Picture: MATTHEW FIELD
Friday was one of joy for Merrifield College’s matric class of 2020 as they celebrated their 100% pass rate with a special function at the Merrifield Club House.
In addition to a full pass rate, the class also achieved a 100% bachelor’s pass rate with 32% of students achieving averages of over 80%.
Overall, 95 distinctions were accompished by 43 pupils.
The top achiever was Sarah McCausland, who was the only Eastern Cape pupil to be placed on the Independent Education Board’s (IEB’s) list of outstanding achievers.
McCausland earned eight distinctions, with an average of 92%, and is placed in the top 1% nationally for life sciences and geography.
Other top achievers were Zoë Sparg, with eight distinctions and top 1% nationally in visual arts; Catherine Williams-Jones, with seven distinctions and top 1% nationally for life sciences, and; Camille Beau, with seven distinctions.
Speaking at Friday’s event, Merrifield executive head Dr Guy Hartley said he was proud of the students for their incredible results.
“We know all you had to face last year, all those challenges and difficulties, and yet you’ve really hung in there,” Hartley said.
He also thanked the school’s teachers for their work in assisting students during an exceptionally difficult year.
“Going back to last year, I’m thinking about the first term, many of the learners came back from the holidays to get prepared for online learning in the second term.
“A huge thank you to them, with how agile and flexible they were moving into new technologies,” said Hartley.
Deputy head Bridget Fielding also extended her congratulations to the matric class of 2020.
“These matric results are the ones that have made me the proudest in my whole teaching career. These are the hardest earned matric results there have ever been,” she said.
“You put your heads down and just kept going. You’ve got coping skills that no other year has had before.”
