Top 3 - From left - Headmaster: Trevor Hall, Sriram Maharaj, Jeremy Gounden and Thayin Govender

Top 3 – From left – Headmaster: Trevor Hall, Sriram Maharaj, Jeremy Gounden and Thayin Govender

WBHS again dominates the list of KZN’s Top 10 Matriculants, being the only school to boast three students in that elite category. Congratulations to Sriram Maharaj, Jeremy Gounden and Thayin Govender for their fine achievement on being placed 4th, 5th and 8th in the province respectively.  The Dux at our sister school, Cornelia Weber, was placed 7th, which provides Westville community with 40% of the province’s top achievers.

The 2016 NSC results reaffirm the School’s position as one of the top academic institutions in the country.  From the very beginning, 62 years ago, the School has achieved outstanding academic results and has annually produced some of the top academic pupils not just in the province, but in the country.

The Class of 2016 did extremely well to achieve 534 subject distinctions (i.e. 2,32 per student) and a 90% Bachelor pass rate. Given the size of the group (232 students) it is to their credit that they were able to produce such excellent results. Two of our students’ results are incomplete due to injury or illness.

We are very pleased that 206 of our students achieved Bachelors’ passes (i.e. 90% of the group). In assessing the quality of passes, another major factor to take into account is that:

  • 83% of our students undertook core Mathematics, and
  • 77% undertook Physical Science.

In addition, 23 students undertook Advanced Programme Mathematics.

This indicates that they undertake challenging courses in order to keep their career options open, which makes their achievements even more impressive. It is WBHS policy not to encourage our students to choose softer options.

Indicators of the excellent achievement were the high number of distinctions on three of the challenging gateway subjects, which believe are arguably the highest amongst boys’ schools in the country:

  • Mathematics: 58 A’s plus Advanced Programme Mathematics: 5A’s
  • Physical Science: 48 A’s
  • Accounting: 62 A’s

Some notable statistics for our group of 230 students were:

  • 227 passed out of 230 i.e. 99% (2015: 99%)
  • 206 students achieved Bachelor passes i.e. 90% of the group (2015: 92%)
  • 24 students achieved a full set of 7 distinctions or more (2015: 16)
  • 30 students achieved 6 or more distinctions (2015: 24)
  • 48 students achieved A aggregates (2015: 48)
  • 104 students achieved B aggregates or better (2015: 113)
  • 183 students achieved C aggregates or better (2015: 200)
  • 522 subject distinctions were achieved in total (2015: 520)
  • 83% of the group undertake core Mathematics, and 77% undertook Physical Science

Students who each achieved 9 distinctions: Sachin Lutchman, Jonathan Major, Reagan Naidoo.

Students who achieved 8 distinctions were:  Ahmed Dada, Zayd Mohamed, Ahmad Moosa, Jonathan Major,

Students who achieved 7 distinctions were:

Dylan Beavan, Brett Buchanan, Sasasa Dlamini, Dominic Cominato, David Erasmus, Jeremy Gounden, Kiashen Govender, Thayin Govender, Steven Landsberg, Shiv Mahabeer, Sriram Maharaj, Carl Nel, Declan O’Connor, Michael Scott, Jake Stangroom, Matthew Young, Richard Young and Liam Reid.

Our teachers across all grades deserve credit for their persistence in motivating the students in their classes. I also appreciate the positive pressure that most parents apply at home in supporting our initiatives – this is extremely vital.

The success we achieved last year in academics, sport and the arts reinforces our commitment to the holistic approach and our mission of nurturing all-round excellence. It is very true that the more a boy puts into his School, the more he gets out of it. The students mentioned above were certainly not one-dimensional academics, and they added value to the School over a number of different areas: in sport, performing arts and service.