The Old Diocesan Issue 12 - Magazine - Page 18
TOP ACHIEVERS
Grant Weich and Matthew Walker topped the 2025 Bishops matriculants’
NSC and Cambridge A Level results, respectively. We chatted to them about
what lies ahead in general, and why they chose their curricula in particular
Grant and Matthew followed
different academic programmes
– see below – yet their reflections
on their final year reveal many
of the same themes: pressure,
balance and intellectual curiosity.
Grant describes 2025 as “stressinducing in many ways”, but also
as a year of personal growth. “It
was a year in which I overcame
emotional and personal challenges
that had plagued me through
previous grades – an extremely
worthwhile process,” he says.
Matthew summarises his
own matric year succinctly:
“Simply put, it was eventful.”
For both, the biggest challenge
was striking a balance between
academic demands and the
opportunities that come with a
final year at school. Grant made
it a priority to manage the studysocialising balance. Over time, he
realised it depended less on time
allocation than on developing good
habits. “Adaptability and creating
habitual positive-feedback loops
through minor daily behaviours
contributed more to maintaining
this balance.”
Matthew described the challenge
as “trying to find a balance
between rigorous academics
and actually enjoying matric”.
Both students also revelled in
their favourite subjects. For Grant,
A-WHAT?
Grant, why
did you choose
to write the
traditional
NSC exams?
The Cambridge
curriculum
offers a deeper, more intricate
content pool, something that appeals
to those who prefer to actively
“discover” knowledge through
their own curiosity and trial-anderror, rather than just study to
meet stringent exam requirements.
This approach is abundant in the
university environment in which
I now find myself, and knowing that
I would find it here, I did not think the
Cambridge curriculum was necessary.
Writing the final NSC exams was
an affirmation of the tenacity I had
developed at school. The greater
variety of content knowledge –
from Visual Arts, Maths and English
to Afrikaans and Physical Sciences
– is something I value. Despite not
exploring these fields in the detail
that would serve them true justice,
I have consistently implemented skills
associated with each of these subjects
in my life since arriving at university.
Matthew, why
did you choose
Cambridge
over NSC?
Cambridge
offers a far more
in-depth course
on the subjects I was passionate
about. While doing NSC, I felt that
the biggest challenge was splitting
my time between those and subjects
I was not particularly interested in.
With A Levels I was able to spend
hours at a time understanding
differential equations or behavioural
economics. Also, my study schedule
became less about meeting the next
deadline for a random project, and
more about engaging critically with
what I was studying.
My hope is that more Bishops
boys switch to A Levels in the future;
it’s a learning experience where
a passion for academics can be
thoroughly explored. Beyond that,
the knowledge, creativity and timemanagement skills needed to succeed
in A Levels closely replicates that of
university. It also taught me that a bad
test mark (such as my first physics
test!) is not the end of the world.
Cambridge International Education
is an internationally recognised
curriculum offered in more than
160 countries around the world.
Highly regarded by global
universities, the curriculum
places emphasis on mastering
subjects in depth and provides
targeted skills development for
future study and work.
Bishops now offers the
Cambridge Advanced programme,
in which learners transition from
NSC after completing Grade 10,
to do Cambridge AS Levels in
Grade 11, then continue into
Grade 12 to complete their
A Levels. Applications for
Grade 10s open at the end of
Term 2, and acceptance into
the programme is determined
by performance in the Grade 10
June exams.
The shift from Grade 10 NSC to
AS Levels is academically challenging,
because the curriculum presents a
more advanced level of study that
requires good time management
and a great deal of independence.
14 | THE OLD DIOCESAN
For extended Q&As with
both Grant and Matthew,
visit odunion.com
