Diocesan School for Girls pupil Tegan van der Merwe has achieved a remarkable nine distinctions in the 2016 IEB matric exams.
Diocesan School for Girls pupil Tegan van der Merwe has achieved a remarkable nine distinctions in the 2016 IEB matric exams.
The increasingly competitive Independent Examinations Board results for 2016 have also seen Kingswood College outgoing head boy Bradley Moorcroft achieve a 90% average with eight distinctions, earning him a place in the IEB’s top 5% alongside Tegan, and St Andrew’s College’s Nicholas Kroon achieve an astonishing 100% for mathematics, alongside seven other distinctions.
Tegan and Nicholas are from Grahamstown and Bradley is from Port Elizabeth.The IEB results were announced at midnight on Thursday 29 December 2016.
IEB Matrics from both Kingswood College and St Andrew’s College enjoyed a 100% pass rate, while of DSG’s 86 girls who sat the IEB National Senior Certificate examinations, 84 achieved a BD pass (which qualifies them to study towards a Bachelor’s Degree at a university) with one candidate attaining a Diploma pass and another’s results incomplete due to illness. Of Kingswood’s candidates 97.5% of candidates achieved BD passes.
St Andrew’s College’s Nicholas Kroon and Kai Mason, also from Grahamstown, achieved in the top 1% in their subjects nationally: Nicholas in Mathematics, Advanced Programme Mathematics, Physical Science, Information Technology and English Home Language and Kai in Afrikaans First Additional Language and Mathematics. Tegan van der Merwe achieved in the top 1% for Music and Mathematics, and fellow DSG pupil Siphosethu Sota for isiXhosa.
The IEB’s pass rate was 98.67% across southern Africa compared to last year’s pass rate of 98.30%. Of these, 87.61% achieved a BD, 9.83% qualified for entry to diploma study and 1.23% achieved entry for study at the Higher Certificate level.
The IEB had 11 022 full-time and 703 part-time candidates in Grade 12 in 2016, registered at 237 IEB affiliated schools across the country, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland. In the Eastern Cape in 2016 there were 14 IEB affiliated schools with a total of 560 Grade 12 pupils.
The IEB is an independent assessment agency, separate from state and provincial examination boards, operating within the constraints of national legislation and provisions of the national quality assurance body, Umalusi.
Summary of top results by school
Kingswood College
The 2016 Dux Scholar, Bradley Moorcroft achieved an over 90% overall average and a full house of distinctions (8 distinctions) for Accounting, Afrikaans, English, Mathematics, Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Life Orientation and Advanced Programme Mathematics. Moorcroft obtained 99% for Mathematics and 95% for Advanced Programme Mathematics. Based on his overall results, Bradley has been placed within the top 5% of learners by the Independent Examination Board (IEB) in five subjects, plus Life Orientation. Next year he will be working as a student assistant at a school in the south of England, and plans to travel as much as possible in his free time
Jacobus (Cobus) van Zyl, from Grahamstown has achieved an over 80% overall average with six distinctions for Afrikaans, Engineering Graphics and Design, Information Technology, Life Orientation, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Jacobus will be studying Engineering (Mechatronics) at Stellenbosch University in 2017.
Luke Kingwill, from Graaff-Reinet has achieved an over 80% overall average with six distinctions for Accounting, Afrikaans, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Advanced Programme Mathematics. Kingwill will be working as a student assistant next year and intends reading for an Engineering degree at Stellenbosch University or the University of Cape Town in 2018.
Paula Duxbury, from Grahamstown has achieved an over 80% overall average with five distinctions for Accounting, Life Orientation, Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
Gabriel Viljoen, from Graaff-Reinet has achieved five distinctions for Afrikaans, Engineering Graphics and Design, Information Technology, Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
Qinyi (Jenny) Ban, from East London has achieved four distinctions for Business Studies, Economics, History and Life Orientation.
Oliver Kingwill, from Botswana has achieved four distinctions for Geography, History, Mathematics, Physical Sciences.
College Head Jonathan Trafford said, “The release of Kingswood’s 2016 Independent Examination Board (IEB) results is a wonderful reflection of the hard work and effort made by both pupils and College academic staff.
“All our pupils are to be commended on their academic endeavours for they reinforce not only their academic commitment but that of the teaching staff in the College. The College is delighted with the manner in which the class of 2016 approached their final examinations and their results are a genuine reflection of their efforts this year.
“We congratulate them on their success and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.”
Diocesan School for Girls
Jaime Brockwell (Bedford), Amy Dixie (Bedford), Jessica Ferreira (Grahamstown), Tessa Glyn (Johannesburg) and Teigan Zoutendyk (Johannesburg) each achieved seven distinctions while Kimberley Devis (Bonnievale) and Natalie Rogers (Middleburg) achieved six distinctions.
Tatiana Domnick and Emily Dvorak, attained five distinctions each.
Garance Chabanel, Alexandra Evans, Callan Johnson, Gemma Kroon, Jordan MacFarlane and Anna van Hasselt attained four distinctions each.
Headmistress Shelley Frayne said, “We are proud of our academic record which I know can be largely attributed to our strong work ethic as well as to the dedication and commitment to excellence from the teachers and the girls.”
St Andrew’s College
The matrics of St Andrew’s College in the 2016 Matric Examination achieved a 100% pass rate, and a record number of subject results above 80%
Nicholas Kroon achieved eight distinctions (Accounting, Afrikaans First Additional Language, English Home Language, Information Technology, Life Orientation, Mathematics (100%), Physical Sciences, and Advanced Programme Mathematics). He obtained a full house of distinctions (including full marks (100%) for Mathematics.
Four pupils – Kai Mason (Grahamstown), Martin Kruger (Johannesburg), Harold Turner (Grahamstown) and Kelvin Boateng-Aidoo (Pretoria) – achieved seven subject distinctions.
James Kirkpatrick (Cape Town) and Zak Schlebusch (East London) achieved six distinctions
Boys who achieved five distinctions were Dylan Hawkes (Johannesburg) and James Wilson (Johannesburg).
"This year's Matric results are the best results in the history of our school, a fitting end to a year of really excellent work by our Matric group,” said Headmaster, Alan Thompson.
“The achievements listed here symbolise the magic that is created when hard work, talent, and passion combine. There are no short cuts to excellence. Each achievement reflects a network of support that includes teachers, parents, and a structured and disciplined environment that creates the space within which our boys can flourish.
“How blessed we are, how much we have to be thankful for! “