Delft South Primary celebrates the fruits of their hard work today as they officially receive the prizes from their victory in the Grow Smart Literacy competition, marking their second consecutive year of triumph.
The achievement earned the school a state-of-the-art iPad Lab valued at R350 000.
The Delft South competition participants were grade 6 learners Liyema Xaso, Mbasa Stokwe and Sinesipho Msutu.
The literacy competition saw 15 finalists selected from 327 participants and tested on their ability to spell, define, and use words in sentences, alongside their understanding of verbs, nouns, idioms, and adjectives.
On their win, Delft South Primary principal, Nolwazi Skenjana said: “It’s a great achievement, especially winning for the second time for a school coming from a so-called poor environment or situation. Our learners face lots of challenges, the community has high unemployment rates, high drug abuse rates and other issues.
“They really made us proud to show that our school is good at literacy, we are very excited.”
Grade six Social Science and English teacher, Lukhanyo Nobula, who was a mentor to the children in preparation for the competition, said they put in many extra hours to achieve their goals.
“It needs a lot of time. It's a lot of words, many of the words are new to the learners so we have to spend more time on them. It took afternoons, weekends and holidays so they could have adequate time to prepare and practice.”
In the competition, Grow Smart would provide a book over 100 pages with different stories in it, he explained.
“The children must know all the words from the book.
“They don't say prepare this word, they give the book and any word can come up in the competition. I knew they were going to do so well. Based on preparation, every time we go we know we are 100% ready and that gives us confidence.”
Cape Times