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Those are your lotto winning numbers mense! Seriously though, those were the pass percentage increase rates at Marian Roman Catholic Girls' High School over the last 3 years.
It is an incredible achievement, especially considering that this school is situated in Matroosfontein, in an area where residents speak about gang-violence and daily shooting like children in the Royal Court School in the Kingdom of Bahrain would talk about daddy’s oil money.
Relax, the reference will become clear later. I spoke to Marian High Acting Principal, Melissa Bailey about this milestone, which was unexpectedly crowned, the very next day, 29 January 2026, when the school was awarded the 6th Most Improved School in the Western Cape. Okay, you can close your mouth now.
"We are the top school in the area," Melissa says, with all the grinning that you’d expect on the face of the cat who stole the cream.
Hard Work and Tireless Dedication
“But it’s definitely not all me, I mean I’ve only been here since November last year. All credit has to go to the staff and teachers. These guys put in the effort and they do it with intentional passion.”
The teachers give extra lessons every Saturday for two hours and learners even get to enjoy a free meal on occasion.
“What happened 3 years ago,” says Melissa, “is that the staff, teachers and learners literally said enough is enough when they realized they were being labelled as under-achievers. And a collective consciousness was developed to instill a culture of excellence at the school.”
This culture is manifest daily by reminders of simple things like how to write a paragraph correctly, and the school’s mission statement, and its targets which are up on the wall in every single class room every single day.
Clearly this manifestation has paid off as the statistics and awards demonstrate.
Melissa adds, “The team, before I got here, also instituted a kind of alumni program where they regularly invite successful former learners to come and address the girls. This gives them real and relatable proof that there is an option for a successful life after school and outside of their challenging community dynamic, and more importantly, that the choice is in their hands.”
There’s also been a predictable, even though incredulous consequence of the teachers’ dedication. “The school has become the anchor of this community, a safe-haven even. Just the other day, when the gunshots rang out again, children close enough, ran to the school for safety, not to their homes.”
Insanity
I’m sure readers of this article from the Royal Court School in Bahrain would find the concept of going to school in a crime infested, bullet riddled environment just as insane as Marian High learners would have found Melissa’s experience when she taught at said school in an environment of great wealth and safety.
Melissa Bailey, third from left, and some of the staff making a difference at Marian High
“I spent five years there and you (and the school) literally want for nothing, from technology to every possible thing you could need to aid the learning experience. But having had both experiences, I find immense motivation to unlock the potential in the lives of the incredible learners of our community, because they are the future, and they will break the cycle with our help and who knows, one day may even become the Queens of their own Queendom.”
*Explainer: A Queendom refers to a territory, state, or community ruled by a queen. It denotes the realm, power, or dominion of a female monarch, often representing a sphere of influence where a woman holds authority. The term is also used to describe the position or status of a queen.
