Greyhound News |
25
SCHOOL NEWS
Celebrating 40 distinctions between them:
Matt Butler, Jordan Ross-Elliott,Tristan Dixon,
James Hansen, Ross Cairns, Sean Healy
and
Cameron Lee
.
Below: Kearsney head prefect 2015,
Robbie Polkinghorne
(3As) (son of
David
1981),
Cameron Lee
(6As) and
a top SA achiever
Jabulani Nyathi
(7As).
Kearsney College emerged
as the top independent
boys’ school in KwaZulu-
Natal for the third time in
four years, following the
release of the 2015 IEB
National Senior Cer tificate
examination results.
Having three candidates in the country’s
Outstanding & Commendable Achievement
lists (which encompasses the country’s
top 134 candidates or top 1.2% of all
IEB pupils) was more than any other
Independent boys’ school in the province.
Kearsney’s excellence in Mathematics and
Physical Sciences was reaffirmed, with
an outstanding 45% of those who wrote
Mathematics and 32% of those who wrote
Physical Sciences achieving a distinction. This
is the fifth consecutive year that Kearsney
has achieved double the IEB distinction rates
in these crucial subjects.
The 113 Kearsney boys who wrote Matric
achieved an impressive 226 distinctions
between them – an average of two
distinctions each. The school had a 100%
pass rate with almost 97% receiving a
university exemption pass rate.
Headmaster Elwyn van den Aardweg
said that whilst academics was Kearsney’s
number one priority, a holistic education
was crucial and he was thrilled that the
boys achieved such fantastic results whilst
participating fully in the excellent sporting
and cultural programmes at the College.
Top of Kearsney’s achievers and on the
IEB Outstanding Achievement list was all-
rounder
Jabulani Nyathi
who scored seven
As.
James Hansen
and
Cameron Lee
, who
also plays baseball for South Africa U18,
earned six distinctions each, and made it
on to the IEB Commendable Achievement
list. Others to achieve six distinctions were
Ru Bake
r (son of
Andrew
, 1979),
Tyrone
Beunk Burgess
,
Ross Cairns
,
Sean Healy
,
Brandon Hughes,
Jordan Ross-Elliott
and
Geoffrey Sibbald
.
Ten boys received five distinctions each:
provincial sportsmen
Matt Butler
(hockey)
and
Tristan Dixon
(rugby), as well as
Ross
Conway
,
Lyle Hewitson
,
Nicholas Hoare,
James Hulett
(son of
Gary
1980; grandson
of
Bruce 'Fago'
1956; great grandson of
George
1926),
Evan Knight
,
Tristan Muller
,
Simon Nortje
and
Justin Wilkes
.
A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE
All-rounder
Jabulani Nyath
i – Kearsney’s
2015 Dux, deputy-head prefect, head of
the prestigious choir and captain of cross
country – was the College’s top achiever
in the IEB examinations; attaining seven As,
and placing in the top 5% of learners in
six or more subjects in South Africa, and
in the country’s top 1% for Drama, Music
and Physical Sciences. He was Kearsney’s
highest achiever in Afrikaans.
After finishing Grade 9 at Drakensberg
Boys’ Choir School, Jabulani was offered a
full scholarship through ISASA and Kearsney
for his final three years at the College. This
year he is studying chemical engineering at
UCT, which he plans to follow with studies
as a chartered financial analyst.
At the end of last year Jabulani was
awarded the prestigious Allan Gray Orbis
Fellowship which provides a full scholarship
for undergraduate studies, including tuition,
text books, accommodation and a stipend
for living expenses.
Kearsney is one of a hundred Allan Gray
Circle of Excellence schools and has three
previous recipients:
Blaise Dobson
(2006
Sheffield),
Dom Koenig
(2011 Finningley)
and
Phakamani Zulu
(2011 Pembroke).
Candidates are selected for their
exceptional intelligence, particularly in
Mathematics, superb communication skills
and innate ability to ‘think out of the box’.
Once formal education is complete, the
Foundation encourages work experience
that compliments personal passion,
purpose and skills development. It believes
that high impact entrepreneurial leaders
will dramatically contribute to positive
economic, social and political change in the
country.
Top KZN boys’ school …again
