How It Works – Growsmart

Growsmart is an annual Educational Programme which is currently aimed at Grades 4, 5 and 6 in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

Participating schools are selected by the Education Departments. A mentor for each school in each subject will be responsible to co-ordinate Growsmart at their school.

A learner may only participate once in any one of the Growsmart competitions during their lifetime.

The Online Literacy Competition is compulsory.
Four editions of the Growsmart newspapers will be produced from which the competition questions will be drawn. The content of the newspapers will include various subjects from the CAPS curriculum and should be used in classrooms as part of daily lessons.
Content will be accessed for FREE online whether from a tablet based system or a school computer lab.
Content will be divided into an article from the Growsmart Newspapers, a video tutorial and quizz to enable learners to study the content.
Each participating school must select the five learners from Grades 4, 5, and 6 who will represent their school in the online competition. This can be done through a series of preliminary competitions at the school, conducted by teachers at class level, inter-class level, and grade level. The school has the discretion to decide how all learners can be encouraged to participate in the selection stage.
Each school is represented by a team of 5 learners.
The mentors will be the coordinators for their elected competitions and they will ensure that their learners are adequately prepared.
There will be a Practise Edition of the Growsmart newspaper, which is designed to be used for selecting your candidates, plus three other editions which will follow prior to each competition level. The concepts will be expanded through stories and activities to be used for reading practice, enjoyment, and comprehension.
The mentor will obtain consent from the parents or legal guardians of each participating learner, ensure the team prepares adequately for each competition round and ensures that the learners log in 30 minutes before their competition.
There will be a Practise Round, Level 1, 2, 3, semi-final and final competition.
All participating learners receive either certificates or medals.
There are prizes for the top 3 schools and the mentors.

The Story Writing Competition is compulsory.
Each of the participating schools selects three learners who do not enter as a team, but as individuals.
Each learner will receive a writing pack, consisting of a creative writing workbook and various stationery items.
Growsmart provides topics from which to choose and then the learner creates and submits a story book and a book review.
Each book is marked twice by a team of markers according to criteria set by the Western Cape Education Department and audited.
There are prizes for the top 3 authors in each province, their mentors and the most creative submission.

This competition is conducted similarly to the literacy competition, in that 5 learners represent their schools and the winners progress through levels to the final round.
Questions are not found in the newspapers but rather examples that are similar can be found in the newspapers.
Learners are required to solve mathematical problems.
They are broken down into Mental Maths; Basic operations in higher number ranges involving BODMAS and Problem solving: Routine & non – routine.
There are prizes for the top 5 learners and the mentors

*Currently in the Western Cape only

Entrepreneurship is only open to Grade 6 learners.
Teams of 3 learners represent their schools.
Each competing team will receive an Entrepreneurship starter kit and will be invited to attend seminars prior to their first level of competition.
The learners must submit the completed journal together with receipts and/ or proof of spend, the project display board and a video presentation for the final evaluation.
There are prizes for the top 3 teams and their mentors.

Useful links

PAIA Manual

Contact us

+27 (0) 21 673 8400
growsmart@growthpoint.co.za
www.facebook.com/Growsmart
@growsmart_programme
www.youtube.com