THREE schools from the Nelson Mandela district made a clean sweep in the Growsmart Programme competition that recently took place in East London.
This is the first year that the programme, an education initiative by Growthpoint Properties in collaboration with the Eastern Cape Department of Education, is being offered in 60 schools in the province – 30 competing in East London, 20 competing in Port Elizabeth and 10 in Uitenhage.
The aim of the competition is for learners to read the newspaper and to identify words from it that they must be able to spell, define and put into a sentence.
Learners participate in teams of three and any learner between Grades 4-6 who showed an aptitude for spelling can participate as a team. Two knockout rounds are held between the 60 schools that enter the competition, until there are only five schools left that compete in the final round of the competition.
After two tie-breaker rounds in the final, Triomf Primary finally emerged as the first-ever winner of the Growsmart Programme competition in the Eastern Cape. The Triomf team won R75 000 for their school, R10 000 for each team member (to be used for their schooling), as well as a R5 000 shopping voucher for the mentor.
The second and third spots, with equally enticing prizes were taken by Magqabi Primary School from KwaNobuhle and Caritas Primary School from Rosedale, both in Uitenhage.
Dot Johnson, the mentor of the winning team from Triomf Primary in Salsoneville, said, “The newspaper is an excellent resource that really contributed to the improvement of my learners’ language ability. The style is easy on the eye, the topics relevant and interesting to challenge learners to explore information at leisure. Of course, winning the whole thing with the wonderful prizes is a bonus that we are exceptionally grateful for.”
The winners in the Story Writing competition were also all from the Bay and are as follows:
1.Soutpan Primary School – Rekeira Jantjies – R10 000
2.Môrewag Primary School – Caylee von Loggenberg – R5 000
3.Machiu Primary School – Tazmyn Kiewiets – R2 500