Academic Curriculum and Facilities

Academic Curriculum

Stirling boasts a staff of over 60 with a student-to-staff ratio of 17 to 1 – half the national norm.  All staff are well qualified and many are national specialists and examiners in their field, in demand on curriculum, provincial sport and cultural committees.  An oft-made comment by parents is that it is clear that every student at Stirling counts, and that there is a noticeably nurturing attitude from teachers. An unsolicited letter from a parent published in a local newspaper said, “the school nurtures and encourages obvious or hidden talents by providing every opportunity for character development. Teachers are confidantes, not camp commanders.”

We aim to provide parents with thorough feedback on the academic progress of their sons and daughters. We have regular Grade Evenings and PTA meetings where all subject teachers are available for consultations with parents.  Interviews can be arranged with subject teachers, class teachers and grade heads where necessary. Furthermore, at the end of each term, our parents receive reports with specific comments by subject teachers and general comments from the class teacher and grade head.

Very few students who attended Stirling in the past decade failed their final Matric exams, and the Eastern Cape Education Department regards Stirling as one of the top academic schools in the Eastern Cape.

Stirling has been associated with excellence in Mathematics for decades, from the repeated selection of students to represent South Africa in Maths Olympiads to the substantial funding  over the past decade granted by Anglo-American trusts in recognition of our Maths teaching. The average size of a senior Maths class is 23.

Stirling is one of the top feeder institutions to Rhodes, NMU, Freestate, Stellenbosch and UCT, who welcome our students.  Our past students regularly comment that they were fully prepared for university by attending Stirling and the marks they attain in undergraduate and postgraduate degrees attest to a sound academic foundation. An impressive number of our past pupils have completed Masters and Doctoral degrees. An sms from a past student accepted for Honours at Rhodes University: “I want to thank you for your support. Stirling is the incubator for greatness.”

As part of the agreement with the Education Department when Stirling transformed from a commercial to a mainstream school in 1985, we retained a focus on financial and business subjects.  We offer Business Studies and Accounting and are one of the few schools to offer Economics.  Stirling Matric results in all three business subjects are often the leading marks in the province and a significant number of Stirling students have gone on to become CA’s and business leaders in town.

Subjects offered:

Grade 10–12: English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, IsiXhosa First Additional Language, Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, Consumer Studies, Information Technology, Computer Applications Technology, History, Geography, Music, Visual Art, Life Orientation, Dramatic Arts, EGD (Engineering Graphics Design).

Grade 8 & 9 Examinable: English Home Language, Afrikaans First Additional Language, IsiXhosa First Additional Language, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Culture, Economic Management Sciences, Technology, Life Orientation, Music, Drama, Art, Digital Technology

 

Academic Facilities

Stirling academic facilities are impressive, and include all the basics needed for academic teaching, including computer laboratories; Natural Science, Life Science, Technology and Consumer Science laboratories; a library and many well-equipped classrooms.

Stirling prides itself on keeping up with the latest educational technological advances, ensuring that students are part of the real world. The school has 120 computers in three laboratories available for students and there is closely-monitored fibre Internet and email access for all students.  All classrooms have state-of-the-art computer, Internet and electronic whiteboard systems and the school has a fibre-optic backbone linking all classrooms to the virtual servers.  Students can study Information Technology or Computer Applications Technology and our junior students all study Digital Technology as an introductory course to computing.