South Africa’s top boys’ school with over three distinctions per matriculant

·1 Apr 2025

St John’s College in Johannesburg is the top-performing boys’ school in South Africa, outperforming St David’s Marist, Michaelhouse, and Hilton College.

St John’s College is a Christian African school that accepts boys from Grade 0 to Grade 12 into the pre-preparatory, preparatory and college.

It was established in 1898 as a parish school of St Mary’s Anglican Church in Eloff Street in downtown Johannesburg.

The founding members were the Rev John Darragh, the rector of St Mary’s Church, and the Rev Joseph Hodgson, the first headmaster.

The school opened its doors on 1 August 1898 in a villa in Plein Street. On that day, only six boys enrolled.

It grew rapidly, and by the end of the first term of 1899, more than a hundred boys were enrolled at St John’s.

In January 1906, a new headmaster, Father James Okey Nash CR, assumed office. He envisaged a school like the great English public schools.

He relocated St John’s to Houghton Ridge, which the school could purchase through a 5,000-pound donation from diamond magnate Sir Thomas Cullinan.

The St John’s school buildings, as they stand today, are a tribute to the architect Sir Herbert Baker, who designed the earlier buildings which set the theme.

He drew up the master plan, followed by his partner, Frank Fleming, and to the man who started it all, Reverend James Nash, headmaster from 1907 to 1917.

Baker and Fleming designed all the buildings in the school complex created before 1946, and most of those up to the present are per Baker’s master plan of 1907.

Deane Yates, the first headmaster of the College who was not an ordained priest, transformed St John’s in the fifties and sixties.

He significantly expanded the school’s buildings to enable it to remain a leading educational institution in South Africa.

He also initiated the endowment of Foundation Scholarships, which made St John’s accessible to boys who could not afford it.

Today, St John’s is one of South Africa’s pre-eminent schools, with a reputation for excellence in sports, academics, and cultural activities.

St John’s one of the top schools in South Africa

In 2003, Africa Almanac ranked St John’s College eleventh among the top 100 best high schools in Africa.

This ranking was based on the quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, the school profile, and news visibility.

St John’s College backed up this reputation through excellent results in the 2024 IEB matric examinations.

In the 2024 academic year, St John’s College achieved 3.2 distinctions per matriculant, higher than St David’s Marist’s 3.0 and Michaelhouse’s 2.6.

“With a 100% tertiary pass rate, 124 achieved Bachelor’s Degree passes, and the class earned 401 distinctions, averaging 3.2 distinctions per student,” St John’s said.

Three students earned spots on the IEB Outstanding Achievement list, and one on the Commendable Achievement list. 16 subject results placed in the top 1% nationally.

The school’s exceptional academics produced numerous notable alumni, including former Anglo American CEO Tony Trahar, academic Tshilidzi Marwala, and historian Eric Rosenthal.

The school also has a rich sporting history. It has been an integral part of the St John’s education from the very inception of the college in 1898.

In the early days, when the school was still located in downtown Johannesburg, the focus was principally on cricket, football, gymnastics and cross-country.

After the school relocated to Houghton in 1907, it began developing sports facilities to accommodate other disciplines.

St John’s College has many notable alumni who excelled in sports, including cricketer Clive Rice, cyclist Chris Froome, and rower David Hunt.