SACEE – Border Branch

National Language Challenge and Puzzle Parade

In 1991 the Border branch of SACEE initiated the National Language Challenge. The competition was introduced to provide an English language benchmarking service to schools. Over the past 31 years, it has expanded into a national initiative serving schools in all 9 provinces of South Africa.

The Border branch of SACEE is entirely responsible for the setting of the papers, all the administrative work involved in the running of the competition, and the marking and distribution of the results of each year’s competition.

To take part in the 31st Annual Language Challenge and Puzzle Parade that will take place on the 9th September 2022 please download the forms below:

2021 SACEE PUZZLE PARADE AND LANGUAGE CHALLENGE REPORT

While many schools are still struggling to operate at an optimal level within the restrictions placed on them as a result of COVID-19, it was promising to see an increase in the number of schools who were able to enter this year’s SACEE National Puzzle Parade and Language Challenge.  While this number is still significantly less than pre-COVID years, we are confident that these numbers will continue to increase as the school environment normalizes. 

Below please find the 2021 results with a comparison to the 2020 results:

The full report and list of prizewinners can be found here.

Special mention should be made of the following schools and learners:

  • Transkei Primary had 7 learners achieve 100% in Grade 1
  • Transkei Primary and Montrose Primary each had 6 learners achieve 100% in Grade 2
  • De La Salle Holy Cross had 6 learners achieve 100% in Grade 3
  • Danika Holtmann from Rhenish Girls High achieved 100% in Grade 8

These learners and schools should all be commended and recognized for their excellent results.    

We would like to thank all principals and teachers for their continued support – without you the event would not be a success. We trust that you will find the results informative and useful in benchmarking your school’s English Language proficiency against national norms and averages, and, for those schools which have participated in the past, plotting and measuring your progress against previous years. 

We encourage all schools to recognize their top performing learners, particularly those who achieved outstanding results.  Attached with the report, please find a template for a certificate that can be used to award your top scorers.   

Please note that only the overall top three learners (including tied places) in Grades 4 – 11 are awarded a cash prize. We ask all schools with prize winners to complete page 4 and send us their banking details by return email so that we can transfer the prize winner’s cash prize into your school account.  We would appreciate it if you could award the prize winners their relevant amounts.

Kind regards

Lisa van Tonder

Co-Ordinator:  SACEE Language Challenges and Puzzle Parades.   

2020 SACEE PUZZLE PARADE AND LANGUAGE CHALLENGE REPORT

COVID-19 and the subsequent National Lockdown have had far reaching implications for the education sector.  As schools struggled to adapt to new teaching conditions, reduced teaching time and adjusted budgets meant that many schools found the need to put all extra educational activities on hold.  This had a direct impact on the implementation of the 2020 SACEE National Language Challenge where less than a third of our usual entrants were able to participate.   

While the number of participants was significantly lower than in 2019, the 2020 SACEE National Language Challenge continued to provide an English Language benchmarking service to those schools that were able to enter.   It should be noted that at the time of compiling the report 2 schools had not submitted their results.      

Below please find the 2020 results with a comparison to the 2019 results.    The full list of prizewinners can be found here.

Special mention should be made of the following schools and learners:

  • Stirling Primary had 7 learners who achieved 100% in Grade 1
  • Nika Weis from Clarendon Girls High and Erin Commaille from Rhenish Girls High achieved 100% in Grade 10
  • Charlotte Moss from Rhenish Girls High achieved 100% in Grade 11

These learners and schools should all be commended for their excellence and noteworthy performance.   

We would like to commend all principals and teachers who have gone above and beyond this year to support their learners during these trying times.  Thank you to those who have continued to support SACEE.  We trust that you will find the results informative and useful in benchmarking your school’s English Language proficiency against National norms and averages, and, for those schools which have participated in the past, plotting and measuring your progress against previous years. 

We encourage all schools to recognize their top performing learners, particularly those who achieved outstanding results.  Please find here a template for a certificate that can be used to award your top scorers.   

Please note that only the overall top three learners (including tied places) in Grades 4-11 are awarded a cash prize. Unfortunately, due to the decline in entries the value of the prize money needed to be reviewed and adjusted.  We are truly sorry for this; however, these have been unpredictable times where many changes have been necessary.

We ask all schools with prize winners to complete this page and send us their banking details by return email so that we can transfer the prize winner’s cash prize into your school account.  We would appreciate it if you could award the prize winners their relevant amounts.

Kind regards

Lisa van Tonder

Co-Ordinator:  SACEE Language Challenges and Puzzle Parades.   

 

For more information please email sacee@telkomsa.net