There was pride and joy at Spine Road High in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday, where it was revealed that the school achieved a matric pass rate of 98%.
The school also boasts one learner who achieved SEVEN distinctions, as well as an impressive 71.6% of matrics achieving Bachelor passes.
Lesley Shonhiwa, who passed with seven distinctions, says he was gobsmacked: “It’s totally unbelievable, I never expected this. This is my first time getting seven out of seven.”
He says his secret was “basically working hard every day, doing my homework and doing the extra work. My next step is going to UCT and studying computer science.”
The school’s top student, Moegsien McCluskey, said waiting for the results was stressful.
“I was not sure how I did, during Covid-19, life was so tough for all of us. I am grateful for every teacher at the school, including the principal.”
Moegsien will now be studying to become a neurologist.
Meanwhile at Bernadino Heights High in Scottsdene, the school’s top student said he did not let gang violence or the pandemic deter him from giving his best.
It was the first time that Clyde Smith was named top student and principal Deon Wertheim said: “I am very proud of Clyde, and all of our learners that did so well.
“We have a pass rate of 95.1%.
“We had 246 candidates of whom 234 passed and unfortunately 12 of them were not successful. 141 achieved Bachelor’s passes.”
The school’s top three matrics are Clyde, followed by Kezia van Kerwel and Azra Solomons.
Clyde said: “It was really a very difficult year and I never dreamed that I would come first.
“I want to thank our principal and our teachers for being there for us.
“With Covid it became an almost impossible task to teach and learn but through the grace of God, He carried us through all of it.”
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer was at Elswood Sekondêr in Elsies River on Tuesday.
The school achieved a pass rate of 83.8% – a whopping 28.4 % increase from the previous year.
“Not only is this an incredible achievement during a pandemic, but their number of candidates writing and passing the exam also increased,” said Schäfer.
“I congratulate Principal Kiewiet and his staff on this excellent improvement.
“Early next month we will celebrate all of our Western Cape top-achieving learners and schools in the 2020 NSC.”
This was the first time since 2010 that the Western Cape dipped below 80% in its matric pass rate, dropping from 82.3% in 2019 to 79.9%.
The province, however, achieved increases in both the maths (70.8%) and maths literacy (82.9%) pass rates, as well as boasting the top two candidates in maths nationally for the second year in a row.
It has also achieved an increase in the number of Bachelor passes, with 22 634 out of the 51 633 candidates.
The Western Cape’s top candidates are third place in Quintile 5 and nationally: Sonica Roux from Outeniqua High School, 2nd place in Quintile 3: Ayabukwa Nombela from Manzomthombo Senior Secondary, and Special Ministerial Award: Sonja Jamima Jonkers from Jan Kriel School.
Maths 1st place: Daniel Alwyn Gouws from Hermanus High School; maths 2nd place: Veren Naidoo from Rondebosch Boys’ High School.
On Monday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that the national NSC pass rate stands at 76.2% – a decline of 5.1% from the record pass of 81.3% achieved by the class of 2019.
Those who qualify for supplementary examinations must apply by 12 March 2021. Application forms will be available at schools and on the WCED website.
Learners can apply for re-marks (R120 per subject) and re-checks (R29 per subject) until 10 March 2020. They can apply on www.eservices.gov.za.
Matriculants who were left disappointed with their results can call the Safe Schools Hotline on 0800 45 46 47 to speak to a counsellor.