Background

South African learners do not acquire foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 3. A growing body of international evidence shows that the skills children bring with them into school are strongly linked to their later outcomes. Roots & Shoots was designed in response to this evidence. The study measures children’s early skills at school entry and follows the same learners over time to understand how these early capabilities shape later learning trajectories. By tracking learners longitudinally, the project allows us to assess the extent to which patterns of performance observed in Grade 3 can be traced back to differences already present on the first day of school. To date, four waves of data have been collected from a cohort of learners in the Western Cape, following them from Grade R (2022) through to Grade 3 (2025). This provides a rare longitudinal view of how early learning unfolds across the foundation phase in a South African context.