Hoërskool Garsfontein is simply the best
THE Department of Education yesterday congratulated Gauteng’s top-performing school, Hoërskool Garsfontein, for its outstanding matric results.
The message was delivered by district director of Tshwane South, Hilda Kekana, who joined its assembly and commended the school for the outstanding results.
Kekana told them they had raised the bar and standards for Tshwane.
There are 320 schools in Tshwane. The director urged them all to perform well despite their circumstances.
She said the Tshwane South district, which is the biggest in Gauteng, came out tops in the country, achieving the highest pass rate.
The school also got the highest number of Bachelor’s passes.
The recipe for success was to get teachers and parents involved in children’s education. She said the method had worked for them for years.
Kekana said one of the things that made Hoërskool Garsfontein the best was that they were also looking after other schools. The school had in the previous year taken Modiri Secondary School under its wing and offered extra classes, which helped improve their pass rate from 34% to 90%.
The school also ran a project with the district office, where second-hand and new school bags were donated to underprivileged schools in Tshwane.
Principal Leon Bantjies said that when he was approached by the district about the project, he was more than happy to be part of it as they had been doing it themselves for years.
“When Kekana called me and told me about children who still carried their text books in plastic bags, I told her we would support the initiative all the way, and we are very proud that this dream is a success,” he said
He added that they were proud that their formula had propelled them to achieve the highest marks in the land.