Stanger Manor Secondary School

Stanger Manor Secondary School is a public high school located in Stanger, KwaDukuza, on the north coast of South Africa.

Academic history
Stanger Manor Secondary first opened its doors to students on July 21, 1980. The first batch of matriculants sat for the Senior Certificate Examination in December 1983 with an 82% pass rate. The percentage pass rate progressively improved to 97.5% in 1987. The number of distinctions increased over the years; in 1987, Basil Dhaniram came twelfth in the top twenty among all the candidates in South Africa. Raveen Parbhoosing obtained the highest marks among the candidates in the House of Delegates Science Olympiad and won a sponsored trip to London to attend the Science Conference. In 1988, Camantha Reddy obtained the highest marks in the home Economics Olympiad.

During the 1990s, the school celebrated 10 years since it first opened; the occasion was marked by a celebration day. In these 10 years the school has also produced athletes: he physical facilities at the school have undergone renovations over the years, including a double tennis court, a double cricket net, a basketball/volleyball court, and a swimming pool.

In 2005, the school celebrated 25 years since it first opened. The occasion was marked by having a celebration day at school.

In 2007, five students from the school were among the top 10 in the Ilembe region with the top five learners averaging close to a 100% aggregate. The class of 2007’s performance won the school a sponsorship from The Anglo American Mathematics Trust, which paid for a state-of-the-art mathematics center which was completed in 2009. The school also allows other schools in the district to make use of it.

In 2008, the school was again one of the best performing schools under the new curriculum statement, and the learners again featured in the top achievers among the Ilembe region, featuring 3rd, 4th and fifth, with the school gaining special praise from the department of education officials.

In 2011 the school once again achieved the top 5 Matrics in the Ilembe region. In 2012 the schools Matrics achieved the second, third, and fourth positions in the Ilembe region. The matric class of 2018 brought huge accolades to the school. The school achieved first, third, fifth and eight position in the Ilembe district.

Sport
The school has a tennis court, netball field, football field, volleyball field, and swimming pool. The school does especially well in cricket and its sport achievements feature in local newspapers. Students have been selected to represent Natal and South Africa in their respective sporting categories.

Participation in International Conference
Every year one or more students from the school are chosen to attend an international conference that is held in various parts of the world, mainly European. Countries, include the UK, Sweden and Germany.

Management
The school runs with a 5-day six period cycle which is only changed to accommodate contextual factors such as attrition etc.

Curriculum
All lessons are conducted in English. (Except for lessons in the Additional Languages). Each learner throughout the school (grades 8-12) are required to learn a minimum of 7 different subjects, most of which are compulsory. A learner in the higher grades(10-12) may choose additional extra subjects(up to 3) which are not part of the chosen course. Learners may either choose Afrikaans or Zulu as their 1st additional language.

The grade 8 and 9 subjects are a set list of:

English(Language, literature and writing), Mathematics, Afrikaans or Zulu(Language, literature and writing), Life Orientation, Technology, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Creative Arts

The higher grade(10-12) subjects are chosen by a course selection or by high number of subject requests. Subjects are:

Compulsory: English(Language, literature and writing), Afrikaans or Zulu(Language, literature and writing), Mathematics or Mathematics literacy and Life Orientation. Student Selections: Physical Science, Life Science, Accounting, Information Technology, Engineering Graphics and Design, Geography, Travel and Tourism and Consumer Studies.

The school has over forty classrooms and specialised rooms include the Science Lab, Biology Lab, Consumer Studies room, Library, I.T. (Computer) room, Mathematics Center and two Engineering Graphics and Design rooms.

The five major blocks in the school are the Junior Block, the Senior Block, Science Block, Heads of Department (H.O.D.) Block and Technical Drawing (T.D.) Block.

In 2012/2013 the Department of Education (South Africa) announced that all South African schools will now follow the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) curriculum.