The Academics at Herschel Girls School

Herschel academics has evolved through the years. As new headmistresses came, along with their leadership came different ethics and outlooks on the school’s academic reputation. Through this timeline of past headmistresses, the contrasts between them are displayed, and in doing so will indicate a realisation of the evolvement of our school’s academics.

Miss Ralph

The first Herschel headmistress was Miss Ralph, who blended the societal beliefs of the 1920s into the ethos of Herschel Girls School. She felt it unnecessary to educate women for their careers; instead she believed that the education of girls to become wives and mothers was more important and suitable. Miss Ralph possessed no tertiary qualifications and belonged to a pre-war generation therefore making her ill-equipped to guide a new school. Miss Ralph emphasised the inclusion of the arts in the school curriculum and enforced a more liberal education where examinations and competitiveness always came second to the beauty one could learn from nature, art, literature and music. Within the duration of Miss Ralph’s time as headmistress, the attendance of various concerts, plays and art exhibitions became of primary importance, and in doing so resulted in the neglect of other subjects such as the sciences and mathematics. Even Afrikaans was neglected as Miss Ralph refused its significance in the syllabus. To Miss Ralph, school was the place where “young ladies could acquire a basic education and a veneer of culture”. The careers of these young ladies resulted as marriage, housewifery and motherhood.

By 1926, Herschel started to receive criticism for the school’s lack of academic progress and in attempt to improve this, students were told that they were no longer allowed to drop subjects arbitrarily.

The year of 1933 marked the start of a new Herschel. Miss Harriet Robinson, the new headmistress of Herschel, proved to have rebuilt the school both physically and academically by the time her post as headmistress drew to a close in 1944. Miss Robinson possessed a university degree in botany, a teaching diploma and was Fellow of the Linnaean Society. She belonged to a family who placed high value on education as well as creative arts—this was exactly the sort of atmosphere Herschel desperately needed to adopt. Miss Robinson was required to improve academic performance without losing the cultural enrichment Herschel offered. From 1939 to 1940, re-construction began. New art and music classrooms were installed as well as the Duncan Baxter Library. The Duncan Baxter Library has, since its existence, grown and been altered from a few books to an immense resource centre of fictional, non-fictional and encyclopaedic books and electronic devices such as internet-linked computers, film projectors, video recorders, televisions, photocopiers, printers and more.

In 1945, Miss Barbara Elcome took position as headmistress. Following Miss Elcome, was Miss McLean in 1947, who continued to emphasise the importance of academics. Miss McLean believed that a student should be capable of delivering in an examination under any circumstances, and thus she implemented a routine according to which the students were to write one test every three weeks, unwarned. This enforced the necessity for the girls to focus and work hard during class time, for Miss McLean believed that if one did so in class one would be able to deliver in any examination without the need of additional studying. Miss McLean also implemented Afrikaans as a compulsory subject at Herschel, and in addition to this she also placed intensive emphasis on the academic sciences.

After Mrs McLean’s large emphasis on science, Mrs Kittow would balance this in 1962 by placing equal emphasis on the arts as well as spiritual and moral education. She strongly encouraged the girls to get involved in school activities such as music and drama clubs, the choir and debating. She did, however, add three new laboratories to the science department.

Mrs Silberbauer saw the 1974 change in education policy, where the girls were now to choose subjects in Standard 7 (Grade 9) for Standard 8 (Grade 10) and the level at which they would be taken: either standard or higher grade. This subject choice would determine whether Matriculation Exemption or a school-leaving certificate could be achieved. Mrs Silberbauer could see that the school’s academic facilities were in dire need of attention, and thus she initiated the building of new biology and geography laboratories and numerous academic classrooms. The arts thrived at Herschel with Mrs Silberbauer at the helm, promoting them through the many Herschel plays, music evenings and art exhibitions that she held. Drama became a matric subject, Pottery an eligible subject choice and Domestic Science underwent a name change to Home Economics during her time.

Miss Geldard followed Mrs Silberbauer from 1979 to 1985, leading the school through a time of relatively peaceful consolidation.

Miss Duff was next in line, her main aim was to prepare Herschel for the 21^st century. She placed Herschel in the forefront of development in all fields by upgrading all the school’s facilities, focusing especially on technological aspects. Miss Duff supervised the switch from the JMB examination to the Cape Senior Certificate as well as the building of the theatre 1988. In 1989 she introduced Computer Science as a subject, and approved ceramics as a matric art option. She also introduced an optional first aid course for the girls and encouraged job shadowing through the “Placement Program”.

As the academics at Herschel rapidly continued to progress, Mrs Duff began to realise the importance of academic facilities. She initiated the building of the atrium, resource centre and library, the upgrading of the science laboratories and the modernisation of the home economics classroom. She established a new computer room in 1993, which was moved a year later to the present position of the resource centre. With the new advanced equipment it contained, Herschel was linked to the Internet by August 1994. Mrs Duff’s close attention to promoting academics at Herschel proved beneficial and the school was recognised as one of the best in the country according to its excellent academic performance.  

Methods of Teaching:

Over the past 90 years the method of teaching at Herschel has evolved to now focus primarily on thinking skills, giving way to a more cognitive education. This promotes and enhances the girls’ development of critical, creative and caring mindsets that in turn will serve them in all aspects of life both during and after school. The excellent matric results achieved by the Herschel girls year in and year out are a clear indication of the success of this teaching method, this success would however not be possible were it not for the teachers at Herschel. These teachers have a significant influence on the girls, giving them a sense of security through knowing that they and their subjects are being taken seriously. As said by Mr. Probyn, “Professional teachers produce professional pupils. It can’t happen any other way.”

SUBJECTS OFFERED	THEN (offered at standard or higher grade)	NOW
COMPULSORY	■     Afrikaans ■     Biology ■     English	■     African Language at a 1st Additional or Home Language level ■     English ■     Life Orientation ■     Mathematics (or Mathematical Literacy from grade 11)
GRADE 8 – 9 ONLY		■     International Computer Driving License ■     Technology
FROM GRADE 10	The selection of one subject from each group: 1      Art French Latin 2      Art Domestic Science Mathematics Music 3      Geography History Music Science	The selection of any three (or four) subjects: ■     Accounting ■     Business Studies ■     Consumer Studies ■     Dramatic Arts ■     French (2nd Additional level) ■     Geography ■     German (2nd Additional level) ■     Life Sciences ■     Physical Sciences ■     Music ■     Visual Art ■     Xhosa (2nd Additional level)
Other	■     Typing	■     Advance Programme Mathematics (from Grade 10) ■     Advance Programme English (from Grade 11)

Academic Achievements:

Year:	Recognition:	Pass rate:	Matric Results:	Dux of The School:
1979	3 girls achieved an A-aggregate and 8 achieved a B-aggregate	100%	20 subject distinctions and 39 out of 46 candidates achieved entrance into university.
1981		100%	26 subject distinctions and 39 out of 45 candidates achieved entrance into university.
1985	4 girls achieved an A-aggregate	100%	23 subject distinctions and 40 out of 45 candidates achieved entrance into university.	Marion Bladergroen
1986	Catherine Gibaub placed 6th in SA in English Olympiad	100%		Catherine Gibaub
1988	7 girls achieved an A-aggregate	100%	Obtained the highest percentage, in the Cape, of candidates with A-aggregates	Larissa Peter
1989	5 girls achieved an A-aggregate	100%	25 subject distinctions and 95% of candidates achieved entrance into university.	Sandra van Hoogstraten
1990		100%	82,5% of candidates achieved entrance into university.	Jane Eedes
1993	8 girls achieved an A-aggregate and Nicola Clegg made the top 20 in the Western Cape, achieving 7 distinctions. 18 other girls achieved B-aggregates.	100%	54 subject distinctions and 94,5% of candidates achieved entrance into university.
1995	17 girls with A-aggregates	100%	64 subject distinctions and 94,1% of candidates achieved entrance into university
1996	Dianne Gordon and Patricia Pletzer won 1st prize at Western Cape Science Expo	100%	23 girls with an A-aggregate, 106 subject distinctions and 91,1% of candidates achieved entrance into university	Amy Burdzick
1997	25 girls with an A-aggregate	100%	92 subject distinctions and 93,5% of candidates achieved entrance into university	Kate Bloch
1998	53% of candidates achieved A-aggregates	100%		Mary Haw
1999	Herschel is one of the top schools in SA.	100%	33% of candidates achieved A-aggregates and 98,8% of candidates achieved entrance into university	Amber Kisch
2000	Zoe Beyers is placed 8th in the Western Cape	100%	36% of candidates achieved A-aggregates	Zoe Beyers
2001	Herschel is the top school in the Western Cape, 5th in SA for best national academic results and in the top 36 in SA for achieving 100% pass rate.	100%	222 subject distinctions (average of 2,6 distinctions per candidate) and 98,8%candidates achieved entrance into university	Melissa Loudon (16th in Western Cape)
2002		100%	282 subject distinctions and 73% of candidates achieved A-aggregates	Jennifer de Beyer
2003	Herschel is the top school in the Western Cape.	100%	208 subject distinctions and 48,8% of candidates achieved A-aggregates	Amy Jansen
2004	Herschel is the top school in the Western Cape.	100%	307 subject distinctions and 63 candidates achieved A-aggregates	Nastassja Koen (17th in the Western Cape)
2005		100%	189 subject distinctions and 39 candidates achieved A-aggregates	Karen Lamont
2006	Herschel is the top school in the Western Cape. Herschel achieved top distinction aggregate in Western Cape.	100%	Stephanie Bouwer obtained 8 distinctions. 46 candidates achieved A-aggregates	Nicola McDonald
2007		100%	76 candidates achieved A-aggregates	Lara Sadler
2008		100%	92% of candidates achieved entrance into university	Jenna Nicholls
2009		100%	296 subject distinctions	Alexandra Doyle
2010	An average of 4,21 distinctions per candidate was achieved for matrics of 2010.	100%	413 subject distinctions and 100% of candidates achieved entrance into university.
2011				Caitlin Hayward

Authored by Christa Kotze and Ceilidhe Speirs.