The class of 2018 in Nelson Mandela Bay has achieved a clean sweep.
Not only did Bay matriculants achieve the highest pass rate of any teaching district in the Eastern Cape (76.1%), but they also got more bachelor degree passes (36.5%) as well as the highest percentage of distinction passes (4.9%).
The third-best matriculant in the province is also from the Bay.
On Friday, top officials in the district – who vowed to redouble their efforts to achieve an 80% pass rate – attributed the achievement to an extensive programme of extra classes, study camps as well as dedicated teachers and principals.
After placing fourth in 2016 with a 65.7% matric pass rate, the Bay district catapulted to the top spot in the province in 2017 with 72.6%, and surged to 76.1% in 2018 – a 3.5 percentage point increase.
The second-best-performing district in the province was Sarah Baartman, which obtained a 73.1% pass rate.
The achievements of Bay matriculants helped the Eastern Cape notch up a creditable 70.6% matric pass rate – a whopping 5.6 percentage-point increase on 2017’s results.
Pearson High School’s Adrian Grove, 18, further elevated the district after earning third place overall with seven A symbols (85% to 98%).
The announcements were made at the provincial department of education’s annual Top Achievers Awards ceremony in East London on Friday night.
NMB district director Ernest Gorgonzola attributed the district’s success to an expanding extra-classes programme and the unfailing dedication of the Bay’s teachers who, he said, continued to pour their passion into their pupils.
In addition to claiming the top spot, the district also managed to claim 14 of the top-50performing schools in the province, of which 10 received a 100% pass rate.
“We as a district are blessed with very good principals and teachers. They deserve all the accolades,” Gorgonzola said.
“And as a district we have tried to be there at their service and in doing that we have received the type of results we were hoping for.
“While I am really happy to be the top-performing district, we are not where we need to be yet.
“To achieve this there are aspects we need to focus on.
“To do that we need our northern areas to perform at the current level or improve, we expect our township schools to come through strongly and poor performers to essentially double their pass rate.”
This is a feat which two Bay schools proved was well within their grasp.
Through interventions such as weekend classes, camps and writing their matric NSC examinations off-campus, Thamsanqa High School and Thanduxolo High School – both of which placed among the worst 50 schools in 2017 – achieved important turnarounds.
Thamsanqa High School improved its overall pass rate from 4.3% in 2017 to 36.4% in 2018. Thanduxolo High School improved from 15.4% in 2017 to 54.5% in 2018.
“After [the Top Achievers Awards] we will go back to the drawing board, analyse each school individually and for the new year set specific goals and pass rates. This in itself will increase the overall percentage by about 6% in the short term and bring us to the 80% threshold,” Gorgonzola said.
“And my top-performing schools I am expecting 110%, meaning each of them will adopt a less privileged school.
“For example, Grey will adopt Booysen Park High and share best practice with them, with their extra 10% coming from their contribution to improving the next school.
“But that is not enough. Ideally as a district we want to be competing on a national level.
“And we will push our camps and extra classes even harder this year to ensure pupils are kept away from the social ills which they are bound to be influenced by through overexposure in their areas.”
Nzondelelo High School matriculant Nkcubeko Sonjani, 17, claimed the title of the district’s top Historically Disadvantaged Individual award after attaining six As, including 100% in physical sciences.
“It was not easy. I attended classes seven days a week throughout the year,” Sonjani said.
“It was a lot of hard work and sacrifice but now that I am here it was well worth it because these marks have seen me being accepted to study a BSc in medical sciences at the University of Pretoria.”
In honour of the late education MEC Mandla Makupula, who died in October, an inaugural award was presented at the event for the province’s top-performing mathematics and physical science pupils.
The award paid homage to Makupula, who was a maths and science teacher before his career in the department.
It was claimed by Vuyo Nogqala from St James Senior Secondary School in Cofimvaba who achieved 100% for both subjects.
Other Bay winners included Catharina Venter and Taylor Penrith, both from Pearson High School, Nina Gerber from Nico Malan High School and Chadleigh Ownhouse from Alexander Road High School, all of whom received seven As.
Kelly-Ryan Smith from Cape Recife High School received the award for the top special school pupil.
Each of the award winners received a certificate, trophy, laptop and tablet computers and a bursary to pay for the full tuition of any of their undergraduate studies.