Here’s a table listing the matric results 2015 achievements and ranking of various high schools that often perform well at rugby or are traditionally well supported teams.
Important to note is that the matric results 2015 ranking list below is a view of a much bigger picture and therefore does not take many important education variables / obstacles into account. The weighting for this ranking relies primarily on University Degree passes and Maths/Physics achievement.
Also worth noting and mentioned on a similar blog last year are the following:
* Some schools are either technical schools that cater for specific needs or schools that offer a portion of their students subjects that do not qualify for degree passes.
* Schools with higher percentages of second-language learners have the language challenge which can impact on overall results.
* Many private schools have the advantage of smaller class numbers which allow teachers to provide students with more individual attention.
Link from where the data was obtained:
http://matric.ewn.co.za/dbe/2015/
Key for table below:
Area = rugby region
NSC = “National Senior Certificate”
IEB = “Independent Education Board”
Reg = “registered” for matric exams – this figure is obtained by looking at the last student number for any given school.
Pass = “passed” matric exams – this figure is obtained by adding up the various types of passes obtained.
Miss = “missing”. It is calculated by taking subtracting PASS from REG. Reasons for the MISS figure could include failing, not sitting exams due to medical reason, leaving the school, writing at another educational institute or withdrawing not to write. There are probably a host of other valid reasons for the MISS figure.
Deg = university “degree” pass
Dip = national “diploma” pass
HC = “higher certificate”
Pvt = is to accommodate the unavailable IEB stats for students who did not obtain degree passes. It must be noted that the official REG figure for IEB schools is also unavailable and so their published pass percentage is used for REG.
M+Ph = Maths plus Physics total
Click on table to enlarge:
Well done to the Helpmekaar 2015 matrics. Beet has them slotted at no 7 and highest ranking in Northvaal. They achieved an average of 2.5 distinctions per pupil. Seems that IEB schools rule the top of the table. Due to their focus on application during exams, the IEB schools actually do traditionally have more difficulty in producing A’s. At varsity it does however start paying off. IEB schools have a tertiary pass rate well into the 90’th percentile, where government schools have it closer to 60%.
@Bonthuis: Westville just happen to be Glenwood’s biggest competition in Durban currently, but for 80 years before that is was DHS. I lived in Westville too so it’s close to me. It doesn’t really matter, 2 different schools providing 2 different educations, it’s what suits the kid and parents that counts..
@Grasshopper: Then why do you always make this about Glenwood vs Westville???
@Bonthuis: Neither, Jozi….no sour grapes at all, it’s called healthy competition.
Good news is I’ve obtained the St Andrew’s results so just one to go – Helpmekaar.
Are you in the highly prized suburb of leafy Umbilo or still commenting on the state of everyone’s affairs from Cape Town?
@Grasshopper: Great to hear from you again, been a while. As expected, right on cue there you go getting all defensive again…again Rhodes scholars etc is not what this post is about, it’s about academic results in KZN, not about Glenwood vs Westville sour grapes.
Good old Bonty has woken up in New York, welcome boet. I think you’ll find Glenwood has a few more Rhodes, Elsie Ballott and Smuts scholarships than Westville. Google them, you might learn something from it…
@Grasshopper: This always has to turn into a Westville vs Glenwood thing for you – that’s not what this post is about. Let’s give credit to the schools where credit is due!
Well done to MHS, Kearsney and Westville for toppoing the KZN list.
@Grasshopper: Zzzzz…same argument you’ve always had about academic results over the years, thought you would have come up with something better by now. Just face the facts and admit that schools like Kearsney, Westville and Michaelhouse are far ahead of Glenwood in academics. Glenwood has never been that strong academically so it’s a moot point to suggest they ever have.
@Grasshopper: Westville’s results are really impressive.
Westville certainly push for best Boys Gov school results, although I couldn’t find the candidate with 8 A’s and I found 519 distinctions not the 521 Westville claimed.
Westville
No Pupils who wrote 252
Bachelors Pass 229
% Bachelors Pass 90.87%
Diploma Pass 19
% Diploma Pass 7.54%
Higher Certificate 1
% Higher Certificate 0.40%
Failed or didn’t write 3
% Failed or didn’t write 1.19%
Distinctions 519
Average No of Distinctions per pupil 2.05952381
5 Distinctions 14
6 Distinctions 7
7 Distinctions 16
8 Distinctions 0
No of Pupils with 5 or more distinctions 37
% pupils with 5 or more distinctions 14.68%
Subject Distinctions
Accounting 48
Afrikaans (1st additional Lang) 33
Business Studies 5
Dramatic Arts 12
Engineering Graphics 46
English Home Language 32
Geography 5
History 26
isiZulu (1st additional Lang) 16
Life Orientation 135
Life Sciences 27
Mathematics 61
Maths Literacy 8
Music 0
Physical Science 40
Visual Arts 24
IT 0
Economics 0
Computer Applications 1
Total 519
@Grasshopper: I’ll give you this – you have endurance. I gave up after 10 results .. just for College. I was about to do College – really ….
@Cappie: It’s not an easy task going through each result in each school. I’ll do it for Westville, PBHS and Affies, others can do the others..
@Grasshopper: Interesting stats. I would like to see a comparison between all the boy schools.
@Grasshopper: I’m a bit surprised at both the Engineering Graphics and IT. They are normally much better, they have achieved a 50% Exemption rate at EG and up to 70% in IT. The departments will be disappointed with those two results. As they would with music – it’s a popular subject with some great musicians.
They would have had another for IT had they allowed my lightie to do it – but they excluded him on numbers, with the count-out being the maths mark from the previous year.
KES results are OK, good they got nearly all bar one to write and pass. Strong on the top end but not so great overall with 13 getting A’s in Maths Lit and 93 for Life Orientation. Seems an average academic school like Glenwood & Northwood.
No Pupils who wrote 201
Bachelors Pass 166
% Bachelors Pass 82.59%
Diploma Pass 30
% Diploma Pass 14.93%
Higher Certificate 4
% Higher Certificate 1.99%
Failed or didn’t write 1
% Failed or didn’t write 0.50%
Distinctions 267
Average No of Distinctions per pupil 1.328358209
5 Distinctions 7
6 Distinctions 8
7 Distinctions 2
8 Distinctions 0
No of Pupils with 5 or more distinctions 17
% pupils with 5 or more distinctions 8.46%
Subject Distinctions
Accounting 19
Afrikaans (1st additional Lang) 11
Business Studies 0
Dramatic Arts 0
Engineering Graphics 1
English Home Language 18
Geography 25
History 18
isiZulu (1st additional Lang) 5
Life Orientation 93
Life Sciences 18
Mathematics 20
Maths Literacy 13
Music 0
Physical Science 22
Visual Arts 4
IT 0
Economics 0
Total 267
Northwood
No Pupils who wrote 169
Bachelors Pass 119
% Bachelors Pass 70.41%
Diploma Pass 39
% Diploma Pass 23.08%
Higher Certificate 4
% Higher Certificate 2.37%
Failed 7
% Failed 4.14%
Distinctions 187
Average No of Distinctions per pupil 1.106508876
5 Distinctions 3
6 Distinctions 2
7 Distinctions 5
8 Distinctions 0
No of Pupils with 5 or more distinctions 10
% pupils with 5 or more distinctions 5.92%
Subject Distinctions
Accounting 17
Afrikaans (1st additional Lang) 20
Business Studies 4
Dramatic Arts 0
Engineering Graphics 20
English Home Language 12
Geography 10
History 1
isiZulu (1st additional Lang) 16
Life Orientation 32
Life Sciences 9
Mathematics 12
Maths Literacy 7
Music 0
Physical Science 12
Visual Arts 7
IT 6
Economics 2
Total 187
@beet: Looking at College results, they should start a Zulu Cup!
I’ve done a little more analysis for Northwood and College. College results are excellent, especially in Economics, Accounting, Engineering Graphics and Physical Science.
College
No Pupils who wrote 233
Bachelors Pass 206
% Bachelors Pass 88.41%
Diploma Pass 23
% Diploma Pass 9.87%
Higher Certificate 0
% Higher Certificate 0.00%
Failed or didn’t write 4
% Failed or didn’t write 1.72%
Distinctions 398
Average No of Distinctions per pupil 1.708154506
5 Distinctions 11
6 Distinctions 4
7 Distinctions 4
8 Distinctions 5
No of Pupils with 5 or more distinctions 24
% pupils with 5 or more distinctions 10.30%
Subject Distinctions
Accounting 28
Afrikaans (1st additional Lang) 22
Business Studies 0
Dramatic Arts 5
Engineering Graphics 37
English Home Language 22
Geography 12
History 13
isiZulu (1st additional Lang) 43
Life Orientation 108
Life Sciences 18
Mathematics 22
Maths Literacy 8
Music 0
Physical Science 30
Visual Arts 9
IT 5
Economics 16
Total: 398
What I would like to do is ID the Top 10 NSC girls schools around SA and publish their stats in a table similar to the one in the blog above.
@Grasshopper: Total A’s per school is not an easy stat to come by and would take hours to compile given the data available. But would definitely make for interesting reading.
@Grasshopper: @Grasshopper: Across the board, Life Orientation should be removed from all analysis. It is not an external exam and there is no apparent consistency from school to school.
When measuring distinctions per student, LO should be taken out of the equation.
@star: Having looked at the Gauteng English Medium schools rugby schedule for 2016, I noticed that Affies was included in a column after all the GEMS. It actually isn’t that surprising Affies has a lot in common with the boys high schools, as just about all other high schools in Gauteng are co-eds. They have fixtures against KES, PBHS and Jeppe not to mention their 3 annual interschools fixtures with KZN govt Big -3. I was going to put it to the Board that Affies should be included in the Grogper Cup 2016. The board being Grasshopper and Roger who see eye to eye on every subject regarding SBR.
@Grasshopper: At the end of the day the weigh equally whe it comes to varsity entrance.It’s all fair that they get put toe to toe in my view.
@Grasshopper: Maybe my son should have gone to GW as he would have come top 7 %
The fact that English distinctions are only 31 % of total language distinctions does not do your case of GW’s inclusion in the Grogper cup any good 
Also surprised to see Bishops write NSC considering it’s a private school and pretty expensive. Comparing private schools to Gov schools is unfair, the private schools have smaller classes, more 1 to 1 teaching and write a different (harder) paper. I would suggest doing a private school IEB table and then a Gov School table
@beet: How about a table based on the total number of A’s achieved, that would be more accurate. For Gov schools failures are something they can’t really avoid as they need to take on all types…academically weak and strong
Glenwood 2015 NSC Results. Not bad considering where most Glenwood Boys come from, middle to lower income areas like the Bluff, Toti, Queensburgh, Berea, Glenwood, Chatsworth, Umlazi & Manor Gardens.
No Pupils who wrote: 214
Bachelors Pass: 148
% Bachelors Pass: 69.16%
Diploma Pass: 48
% Diploma Pass: 22.43%
Higher Certificate: 9
% Higher Certificate: 4.21%
Failed or didn’t write: 9
% Failed or didn’t write: 4.21%
Distinctions: 303
Average No of Distinctions per pupil: 1.41588785
5 Distinctions: 4
6 Distinctions: 8
7 Distinctions: 3
No of Pupils with 5 or more distinctions: 15
% pupils with 5 or more distinctions: 7.01%
Subject Distinctions
Accounting 13
Afrikaans (1st additional Lang) 24
Business Studies 14
Dramatic Arts 9
Engineering Graphics 27
English Home Language 20
Geography 13
History 16
isiZulu (1st additional Lang) 22
Life Orientation 90
Life Sciences 4
Mathematics 18
Maths Literacy 5
Music 1
Physical Science 17
Visual Arts 10
Total: 303
Strong in Engineering Graphics, Business Studies and Visual Arts, which are subjects needed in the real world. Interesting split between the 3 main languages too, more distinctions in Afrikaans and Zulu than English. Shows how diverse the school is.
would like to know if Oos-Moot’s figures are correct…..if they truly had 292 matriculants, they should according to the rules play in the macro and not large school division……they are a co-ed school…..but according to this larger than other co-eds like Monument, Nelspruit, both Middelburg schools, Florida, Rustenburg, Kempton Park, Menlo Park etc
Also interesting to see how Pietersburg, Transvalia and Potch Gim seems to keep their totals just under minimum above which they have to move to macro leaugue…..schools like Rustenburg, Centurion, HTS Middelburg is almost exact same amount of learners, but has to compete in macro leaugue due to a handful more boys in school whilst Nelspruit, Menlo, Florida, Eg slightly bigger…….co-incidence or manipulation?
Kudos to Kearsney and Westville for being in the top 10. Westville have been the top academic school in KZN since probably the early ’80’s. Must have missed it, but, not seeing Glenwood on this list?
@LAEVELDER: Ja…hy is by tuks.
@kosie: Interesting and spot on observation.
It seems Maths and Science are seen as a good measure for educational excellence. The top 5 math schools, with the number of candidates that obtained a math distinction are the following:
Bishops 72;
Paul Roos 68;
Menlopark 64;
Westville 61; and,
Pretoria Boys High 59.
Affies Girls obtained 48 and Affies obtained 34
Very interesting, thanks. Pity there’s no info for Helpmekaar. All I know is that the school had 100% pass rate (IEB). The first team captain (Eddie vd Merwe) was also headboy and got 7 distinctions. Maths always close to 100%.
@Grasshopper: Sorry Hopper. I should have posted it earlier.
For the benefit of all:
http://matric.ewn.co.za/dbe/2015/
@beet: Thanks for the link Beet, allowed me to do the analysis for Glenwood
@beet: Saggies if they didn’t write. My lightie wrote with a fractured skull and concussion. Actually, he point blank refused to step back into school after this year, he was going to write if it killed him.
Quite right though, kids leaving in term 4 means they’re considered as starting exams.
@beet:
According to the school 285 passed (100% pass rate). Not sure why EWN are showing 283.
@Tang: The PBHS definitely reads: 248+26+9 = 283 out of 285
so unless there is a different pass for the 2 others or the DoE made a mistake, MISS = 2 is correct
http://matric.ewn.co.za/dbe/2015/gauteng/0700231316/8152313160001.html
@Tang: 285 matrics, good grief that is a huge class, even bigger than Westville Boys with around 250. Glenwood usually have about 220 to 230. You guys should be smashing sports with tons of teams with those numbers..
@Djou: Ja Djou. Thanks.
Happy New Year and welcome back to all the regular bloggers.
With regards to the MISS column, this is how I have calculated it based on my understanding the process:
At some point the matric exam registration process cuts off – I think this is at the end of the second term. All students who want to write matric finals have to be registered by their respective schools by this cutoff date. This then forms the numbers in the REG column.
Once the results are released, the total number of students that pass per school is made available. This I recorded in the PASS column.
So its possible that all the students who wrote exams at a school passed resulting in that school declaring a 100% pass rate but in terms of those who they registered, some may not have written exams at all either due to being sick, leaving the school, deciding not to write, being sent to write as a private candidate at another institute (to preserve the schools 100% record) or its possible that the student wrote and failed. The MISS column accounts for all these scenarios.
@beet: Your info on Eldoraigne is also wrong. Eldo have a 100% pass rate with 1 x 9 distinctions, 3 with 8, 10 with 7, 5 with 6 etc.
@beet – Your info on Boys High is wrong. 285 matriculants passed. There were no misses for PBHS.
@Rugbyman: Baie waar. Ek weet net nie wat gaan met Die Wilgers aan nie. Hulle akademie was pateties om die minste te sê. Daar is groot moelikheid daar.
@AbsolutMenlo:
Baie geluk Willem.. bly hy blou?
@beet: I have to agree with Djou… Garsfontein had a 100% pass rate… go have a look at their facebook page… also sporting 699 A’s
@Cappie: Affies meisies is puik! Die girls swot obviously hulle gatte af… natuurlik iets waarvoor meeste laaities nie so lief is nie! In my opinie is ons spesifiek in die ooste van pta baie, BAIE bederf met van die beste skole in die land op akademiese en sport gebied! Dink net, Garsies, Kloof, Menlo, Affies en Pta Boys High als in ‘n 15km radius van mekaar! We are indeed spoilt for choice
@LAEVELDER: Daai “koes” was veronderstel om “moes” te wees…
@LAEVELDER: Baie geluk Wessel! Sjoe, nou verstaan ek hoekom hy so slim flyhalf is! Hats off vir die seun om so baie sport te doen en puik te vaar in akademie! Hy koes seker sy gat af gewerk het!
Is “holistic education” not the watch word? Google “Best school in Africa” for accurate results Haha! All the best for Zeroty One and Six !
@LAEVELDER: The rugby boys are making us proud…Menlo’s first team captain Willem Hofmeyer achieved 8 A’s.
@Cappie: @AbsolutMenlo: Beslis ‘n ongelooflike prestasie deur die girls en ek dink die dept van onderwys moet liewer gaan uitvind wat hulle reg doen eerder as om heeltyd te kerm en die skool (soos ander) dubbelmedium te probeer maak.
Maar soos verlede jaar verduidelik. Ander skole soos Waterkloof, Garsies, Eldoraigne ens. wat meer as 330 leerders het, bied baie vakke aan wat nie universiteitsvrystellingvakke is nie, maar tegnies van aard is. Dit verskil van die meisies waar meestal universiteitsvrystellingvakke aangebied word.
So, dit is onregverdig om die skole te vergelyk op die basis. As jy vergelykings wil doen moet jy die leerders van die skole wat net universiteitsvrystellingvakke het vergelyk met Affies Meisies. En dan vind jy dat elke liewe een universiteitsvrystelling gekry het (weet dit is by Garsies so) en dat die onderskeiding tot leerderverhouding van die kleiner groep amper 3 tot 1 is.
So, vat niks weg van Affies Meisies (en Seuns ook) – net om uit te wys dat ons die regte syfers met mekaar moet vergelyk. Ons is bevoorreg om te kan kies tussen en deur top onderwysers bedien te word – en ek dink ons gee nie altyd aan al die onderwysers die eer en dank wat hulle toekom nie.
So die een is dankie aan al die onnies!!!!!!
@beet: Hi Beet. Hope 2016 is a great year for you. Thanks for all the hard work.
A quick check with Garsfontein’s headmaster revealed that everyone passed – thus 100% pass rate – and not the 1 miss as reported in the stats above.
He also informed me that Waterkloof also obtained a 100% pass rate. So 2 massive schools with respectively 350 and 340 learners obtained 100% pass rates.
Well done – not easy to accomplish this.
@Grasshopper: Academic prowess is a subjective debate, so let’s agree that both schools are very strong on that front. Sporting prowess; however, is more objective and far more conclusive.
@Vleis: My sister teaches at Kingsmead, she might debate that one..
@Grasshopper: The best one…which is why you listed their name first!
@Vleis: Sounds like St Mary’s, Durban Girls College, Kingsmead, Brescia House, Rhodean or St Andrews….
@Grasshopper: Not so fast ou Grassy. The avg A’s per pupil at my daughter’s school (IEB nogal) for the past three years were:
2013 – 4.32
2014 – 3.41
2015 – 3.50
@AbsolutMenlo: Ek is 100% met jou daar. Daar is groter skole en Menlo se prestasies is steeds noemenswaardig. Die ander groter skole sal nie maklik by Menlo, Garsfontein en Waterkloof kom as dit oor akademie gaan nie, en in die selde asem kan ek sê oor sport. Menlo is definitief ‘n top skool.
@Cappie: Stem saam oor Affies meisies uitstekend!
Menlo verseker nie ‘n “massa” skool nie…daar is BAIE groter skole in Gauteng as Menlo.
@Cappie: Outstanding results from Affies Girls, I don’t think even the private schools can claim 3.66 avg A’s per pupil…
@AbsolutMenlo: Selfde ou storie as elke jaar. Die skole met die massas sal altyd wen. Volgens my is Affies Meisies by verre die beste akademiese skool in Gauteng. Kyk maar die stats tussen Menlo, Garsies en Affies Meisies. syfers is in volgende orde: Aantal leerders; aantal A’s; A’s per leerder; persentasie graadvrystelling; druipelinge:
Menlopark: 270, 681, 2.52, 88.93%, 1
Garsfontein: 350, 699, 2.00, 84.28%, 0
Affies Meisies: 197, 722, 3.66, 97.46%, 0
Affies Meisies spog met 30 jaar in ‘n ry geen druipeling. 192 uit 197 het graadvrystelling. Nee kyk daar is niemand wat naby hierdie girls kom nie.
In Gauteng Menlo 1, Garsfontein 2, Waterkloof 3. Congratulations to the Pretoria schools!!
At Menlo the rugby players are pulling the stats up!
@kosie: Also co-ed schools so the girls are pulling those stats up
@beet:
Jipp…great future for him on and off the rugby-field
@Grasshopper: Not only the private schools. A very high profile case recently outlined a boy being sent home from Westville because he was not cutting it academically – or that’s what the story was, unless I understood incorrectly?
The 2015 matric top 3 Gauteng Govt schools are Menlopark, Garsfontein and Waterkloof as announced by the Gauteng DOE.
The DOE use their own formula to calculate the top schools. Not bad considering they are top rugby schools as well
When looking at Tygerberg I saw the results of a student that got 7 distinctions with any for maths or physics. I doubt one sees that too often. A unique achievement. The typical boffin usually excels at maths and physics.
@LAEVELDER: Wessel is talented flyhalf as well. He must surely be among the top academic achieving above average rugby players for 2015
The data is time consuming to find. Focusing on maths and physics makes it easier. But definitely far from the B-all & E-all of analysing results.
I would also say that any analysis of A’s per student should perhaps exclude Life Orientation because of all subjects that one appears to be the easiest by far to get an A in while Maths and Physics seem to pose quite a challenge if you school outside the Western Cape seemingly.
@Grasshopper: It’s Hillbrow High to you sir
@Gungets Tuft: Sorry I don’t have them. Again a 100% pass rate means nothing if the weak have been weeded out, like many private schools do either via an entrance exam or telling weak kids to find other schools in grade 10. The gov schools have to take on all academic types, some being no hopers from the beginning. I’m not surprised to see up to 10 boys failing in the big gov schools. Westville and KES have relevance for me as I grew up in Westville with Westville friends and KES is where my grandad went. He was the oldest living KES OB, but unfortunately passed about a month ago aged 90..
Hudson Park is from the EC (Border) not NV.
@Grasshopper: Hahahhaaa … no you didn’t.
After checking Glenwood’s results you would have gone at Westville and KES immediately. It’s OK, really, many of us are CDO (remember – that’s the same as OCD but at least the letters are in ascending order
) … some of us hide it better than others 
I haven’t your data mining expertise, so because I agree with you about Maths and Science not necessarily being the ultimate markers of success, do you have figures of IT and TD for the KZN schools. I’m still on holiday, not sure I can be assed to apply my limited IQ ..
I just thought of those as Glenwood played cricket vs KES yesterday & a mates son played Westville 1st team cricket against Affies aged 15 and made the most runs for Westville in a severe hammering..
@Gungets Tuft: OK, I could have used SACS vs Jeppe then….whatever….
@Grasshopper: If “relentless” was a matric subject you would have ranked #1 in SA. Of 25,000 government schools in South Africa two attract you in a manner that is unhealthy, one of them has you positively OCD …
Interesting but I don’t believe Maths and Science are the only markers of academic achievement, what about subjects like Electrical Technology, Engineering Graphics and Design, Mechanical Technology, Information Technology? These are subjects that can be as hard as Maths and Science and actually more appropriate to the skills required in SA. Glenwood isn’t a technical high school so to speak, although it was previously, but many of the boys take these subjects and excel in them. For me the average A’s per pupil is what counts. So Westville had 252 students and 521 A symbols, so an avg of 2.067 A’s per pupil. That would put them quite high up. KES on the other hand only had an avg of 1.35 per pupil (270 A’s)…..
Well done Wessel Muller’, the match winning flyhalf of 2014 & 2015. Wessel is one of 18 pupils from Nellies who achieved 7 A’s. You go boy’tjie!!