Seventeen-year-old Anuoluwa Makinde has done Milnerton High School proud with the third-highest matric pass in the country.
Anuoluwa scored 96.3% with seven distinctions. Her lowest mark was 95%.
Ahead of her were two other Western Cape matrics, Paarl Gymnasium High School pupil Madelein Dippenaar, who came first in the country, and Rondebosch High School’s Gary Allen, who came second.
It was the first time Milnerton High appeared in the top three and Anuoluwa and her principal, Paul Besener, were overjoyed.
Anuoluwa said she had put her passion for netball on hold to focus on her studies.
“I wanted to be able to have enough energy to study. I needed to be focused so I stopped playing.
“I love this school because a lot of the teachers go the extra mile in explaining so you understand and they were very willing to help. They gave good advice that helped with work, and I am grateful for that.”
Anuoluwa plans to study mechatronic engineering but is still deciding on whether to go to UCT or Stellenbosch University.
Mr Besener said he was very proud of Anuoluwa’s achievement and thrilled with yet another 100% pass rate for Milnerton High.
“What we as educators are most proud of is the percentage of Bachelor passes this year. It’s all good and well to get a 100% pass rate, but it’s really telling when you get 85.6% Bachelor’s passes so that our kids can go to university. I think we have a winning formula here.
“Our teachers are very caring and do more than what is expected of them, and it shows in our pupils’ results,” he said.
A few kilometres away in Joe Slovo, Sinenjongo High School principal Kuselwa Nopote said their pass had been lower than expected, with a drop from 85% in 2018 to 78% for 2019.
“We have had an increase in the number of pupils since last year, so that might be a contributing factor for the drop in pass marks.
“But I am very happy that they didn’t compromise their quality of results. They are going to compete in the outside world and be able to go to university,” she said.
Andisiwe Mayoyo lives in Dunoon and matriculated from Sinenjongo High School with a Bachelor’s pass. She said she was used to getting good marks but her success meant a lot for her and her family.
“I came to this school in 2017 from the Eastern Cape. In the search for a school, my mother found out that this was a good school and that it always gets good passing marks. I’ve applied for business management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and I have been accepted,” she said.
Out of their 146 pupils at the school, 53 achieved Bachelor’s passes, 32 Diploma passes and 29 Higher Certificate passes.
Siyamthanda Mtyeku is the highest achieving pupil at Sinenjongo with seven distinctions and an 85% aggregate. He said he had a lot of family issues when he moved from the Eastern Cape in 2017.
“I applied to Milnerton High School, Blouberg High School and Sinenjongo, and I was accepted at all of them. But because of financial constraints, I couldn’t afford to go to Milnerton and Blouberg, so I chose Sinenjongo. I am glad things turned out this way because I met a principal here who has become like a mother to me, and I am so grateful.
I have applied for mechanical engineering at UCT, and I hope I can keep coming back to the school to help out other learners with their studies,” he said.
Bosmansdam High School had a pass rate of 95.6%, down from 96.5%.
Edgemead High School’ pass rate increased from 97.9% to a 100% pass rate.
Bloubergrant High School took a bit of a decline from 97.6% the previous year to 91.3%. Melkbosstrand High School recorded a 100% pass rate as compared to 98.6% the previous year. Table View High dropped from 100% last year to 97.1% this year.