% of the pu-
pils achieved Bachelor’s passes, slightly down on the class of 2014, and this would be investigated.
Bosman said he was pleased with the results and the quality thereof and attributed the school’s successes to extra time spent on the academic curriculum.
Olivet College’s pass rate dropped to 80% from the 100% obtained in 2013 and 2014.
Hoërskool Hangklip headmaster Albré Wagener was delighted as Hangklip was one of the two schools in the Queenstown district to attain a 100% pass rate and attributed this achievement to “the contribution of the staff and the work ethic of the learners.”
Of the 55 candidates there were six with A aggregates, with Gerdus van der Watt the top pupil with an average of 86.7%. Bachelor’s passes were attained by 78.1%.
The school’s top four were Van der Watt, Allison Bosman with 83.7% and Anita Rossouw and Carli Breed tied, with 83.4% each.
Maria Louw High School obtained a 67.3% pass rate, up from 63% the previ- ous year. Principal Robert Smith said this was achieved through the hard work and diligence of the teachers. 171 learners wrote the exam with 67 of them having progressed from grade 11. Of the 67, 73% failed, Smith said.
Siyavuya Sikhamba received five A symbols and two Bs.
“I am proud of him, he is a hard worker and a good boy. I have reason to brag about him. He makes teaching worthwhile.”
He said Maria Louw had never received a pass rate below 80% until the process of progressing failed learners was implemented.
A sombre Lingehlihle High School principal Sandile Mata said 2015 had been a challenging year. He attributed teacher shortages as the biggest contributor to the school’s 50.8% pass rate (down from 75%) and blamed the department for failing to supply teachers on time. “We did not have a teacher for physical science, accounting and computer application technology for nearly the whole year. We went from pillar to post and the department only sent us a teacher for physical science on June 12.
“We are still without a life science teacher from grade 10 to 12 and we have a temporary teacher for physical science in Grade 12.”
Progressed learners posed another problem – out of 170 candidates at the school, 109 were condoned and of this number, only 17 passed.
Mata said the issue of progressed learners was ‘foreign’ and the department should be blamed for the school’s results.
“This also happened last year and 44 students have been progressed this year. Some of them have never passed since grade nine.”
Mata added that some of the teachers were also demoralised after not receiving salaries for six months.
Funda High School in Whittlesea reported a drop from 60% to 54%. The school celebrated an 80% pass rate in 2013.
Principal Vusumzi Mabece said several factors had contributed to the decrease, such as the shortage of textbooks.
“Children are taught without textbooks. There is also a lack of commitment from them.”
Mbece stressed a lack of parental involvement as also being a problem.
Nkwanca High School secured a six percent improvement from 2014’s 66% pass rate. Principal Ntsikelelo Lutseke said he was pleased with the 72% pass. Out of 167 pupils, 119 passed, with 30 obtaining Bachelor’s endorsements, 54 diploma and 35 higher certificate passes.
“Our top student obtained four distinctions.” He attributed the success to the commitment of teachers, the SGB and parents.
He said the teachers had sacrificed time during the year to ensure an improvement in the results. “Sometimes we sit down during break to analyse every learner’s situation. We always had two or three teachers to monitor the pupils during study sessions to make sure they would keep to their schedule.”
John Noah High School principal Samkelo Maka said the school yielded poorer results than expected, with the pass rate dropping to 38.8% from 63.4%.
Maka said he was looking at the possible causes. “We need to go back to the drawing board to see where we missed the mark and come up with a sustainable plan.” Matrics who received certificate passes were 63.6% with 33.3% getting diploma passes and 3% Bachelor’s passes.
“We did everything in our power and the department was supportive. We need to try harder.”
Luvuyo Lerumo principal Simphiwe Tyilana said the pass rate remained at 34%.
He was disappointed, attributing the poor results to the loss of an English teacher during the year and being short staffed, a problem which he said the district office knew about.
Tyilana said he did not, however, want to offer excuses, adding that despite efforts made to assist learners, they still did not progress.
Five teachers were due to start at the school in January.
Bulelani Senior Secondary School could not be reached for comment.
WB Rubusana principal AB Njokwana said the school dropped from 54% in 2014 to 41.3%. He blamed the progressing of failed pupils as a major contributor, saying the progressed pupils could not cope as they were not ready for matric. He said the results would have been worse had it not been for the Ilima Project that organised a camp for the pupils.
The school received three distinctions in Xhosa, life orientation and geography. “Some pupils do not show interest in the studies. We want to motivate parents as the year begins, to be close to the school.”
Nondumiso Pika, deputy principal of St James High School in Cofimvaba, was satisfied with the 97.5% pass rate, down from 98% in 2014.
She said that, as a result of progressed learners, 2015 had been the first year the school had recorded over 200 pupils in matric. Top performing learner, Buliswa Penxa, obtained seven distinctions with the school obtaining 150 Bachelor’s passes, 39 diploma and 12 higher certificate passes.
KwaKomani Comprehensive School head Victor Pakade could not be reached for comment but their pass rate dropped by 12% from 63% to 51%.