Academic

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Introduction

At Bishops we subscribe to the adage that ‘education is what remains with a person when he has forgotten everything he was taught’. We do indeed have a proud tradition of success in examinations; perhaps more importantly, boys find themselves able to cope when they go on to further study.

But while excellence can most easily be measured by results and qualifications, there is more to it than that: indeed, we believe that this kind of success is an inevitable by-product of good teaching – actually, of good education.

Assessment

Fundamental to the changes that have been taking place in education in this country is the notion of Outcomes-Based Education: rather than viewing each subject as a body of knowledge that must be acquired, this looks more holistically at the nature and the value of education, and so the ‘content’ for each subject, and the skills and values it brings, as well as the way in which it is taught, have been reviewed. A set of ‘critical outcomes’ has been developed, and each subject in its own way is expected to contribute to those outcomes, as well as to ones more specific to its own area of interest. Of course it is necessary to assess how well skills, attitudes and values have been acquired by pupils, but this is ideally done by means of assessment which is ‘criterion-referenced’ rather than ‘norm-based’: in other words, the issue is whether a student can demonstrate the right skills and knowledge, rather than whether he can score better marks than his neighbour in tests. Much of the assessment in each subject happens on an on-going basis, leading to a Continuous Assessment mark that has to be merged with marks obtained from more traditional timed tests or exams in order to arrive at the overall picture. Work that is produced and assessed is collated into a portfolio, which thus holds the evidence of regular and varied assessment.

Class Size

At the core of the Bishops academic system are two fundamental notions: first, class size is restricted to 24 except in special cases; second, staff are engaged in order to contribute to the teaching in just one subject, which means that they are able to devote their energies in just one direction and become even greater experts in their field. Where possible each staff member has his or her own dedicated classroom, fully equipped as the needs of the subject dictate, and serving not just as a teaching venue but as a subject-specific environment. This also means that members of staff are easy to find in the event of queries or a need for clarification or extra help.

School Day

The school day normally has six teaching periods, each of 45 minutes; the first class starts at 8.35 a.m., after Chapel and the Tutor period, and the last afternoon class finishes at 3.15 p.m. Between those periods are either significant breaks or an interval of 5 minutes to allow boys ample time to move from one classroom to another while also clearing their minds in readiness for the next lesson. The timetable ensures that all boys are engaged in a class for all periods, and in many cases all the boys of a Grade are taking lessons in the same subject at the same time – this makes it easy when a boy needs to change set. The timetable operates on a ten-day (i.e. two-week) cycle.

Streaming

In some subjects (notably English, Mathematics and Afrikaans) boys are assigned to groups according to their ability; in the initial stages a boy might be misjudged, but then the grouping would be adjusted: the aim is that each boy should be in a set which is stretching and yet within his reach. There are frequent tests and assignments which all boys in a Grade do and which provide an objective framework on which to judge each one’s ability relative to the others.

Of course, what really matters is whether a boy is doing as well as he can, not whether he is doing better than others; many subjects, either for pedagogical or for timetabling reasons, do not have streamed sets.

Grade 8 and 9

In all our Grades our academic programme accords with the national government’s requirements. In Grades 8 and 9, therefore, all boys cover the same 11 subjects:

  • English
  • Second Language
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Biology
  • Life Orientation
  • History
  • Geography
  • Arts & Culture
  • Economic and Management Science
  • Technology
In addition each class has a period of Divinity once per fortnight.

The second language is either Afrikaans or Xhosa, though for those who are exempt from the requirement to take a second official language (in essence, those who started their schooling in South Africa after Grade 6) French is the option. Arts & Culture is handled in four streams (Music, Drama, Art, French), with a good deal that is common across those streams.

Senior Grades

During the second half of his Grade 9 year a boy must choose his subjects for Gr 10 and beyond, where the requirement is that he will take:
two languages;
Maths (or Maths Literacy);
Life Orientation;
and then three from
Physical Science; Life Sciences; History; Geography; Accounting; Economics; Information Technology; French; Music; Visual Art

The only restriction is that he must do at least one of Physical Science or Life Sciences (and if he is taking Maths Literacy then Accounting, Physical Science and IT are not allowed). While the total number of subjects offered may not seem very great, the number of possible combinations is: the 144 boys in Gr 10 between them are taking over 60 different subject combinations. For boys who are interested in IT, we run an aptitude test to try and establish ahead of time which of them might experience significant difficulties and should therefore be warned from the outset. It is possible to change subjects after the start of the Grade 10 year, but increasingly difficult as time passes and significant material has been covered.

 

Homework

Homework is an essential part of schooling, and all pupils are expected to do homework daily during school terms. The purposes of homework include follow-up from the day’s lesson; exercises designed for practice; preparation for the next lesson; working on projects and assignment scheduled in the term planner. Homework also encourages self-study practices, and allows for development of self-discipline and time-management skills. The expectation is that pupils should be doing about two hours of homework each night. In Grades 8 and 9, there is a set timetable of homework allocations, with each subject being given its allocation during the two-week cycle. In Grade 10, 11 and 12, the work is usually scheduled on a block system, whereby homework is set on Mondays for Thursdays and on Thursdays for Mondays.

Reporting

At the end of every year, and in the middle, a full-scale set of examinations is held; the results from these are merged with the results from Continuous Assessment activities. During these weeks there are also opportunities to run extended exercises or activities for which a normal period is too short. Each teacher writes a comment on the performance and attitude of each of the boys he or she teaches, and these reports are then collated and presented, with a record of marks scored, to parents in a booklet. In the junior grades, CASS generally accounts for 75 % of the final mark, while in the senior grades the proportion is reversed, with 75 % being derived from the exams themselves.

From Grade 10 onwards, other reports on progress are produced more regularly, as Mark Reports; these contain for each subject an indication (as a percentage) of performance levels and a symbol indicating level of effort apparent. In some cases a brief comment might be made as well. There are four of these Mark Reports per year.

In Grade 8 and 9, during the first and fourth terms, we hold a Portfolio Review: during these sessions parents are invited to come and view, with the boy, the portfolio of work that their son has collated for each of his subjects; after that there is an opportunity for them to meet the various teachers and hear more directly about their son’s progress and performance. The marks are also collated onto a sheet similar to the Mark Report used in senior grades.

All marks, comments, reports etc. can be accessed by parents via the myBishopsLife link on the Bishops web-site within a few days of their completion.

Grade 12 Exams

In their final year, Bishops boys write the national school-leaving examinations, as administered by the Western Cape Education Department. These exams have international standing, and are the primary (though not only) basis on which universities and other tertiary institutions make their selections. The final mark for each subject depends partly (25 %) on the portfolio, and for the other 75 % on the exam itself. In addition to the mid-year exams, there are the ‘mock’ ones held shortly before the third term ends: this gives boys invaluable practice at writing full-scale exams on their whole syllabus under stringent conditions. A written report (marks and comments) is provided for parents after this.

Awards

Academic Tie or Jersey
A boy is awarded an Academic Tie once he has achieved three ‘notches’; these can be gained as a consequence of exam performance only, and three of them, not necessarily in successive exams, entitles him to receive the tie. Clearly the tie cannot be gained before June of Grade 9. The criteria for a notch are set out in the table below; note that percentages must be genuinely achieved, not as a result of rounding up (so 74,9% is not called 75%).

 

GET

FET

 

Gr 8 & 9

Gr 10  to 12

Tie:

average of 80 % or         
5 subjects at 80 % 

average of 75 % or         
3 subjects at 80 % 

Jersey:

average of 90 %

average of 85 %

Prizes
At the end of the year, in each Grade and for each subject, a Prize is awarded to the boy with the best performance calculated from his June and November overall percentage (the two results contribute equally). These prizes are book tokens.

Certain other prizes that have been donated over the years and have more particular criteria are also awarded.

The Strakosch Prizes are different, since each one represents a sizeable rebate off fees for the following year. Three are awarded at the end of Grade 10 and 11 to the boys who have the best average in the two exam results (overall, not just written exam) for the year in Maths, in Life Sciences and in Physical Science. Other criteria include: boys on exchange are eligible, and their ‘average’ result is the one result that is recorded (in June); no boy may be awarded two Strakosch prizes in the same year; a boy in Grade 11 is eligible even if he won a prize in Grade 10.

Information and Communcation Technology

The school’s computer network is a sophisticated one allowing for many administrative tasks and advantages; it is also the hub of the computer-based teaching and learning that happens. In Grade 9 all boys acquire a laptop, and with classrooms networked, either by cable or wirelessly, a good deal of teaching is done via the laptop; where material has been prepared beforehand, this would be available through the intranet. The intranet also allows for work to be delivered to boys electronically, and handed back by them on-line, and of course it gives boys easy access to an extensive array of learning programmes, resources, planning materials and storage capacity. The school has a technician on campus to assist when computers give trouble, and if a machine has to be sent away for repair then a temporary loan one is arranged, so that a boy’s ability to work is not interrupted. It goes without saying that using ICT for teaching and learning the subjects in the curriculum also teaches the skills relating to ICT that all pupils need to acquire to be successful in the world at large.

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Nurturing Students

In addition to the mainstream teaching, opportunities for boys to engage and compete in a wider environment are grasped. There are National Olympiads in Mathematics, Science, English and IT; there is a local Science Expo, with winners gong on to a national one; there is a Western Cape Mathematics competition held annually at UCT, and Bishops has often won the inter-schools component of that … but it is vital to nurture not only those boys who are especially talented, but also those who find academic work more difficult. While individual staff members will help with subject-specific concerns, the BSU helps with more general difficulties, and in particular with establishing which boys need extra time in examinations in order to be able to give a fair account of themselves.