Danville Park’s class of 2017 exceeds expectations
Danville Park Girls’ High School has established itself as one of the top academic public schools in South Africa. The school has celebrated a 100% pass rate for 24 consecutive years with over 90% of learners obtaining a university entrance pass, now known as a Bachelor’s Pass.
Class of 2017
- The Class of 2017 excelled in their examinations with 98.4% of the class achieving Bachelors’ Passes.
- 27% of the girls obtained A aggregates
- An average of 2.3 As per candidate.
- Joanna Smith and Cailin Thorp achieved 8 As
- There were 12 girls who achieved 7 As.
Joanna Smith
2017 Dux of Danville, Joanna Smith, with her full-house of distinctions, excelled both nationally and provincially. Joanna was placed third in South Africa (quintile 5 schools) as well as first in KZN. In addition to being recognised for attaining the best results in the Umlazi District of KZN, Joanna also received Umlazi District’s top Maths result as well as sharing best performance in Physical Science.
Joanna is a well-balanced young lady who enjoyed every moment of her matric year. Her mother, Sharon, describes her as a “very happy person who loves being outdoors.” She was amazed at her daughter’s achievements after a busy year in which she juggled academics, leadership, family and friends in a calm and organised way. “Even as a little child she had a very creative mind and she has always loved reading. She has achieved extremely well throughout her school career but she is very modest and unassuming and as a family we have never made a big deal out of it” said Sharon. Joanna’s academic foundation was laid at La Lucia Junior Primary School and Virginia Preparatory School before she progressed to Danville Park where she balanced her love for maths and the sciences with her passion for languages and drama. She feels well-prepared for the next phase of her education, reading Actuarial Sciences at Stellenbosch University.
History of the School
From their first Matric class in 1971, Danville has hit the headlines. First head girl and Dux, Mary-Lou Thompson, was placed first in KZN before continuing her studies at UKZN, completing her doctorate in Mathematical Statistics in Germany. Her career in Biostatistics has taken her around the world and she is currently Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
2003 Dux, Olga Kerimova, was also placed first in KZN, followed by 2007 Dux, Faheema Abdoola, placing third in the province. 2012 Danville Dux, Sarisha Chetty, placed first in South Africa (quintile 5 schools) – a first for Danville! She was also placed first in KZN with head girl, Nicole Bolton, placed sixth.
Consistency seems to be a feature of Danville’s achievements. 2015 was a particularly good year with 100% of the class obtaining Bachelors’ Passes which led to Danville sharing the title of Top Public School in South Africa with Eunice in the Free State. In that year 26% of the class achieved A aggregates, 7 girls obtained 7 As and 4 girls obtained 100% for Visual Art. The results in 2016 were as good with 2 girls awarded 8 distinctions and 7 girls obtaining 7 distinctions.
The Danville family is justifiably proud of this excellent record which has been recognised by the eThekwini Municipality as well as by the Department of Education. FAIRLADY magazine listed the school among the top 25 public schools in South Africa and for a number of years the largest daily newspaper in Durban has listed Danville as one of the Top 10 KZN schools, for learners achieving six or more distinctions.
The secret of Danville’s success is synergy – a spirit of support and co-operation between management, staff and parents to ensure a happy and productive environment for their girls.
