Matric students at Somerset College have once again excelled in their final examinations with a 100% pass rate. 105 students sat for the IEB Senior Certificate Examination, of these 103 (98%) achieved a Bachelor's Degree pass and 2 candidates (2%) a Diploma pass.

The school's top achievers were Louwrens Botha, Gerard de Vink and Michael Kloos, the College's dux pupil for 2009. They were ranked in the ‘Commendable Achievement' category, and fall in the top 5% of IEB learners in 5 subjects and with a rating of 7 for Life Orientation. Chloë Woodin also did well and achieved 7A's in all 7 subjects.

The following candidates were ranked within the top 1% of IEB learners in the subject indicated: Louwrens Botha (Afrikaans Home Language / English Home Language), Gerard de Vink (Afrikaans First Additional Language), Frances Foster (Mathematical Literacy), Michael Kloos (IT / Physical Science), Adam Plantinga (Geography / Mathematics / Physical Science), Meike Rubow (Mathematical Literacy), Kerry Searle (Geography) and Chloë Woodin (Physical Science).

Headmaster of Somerset College's Senior School, Mr Dave Campbell, was very pleased with the results, which included a high percentage of subject distinctions. "The excellent achievements are the result of continuous hard work on the part of both the students and their teachers, and the results speak for themselves. We are delighted to have such a high percentage of Bachelor Degree passes."

Nationally over 97% of candidates passed this year's National Senior Certificate examination conducted by the Independent Examinations Board (IEB). Of the 8 056 pupils from 168 schools, 79.54% of the candidates qualified for university entry.