Girls High: A steadfast fixture in the upper echelons of education in SA

Girls Highs’ pedigree is indisputable and well-known, but once a year, the school’s excellence is underlined with plenty of gloss and shine.

For the second year running, Girls High was listed as one of the top-25 government schools in the Fairlady Annual School Survey Report for 2015.Taking a number of measurables into account, including academics, facilities and cultural opportunities, the Fairlady team narrowed it down from 25 000 to only 25.

While there is a healthy mixture of English and Afrikaans schools, same-sex schools dominate, occupying 19 of the coveted spots.

The headmistress, Mrs Eliza Meyer believes her girls are destined to change the world. “At Potchefstroom Girls High, we are proud of a rich heritage of tradition, yet we embrace the future,” she explained. “Our committed educators use teaching methods that reflect a contemporary understanding of how girls learn.”

Although 2015 was a repeat of last year’s achievement, marketing officer Madelaine Daly still had her hands full in completing the intensive questionnaire. “They really delve into the school’s make-up. It took a couple of days to get all the information and stats,” she laughed.

Daly knew the school had once again cracked the nod at the beginning of May but had to keep mum until the news broke on social media a fortnight ago.

The magazine’s editorial team is supplied with a list from the Department of Basic Education of the 100 schools that received the highest Bachelor Pass rates in 2014. These are the schools with the highest number of Grade 12’s eligible for university. Using this as a departure point, they use a ranking process as follows:
Academics: 30%
Subjects offered at matric level: 10%
Facilities: 15%
Extramural and support: 15%
School fees: 15%
Teacher-learner ratio: 15%

There was plenty of fanfare when the announcement was made on 27 May. Old and current girls, staff members and teachers expressed their delight on Facebook. Below are some of the comments.

Brenda-Ann Lang: Congrats GHS again, still super proud to have been part of this school, good hard working schools will be rewarded.

Charles Kuhn: Only to be expected – well done to Mrs Meyer and her team! Josey Nyokong: Not regretting my decision. In the 4 months my daughter has been there, she has matured so much. The best school ever. Thank you, Mrs Meyer, Ms Scholtz and teachers. You really are doing a great job.

Penny Irene Egenes: Congrats Girls High keep it up. I matriculated in 1970 and it was a great school at that time