Quintile analysis adds essential context to matric results. Quintiles are primarily a socio‑economic classification used in South Africa’s school system. They can correlate with outcomes, but they are not a quality label and they don’t define what a school is capable of achieving. This page helps you see how performance patterns change across quintiles and how those patterns differ by province and district.

The most useful way to read these rankings is to compare like‑for‑like. For example, if you want to understand whether a school is outperforming its context, filter to the same province (and optionally the same district), then compare schools or averages within the same quintile group. This reduces the chance that differences are driven mainly by geography, resource availability, or community factors.

Pay attention to scale. A quintile category may contain very different numbers of schools and candidates depending on your filters. A strong pass rate with a large “Total Wrote” can indicate broad systemic strength, while a strong pass rate with a small cohort can be more volatile year‑to‑year. That’s why the “All Years (Average)” view is valuable: it dampens one‑year spikes and makes patterns easier to trust.

Finally, use quintile views to focus on improvement and equity. If a lower‑quintile group shows steady gains over time, it can signal effective interventions. If a higher‑quintile group is flat or declining, it may point to issues like subject bottlenecks, learner support gaps, or leadership changes. Treat this page as a navigation tool: identify patterns, then drill down into districts and individual schools for explanations you can act on.