Case Study: Capricorn Primary School achieves learning catch-up and greater confidence with SMART Technologies' SMART Board interactive whiteboards

Educational technology helps disadvantaged learners catch up

Capricorn Primary School is a public school in an impoverished suburb of Cape Town where many children arrive two to three years behind their peers and face language barriers at home. Funded by the Vrygrond Community Development Trust and included in the Western Cape Education Department’s Khanya Technology in Education Project, the school’s goal is to bring learners to age-appropriate levels within four years despite limited teacher capacity and resources.

To accelerate learning the school installed 12 SMART Board interactive whiteboards with Notebook software and related tools, and combined these with targeted interventions (e.g., Wordworks), extra-curricular activities and teacher support. The interactive lessons have boosted learner engagement, confidence and participation, improved phonics, handwriting and numeracy, made lesson planning and resource-sharing easier for teachers, and helped the school move toward closing the achievement gap.