Virginia Primary School Newsletter

Dear Families,

The halfway point of the year is upon us. We would like to thank everyone for your support over the first semester. We would also like to wish you all a happy and safe two week break, and look forward to working with you in supporting your child/ren with their learning for the second half of the year.  We are excited about term 3, as it promises to be a very exciting one, with Sports Day and SAPSASA sport competitions back on track.

Staff worked hard during our Pupil Free Day with Stephen Graham, sorting through resources and planning modelled reading for the second semester. 

It was pleasing to hear and receive such positive feedback from Stephen about how far we have come with our Reading Journey. He reassured us  that we are not just 'doing' literacy, but worked on and achieved a 'whole-school change/approach' to ensure that our literacy practice was consistent across ALL classes. Literacy was the 'vehicle' that we used and as a result, students are achieving goals and continue to make pleasing personal growth across all areas of literacy. Every student knows their reading goals and are aware of what they need to do in order to achieve them.

I am able to confidently share with you, that here at Virginia PS, we have successfully reached our full implementation stage with our whole school literacy approach. There is explicit teaching during Guided, Modelled and Shared Reading and Writing across all classes. We know that our work is not finished and will continue to further evolve. We will continue to reflect, reassess and tweak if and where needed. 

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank Stephen Graham for all his work and support. He has a wealth of knowledge and expertise and we are fortunate to be able to work with him on such a deep level. We have already booked him for next year so that we can continue to further embed 'quality targeted reading practice'.

Lastly, as you are aware, restrictions are continually being lifted with Covid 19. We continue to follow the guidelines of the Department and SA Health and keep families up to date with the documented processes. In keeping with the guidelines, parents are still not able to enter classrooms and foyers. We are working towards reintroducing our parent volunteers , however we need to abide by the social distancing rules. We also understand that there may be a need for a parent to want to speak to their child's teacher. We request that you organise a time with the teacher as you will need to complete a site access form via the front office to ensure the safety of everyone. I will send out a letter to all families outlining further information which may be useful. 

Our priority is the safety of everyone and we are grateful for the support and understanding demonstrated by our parents and families. Here at VPS, we pride ourselves as 'one community, one family'.

On behalf of Thuy and myself, we would like to thank our amazing teaching staff and students for all their hard work and the high level of  resilience demonstrated and last but not least, thank you to our beautiful families for your support and words of encouragement.

Safe holidays!

Learning Together, Learning For Our Future.

Warmest Regards,

Voula Pounendis

Monday we saw Dental for Schools visit our school with their Dental Van.  On the day they saw 22 students, the lovely ladies helped to calm some anxious little ones and will be back in Week 1 Term 3 from July 22nd - Friday 24th to follow up on the rest of the students who have requested a dental check up

Please make sure you have returned your paper work completed with Medicare details and signature, where required. These can be handed into our Front Office. 

Each check-up appointment includes a comprehensive oral examination, removal of plaque and calculus, diagnostic x-rays (If required), preventative fluoride treatment and a dental care plan. They also provide information to patients about the importance of maintaining great oral health. Their services are provided by highly trained staff in a fun, relaxed environment to ensure every patient has a great experience visiting the dentist.