Message from the office
Welcome back to the start of Term 2! I trust that you had a lovely time bonding with your daughters during our short break and that you didn’t eat too many chocolates (at least not all at once).

Just before we broke up for our holiday, we were delighted to hear from GADRA that VP was once again the top performing school in Makhanda in their ‘reading for meaning’ research done with twenty four local primary schools. Although we have not received the full report we were notified that VP was the only school where 100% of the learners met the threshold considered to be able to read for meaning.

We are extremely proud of our Preprimary, Foundation Phase and Grade 4 teachers who have all played their role in ensuring that our girls are all able to understand what they are reading.

I feel it is important to note that we not only expect our girls to comprehend what they read but we also expect our girls to answer questions in full sentences, using correct spelling and grammar. We also expect our girls to be able to answer higher order questions, to be able to predict, make connections, be able to outline key and supporting details, review pre-reading predictions and questions, make inferences, be able to summarise their text, be able to sequence their text, make comparisons and form their own opinions.

All these are practised, revised and sometimes assessed as ‘reading comprehensions’ as they are indicative of how well a child has understood the text if she is able to analyse and reword it herself. These skills not only demonstrate our girls’ comprehension but they are essential skills for learning content subjects and making notes and ensuring understanding.

We are aware that we have a
Message from the office
Welcome back to the start of Term 2! I trust that you had a lovely time bonding with your daughters during our short break and that you didn’t eat too many chocolates (at least not all at once).

Just before we broke up for our holiday, we were delighted to hear from GADRA that VP was once again the top performing school in Makhanda in their ‘reading for meaning’ research done with twenty four local primary schools. Although we have not received the full report we were notified that VP was the only school where 100% of the learners met the threshold considered to be able to read for meaning.

We are extremely proud of our Preprimary, Foundation Phase and Grade 4 teachers who have all played their role in ensuring that our girls are all able to understand what they are reading.

I feel it is important to note that we not only expect our girls to comprehend what they read but we also expect our girls to answer questions in full sentences, using correct spelling and grammar. We also expect our girls to be able to answer higher order questions, to be able to predict, make connections, be able to outline key and supporting details, review pre-reading predictions and questions, make inferences, be able to summarise their text, be able to sequence their text, make comparisons and form their own opinions.

All these are practised, revised and sometimes assessed as ‘reading comprehensions’ as they are indicative of how well a child has understood the text if she is able to analyse and reword it herself. These skills not only demonstrate our girls’ comprehension but they are essential skills for learning content subjects and
Message from the office
Welcome back to the start of Term 2! I trust that you had a lovely time bonding with your daughters during our short break and that you didn’t eat too many chocolates (at least not all at once).

Just before we broke up for our holiday, we were delighted to hear from GADRA that VP was once again the top performing school in Makhanda in their ‘reading for meaning’ research done with twenty four local primary schools. Although we have not received the full report we were notified that VP was the only school where 100% of the learners met the threshold considered to be able to read for meaning.

We are extremely proud of our Preprimary, Foundation Phase and Grade 4 teachers who have all played their role in ensuring that our girls are all able to understand what they are reading.

I feel it is important to note that we not only expect our girls to comprehend what they read but we also expect our girls to answer questions in full sentences, using correct spelling and grammar. We also expect our girls to be able to answer higher order questions, to be able to predict, make connections, be able to outline key and supporting details, review pre-reading predictions and questions, make inferences, be able to summarise their text, be able to sequence their text, make comparisons and form their own opinions.

All these are practised, revised and sometimes assessed as ‘reading comprehensions’ as they are indicative of how well a child has understood the text if she is able to analyse and reword it herself. These skills not only demonstrate our girls’ comprehension but they are essential skills for learning content subjects and making notes and ensuring understanding.

We are aware that we have a high standard of expectations from our girls in their English lessons and that it does require hard work from pupils and teachers alike, but we also know that this gives our girls an unparalleled foundation for their schooling and studies.

‘Students who have the opportunity to write in conjunction with reading, show more evidence of critical thinking about reading’.

Staff News
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Roberts on the birth of their baby girl, Annabel Grace on Thursday, 28 March. We wish their new little family health, love and plenty of sleep.

Assembly
On Monday we look forward to Grade 6P’s assembly. Their assembly will start at 10:15. Parents are most welcome to join us.

Grade 3-7 Report Discussions
We will have our report discussions on Tuesday, 9 April. All Grade 4-7 teachers will be available in the school hall from 16:30 -17:45. Grade 3 teachers will in their classrooms at the same time. Please limit your discussion to 5 minutes in respect for other parents waiting. If you feel you need a more in-depth meeting with your child’s class or subject teacher, please make an alternate appointment to meet with him/her.

PTA Meeting
We will have our first PTA meeting of the term on Thursday 11 April, in our hall at 17:15. Please try to be there to plan our upcoming events for the term.

Astroquiz
We have 40 Grade 7 learners participating in the SAASTA Astroquiz on the 11th April from 14:00 – 14:30. Best of luck to these girls – reach for the stars !

Hearing Screening
Speech therapist, Lara Day will be conducting Hearing Screenings at VP, starting on Tuesday the 9th of April. If your daughter is in Gr 4 – 7 and you would like her to be screened, please kindly make contact with her teacher for a consent form. All Foundation Phase pupils will receive a form, we would like to encourage Foundation Phase parents to take advantage of this worthwhile screening. The cost of the Hearing Screenings is R130 payable to VP in cash or by EFT (Please reference: ‘Child’s name and grade/Hearing Screening’).

Conquesta
Should you wish for your child to participate in Conquesta 2024, entry forms are available from Mrs
Sauls. Conquesta is only open to Grades 4-6. Please complete the entry form and return it to school in an envelope, marked “Conquesta” with the relevant entry fee and your child’s name and class. Closing date for entries is Friday, 12 April.

Netball – U13 Sarah Baartman Trials.
Congratulations to Indiphile Zondani, Zaydiah Adler and Unako Dlepu who made it through to the next round of the u13 Netball Trials. They will be participating in the Sarah Baartman trials on the 23rd of April.

Tennis News
Congratulations to Marizaan Boucher who participated in the TSA Junior National Championships in Bloemfontein. She won 4 out of her 6 singles matches and ended 18th out of 64 players in her age group.
Congratulations also goes to Marizaan and her partner who won their doubles division at the Junior National champs!

Winter Season Away matches
During our netball and hockey season we have many away matches over the weekends which require us to book buses to transport our girls. This costs us an exorbitant amount of money and we appeal to you that if you are planning to support your child that you please transport her to the match. It is most upsetting when we have empty buses on our return as girls then go home with their parents and we are paying for unnecessary hire and transport. Please help us save costs in this regard.

Donations
Mrs Olivier is requesting donations of old newspapers.

Birthday wishes
We wish the following girls a very happy birthday this week or next week:
Carla Frazer, Lulo Kota, Phumelela Macetyana, Alexis Killian, Sivuze Xamleko, Sahlulo Kutase, Zenazi Gqeke and Uyathandwa Macanda.
Have a lovely day!
Warm Regards
Mrs Rafferty

Upcoming events
Monday, 8 April
VP Applications open for 2025
Assembly Grade 6P
Extramurals begin
Tuesday, 9 April
Grade 3-7 Report Discussions
16:30-17:45
Thursday, 11 April
Astroquiz 14:00-14:30
PTA Meeting 17:15
Friday, 12 April
Grade 6&7 Social @Graeme
Closing date for Conquesta entries