Jacobsdal Landbouskool (Jacobsdal)

Jacobsdal Landbouskool. A landbou school in Jacobsdal, Free State. Broe, the name of the town is literally in the name of the school, which tells you everything you need to know about the options available. You are not choosing between schools here. You are choosing between this and the nearest thorn bush. 313 learners, 22 teachers, ratio of 14.2 to 1. That is actually not bad, that is almost intimate. Your teacher knows your name, your surname, your ouma's name, and exactly which farm you come from. There is nowhere to hide in this school. You cannot skip class and claim you were in a different block. There is only one block. It is Jacobsdal. But then. 100% matric pass rate. One hundred percent. Eish. Suddenly I feel bad for laughing. These kids are out here in the middle of the Free State, no boarding facilities, presumably surviving on biltong and determination, and they passed everyone. Every single one. While some fancy Northern Suburbs school with a swimming pool and a "holistic development ethos" is sitting at 94% wondering where it went wrong. Jacobsdal did not come to play. Jacobsdal came to farm, and apparently also to absolutely dominate matric. Overall verdict: Looks like a school a GPS refuses to find, but it is quietly producing results that would embarrass schools three times its size and ten times its fees.