When hard work pays off

Letsatsing High School’s recent good performance may have something to do with the fact that it is situated near the University of the North West. But if this were the case, then logically Sejankabo High School — also a spitting distance from the university — which made headlines with an appalling 27,9% matric pass rate last year, could also have excelled.

Letsatsing High School was among the 10 Dinaledi schools that received the national education department’s annual coveted Most Improved School Awards. The award is conferred on schools that produce the highest number of higher grade mathematics passes and with high numbers of A, B and C symbols.

There is nothing out of the ordinary about the appearance of Letsatsing High School. But as soon as you enter its yard you can tell you have entered a workaholics’ den. The first thing that strikes you is the sense of order. When you enter the modest ‘captain’s engine room”, you are greeted by the sight of trophies of various sizes, designs and colours fighting for space.

When the Teacher arrived, there was a studious silence and not a single soul loitered about. The silence was occasionally ‘disturbed” by the echo of teachers’ voices from the classrooms a short distance away.

Principal Keorapetse Kgosiethata attributes the school’s excellence to nothing other than hard work from the teaching staff and the learners. He said the entire school machinery pulls in one direction.

Kgosiethata, who joined the school in 2005, said Letsatsing has always offered science as a subject and only became part of Dinaledi in 2000. He said at the time he joined the school, performance hovered at about a 70% pass rate but this has since been upped to 74% in 2005 and last year it peaked at 84%.

Of the 74 learners who sat for the maths higher grade paper last year, 68 passed, three with distinctions. And of the 170 learners who sat for the standard grade paper, 142 passed, eight with distinctions.

In science higher grade, 187 learners wrote the exam and 153 passed with three distinctions and of the 57 learners who wrote the standard grade science paper, 50 passed and seven failed.

Kgosiethata said they are working towards a situation where all learners will take their subjects on higher grade, adding that his aim this year is to be among the 100 Club schools. (Read more on what the 100 Club is and how to qualify, on page 7.)

Kgosiethata said there is nothing special about what they do. ‘We simply set ourselves clear objectives that we always strive to attain. Part of achieving this is to treasure every second and minute,” he said.

‘For instance we opened a week before the official school calendar started. We sent a group of people to tidy up the school so that on the first day we started with the syllabus,” he said.

Most schools waste the first two days of school tidying up classrooms or attending to administrative issues, such a registering or drawing up timetables.

Kgosiethata said they have a strong enrichment and additional class programme that they stick to.

They have two-hour morning and afternoon classes that are compulsory for grade 12s. Add to this Saturday and school holiday classes. Kgosiethata said: ‘In between they factor in assessments, tutorial classes and experiments.” The school also organises study camps, especially over September, where they focus specifically on previous question papers.

As head of the school, he has dedicated every Monday for his senior management team meetings. ‘Here I meet with the teachers to get reports and find out about the problems and challenges they encounter. I also meet with departmental heads to familiarise myself with what is happening. The idea is identify problem areas early and address them forthwith,” he said.

In the second week of March they had already finished the syllabus and were ‘busy with revision and tests”. ‘My teachers are motivated, they love their jobs. Although I do monitor their work, overall they push themselves and I am lucky to work with people who have the interest of their learners at heart and more importantly, people who know why they are here,” said Kgosiethata.

Because of its good performance, Letsatsing receives a high number of applications every year. The school scrutinises the performance of every applicant to ensure they get learners who obtain good marks in maths and science.

Kgosiethata said a strong parental involvement also plays an important role. ‘Most of the learners who do well have supportive parents who also take time to interact with us by attending meetings we call,” said Kgosiethata.

Thabo Mosehle, who teaches science in grade 11 and 12, believes the hard work put in by teachers and learners, accounts for the school’s success. ‘We go the extra mile, like staying behind after school and coming early in the morning including sacrificing our holidays,” he said.

‘We make sure we finish the syllabus early so that we can help learners with revision and also arrange mock examinations where we familiarise our grade 11 and 12 learners with the examination situation.”

‘Preparing learners psychologically also counts a lot. Most learners fail because they leave things until the last minute and when the examination approaches they go into panic mode,” added Tebogo Leeuw, a grade 12 maths teacher.

He said finishing the syllabus on time enables them to focus on individual learner’s weaknesses. ‘We attend to details like how to analyse [and] interpret examination questions and more importantly speed. A lot of learners are slow and cannot finish in time,” said Leeuw.

Last year Leeuw produced a ‘totaliser” learner (one who got 400 out of 400). ‘This year I want to have 49 more totalisers,” he said, adding that the school has become a happy hunting ground for companies and that its learners do not have to struggle to get bursaries.

Rewarding excellence

Education Minister Naledi Pandor and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, addressed this year’s sixth Most Improved Schools Awards ceremony in Pretoria.

In their messages both congratulated the winning schools, urging others to work hard. Said Pandor: ‘A necessary aspect of the school improvement campaign is to identify areas of excellence and improvement in the system to give recognition where it is deserved, and to inspire and motivate others.”

Mlambo-Ngcuka paid tribute to ‘all teachers, principals, communities and parents” at the awards and added that ‘through hard work and perseverance everything is possible”.

The awards primarily seek to:

Excellence in Mathematics

• Umtata High (Eastern Cape) achieved a 98% pass rate with 46 higher grade candidates. The school achieved two As, seven Bs and seven Cs in higher grade;
• Bisho High (Eastern Cape) achieved a 100% pass rate, with 43 learners sitting for higher grade maths. The school achieved one A, six Bs and six Cs;
• Raucall Secondary (Gauteng) achieved a 100% pass rate with 34 higher grade maths candidates. Overall it produced 13 As, 10 Bs, and eight Cs.
• Queens Girls’ High (Gauteng) achieved a 94% pass rate with 42 learners writing higher grade maths. The school achieved six As, eight Bs and six Cs.
• Durban High (KwaZulu-Natal) achieved a 100% pass rate with 69 candidates writing higher grade maths with 30 As, 12 Bs and 10 Cs.
• Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High (KwaZulu-Natal) achieved a 100% pass rate with 82 higher grade maths candidates and produced 11 As, seven Bs and 21 Cs.
• Umlazi Comtech High (KwaZulu-Natal) achieved a 77% pass rate with 60 learners writing higher grade maths and produced 19 As, seven Bs and 13 Cs.
• Capricorn High (Limpopo) achieved a 100% passes and had 59 candidates passing HG maths and achieved 2As, 7Bs and 7Cs.
• Letsatsing High (North West) achieved an 84% pass rate and had 53 learners writing higher grade maths. The school produced three As, three Bs and nine Cs.
• Livingstone High (Western Cape) achieved a 98% pass rate with 67 higher grade maths pass and produced 20 As, 10 Bs and 12 Cs.

Consistent Improvement Award

This year’s awards ceremony saw the addition of a category called 100 Club. Schools that produce more than 100 learners passing higher grade maths qualify for this special club. A total of 13 schools became the inaugural members of the club. Each received R25 000 from First National Bank.

Epoch and Optima, part of Anglo-American’s investment and development arm, took the opportunity to announce a ‘combined funding of R40-million a year” to encourage schools to achieve good maths marks.

The 100 Club schools were: