Cornwall Hill matriculant beats school’s record with 15 distinctions

Cornwall Hill College matriculant Luke Andrews has hit a record first at the Centurion school by receiving 15 distinctions.

Private-school pupils who wrote through the Independent Examination Board (IEB) achieved a 98.42% pass rate in 2022.

Cornwall Hill received a 100% pass rate, with Andrews, who took an additional eight subjects, leading. These included IT, Computer Applications Technology and Advanced Mathematics. He worked on these outside school hours, he said.

“It was a rough year. The most hectic part was the exams because you don’t have much time to study with so many. But it comes down to the school and a lot of teachers supported and believed in me. My parents were also really supportive and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support,” he said.

Andrews received the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award for the Most Outstanding Exhibit in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in March last year.

He has been offered the University of Pretoria's vice-chancellor’s Merit Award and plans to study mechanical engineering there.

“Given talent, you must use it to the best of your ability,” said Andrews.

Cornwall Hill's 144 matriculants received 398 distinctions.

Stephan Botha received seven distinctions despite undergoing a bone-marrow transplant in matric. This meant he missed the third term and preliminary exams. He was diagnosed with leukaemia in April 2021, he told TimesLIVE.

Not only were Botha and his family happy about his unexpected distinctions, he was also cleared of leukaemia earlier this month.

“I am feeling good. I went for tests at the beginning of this year and it was clean. The cancer is gone. I am so relieved. I will be going to Wits University [in Johannesburg] to study chemical engineering.”

The school made headlines in 2021 because of allegations of racism, but changes have since taken place. 

Salminah Sebola, a former member of the student executive council who received six distinctions, said: “There are new black teachers who teach accounting and business studies, and there are a lot of intern teachers who are black.

“Since the protest, there has been no racial incident that I am aware of.”

Sebola will study chemical engineering at Stellenbosch University.

“I know the university is known for racism incidents, but it is one of the best on the continent,” she said.

TimesLIVE

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