Bloubergrant High School has received a certificate from the Western Cape Education Department for scoring an increase in the number of its matrics that passed with marks good enough to gain entry to university.
The awards ceremony was held at Leeuwenhof, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille’s official residence, on Thursday January 11.
The school had a 98% pass rate for 2017. Of the 98 candidates who sat the finals, 96 passed, 56 with a Bachelor’s pass – 55%.
This was a far cry from 2015, when the school had 75 matric candidates, of whom 32 earned Bachelor’s passes – 44%.
In 2016, 54 out of the 98 pupils received a Bachelor’s pass – 53%.
Principal Malcolm Pedro is thrilled with his pupils’ achievements.
“This school is probably one of the best kept secrets in the Table View area, although we are 12 years old. Only since 2009, we have had matriculants,” he said.
“We’ve always hovered around 100% pass rate for our matrics. Unfortunately with the class of 2016, we dropped down to 91%, but we did well with the class of 2017 to reach 98%,” said Mr Pedro.
Bloubergrant was one of the top 10 schools in the Western Cape with the highest increases in Bachelor’s passes.
Not a bad achievement, said Mr Pedro, from a school often overlooked by parents favouring the more established schools in the area that regularly score 100% pass rates.
It was good to finally rub shoulders with those schools.
Bloubergrant, he said, took the pupils who couldn’t get into the more established schools with their higher fees.
Their parents didn’t earn a lot of money and many were domestic workers.
“We tend to get weaker learners here because most learners flock to the more established schools. But we work very hard with our students whether it is academic, sports and culture,” said Mr Pedro.
Bloubergrant was also recognised in 2014 for its increase in Bachelor’s passes.
“We love to give kids a chance in life and who are we to deny these kids a chance to succeed?” Mr Pedro said.