Gadra Education has challenged the organisation's matric school to become Rhodes University's biggest feeder school by 2017. This comes as 70 of the School's students obtained Bachelor level passes in the 2014 National Senior certificate examinations.
Gadra Education has challenged the organisation's matric school to become Rhodes University's biggest feeder school by 2017. This comes as 70 of the School's students obtained Bachelor level passes in the 2014 National Senior certificate examinations.
Of 134 students at Gadra Matric School (GMS) in the final National Senior Certificate examinations, 70 obtained Bachelor level passes, 44 qualified to apply to study towards Diplomas, 16 qualified to apply to study towards Higher Certificates and only four failed.
"The reason these results are particularly pleasing is that the Class obtained the greatest ever GMS haul of Bachelor passes despite the fact that the students had to cope with a curriculum change during their year of so-called repetition," Gadra Education director Ashley Westaway said.
The school's previous best was 52. "When the students initially wrote their matric examinations they wrote in terms of the old curriculum, yet were forced by the Department of Basic Education in 2014 to write new curriculum (CAPS) examinations," Westaway explained.
"In certain subjects such as Mathematics, the CAPS curriculum involved significant changes." Westaway said the Department had advised the GMS management team only in July that the students would have to write CAPS rather than old curriculum examinations.
"The school’s management, teachers and the students worked extra hard, resulting in their outstanding achievements," Westaway said.
He said Gadra Education had challenged GMS to become Rhodes University’s largest and most significant feeder school by 2017. "The reason for this objective is that the organisation believes disadvantaged young people deserve equal opportunities to those enjoyed by advantaged youth," Westaway said.
He emphasised that the School was not in competition with either the former Model C or township schools, however. "On the contrary, the organisation attempts to promote public schooling in Grahamstown and it supports a number of individual public schools in the City in a variety of ways," Westaway said.
"In the light of its objective in relation to Rhodes, the organisation is proud to announce that about 30 students from its class of 2014 will be studying at our wonderful university in 2015. "The organisation commends the outstanding Principal of GMS Melanie Lancaster, and the entire teaching staff who exhibited patient love for their students and a deep commitment to the crucial vocation of teaching throughout the year."
