Western Cape finalists gear up to Growsmart

Some of the Growsmart Programme Debating participants deliberating on their final answer while their opponent takes the stand.

Growsmart, an education initiative by Growthpoint Properties in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Education, is an annual programme focused on boosting the literacy, numeracy and science performance of primary school children.

The 2018 Growsmart competition finalists are:

Literacy: Northpine Primary, Hillwood Primary, Liwa Primary, Marconi Beam Primary and Dr. van der Ross Primary.

Mathematics: Blomvlei Primary, St Augustine’s Primary, Spine View Primary, Yellowwood Primary and Palm Park Primary.

Science: Welcome Primary, Tuscany Glen Primary, Talfalah Primary, Intshayelelo Primary, Heideveld Primary, Gardenia Primary, Floreat Primary, Bridgeville Primary, Blackheath Primary, and Balvenie Primary.

Debating: This category was introduced to Growsmart Western Cape for the first time this year, and the finals have come down to two schools, Lantana Primary and Intshayelelo Primary.

These hard-working, talented teams will be in action at the Western Cape Growsmart finals, which is being held at The Lookout at the V&A Waterfront on 15 September.

Winners of the Growsmart story-writing competition

27 Jun 2018

For the final round of the Growsmart competition, the winners will be rewarded with prizes worth more than R500,000. The competition’s semi-finalists have also received application forms to apply for bursaries at Growsmart’s three bursary partners: Saili, Christel House, and Leisure Education Trust. Last year, six Growsmart graduates were given bursaries to attend these high schools in 2019.

Growsmart winning participants came well-prepared for the semi-final, having spent a number of additional hours being prepped by their mentors.

To get to the finals, learners and their dedicated mentors have gone through an intense process of preparation based on a specially compiled Growsmart newspaper, which is the cornerstone of the competition and sponsored by Novus Holdings. The Growthpoint newspaper is a fun, competitive and exciting resource that is curriculum-based and helps educators and learners to master their required syllabus work. Nearly 58,000 copies of the Growsmart newspaper and printed are distributed the participating schools for learners in grades four, five and six.

Eastern Cape's education system starts to Growsmart

8 Feb 2018

Growsmart began nine years ago in the Western Cape and expanded into the Eastern Cape in 2018. These school’s teams from the Eastern Cape will be given the opportunity to shine at Growsmart semi-finals and finals, which will both be held on Saturday, 8 September 2018 at the East London International Convention Centre.

For more information, visit: www.growsmart.org.za.