1. In the past three years the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has honoured schools that have achieved excellent results in the Senior Certificate examinations and/or improved their Senior Certificate results.
2. As an unacceptable number of learners drop out of school before obtaining a qualification, the focus of the awards has shifted from schools achieving a 100% pass rate to those providing increasing numbers of learners with the opportunity to obtain a Senior Certificate and an endorsement on the certificate.
3. The following table provides a summary of the Senior Certificate results from 1999 to 2003.
SUMMARY OF SENIOR CERTIFICATE RESULTS 1999 TO 2003
YEAR19992000200120022003
CATEGORYFull-time
TOTAL		Full-time
TOTAL		Full-time
TOTAL		Full-time
TOTAL		Full-time
TOTAL
Number of candidates who wrote the full set of examinations37 19937 81837 55938 11738 750
Number of candidates who obtained a Senior Certificate29 30330 48931 04932 98533 769
Senior Certificate with matriculation endorsement (number and % of total no. of candidates)9 090
24,4%		9 235
24,4%		9 378
25,0%		10 118
26,5%		10 323
26,6%
Number and percentage of total no. of candidates who passed with merit (aggregate 1260 - 1679)--6 024
16,0%		6 736
17,7%		7 005
18,1%
Percentage pass rate78,8%80,6%82,7%86,5%87,4%
4. While the number of learners obtaining a Senior Certificate in Western Cape schools has increased since 1998, the rate of increase gives cause for concern. The 2004 entries for the Senior Certificate examinations show that only a small number of schools have more Grade 12 learners than they had in 2003 and that the number of endorsement candidates is not increasing.
5. Principals are therefore urged to consider how they could increase not only the number of learners in Grade 12, but also the number of learners taking a Grade 12 course which will enable them to obtain an endorsement on their Senior Certificates, and so contribute to the human resource development of the country.
6. For 2004 the WCED has therefore chosen to reward improvement or consistency of performance while maintaining or increasing Grade 12 enrolment levels. As it is our intention to ensure that learners continue through to Grade 12, learner numbers in Grades 8 to 11 over the previous four years will be tracked. All schools (including independent schools) entering candidates for the Senior Certificate examination of the WCED will be eligible for awards. Furthermore, because schools operate in very different circumstances and work with learners from very different backgrounds, the WCED has introduced categories which take these differences into account and apply to the three-year period from 2002 to 2004. In 2004 the awards will therefore be made as follows:
6.1 Category 1: Excellence in Academic Performance

Category 1a - Excellence of results within the context in which the school operates

To ten schools where the academic performance has produced consistently meritorious results (refer to par. 7) relative to the contexts within which the schools operate (refer to par.7), while enrolment levels of full-time candidates in Grade 12 have been maintained or increased.

Category 1b - Excellence determined according to a set of given criteria

To all schools which have achieved excellence in academic results. The minimum criteria which must be satisfied are

  • an overall pass rate of at least 95% AND

  • a matriculation endorsement rate in excess of 75% AND

  • a merit pass rate of at least 60%.
6.2 Category 2: Improvement in Senior Certificate results and number of successful candidates

Category 2a - Improvement in number of learners continuing through to Grade 12

To ten schools where the retention rate (refer to par. 7) has consistently shown the greatest improvement.

Category 2b - Improvement in the Matriculation Endorsement rate

To those five schools where the matriculation endorsement rate has consistently shown the greatest improvement, while enrolment levels of full-time candidates in Grade 12 have been maintained or increased.

Category 2c - Improvement in Senior Certificate pass rate

To those five schools where the Senior Certificate pass rate has consistently shown the greatest improvement, while enrolment levels of full-time candidates in Grade 12 have been maintained or increased.
6.3 Should any schools achieve at a particularly meritorious level in an area not covered by the above criteria, a special award will be made by the Head of Education.

7. The following are explanations of certain terms used in the above paragraph 6:

  • meritorious results: based on a weighted index which will include both the number

  • and percentage of successful candidates and endorsements in the Senior Certificate examinations

  • context within which a school operates: based on the annual school fee charged by the school in 2003

  • retention rate: calculated by expressing the number of Senior Certificate passes in Grade 12 in 2004 as a percentage of the Grade 8 enrolment in the same school in 2000, Grade 12 passes in 2003 as a percentage of Grade 8 enrolment in 1999; and so on


SIGNED: J.P. RAULT-SMITH
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2004:07:30