Primary & Secondary Education News South Africa

Spark Schools hosts inaugural Innovation Summit

Spark Schools recently held its inaugural Innovation Summit. The event was the culmination of a year-long project which started with setting up innovation ambassadors in each of the educational establishment's 15 schools.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

These 15 representatives identified innovative practices and then supported the innovators in developing their practices into focused projects. Projects were submitted to the Learning Model Team and evaluated using the Idea Evaluation Screening Matrix against the following measures: different or better, solves a problem, and frugal innovation.

The 10 finalists that were invited to present their projects at the Innovation Summit:

• Project Synergy by Chelsea Maher and Khomotjo Mashele
• Core Value Superheroes by Lindy Du Preez
• FMS Upskill by Wihaan Du Plessis
• Gamification of Behaviour by Hendrick Nthani
• The Gentlemen's Club by Anton Otto
• Peer Tutoring by Ntombi Gontyeleni
• Unique Pressure Seedlings by Kim Muller
• Parent Education by Anthina Von Reuben
• Report Card Conference by Liezel Wathan
• Verbal Dynamics by Sama Yoyo

The winner was Ntombi Gontyeleni for her Peer Tutoring project. For her efforts, Gontyeleni will attend the Global Teacher Prize Ceremony in Dubai in March 2019.

Spark Schools’ head of the learning model, Dee Moodley, says: “Although it was a tight contest, the decision to award Gontyeleni the prize for the best project was unanimous. Hers is an innovative project in which she has used a Sole (Self Organised Learning Environment) framework to leverage scholar leadership and skills for improved ownership and academic achievement.”

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