Hard work pays off for the Class of 2012

14 January 2013 | No Comments

The LEAP Class of 2012 have once again proved that hard work pays off with a 94.7% pass rate and 54 distinctions. Significantly, 89% of our students passed maths, compared to an average of 40% in the communities LEAP serves. The team at LEAP congratulates the 2012 Matrics and wishes them every success as they take the next important steps in their careers and lives after LEAP.

A total of 122 Grade 12 students sat the National Senior Certificate exams from three schools: LEAP 1 (Langa), LEAP 2 (Gugulethu and Crossroads) and LEAP 3 (Alexandra). In 2012, the number of students taking the exams increased by 5%.

Results to be proud of:

All LEAP students wrote maths and science, compared to only 35% who wrote maths and 26% who wrote physical science nationally.
89% of LEAP students passed maths compared to 54% nationally and an average 40% in the communities LEAP serves. LEAP’s pass rate for physical science is 86% compared to 61% nationally and 41% as an average across the three communities these schools serve.
A total of 115 students have qualified for tertiary studies, an increase on last year’s 109.
The number of students achieving Bachelor passes increased by 35% to 54.
Seven of our students achieved between2 and 4 distinctions with 43 students achieving at least one distinction.

Making the grade

Despite severe academic difficulties brought about by poor schooling in township communities, LEAP students managed to obtain 100% pass rates in all languages as well as geography, life orientation, CAT and business studies. They also achieved percentage pass rates of 99% in life science, 93% in accounting, 89% in maths and 86% in physical science.

Special congratulations to:

Students who achieved six A symbols in accounting, four in maths, three in English, two in business studies, one in SeSotho and 38 in life orientation.
Asanda Mini from LEAP 1 who achieved distinctions in accounting, maths and life orientation. Asanda is styuding for a B Com in accounting at UCT and was awarded a Moshal Scholarship Bursary. She tells us that her proudest moment was when she left Cape Town for the first time to go to the Grahamstown science festival:

I’m thankful for having the opportunity to be a LEAP student and to be blessed with such a great LEAP family.”

Simthandile Jilaji from LEAP 2 for her distinctions in accounting, English, maths and life orientation. Simthandile has been awarded a full Old Mutual bursary to study a B Com in accounting at UCT.
Also in LEAP 2, Yonela Maxhama, who achieved distinctions in business studies, accounting and life orientation. Yonela will study accounting with a full bursary at the University of Pretoria.
Sello Masite from LEAP 3 who achieved distinctions in Sesoto and life orientation. Sello has been awarded a Moshal Scholarship Bursary and is studying civil engineering:

My proudest moments at LEAP were when I received a top student award in Grade 11 and when I was in the Sowetan. I am also thankful for the academic support that I got from the teachers and fellow students. LEAP helped me to find my voice.”

Challenges

The scale of the challenges that our students face is demonstrated starkly by the results from state schools in the communities we serve. Only 24% of Grade 12 students in Langa wrote mathematics and, of that, only 41% passed. If we assume that the attrition rates in Langa are similar to the national attrition rates from Grade 10 to Grade 12 (47%) then only 5% of the cohort that started Grade 10 in 2010 passed Grade 12 mathematics in 2012. This statistic for science in Langa is 6%. For maths in Gugulethu and Crossroads is 8% and 6% for science. In Alexandra, the estimated percentage of this cohort passing maths is 10% and passing science is 9%.

While our pass rate in LEAP 1 (100%) and LEAP 3 (97%) were significantly higher than our average pass rate from 2005 – 2012 of 94%, LEAP 2 had 6 failures bringing its pass rate to 85% and the LEAP average pass rate to 94.7%. So although we have much to celebrate, some of our students were disappointed by their results. Given the system they have come from, it is an achievement just to sit the exams. But we have high expectations for all our students and are working hard with each one to support them through his or her next steps.

There is no failure – only the next step to consider on the learning journey.

LEAP results compared to national and provincial results:

	2005-2012	2012
Description	LEAP	LEAP Total	National	Western Cape	Gauteng
Number of students	533	122	511 152	44 700	89 627
Bachelor	246	54	136 047	16 319	32 449
Diploma	162	42	152 884	14 602	30 422
Number of passes	503	115	390 972	36 992	75 214
% pass rate	94%	94%	74%	83%	84%
% Bachelor Pass	46%	44%	27%	37%	36%
% Bachelors and Diploma Passes	78%	79%	57%	69%	70%
% writing mathematics	100%	100%	35%	34%	36%
% passed mathematics	90%	89%	61%	73%	71%
% writing science	100%	100%	26%	25%	32%
% passing science	86%	86%	66%	71%	70%

Results compared to schools in LEAP’s target communities:

Description	LEAP 1 (Langa)	Langa	LEAP 2 (Gugulethu / Crossroads)	Gugulethu & Crossroads	LEAP 3 (Alexandra)	Alexandra
Number of students	41	560	41	1 534	40	712
Bachelor	19	59	20	229	15	Not available
Diploma	15	152	8	334	19	Not available
Number of passes	41	332	35	890	39	467
% pass rate	100%	59%	85%	58%	98%	66%
% Bachelor Pass	46%	11%	49%	15%	38%	Not available
% Bachelors and Diploma Passes	83%	38%	68%	37%	85%	Not available