{"id":876019,"date":"2026-09-17T17:25:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876019"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:25:07","slug":"public-afrikaans-school-ranked-top-in-south-africa-beating-most-private-schools-and-costs-only-r5600-per-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/education\/876019\/public-afrikaans-school-ranked-top-in-south-africa-beating-most-private-schools-and-costs-only-r5600-per-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Afrikaans school ranked top in South Africa beating most private schools and costs only R5,600 per month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark is ranked South Africa\u2019s top co-educational Afrikaans high school, recording matric results that put it ahead of hundreds of private schools at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pretoria school achieved an average of 74.34% for its 2025 matric class, with 2.9 distinctions per candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This made Menlopark the highest-ranked co-ed school in the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools (SCS) Top 20 Afrikaans Schools list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ranking is based on the number of distinctions per matric candidate and includes single-medium, dual-medium and parallel-medium schools where at least 15 candidates take Afrikaans Home Language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To qualify for the list, more than a third of the matric group must be Afrikaans-speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menlopark was not the overall top school on the list. The four schools above it were Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool Bloemhof, Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool Paarl, Afrikaans Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool, and Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool La Rochelle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All four are girls\u2019 schools, making Menlopark the highest-ranked school catering for both boys and girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menlopark recorded a 100% pass rate, while 98.48% of its matriculants achieved a Bachelor\u2019s pass. The class average was 74.34%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the individual subjects, learners earned 139 distinctions in Afrikaans, 129 in English, 52 in Mathematics and 36 in Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine learners achieved nine distinctions each, while 10 earned eight distinctions, 14 earned seven and 28 achieved six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IEB data shows that the average number of distinctions per candidate at many private and independent schools is generally between 0.8 and 1.2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While South Africa\u2019s elite independent schools tend to dominate the very top end of the rankings, Menlo has outperformed hundreds of private schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menlopark, commonly known as Menlo, opened its doors on 29 January 1963 as Menloparkse Ho\u00ebrskool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with 372 pupils, 12 teachers and 12 classrooms on the corner of Lynnwood and Atterbury roads in what was then the outskirts of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100% matric pass rate for 40 years in a row <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The school initially catered for Standards 6 to 8, equivalent to Grades 8 to 10 today. It was renamed Die Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark in 1974. Its motto, Excelsa Petamus, means \u201cWe strive for the highest values\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school has had only six headmasters in more than six decades. C.I.S. van der Merwe served the longest, holding the position for 29 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menlopark has also maintained a 100% matric pass rate since 1987, according to the school, while more than 95% of its matriculants achieve a university exemption or Bachelor\u2019s pass each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academics are not the only area in which the school has built a reputation. Menlopark has a strong sporting programme, particularly in athletics, and has a blue tartan track and floodlit stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its alumni include Protea cricketers Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, Theunis de Bruyn and Sun\u00e9 Luus, as well as former Springboks Rudolf Straeuli, Johan Marais and Jacques Olivier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school also has a music academy and choir, while its former pupils include actress Amalia Uys, musician Anri Uys, better known as Yolandi Visser, and writer Marita van der Vyver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business figures among its alumni include FirstRand Group co-founder Laurie Dippenaar and former Eskom chief executive Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this track record, Menlopark’s tuition remains below that of many elite independent schools. For 2026, day-school tuition is R61,600 per year, payable in 11 monthly instalments of R5,600 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For learners requiring boarding, the annual boarding fee is R62,040. Combined with tuition, the total annual cost is R123,640 per learner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is South Africa\u2019s top co-educational Afrikaans high school, recording matric results that put it ahead of hundreds of private schools at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":848550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2100607222560465259","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2208291709991228","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18167387581478605","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26526],"tags":[21845,26558,853],"class_list":["post-876019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-hoerskool-menlopark","tag-solidarity-support-centre","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876019","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=876019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876058,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876019\/revisions\/876058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}