Blossom Primary School’s Umar Jones is the 2022 winner of the Western Cape Education Department’s annual Story Stars creative writing competition for all Grade 4 pupils in the province.
The school had three pupils in the top six, with Umar’s classmates, Nkaximlo Mandini and Talia Alexander taking fifth and sixth place, respectively.
On Thursday February 9, Education MEC David Maynier visited the school to make the announcement and launch this year’s competition.
Every year, the winner has a chance to narrate and star in their own story. Called Story Stars: The Adventures of Felix and Felicity, the story is about their ongoing adventures, and every year, new characters are introduced by the winning Grade 4 pupils. This is animated and included in an ongoing film about the adventures of Felix and Felicity, which is introduced to the new cohort of Grade 4 pupils every year.
Said Mr Maynier: “Umar’s story – Battling the Bully! – has a unifying and important message about bullying. It was also very creative, with new imaginative characters such as ‘Ashtastic’ the flying unicorn, which the animators were very excited to animate. Felix is also seen rapping for the first time. But, importantly, the story was also chosen because of Umar’s use of the correct punctuation, spelling and vocabulary throughout his submission. Congratulations also to his teacher, Andrea Liddle, for inspiring her class to participate and produce such good creative writing skills, as well as former principal, Michael Davids, who has since retired.”
Umar follows in the footsteps of the 2020 Story Stars winner from Philadelphia Primary School, Keschrie Booysen, and the 2021 winner, Xia du Toit, from Laerskool Mikro, in the Story Stars hall of fame. This year, Blair Davids, from Northwood Primary School, won second place and Kenzo Segals, from Rietenbosch Primêr, came in third place.
Ms Liddle said she was very proud that three of her pupils had made the top six in the competition. She added that children remember what they have been taught if you make it fun for them.
“I read stories to my class regularly. I ask them about the stories I read to them and we have a reward system for correct answers. We also have grammar games, where, for example, the learners have to guess the correct idiom. They remember better when they have fun. Having Umar produce a story with good grammar and punctuation comes as no surprise, as he was my top learner last year. I am a very proud teacher and I am so grateful for this once-a-lifetime experience,” Ms Liddle said.
In a survey of a class of Grade 4 pupils in 2019, it was found that their interests lay in watching cartoons and becoming YouTube stars. The WCED decided to create a competition, which encouraged reading and creative writing, that could ultimately result in an animated film – written, narrated and starred in by the winners themselves.
Grade 4 teachers are encouraged to help their pupils read the story booklet which has been provided to schools, watch the animation film, and then finish the story by including themselves as a character.