For schools in the Northcliff Melville Times distribution area, the day the 2017 public school results came out was bittersweet.
The results were released on 5 January and matriculants nervously yet eagerly made their way to their respective schools to get their results.
The Northcliff Melville Times visited Abbotts College Northcliff, Northcliff High School, Hoërskool Linden and Roosevelt High School. Children came in in dribs and drabs to pick up their reports, most after already viewing their results online or via SMS.
Abbotts College may just have missed 100 per cent but 56 per cent of their full-time candidates received bachelor passes.
“This academic year we will continue to focus on academic excellence and we look forward to introducing Grade 8s and 9s,” said Abbotts principal, Shelley van Buren.
Although Northcliff High School had yet another 100 per cent pass rate, many top achievers who had a few subjects in the late 70s spoke eagerly about getting a re-mark.
Two of the school’s top achievers, Christopher Conroy and Keon Roohani explained their plans for the year – Conroy plans to jump into his studies while Roohani aims to take a gap year before starting his studies.
For Hoërskool Linden, matric Friede van der Berg achieved eight distinctions and scored an average of 89.4 per cent for her final exams. Friede described her matric year as fun but academically challenging.
“This year I plan on studying a BSc in microbiology at the University of Stellenbosch. I was inspired to follow this career after we learnt about genetics in biology, which really interested me. I then knew I wanted to pursue it further and specialise in research and biology,” she said.
Hoërskool Linden principal Johan Wiehahn said he attributes the good results to the hard work of children, support from parents and the dedication of teachers.
This year, the school plans on identifying their challenges and working on ways to improve them in order to maintain a 100 per cent pass rate.
Matriculants and parents gathered outside of Roosevelt High School to celebrate their results. Proud parent Shannaaz Sallie was excited about her daughter, Zayaanah Albertyn passing with two distinctions and a bachelor pass.
“It has been an exciting morning, we also just found out my daughter has been accepted to study two courses at Wits. I’m extremely proud of her, she has worked very hard and I wish her the best,” said Sallie.
These four schools contributed to Gauteng’s 85.1 per cent matric pass rate which is the second best out of all nine provinces.
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