{"id":847575,"date":"2026-01-13T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=847575"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:05:32","slug":"2025-matric-results-top-performing-private-schools-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/847575\/2025-matric-results-top-performing-private-schools-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 matric results: Top-performing private schools in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite their high tuition fees, private schools in South Africa are known for their prestige and excellent results year-on-year. However, some are the cream of the crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perception that private schools provide a superior education is why many parents opt to send their children to these schools in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These differences seemed to reflect in their 2025 matric results, with the Department of Basic Education publishing the final National Senior Certificate results for the matric year showing a pass rate of 88%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the highest level in government history and a 0.7 percentage point increase from the 87.3% recorded in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this record level, the IEB announced on Monday (12 January), an overall pass rate of 98.31% for its 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations\u2014a marginal decrease from the 98.47% recorded in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IEB and its board congratulated the matric class of 2025 and extended congratulations to their teachers, parents, guardians, and all those who supported the learners in their studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidence Digole, CEO of the lEB, said that the drop is not something to be alarmed by, as fluctuations in the pass rate are expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dikgole said that as the IEB continues to grow, small fluctations in the aggregate pass rate are statistically expected and internationally observed in stable assessment systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, almost all of the top 10 independent girls\u2019 schools on this list achieved more distinctions per candidate than all the top boys\u2019 schools, with the exception of St John\u2019s College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true for most of the co-educational schools, with the top five achieving an average of over 4.02 distinctions per candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St John\u2019s College topped the all-boys schools, reporting an average of 3.7 distinctions per candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michaelhouse followed this in second with 2.8 distinctions, and St Benedict’s and St Stithians Boys College tied for third, with 2.72 distinctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparatively, Roedean School for Girls is the top achiever among all-girls schools, reporting an impressive 4.21 distinctions per candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by St Mary\u2019s Waverly (4.15), Durban Girls\u2019 College (4.03), Herschel Girls\u2019 School (3.90), and Kingsmead College (3.92). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-educational schools also produced some notable results, with Redhill School and Midstream College topping the lot with an average of 4.30 and 4.20 distinctions per candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somerset College is third with 4.15 distinctions, while King David Linksfield (3.87) and Crawford College Sandton (3.60) rounded out the top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top schools <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Combining these subcategories to list the top 10 best-performing private schools, the ranking comprises all-girls and co-educational schools, with only one top all-boys school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top 10 overall best-performing schools are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Redhill<\/strong> School<\/strong> \u2013 co-educational<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Roedean School for Girls<\/strong> \u2013 all-girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Midstream College<\/strong> \u2013 co-educational<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. St Mary\u2019s Waverly<\/strong> \u2013 all-girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Somerset College<\/strong> \u2013 co-educational<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Durban Girls\u2019 College<\/strong> \u2013 all-girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Herschel Girls\u2019 School<\/strong> \u2013 all-girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. King David Linksfield<\/strong> \u2013 co-educational<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Kingsmead College<\/strong> \u2013 all-girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. St John\u2019s College<\/strong> \u2013 all-boys<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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, only well-known schools with over 50 matriculants and some of the highest fees were considered. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    The top girls\u2019 schools <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    #<\/th>School<\/th>Location<\/th>Average distinctions<\/th><\/tr>
    1<\/td>Roedean School for Girls<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>4.21<\/td><\/tr>
    2<\/td>St Mary\u2019s Waverly<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>4.15<\/td><\/tr>
    3<\/td>Durban Girls\u2019 College<\/td>Durban, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>4.03<\/td><\/tr>
    4<\/td>Herschel Girls\u2019 School<\/td>Cape Town, Western Cape<\/td>3.90<\/td><\/tr>
    5<\/td>Kingsmead College<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.80<\/td><\/tr>
    6<\/td>St Stithians Girls College<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.55<\/td><\/tr>
    7=<\/td>St Andrew\u2019s School for Girls<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.40<\/td><\/tr>
    7=<\/td>Wykeham Collegiate<\/td>Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>3.40<\/td><\/tr>
    8<\/td>St Cyprian\u2019s School<\/td>Cape Town, Western Cape<\/td>3.30<\/td><\/tr>
    9<\/td>Holy Rosary School<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.21<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    The top boys\u2019 schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    #<\/strong><\/th>School<\/strong><\/th>Location<\/strong><\/th>Average distinctions<\/strong><\/th><\/tr>
    1<\/td>St John\u2019s College<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.70<\/td><\/tr>
    2<\/td>Michaelhouse<\/td>Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>2.80<\/td><\/tr>
    3=<\/td>St Benedict\u2019s College<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>2.72<\/td><\/tr>
    3=<\/td>St Stithians Boys College<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>2.72<\/td><\/tr>
    4=<\/td>Clifton School<\/td>Durban, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>2.60<\/td><\/tr>
    4=<\/td>Kearsney College<\/td>Durban, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>2.60<\/td><\/tr>
    4=<\/td>St David\u2019s Marist Inanda<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>2.60<\/td><\/tr>
    5=<\/td>St Alban\u2019s College<\/td>Pretoria, Gauteng<\/td>2.30<\/td><\/tr>
    5=<\/td>St Andrew\u2019s College<\/td>Makhanda, Eastern Cape<\/td>2.30<\/td><\/tr>
    6<\/td>Hilton College<\/td>Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>2.20<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    The top co-educational schools <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    #<\/strong><\/th>School<\/strong><\/th>Location<\/strong><\/th>Average distinctions<\/strong><\/th><\/tr>
    1<\/td>Redhill School<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>4.30<\/td><\/tr>
    2<\/td>Midstream College<\/td>Olifantsfontein, Gauteng<\/td>4.20<\/td><\/tr>
    3<\/td>Somerset College<\/td>Somerset West, Western Cape<\/td>4.15<\/td><\/tr>
    4<\/td>King David Linksfield<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.87<\/td><\/tr>
    5<\/td>Crawford College Sandton<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.60<\/td><\/tr>
    6<\/td>King David Victory Park<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.44<\/td><\/tr>
    7<\/td>SAHETI<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.30<\/td><\/tr>
    8<\/td>Crawford College La Lucia<\/td>Durban, KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>3.25<\/td><\/tr>
    9<\/td>Helpmekaar Kollege<\/td>Johannesburg, Gauteng<\/td>3.09<\/td><\/tr>
    10<\/td>Glenwood House<\/td>George, Western Cape<\/td>3.05<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Corrections made to the boy’s and co-ed school rankings and text errors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These are the top-performing independent schools across South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":847730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[24424,19133,8580,853],"class_list":["post-847575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-24424","tag-ieb","tag-matric","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847575"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847871,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847575\/revisions\/847871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}