The Hout Bay High School hallways were filled with laughter and joy at the news that they had recorded an 81.5% pass rate in the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.
On top of this result, the school recorded 100% pass rates in English first additional, maths literacy, life orientation, business studies, computer studies and tourism.
They also recorded 80% and above for afrikaans, geography and life sciences.
Principal Juan Julius could not contain his happiness and paid tribute to his “dedicated staff.
“Throughout the year, I have been working with a group of dedicated and passionate teachers who were all well prepared and willing to go the extra mile for our pupils. “I am extremely delighted with our results,” he said.
The overall pass rate of 81.5% eclipses their 2018 results of 75%.
Mr Julius was also proud to announce that they had no Higher Certificate passes, but instead, they recorded 40% Batchelor’s passes and a 60% Diploma pass rate.
“People must understand that we have been working in very tough conditions, in a very difficult community where we have a lack of commitment from our parents, but through the outstanding efforts of our teachers, we were able to achieve these results,” Mr Julius said.
The school also had an A student in the form of Joel Adonis, who aced his tourism exam.
“As principal of the school, I adopted a zero tolerance approach when it came to work ethic.
“After exams, they would not go home, but rather study for their next subject until their exam is over. This is the kind of pressure we put on these pupils and the results show that it worked,” he said.
“We will continue with our good practices, because we don’t need to fail because we are poor and that is the message we carry across to our pupils.”
The Hout Bay International School recorded a 100% pass rate, compared to the world average of 70%, with a group average of 35 out of 45.
Head of Hout Bay International School, Gavin Budd, explained that the pass rate was well above the world average of 28.51 points.
The school’s top two performers, Malu Beekman and Konstantinos Theocharis, achieved the exceptional overall average scores of 42 and 41 points, placing them in the top 2.25% and 3.1% respectively of pupils in the world.
“We are exceptionally proud of our 2019 school-leaving students who wrote the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme final examinations at the end of last year.
“We congratulate all our students on their outstanding scores which will provide them with the enviable opportunity of being accepted into the best universities around the world,” Mr Budd proudly said.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said it was the highest matric pass rate since the start of democracy.
Of the 787 717 candidates who wrote the matric exams, 36.9% qualified for university entry, with Bachelor’s passes.
The Free State led this year’s results, coming top with an 88.4% pass rate. Gauteng followed with 87.2%. North West came third with 86.8%, and the Western Cape was fourth with 82.3%, an increase of 0.8% from the previous year.
But the Western Cape, according to Ms Motshekga, had the most distinctions and 43.6% of matric candidates achieved a Bachelor’s pass, compared to 42.3% the year before.
The Western Cape also had the top three matrics in the country and the top two in maths, according to Education MEC Debbie Schäfer.
The IEB results (with a national 98.82% pass) were published on Tuesday, followed by the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) matric results on Wednesday.
The Western Cape Province maintained an above 80% pass rate, achieving an increased percentage pass rate from 81.5% in 2018 to 82.3% in 2019.
“I am very pleased with the performance of the Western Cape, especially given the difficulties that we are facing as a result of inadequate funding and safety concerns. I would like to congratulate all our learners, teachers and administrative staff, who have put in an immense effort” Ms Schäfer said.
The Sentinel made contact with Silikamva High School in Imizamo Yethu, but they were unavailable for comment at the time of going to print.
