St Faith’s High: Academic citadel maintains dominance
Post Reporter
BEING on top of the academic game has become a norm that defines the culture at St Faith’s High School after the institution posted impressive results again in the 2021 Zimbabwe Schools Examination
Council Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations.
The school, based in Rusape,
Makoni District, is run by the Anglican Diocese of Manicland.
It is among the few learning institutions in the province that
managed to surpass their 2020 performances.
St Faith’s High came out tops in Manicland after 106 of its candidates out of the 165 who sat for the ‘O’ Level examinations scored five As or better.
A total of 163 learners obtained
passes in five or more subjects, to record an overall pass-rate of 98,79 percent.
Rufaro Hove, was the overall best learner after scoring As in all the 18 subjects he sat for.
Both Munyaradzi Gonese and Roystene Varuma had 16 As.
For attaining nine As and four Bs, Diana Mumharu was the school’s overall best female learner.
St Faith’s High was also outstanding in the ‘A’ Level examinations after registering a 99,2 percent pass-rate. From a total enrolment of 125, two learners – Tanaka Bwanali and Takudzwa Gatawa – both scored 25 points from five subjects to emerge as the best learners. Bwanali studied commercial subjects (Mathematics, Business Studies, Accounting, Economics and Statistics), while Gatawa read sciences (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Statistics and Computer Science).
Josephine Chisamba was the best female learner after scoring 19 points in Mathematics, Statistics, Technical Graphics and Geography. A total of 46 learners managed to score 15 points and above, with straight As in three subjects, while 100 got 10 points or better.
Culture and legacy
St Faith’s High head, Mr Arnold Makamba said they will continue celebrating decades of dynamic achievements brought about by hard work.
“We are excited that we did extremely well in producing quality results. Our female learners deserve special mention for attaining good results given that they are all day learners. The idea is to continue improving and this challenges us to work even harder so that we maintain our position among the leading schools, not only in Manicaland Province, but even
beyond.
“As an institution, we are geared to prevent our standards from dropping, which may be detrimental to the lofty reputation we have
earned over the years. We are always aiming to surpass our own standards and previously set records. Our desire is to have the school remain an attractive brand that teachers, learners, parents and guardians want to be associated with,” said Mr Makamba. He attributed their continued success to the inculcated culture at the school which the learners have assimilated to create a legacy. Explained Mr Makamba: “Our outstanding achievements are a result of the reading ethos that has become a culture at this school.
Once they set foot here, learners adopt that principle of being bookworms, it permeates the
institution. They pride themselves in burning the midnight oil and that has created a legacy for us. “Studies start as early as 6am and go on throughout the day and even late into the night. It is easy for the teachers to supervise and monitor these prep sessions because the learners are self-driven and have embraced the reading culture. This has set us apart from other schools and kudos to the learners themselves for being key players in this process and success story.” That time-tested culture and legacy, added Mr Makamba, has seen St Faith’s High enroll even learners
who score lowly in Grade Seven examinations, with the school's proven methods of moulding them into shining stars in secondary school.
This is aided by astute planning and meticulous execution of an efficient
system for efficacy, said Mr Makamba.
“As torchbearers in the education
sector, St Faith’s High is always going that extra mile to give us the cutting edge. Recruitment of competent classroom practitioners has also been key for us. The commonly prevalent shortage of Science teachers has not spared us as we lost six last year alone, but we still managed to perform well. We will keep soaring and scoring major milestones as we have done over the years, which has seen us stand head and shoulders above the rest as an academic citadel,” he said. Mr Makamba said this has enabled them to be a leading provider of inclusive and accessible 21st Century quality education for socioeconomic transformation.
A winning team’s combination The school’s senior master, Mr Matthews Chimba, said they will continue upholding high standards to prepare learners for the next step
of their academic journey in high
school and college or university. He said: “Maintaining a stable and conducive environment that helps learners fulfill their potential and produce optimum results keeps spurring us forward. Driven by
discipline, dedication and desire among the pupils themselves, our staff as well as parents and guardians are unrelenting in the pursuit of excellence."
Mr Makamba hailed the teachers, non-teaching staff, school development committee and the responsible authority for providing all the necessary support that has kept the school and system operating efficiently.
Mr Chimba described their collective efforts as a perfect combination for a winning team.
“Spirited team work by everyone at the school has taken us this far. Parents and guardians have also been very cooperative in supporting school programmes and projects, especially during the period of
school closures which was necessitated by Covid-19 national lockdowns. Our online learning sessions went on smoothly, thanks to the support rendered by parents and guardians.”
He added that the school has installed a solar system that lights up the whole institution to ensure uninterrupted power supply so that lessons are not disturbed.
St Faith’s High principal, Reverend Daniso Muchichwa said availability of teaching and learning resources is a key ingredient in the achievement of success.
“To remain a flagship institution that maintains the high standards we have already set, modern facilities are required at the school. Good laboratories, a school hall, sports amenities and other such facilities are needed here. This allows quality 21st education to be delivered, hence the brilliant results we
continue posting. Good results come with a good budget for the school,” said Rev Muchichwa. He called on parents and guardians to play their part in achieving this. The school’s SDC chairperson, Dr Lovemore Tendai Chipunza was
elated with the school's performance.
Said Dr Chipunza: “As parents, we are pleased with the impressive results St Faith’s High achieved in last year’s ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level examinations. Our gratitude goes to the headmaster and his team as well as the support staff for their hard work in making this success possible.
“We will continue playing our significant role as parents to ensure that the school gets all the
necessary support so that it maintains those brilliant results.”