School where nothing less than 100% will do

His reaction might seem strange, given that the rural no-fee school is sorely lacking in resources and funding. But this is no ordinary school.

Situated about 60km from Polokwane, Limpopo, it produced South Africa's top 2016 maths pupil from a quintile 1 school. Seven other matrics got seven distinctions each, while the school was one of the province's top five performers. Limpopo had a 68.2% matric pass rate.

In the past few years, five pupils from the school have been among the country's top-performing matriculants in maths and physics.

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So nothing less than a 100% pass rate will make Matsapola happy. Despite his disappointment, he credits community support, teacher commitment and pupil dedication as the main ingredients for the school's success.

But there is also its work ethic. Dendron has a compulsory schedule of extra lessons, introduced in 2003.

In addition to normal school hours of 7am to 4.30pm, matric and Grade 11 pupils have to attend extra lessons on weekdays from 6pm to 11pm, on Saturdays from 4.30pm to 11pm, and twice on Sundays, from 2pm to 4pm and 6pm to 11pm.

And there's no letting up during the holidays.

Science and maths teacher Nathaniel Masetsa said this allowed them to finish the matric syllabus in May. "For the rest of the year we focus on revision, preparation for the preliminary exams and any challenges learners may experience.

"Our matric programme starts as early as December the previous year," he said.

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And it has paid off, with the school achieving a 100% pass rate between 2003 and 2008.

"We are very ambitious," said Matsapola. "Maybe it is because of our rural background, hence we want our learners to get the best education."

But he said the Department of Basic Education's policy to "push learners through to Grade 12 when they were not ready" had affected the pass rate. Of the 266 pupils who wrote matric at the school last year, seven failed.

"Teachers are at the school 14 hours a day during the week to assist our matric learners," Matsapola said. "Parents also support everything that we do. For example, if we need to take learners for science practicals at the University of Limpopo or the Vuwani Science Centre, they will organise transportation and at times fundraise for those pupils who cannot afford it."

Karabo Moremi, 18, is the country's top maths achiever from a quintile 1 school.

"I just studied well in advance. Every time I wrote a test, I would study as if it was my final exam," said Moremi, who obtained six distinctions.