Stirling High School Curriculum
Stirling boasts a staff of over 60 with a student-to-staff ratio of 17 to 1 – half the national norm. All staff are well qualified and many are national specialists and examiners in their field, in demand on curriculum, provincial sport and cultural committees. An oft-made comment by parents is that it is clear that every student at Stirling counts, and that there is a noticeably nurturing attitude from teachers. An unsolicited letter from a parent published in a local newspaper said, “the school nurtures and encourages obvious or hidden talents by providing every opportunity for character development. Teachers are confidantes, not camp commanders.”
We aim to provide parents with thorough feedback on the academic progress of their sons and daughters. We have regular Grade Evenings and PTA meetings where all subject teachers are available for consultations with parents. Interviews can be arranged with subject teachers, class teachers and grade heads where necessary. Furthermore, at the end of each term, our parents receive reports with specific comments by subject teachers and general comments from the class teacher and grade head.
Every student (except one) who attended Stirling in the past decade passed their final Matric exams, and the Eastern Cape Education Department regards Stirling as one of the top academic schools in the Eastern Cape.
Stirling has been associated with excellence in Mathematics for decades, from the repeated selection of the Preston brothers to represent South Africa in Maths Olympiads, to the substantial recent funding granted by Anglo-American trusts in recognition of our Maths teaching, to the acknowledgement of Jessica West as the top national Shuttleworth Foundation Hip2B2 Brand Ambassador for Maths, Science and Technology Education. The average size of a senior Maths class is 25.
Stirling is one of the top feeder institutions to Rhodes, NMU, Freestate, Stellenbosch and UCT, who welcome our students. Our past students regularly comment that they were fully prepared for university by attending Stirling and the marks they attain in undergraduate and postgraduate degrees attest to a sound academic foundation. An impressive number of our past pupils have completed Masters and Doctoral degrees. An sms from a past student accepted for Honours at Rhodes University: “I want to thank you for your support. Stirling is the incubator for greatness.”
As part of the agreement with the Education Department when Stirling transformed from a commercial to a mainstream school in 1985, we retained a focus on financial and business subjects. We offer Business Studies and Accounting and are one of the few schools to offer Economics. Stirling Matric results in all three business subjects are often the leading marks in the province and a significant number of Stirling students have gone on to become CA’s and business leaders in town.
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