‘Change the way you look at things’

A data-driven approach is the key to Alexandria High School’s steady rise from the 2022 crisis of a 36% pass rate to 75% in 2025. Principal Eleanor Taai credits the Department of Basic Education’s all-round dashboard for providing the data necessary to mprove. 

“It’s a national database that contains all the information about every school, from infrastructure to academics,” Taai said. 

 Based on that information, Taai made the projections that saw the school step up a neat 10%, year by year since she stepped into her position in Januiary 2023 (2023: 55% pass rate; 2024: 65%; 2025: 75%). 

“The plan is to get to 80-plus this year,” she said. 

Discipliine was one of Taai’s first targets when she arrived at the school three years ago. 

“We now have systems in place to hold people accountable, and that has improved overall discipline in the school,” she said. 

She is full of praise for the teachers. 

“Their commitment was awesome,” she said. “Every Saturday, every holiday, even teachers who live out of town would come for our Grade 12s’ extra classes. They made big sacrifices.” 

Taai also expressed gratitude to Ndlambe Municipality for supporting the school’s extra classes. 

The school achieved two distinctions (Afrikaans and Business Studies). There were 12 Bachelor passes, 16 Diploma passes and five Higher Certificates. But what Taai is very pleased about are “lots of high-level 6es and 5s”. 

For the 2026 cohort, teachers have already identified learners who in Grade 11 showed that they would need extra support. 

“Those intervention classes where they get individual attention from the teachers start in February,” Taai said. 

2025 had been a tough year, with a two-teacher deficit. 

“Some classes had no teacher for the whole year,” she said.  

The teachers had spread the extra workload among themselves to ensure there would at least be a teacher in every classroom, every period. 

“Everyone is occupied with work they are not supposed to be teaching, but we have to make do with our existing staff.” 

With two feeder schools, Klipfontein Primary and Alexandria Full Service School, classes are large. The total 2026 enrolment is 646 and there are 19 teachers. Taai herself teaches Afrikaans Home Language to Grade 12s. 

Strong on leadership, she says the school’s theme for the year is ‘Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change’. 

• This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January 15, 2026. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays