KDVP Campus Newsletter

OCTOBER 2019, VOL. 3

INSPIRING MORNINGS THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE LONGSHORE YOUTH MINISTRY

DATES TO DIARISE TERM 4 STARTS

DEAR PARENTS

23 OCTOBER

Dear Parents, GRADE 8 NEW PARENTS/PUPILS WELCOME & INFORMATION EVENING 31 OCTOBER - 18:30

It has been a busy term at King David Victory Park and we are extremely happy with the successful launch of our new buildings and renovations

GRADE 1 WELCOME 5 NOVEMBER - 13:00

around the campus. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and patience through the challenges of the construction on campus over the pasts few months and proudly

GRADE R GRADUATION

acknowledge that our school is in a constant state of growth.

14 NOVEMBER - 17:00

Our students continue to amaze us with their keen interest to learn while PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL WELCOME TO NEW FAMILIES 20 NOVEMBER

having fun at Victory Park. Their wonderful learning experiences are a testament to our engaging curriculum and shared vision. Our leaders of the school work hard to inspire and educate our team on the need to always

SHINING STARS ASSEMBLY (GR 1-3)

embrace best teaching practices.

29 NOVEMBER - 8:00

It is important to highlight a few activities that have brought fun, laughter GRADE 4-6 GOLD AWARDS 2 DECEMBER - 18:30

and pride to our school community, which I am sure you will enjoy while perusing this newsletter. Please check our Facebook and Instagram pages regularly for more updates and photographs on events that have taken

GRADE 4-6 SILVER AWARDS 3 DECEMBER - 8:00

GRADE 7 VALEDICTORY 3 DECEMBER

place over the last few weeks.

Nirvana Rogers Campus Marketing & Admissions

JUDAICA ROSH HASHANAH Festive celebrations across the campus included mini concerts in the Pre-Primary, DIJE activities in the Primary, and High School students decorating the school foyer and making greeting cards with wishes for the New Year that were sent to Israeli soldiers.

RABBI USVOLK PUTS UP MEZUZOT AT THE NEW PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDING

OUR SUKKAH @ PLAYSCHOOL

SHABBAS @ PRE-PRIMARY

BLESSING OF THE CHILDREN

JUDAICA ONEG SHABAT This initiative has been successfully continuing at KDVP High School for the past three years. Students come together at break to sing Shabbat songs and enjoy some treats to welcome the Shabbat. We recently had the last Oneg Shabbat session for the year as a farewell for our Matric group.

TWINNING SCHOOL The teachers form Yitzchak Navon L’Safot V’tarbuyot visited us this term and enjoyed some productive collaboration with staff and students of our Primary School.

ISRAEL ELECTION DAY During the Israeli Elections on Tuesday 17 September, the Shinshinyiot held “fun votes” amongst the students for the favourites: Israeli food (Shwarma), Singer (Omar Adam), City (Tel Aviv), Name (Maya) and Political Party (Blue and White).

JUDAICA GRADE 1 DAVENING BREAKFAST The grade 1’s from KD Ariel and KDVPP shared a special Davening Breakfast with their parents. The Chief Rabbi was impressed by their Davening and beautiful singing.

GRANDPARENTS & SPECIAL PERSONS TEA AND CAKE BAKE Grades 1 & 2 children spent a special morning with their grandparents or other special person and enjoyed baking Apple Crisp cake and having tea together. The morning included the children receiving the next edition of their PJ Library books Once Upon an Apple Cake. This created a perfect way to build up excitement for Rosh Hashanah.

GRADE 8 VISIT TO OUR PARENTS HOME

Grade 8 students and the SRC visited Our Parents Home this term. They danced, sang Shabbat songs and read a story for Shabbat. The residents were then treated to sweets by the students. The Grade 8s are commended for having embarked on this act of chessed, which is one of the values the school encourages.

CULTURAL KDVP HIGH SCHOOL ARTS & CULTURAL WEEK We enjoyed an incredible week of celebration at the annual Arts & Cultural Week. With so much talent and positive spirit - this event is a really effective way for our students to flaunt their cultural expressions. The festival ran to enormous success this year and saw a record turnout at all of the events. The rich programme included a variety of workshops and presentations from Dance & Choreography to Short Film, Slam Poetry, Improvisation, Graffiti-painting, Special Effects & Makeup and even Mandala-making. The usual competitions including One Act Plays, Mini Monologue, the Sing-Off and others have been held during the week preceding the final showcase.

CULTURAL BEAUTY & THE BEAST The annual major production of our Primary School was a huge hit. We kicked off with a mattinee performance for the residents of Sandringham Gardens and Selwyn Segal. This was followed by three nights of "sold-out" performances which all ended with much praise and applause.

CULTURAL DOUBLE BILL - HOLOCAUST PLAYS Our High School students put on an absolutely incredible performance in the Double Bill plays at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. The plays were Maus and The Choice. We are truly proud of their commitment, dedication and enthusiasm on keeping this annual event at such a high calibre. Mr Hugh Raichlin, special guest for the evening delivered an inspiring address to the audience on the choices we face and make on a daily basis.

SACCEE We hosted the SACCEE Awards this term and announced some fantastic results for our school. Mazal Tov to: Levi Lipschitz (Grade 8) - Bronze Certificate in Category 2: Junior Short Story.Dean Solomon (Grade 11) - Gold winner in Category 5: Senior PoemAlic Gluch (Grade 11) - Bronze winner Category 5: Senior PoemAmira Benguri-Karstaedt (Grade 10) - Silver winner in Category 7: Senior Flash Fiction and Bronze winner of Category 5: Senior PoemMatthew Kimmelman (Grade 12) - Platinum Winner of Category 6: Senior Short Story.Interestingly, Matthew's short story was based on Shabbos Dinner.

EISTEDFODD KDVPP participated in the 2019 Eistedfodd with excellent results in both the English and Afrikaans categories. It was a wonderful opportunity for our learners to have fun performing and to develop their skills in front of a live audience. Both the learners and teachers should be congratulated for their hard work.

VISITS & TOURS MOBILE INCUBATOR The children at our Pre-Primary School were so excited when Wild & Earthly dropped off an incubator at our school. The children got to see whether the eggs were hatching and every day the foyer was abuzz with visitors who came to see "the chicks".

THE ROLE MODEL IN ME Throughout the year the Primary School have been following the theme of ‘The Role Model in Me”. This term was an absolute honour to host a very special role model for our pupils, the phenomenal 12 year old Stacey Fru. Stacey is a published author, philanthropist, activist, public speaker and primary school pupil from Johannesburg who has contributed much to literacy and child development in South Africa.

FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING In collaboration with Pan Macmillan, we recently hosted Richard Sutton when he presented his talk on his latest book"Stress Code". Richard gave us a really interesting perspective on dealing with stress. "PRESSURE IS A PRIVILEGE" ...."CHAMPIONS ADAPT" . Words to live by.

CYBER SAFETY An alumnus of our school, Marc Kahlberg (Class of 1982) presented a fascinating talk to the Grade 10 and 11 students on Cyber Safety. Marc shared his expertise and experience with cyber security in the area of social media. Marc took the cell phone numbers of some of the students and showed them how easy it is to get into their personal profiles. He explained the importance of using safety settings and the impact of cyber bullying and sexting on a persons reputation and relationships.

GRADE 11 SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE Grade 11 students visited Magaliesberg for a day of fun in the mountains, learning about how to be good leaders and working together as a team. The students were taken out of their comfort zone and challenged in mind and body. It was incredible to witness the bonds being strengthened between the group and the unbelievable memories that were made.

VISITS & TOURS VOORTREKKER MONUMENT Grade 10s visited the Voortrekker Monument which proved to be both a wonderful and educational experience.

AEROPLANE FACTORY VISIT This was a valuable opportunity for the students to see how business principles are applied in a manufacturing business set up. It was an enriching experience on how to start and run a business efficiently.

NATIONAL CHILDRENS THEATRE The children had a fun filled time at the national children's theatre as they watched the Tiger who came to tea.

CROC CITY

REDHEAD PRODUCTIONS

SPCA TALK

VISITS & TOURS LESEDI CULTURAL VILLAGE On Friday 27 September, the Grade 8s and the Grade 9 isiZulu students went to Lesedi Cultural Village.

They were exposed to various different African cultures and beliefs. Lesedi Cultural Village showcases different tribes of South Africa and their indigenous cultures. The outing educated the students about the traditional tribes of Southern Africa.

PG ARAB-ISRAELI WOMEN'S DELEGATION A group of five women from Israel (Israeli and Arab) addressed our Grade 11s this term. The women form part of a group that participated in a two-year dialogue and leadership training course between Jewish and Arab women in Israel. These women have taken upon themselves to engage with each other, in order to break down the barriers that exist between different cultural groups in Israel

GRADE 5S @ MAROPENG

HOOKED ON BOOKS

OUTREACH & FUNDRAISERS ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A PRE-SCHOOLER? The annual Pre-Primary fundraise, Are you smarter than a Pre-Schooler, was a wonderful evening. From the wonderful prizes won at 'pick-a-box', competitive thrill of the fun quiz, delicious dinner and excitement around the raffle, guests were treated to an unforgettable night out. The money raised will be used for a new bicycle track for our children.

MANDELA DAY OUTREACH WITH BABY ETHAN FOUNDATION As we are always on school holidays on Mandela Day on 18 July we as a school miss out on participating in this important event on the South African calendar. This year, KDVPP, together with Ariel, partnered with the Baby Ethan Foundation to organise a magnificent day filled with giving. Goodie bags were made for children at Afrika Tikkun and the Sibusiso Emfundeni Daycare Centre. All our pupils contributed to the items included in the bags.

Our Grade 1 and 2 pupils coloured beautiful letters with special messages for the recipients. Grade 3 and 4 prepared delicious sandwiches and our Grade 5s – 7s made cosy fleece blankets for the children. The children also received lunch boxes, juice bottles and Loreal products. The Grade 6 and 7 pupils later went to Afrika Tikkun to deliver the goodie bags.

OUTREACH & FUNDRAISERS ORT OUTREACH DAY In commemoration of Mandela Day, our High School hosted children from five schools in Alexandra for an afternoon of sporting and cultural engagement dubbed #B1. In partnership with ORT, the High School PTA and the Grade 11 students ran the various activities. This project was the brainchild of our Deputy Head Girl, Kira Fisher and we hope this initiative will become an annual event on our calendar.

ELUL COLLECTION AT PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL The Pre-Primary School received a fantastic response to their Elul Charity Drive. The children at Wittedrift and Kwenokathula Primary Schools in Plett are blessed and so grateful for the collection of R2000 in cash and 12 boxes filled with food items, stationary and books.

OUTREACH & FUNDRAISERS BLOOD DRIVE

On Friday 13 September, the outreach committee hosted a blood drive in the new building of the school. SANBS arrived early in the morning and set up all the beds to start the donations. We were aiming for 30 potential blood donors and were overwhelmed with the outpouring support we received from students, teachers and parents. We managed to reach 45 blood donors with many people not able to donate due to limited time. The day was an incredible success. SANBS is very excited to make more dates at the school after the incredible results

#WESTANDWITHWOMEN After the rape and murder of the UCT student Uniyene, the people of South Africa took to the streets to protest about women abuse. On Monday King David wore black in support of women and protested against this abuse. On Monday the whole of King David Victory Park took a stand against women brutality by having a silent protest which was extremely successful in creating awareness and showing our support for women across South Africa

GRADE 9 FOCUS DAY

We were privileged to host JAM (Johannesburg Awakening Minds) at our English, Jewish Studies and LO Focus Day, held on the 10 October.

Our students spent the morning preparing delicious jam-filled sandwiches for the actors and their counterparts at the shelters. This was a simple act of chesed, but it was approached so enthusiastically and willingly by the grade 9s. The grade 9s were then treated to an extraordinary performance by JAM. Classic Shakespearean pieces were performed, as were some with a more modern spin, courtesy of JAM’s interpretation. The sandwiches were so appreciated by the actors, who remarked that they would be able to share them with families that they support. We are proud that our students’ kindness inspired and enabled the actors to continue the mitzvah of giving.

ACHIEVEMENTS AFRIKAANS OLYMPIAD The Afrikaans Department is extremely proud of the results of the Afrikaans Olympiad (First Additional Language). Despite the fact that the exam was of a very high standard, our students excelled. Abigail Klug achieved 88% and was placed in the top 100 students Nationally.

Jenna Kaufman and Michaela Klug achieved A symbols. These students have really brought credit to our school.

IT OLYMPIAD Mazal Tov to Brent Butkow for making it through to the 2019 IT Programming Olympiad National Finals. Brent is one of only 21 students nationally to be selected for the finals. In addition to this, he was placed second in Gauteng for the Provincial Certificates.

IT SHOWCASE The IT Showcase creates a meeting place between Grade 12 IT students, businesses and tertiary institutions. This competition was judged by judges from the University of Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg and University of Pretoria, as well as industry leaders such as Microsoft South Africa and the IITPSA and top teachers from private schools. Michael Rubin has created a program that works with vectors and is based on the Physical Science syllabus. He achieved first place in the Practical category for his Performance Assessment Task (PAT).

ACHIEVEMENTS WITS MATHS CHALLENGE The finals of the Primary Schools Wits Maths competition took part in the final round on Tuesday 30th July. Out of our five finalists, three of them were placed in the top ten of their categories. At the awards ceremony the following students received awards: Aaron Dorfan – 9th Place in the Middle Primary Division Nechama Fischer – 7th Place in the Middle Primary Division Francesca Lewitton – 9th Place in the Upper Primary Division (Top Girl in her division) Our school also was placed 5th Overall in the Middle Primary Division and 7th overall in the Upper Primary Division, with 20 schools competing.

DINA KATZ ACHIEVES GOLD Mazal Tov to Dina Katz (Ariel) on achieving gold for her solo in the American Dance Awards! Her group won gold and will dance in America.

WATCH AS WE GROW GRADE R CLASSROOMS AND MEDIA CENTRE

NEW PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDING

NEW BUILDING AT ARIEL

WATCH AS WE GROW THE HUB We are thrilled to report that we are on the last lap of this exciting new project. Please view our online catalogue for the Hub bit.ly/KDVPHU . It contains the educational technology, and furniture items we are hoping to include in the space.Should you choose to donate towards any of the items contained within, you will be contacted thereafter by the school with information on how to make your contribution.

NEW CLASSROOM BLOCK HS