2024 matric results: Top-performing private schools in South Africa

Despite their costly tuition fees, private schools in South Africa are known for their prestige and excellent results year-on-year – but some are the cream of the crop.

The perception that private schools provide a superior education is why many parents opt to send their children to these schools in South Africa.

Private schools generally offer smaller class sizes, more individual attention, and access to highly qualified teachers due to having more funding than their public counterparts.

These differences seemed to reflect in their 2024 matric results, with the Department of Basic Education publishing the final National Senior Certificate results for the matric year showing a 4.4 percentage point increase in the pass rate to 87.3%.

Reaching above this, on Monday (13 January), the IEB announced an overall pass rate of 98.47% for its 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations—a marginal increase from the 98.46% recorded in 2023.

The IEB and its board congratulated the matric class of 2024 and extended congratulations to their teachers, parents, guardians, and all those who supported the learners in their studies.

Confidence Digole, CEO of the lEB, said the Class of 2024 is a testament to resilience and perseverance, having faced the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic during their formative high school years.

“In Grade 8, amidst the severe lockdown of 2020, they encountered disruptions to foundational learning, adapted to new modes of education, and navigated the psychological impacts of uncertainty and isolation.

“While these challenges may not have directly affected their Grade 12 year, they undoubtedly shaped their academic journey.

“Their ability to overcome these obstacles highlights their determination and commitment, making their achievements in the 2024 NSC examinations even more commendable,” said Dikgole.

Interestingly, all the top 10 independent girls’ schools on this list achieved more distinctions per candidate than all the top boy’s schools – with the exception of St John’s College.

The same is true for most of the co-educational schools, with the top five achieving an average of over 3.5 distinctions per candidate.

St John’s College topped the all-boys schools, reporting an average of 3.2 distinctions per candidate.

St David’s Marist Inanda followed this in second with three distinctions, and Michaelhouse is third with 2.60 distinctions.

Comparatively, Roedean School for Girls is the top achiever among all-girls schools, reporting an impressive 4.42 distinctions per candidate.

This was followed by St Mary’s Waverly (3.2), Herschel Girls’ School (3.65), St Stithians Girls College (3.62), and St Anne’s Diocesan College and St Cyprian’s School, which tied for fifth with 3.5 distinctions.

Co-educational schools also produced some notable results, with SAHETI and Crawford College Sandton topping the lot with an average of 4.5 and 4.27 distinctions per candidate. Somerset College is third with 4.2 distinctions, while King David Linksfield (3.73) and Helpmekaar Kollege (3.53) rounded out the top five.

Combining these subcategories to list the top 10 best-performing private schools, the ranking comprises all-girls and co-educational schools, without any top all-boys schools.

The top 10 overall best-performing schools are:

1. SAHETI – co-educational
2. Roedean – all-girls
3. Crawford College Sandton – co-educational
4. Somerset College – co-educational
5. St Mary’s Waverly – all-girls
6. King David Linksfield – co-educational
7. Herschel Girls’ School – all-girls
8. St Stithians Girls College – all-girls
9. Helpmekaar Kollege – co-educational
10. Redhill School – co-educational

The tables below rank the top 10 girls, boys, and co-educational schools based on their average distinctions per candidate and how much they cost per year in school fees.

Note: we looked at the most expensive schools in South Africa and how they compared academically. Due to the large number of IEB schools across South Africa (around 256), well-known schools with some of the highest fees were considered. 

The top girls’ schools 

The top boys’ schools

The top co-educational schools 

Read: Most expensive private schools in South Africa in 2025 – with one over R400,000 a year