Six years ago, when Rob le Roux was appointed principal of Westerford High School in Newlands, Cape Town, the school already had a 100% matric pass rate. And nothing has changed.
In the 2010 exams, the school achieved a 100% pass rate again, with 165 learners writing the exam and 99% achieving a bachelor’s pass (formerly called a matric exemption).
Le Roux spoke confidently in a recent interview with the Teacher about how his teaching staff prepares learners for success from the minute they take their seats in grade eight classrooms. Westerford is a co-education public school with a reputation as a leader in academic achievement. It sifts through at least 1 000 new learner applications each year.
“We can choose a better quality learner and we base our admission requirements on academic performance. We don’t have the tailend that some of the other schools might have. Our teachers can focus on the skills needed for university right from the start,” said Le Roux.
“Westerford is a pressurised school. The quality of our kids is all university material and most of them go on to university. Right from the start, our teachers are priming them with coping skills for matric exams.”
A walk around the school grounds leads to sports fields, a grand school hall and adequate space for its 900 learners. Mostly, the school appears well organised.
Le Roux said that it’s an environment in which he and his staff “insist on respect, good behaviour, handing in tasks on time”.
“We pay a lot of attention to the small detail. Learners must be neat and tidy. They need to work and they are here to get good results. We emphasise a lot on self-discipline. It’s their future that they should be concerned about it,” said Le Roux.
“We put pressure on our kids to do their best. Our motto is ‘Nothing but your best’. When our children get to university they know how to cope on their own.”
And the matric year — with its rite-of-passage final exams — is treated no differently than any other school year, said Le Roux.
“We don’t select our top teachers and keep them for matrics only. It’s important that they teach younger grades as well and prepare them for matric,” he said.
Which makes sense because each learner pays the same annual school fee of just over R20 000 a year. It’s a steep price to pay for public school education and there’s no fee reduction for siblings. But Westerford, explained Le Roux, has education department funding for only 26 teachers. It pays the salaries of 28 additional teaching staff.
Running a successful school also requires support from parents. Le Roux said his teaching staff have regular email contact with parents. He likened this relationship to a “partnership” fed with “meetings periodically”.
“Parents are more than welcome to contact us at any time. Essentially, we deal with their children, though. They need to be taught responsibility. They can’t run to mommy and daddy every five minutes when there’s a problem. We need to teach them responsibility and we try to sort anything out here first before we go outside,” said Le Roux.
“Only if we can’t sort things out with the children do we contact the parents … We have a very active website where we send information out. We send parents emails and we have an SMS service to send out quick messages.”
Focusing on the matric year is vital as schools generally need to guide learners on how to step out of their comfort zone and into the real world. Everyone who has faced the final exams of high school knows the feeling of uncertainty looming.
Le Roux said Westerford, as one of the country’s top schools, planned its matric year in advance.
“The children are kept up to score right from the start on what they are going to do. We plan our deadlines in advance. We like to have everything done before the exam,” he said.
“We don’t plan in any extra time and we stick to our deadlines. It’s very seldom that we have to call our children back outside of school time. Our children have a work ethic and are self-motivated. They plan study activities during the holidays. It’s encouraged by the teachers.”
Le Roux said the learning process in all grades is aided by a “variety of all sorts of things. We use the internet, data projectors, white boards and technology in the classroom”.
He stressed that, beyond this, the “success of the school is dependent on teachers”.
“We do a whole lot of stuff outside of the curriculum that we know will benefit our children. Our teachers are up to score on what’s required in the curriculum. We attend workshops and go on professional courses. Our teachers are motivated to keep themselves up to score.”
And if learners struggle with subjects or social aspects, the school tackles the problem through subject or grade heads.
“We have a psychologist and career counsellor at school. Where necessary, we will go to the parent and discuss any matter,” said Le Roux.
A well-balanced education, he said, is aided with sport and cultural activities.
“Sport is compulsory at this school. We make it optional for matrics but the children continue into matric with sport because they are used to it. We have hockey, rugby, water polo, basketball and traditional sports. It’s critical that they are active,” said Le Roux.
“Cultural programmes are also critical for young people. We have almost 50 societies that the kids run with guidance from teachers. Children who are active at school are the ones who succeed.”
As the interview wrapped up, Le Roux walked towards one of his favourite spots at Westerford — the sports field away from all the ringing telephones and bustling reception area. He said optimistically that there was no “typical day” with his job.
“You’re required to think on your feet. You can have a planned day but then something else happens. But I have competent staff that run all aspects of this school,” he said.
“Whether we’re top or not is irrelevant. We are confident that our matrics will excel. All that matters is that they must walk out of that exam feeling good.”