St John’s College’s 2025 matric class raises the bar with 558 distinctions

St John’s College celebrates the exceptional achievements of its Matric Class of 2025 in the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) examinations. All 149 students contributed to our 100% tertiary pass rate, with 146 securing a Bachelor's Degree pass.

These results demonstrate outstanding performance in subjects with substantial cohorts, including Afrikaans, Dramatic Arts, English, Geography, History, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences. Distinction rates and averages are well above IEB benchmarks, reflecting years of dedicated teaching and sustained student effort that define the St John's journey.

Many of our students improved significantly this year, moving up symbols and overcoming real challenges. We celebrate that growth.

“We are proud of the Class of 2025, with 138 students earning at least one distinction. This reflects well on both our students and their teachers. At St John's, we do not take the easy path. Our academic framework is rigorous by design, requiring every student to take either Physical or Life Sciences, and often both, alongside Mathematics, Languages, and the Humanities. This breadth matters because we're not just producing high achievers. We're developing independent thinkers with the intellectual stamina and skills to succeed at university and beyond.” - Vanessa Govender, Deputy Head: Academics.

“The Class of 2025 has achieved something special. As I begin my journey at St John's, I want to acknowledge former Executive Headmaster Stuart West, under whose leadership these young men have flourished. I congratulate them and our exceptional teaching staff, and I'm grateful to our parents for their partnership. This is the kind of excellence that defines St John's." - Dale Jackson, Executive Headmaster

Highlights

• 149 students achieved 558 distinctions
• 3,7 distinctions per candidate
• One student achieved 11 distinctions
• Three students achieved 10 distinctions
• Five students achieved 9 distinctions
• 11 students achieved 8 distinctions
• 12 students achieved 7 distinctions
• 93% of students achieved at least one distinction
• 60% of students who took Mathematics achieved a distinction, returning 78 distinctions. Luke Brickhill achieved 99%.
• Siza Gule achieved 100% in Dramatic Arts.
• Two members of the Class of 2025, Siza Gule and Menzi Bongwe, have already been accepted to Harvard University through the Early Action Program.

ISC Distinctions (International Secondary Certificate)

• 49 Students achieved distinctions in the Further Studies subjects, including 24 students with distinctions in Further Studies Mathematics Extended, 12 students in Further Studies Mathematics Standard, eight students in Further Studies English and five in Further Studies Physics. 

IEB Recognition

• Five students were placed on the IEB Outstanding Achievement list.
• Five students were placed on the IEB Commendable Achievement list.
• 36 (6 in Further Studies) subject results were placed in the top 1% of all IEB candidates in South Africa.

Academic Excellence

• Mathematics: 87,25% (130) student uptake (significantly higher than the IEB uptake of 58,8%), with an average of 79.6% (14,23% above the IEB average) and 78 distinctions. 76,5% of students achieved above 60%, a frequently used minimum for entry into university courses requiring mathematical competence. One student achieved 99%.
• Physical Sciences: 74,5% students (111) uptake (compared to the IEB’s 38,2%), with an overall average of 72.4% (11,36% above the IEB average) and 38 distinctions.
• Life Sciences: 61,1% (91) student uptake, returning an average of 74% and 35 distinctions.
• Information Technology: Average of 84.8% with 40 distinctions out of 57 students.
• English: Average of 76.2% (7,9% above the IEB average) with 47 distinctions out of 149.
• Afrikaans: Average of 74.5% with 44 distinctions out of 100.
• isiZulu: Average of 71.1% with 12 distinctions out of 44.
• Life Orientation: Average of 79.5% with 87 distinctions out of 149.
• Dramatic Arts: 36 students returned an average of 89.1% with 31 distinctions. One student achieved 100%.
• History: 109 students achieved an average of 77.8% with 59 distinctions.
• Geography: 22 students achieved an average of 70.5% with 8 distinctions.
• French: 16 students achieved an average of 80.2% with 9 distinctions.
• German: Two students achieved an average of 79.5% with 1 distinction.
• Latin: Two students achieved an average of 87%, both returning distinctions.
• Music: Four students achieved an average of 85.8% with 4 distinctions.
• ABRSM Music: Two students achieved an average of 82% with 2 distinctions.
• Visual Arts: 10 students achieved an average of 82% with 6 distinctions.

Top Achievers: Students with an overall average of 90%+

Ruhan Gosai, 94% with 10 distinctions. English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Information Technology and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended, Further Studies English and Further Studies Physics.

Siza Gule, 94% with 9 distinctions. English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Dramatic Arts (100%), French Second Additional Language and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies English.

Luca van Tonder, 93.8% with 11 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Information Technology, Latin Second Additional Language, Life Sciences, ABRSM Music and Physical Sciences, as well as  Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies Physics.

Luke Brickhill, 93.5% with 10 distinctions. English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics (99%), History, Information Technology and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended, Further Studies English and Further Studies Physics.

Ethan Wilcocks, 93.3% with 8 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Dramatic Arts, History, and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended.

Tom Dewar, 92,9% with 8 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, History, Information Technology and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended.

Jack Logan, 92,7% with 8 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Dramatic Arts, Information Technology, Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended.

Cayde Bricknell, 92.3% with 10 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, History, Latin Second Additional Language, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies English.

Menzi Bongwe, 91.8% with 9 distinctions. English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Dramatic Arts, History and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies English.

Jason Aspoas, 91.4% with 9 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, Information Technology, Music and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies Physics.

Leo Chen, 90.6% with 9 distinctions. English Home Language, Afrikaans, Life Orientation, Mathematics, History, Information Technology and Physical Sciences, as well as Further Studies Mathematics Extended and Further Studies Physics.

Tsiamo Mabiletsa, 90.4% with 7 distinctions. English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Life Orientation, Mathematics, History, Information Technology, Physical Sciences and Further Studies Mathematics Standard. 

IEB Outstanding Achievement List

(Achieving within the top 5% of IEB candidates in six or more subjects, as well as a distinction for  Life Orientation).

Tom Dewar, Ethan Wilcocks, Luca van Tonder, Ruhan Gosai and Luke Brickhill have been recognised on the IEB Outstanding Achievements list.

IEB Commendable Achievement List

(Achieving within the top 5% of IEB candidates in five subjects, as well as a distinction for Life Orientation).

Menzi Bongwe, Cayde Bricknell, Siza Gule, Jack Logan, and Tsiamo Mabiletsa earned their place on the IEB Commendable Achievement list.

Students Achieving in the Top 1% of Candidates per Subject

English Home Language: Cayde Bricknell, Ruhan Gosai, Ethan Wilcocks, Siza Gule, Luca van Tonder, Jason Aspoas, Menzi Bongwe, Tom Dewar, Luke Brickhill, Jack Logan and Tinxuan Wang.

Afrikaans First Additional Language: William Jones

Life Orientation: Ruhan Gosai

Mathematics:Luke Brickhill, Cayde Bricknell, Jack Logan, Luca van Tonder and Ruhan Gosai.

Dramatic Arts: Siza Gule, Matthew Liss, Atlegang Seboni and Jack Logan.

French Second Additional Language: Liso Siswana

History: David Hemphill, Nicholas Morrell, Luke Brickhill and Ethan Wilcocks.

Information Technology:Tom Dewar, Leo Chen, Luke Brickhill, Luca van Tonder, Sameer Kanjee and Akani Baloyi.

Life Sciences: Ruhan Gosai

Physical Sciences: Ruhan Gosai

Visual Arts: Davrin Gillot

Further Studies Mathematics: Finance: Cayde Bricknell

Further Studies Mathematics: Matrices and Graph Theory: Ryan Osler (Grade 11)

Further Studies Mathematics: Calculus and Algebra: Leo Chen, Arif Osman and Jack Logan

Further Studies Physics: Leo Chen