Uplands College’s class of 2014 made history by obtaining the highest percentage of degree-access passes the school had ever had – 98 per cent.
It achieved a 100 per cent pass rate and 82 per cent of the pupils obtained an aggregate higher than 60. With a total of 127 distinctions, the school achieved an average of 1,3 distinctions per pupil.
With eight distinctions and an aggregate of 86 per cent, dux 2014 learner Eden van der Westhuizen is the top pupil, followed by Thandeka Mashonganyika (the school’s Proxime Accessit 2014) with five distinctions and an aggregate of 82.
The rest of the top 10 are Skye Comley, Gabriella Ramsbottom, Thembelihle Nyathi and Zuleika Silinda, with five distinctions each, Tsavo Raath, Josua Ward and Salma Mohamed with four distinctions and Frances Badenhorst with three. Three of the pupils also placed in the top one per cent nationally: Eden van der Westhuizen in Afrikaans and Unisa music practical, Thandeka Mashonganyika for maths literacy and Zuileika Silinda for life orientation.
Headmaster Mr Austin Clarke is very proud of the learners’ achievements and attributes their success to several factors, including making academics a priority in each pupil’s life. “The message was that it was a tough competitive world out there and that the least they could do was take advantage of the privilege of attending an excellent school by getting the best results possible,” Clarke said.
Hoërskool Rob Ferreira achieved a pass rate of 93 per cent and pupils received 60 distinctions.
The school’s top learner is Teresa Mahlalela, who received six distinctions, with marks in the 90s for four of her subjects. Lerato Rampedi is second with five distinctions and Hope Mashaba in third, also with five. Alexa Benninghaus and Urshla Nyambi received four distinctions, while Tristan Schoeman, Jennifer Cox, Johanna Dreyer, Margie Mandell, Danelle Willemse and Abré van Wyk all received two.
Twenty-four other learners each achieved one distinction. Pupils were very happy about their results when they went to fetch them at the school.
Nationally, the matric pass rate has dropped with 2,4 per cent to 75,8 per cent. During the announcement of the matric results on Monday, minister of basic education Ms Angie Motshekga said they were expecting trouble when curriculum and assessment policy statement (Caps) was introduced but said it had to be done to attain quality education.
The 688 660 pupils who wrote the 2014 matric exams were the first to do so under the new Caps system.
Despite the difficulty teachers and pupils faced from the new system, Mpumalanga was one of the few provinces that managed to increase its pass rate to 79 per cent from 77,6.
Top-performing pupils in the province were honoured at a ceremony in Barberton on Tuesday. Read more about the event here.
