Results day shifts from rankings to respect

For many matriculants, results day brings pride, relief, and anxiety, often all at the same time. While some schools publicly celebrate top performers, others are moving away from naming and ranking students. 

One of the first Jewish schools to do so, King David Victory Park (KDVP) stopped publishing individual results in 2019, rather focusing on the achievements of the matric class as a whole. 

The head of school for KDVP, Mandy Gruzd, said the decision came from the students themselves. Gabriel Ferreira and Danit Krawitz, then head boy and head girl, had been speaking to their grade and approached the then head of school, Andrew Baker, and explained that they wanted to celebrate the group not individual successes and number of distinctions. 

“The group was close-knit and felt that this was the way to pay tribute to the students,” said Gruzd. “It overwhelmingly supported this approach, as did the matric groups that followed.” 

However, in 2024, some students were happy with the school profiling their individual successes and it will do the same for the class of 2025. It will also maintain the approach of celebrating the group, Gruzd said. 

Though King David Linksfield still publishes individual results, students are given a choice whether they want them showcased, with many opting to share their nachas. 

“Some kids don’t feel their results are good enough, some kids want to have their results published, it’s part of their nachas,” said Lorraine Srage, the head of school for King David Linksfield. “We very rarely have kids that are top students who don’t want to have their results published. I actually spoke to some of the kids at the end of 2024, and they said that having their picture taken and sharing their results is what they owe to the school to show how excellent the institution is.” 

Rob Long, the head of academics at Yeshiva College, said the decision not to have individual results published came directly from the students in 2021 as it created a lot of pressure when it came to results day. 

“Although it could be seen as nachas for those who did well, they also feel for students for whom academics are hard,” he said. 

Long said though matrics feel pressure over marks, not having them published can take away the fear of embarrassment. “Knowing that results won’t be shared gives the kids a degree of safety,” he said. 

He said students are given a choice by the Independent Examinations Board whether or not to share their results, and in fact, many students at Yeshiva opt out. 

Herzlia High School decided that it wouldn’t share individual results as it would rather celebrate the journey of the matric class. 

Said Andries van Renssen, the executive director of United Herzlia Schools, “We celebrate academic achievement strongly, but we do so in context, recognising the class as a whole and the individual journeys behind the marks. Our focus is on growth, effort, and outcome over time rather than ranking students against one another.” 

He said this approach respects student privacy and reinforces the idea that success looks different for everyone. 

Long agreed, saying that the students raised their concerns because they felt their results should be a private matter, even remembering that one or two students refused to divulge their results even to their parents. 

“The results speak clearly to the strength of the cohort and the quality of teaching without reducing students to a number,” said Van Renssen.