Congratulations to HSRP Pilot Schools' matriculants of 2011 on their outstanding achievements.

Three out of the nine schools obtained 100% passes. There was great improvement in the percentage pass rate of the schools, despite them encountering many challenges during the year.

Mrs Judy Tate of Inanda Seminary in Durban said she is the proud leader of a great team.

Interesting to note that best candidate in 2010 got 4 distinctions, and individuals performed so much better in 2011 – 2 candidates got 7 distinctions; 1 candidate got 6 distinctions; 4 candidates got 5 distinctions; and 2 candidates got 4 distinctions each.

Mrs Isabel Steenkamp of Inkamana High School outside Vryheid said that the positive input from HSRP played a big role to encourage the school to provide excellent education to rural children.

Mr Harry Maseko of Vryheid Comprehensive in Vryheid said that they were disappointed in the drop of pass rate from 80% in 2010 to 64% in 2011. This was mainly due to learners not achieving the required results for Maths and Science despite the fact that the school spent more than R48,000 in the last quarter of 2011 in order to keep all of the matriculants in the boarding school from September to December so that they could focus on their studies and receive extra lessons. New criteria adopted for learners in Grade 9 who wish to continue with Maths and/or Science to Matric – they are required to achieve more than 50% in these subjects at the end of their Grade 9 year.