Acacia Primary was buzzing with excitement as learners came together in support of their school’s Annual Spelling Bee Competition, last week.
Held at the school hall on 16 June, in commemoration of the sacrifices made by the youth of 1976, Acacia Primary also used the event as a time for youth development. An educator at the school, Mr Kippen said the Spelling Bee is an annual event that requires learners to be coached over the course of a minimum of four Saturday sessions, to rehearse their projection and clarity of the 1088 words in the DBE list of words.
He said: “Over 80 learners started the journey but only the Top 40 learners competed for the title of champion on Youth Day. The Department of Basic Education requested that all schools to have three participants in the National Spelling Bee. Mohammed and Tiana were the last two champions before the pandemic. However, last year the Spelling Bee returned after a year’s mandatory break due to Covid-19 regulations. This year the eventual winner, Deashlin Naiker, will represent Acacia at the DBE Spelling Bee with the highest placed Grade 6 learners, Adriella Chetty and Thabiso Ngubane.”
Mr Kippen said learners are extremely competitive and that there is an increase in participation over the years. He said the standard is such that there was an equal mixture of grade 4,5,6 and 7 learners in the final of the Spelling Bee.
“The encouragement is not only in finding the champion each year. Principal V. Govender is a champion of learners spelling at their level and working as hard as they can to better their effort. There are two awards that Acacia Spelling Bee prides itself in. This is, The Young Speller of the Year award, which is the Grade 4 learner that shows the most growth in the build up to the final, and Most Improved Speller of the Year award, which is given to the learner who shows the greatest amount of individual excellence and improvements. In 2022 both special awards were Grade 4 recipients,” added Mr Kippen.
