arts & Culture
Pittie helpende hand
A lack of self-confidence should not be because of a lack of basic necessities. A child is only a child and does not choose there parents or their circumstances, and being a victim of your circumstances is unacceptable. This need was noticed and the Helping Hand project soon took effect.
This is an anonymous project where learners provide the basic toiletries, such as soap, a washcloth etc. to other learners in need without exposing the giver or receiver.
This is to give learners that extra boost they need, because confidence starts with how you feel. We don't want learners and especially girls to miss school because they have a specific need that is not met.
Pitties boys gentlemen's club
The boys club was founded with the goal of helping our boys grow and helping them develop into the best version of themselves.
Where boys becomes gentlemen. In a society where a large number of boys do not have a father figure to look up to, to learn from or even love, we try to fill that void. We want to teach our boys to first love God, love themselves and love others. We focus on the modelling of necessary skills and lead by example. Good communication skills such a firm handshake, basic mechanic skills such as changing a tire, folding a tie, good hygiene and how to respect authority and how to treat women is some of the skills that the boys are taught.
The world needs a father, and we can start at our school.
drama club
Established in 2019, the Pitties Drama Club has been an open space for learners from grade 4 – 7 to express themselves creatively.
Miss N. Oliver, teacher and coordinator of the Drama Club, worked in conjunction with Goliath- Davids Foundation in 2018 to bring the musical “I can be you fairytale” (written by Mr. F. Oerson) to life. They won 3rd place in their very first contribution to the Goliath-Davids Drama Festival, as well as best actor (Gavihano Witbooi) in the junior division.
They showcased their very own musical “Ek is Oek Important” (written by Ms N. Oliver) at V.R.T Pitt Primary School’s first Culture Evening hosted in October 2019.
The drama club meets weekly in the school hall at 3pm. They showcase their drama skills by means of poetry, musical, short roleplays, singing and dancing.
girls for girls
Girls for Girls is a program that was started by three educators from V.R.T. PITT Primary school. The aim of the program is to address the need for positive influences and role models in the community where the girls reside. The program also aims to highlight the existing positive role models and activities in their immediate community. The girls are often faced with difficult circumstances at home and is surrounded by many negative temptations. Without the proper guidelines, love and positive affection these girls fall prey to the temptation of negative and extremely devastating choices.
Girls for Girls aims to show the girls the opposite of these negative choices by exposing them to the brighter side of life and giving them the necessary tools to create a successful, fulfilling and enriched lives. Also to stand firm in their roles in being themselves first and foremost, i in their immediate household, in the family they will create one day, their community, their town, their country and eventually the world. We encourage and train the girls on how to stand firm and take up their role in society and all the different spheres they currently find themselves in and in those spheres they will eventually find themselves in, in their respective work places etc.
Anyone interested in contributing their time or resources to give these promising girls a boost in life is more than welcome to get in contact with the following program coordinators for more information:
Ms. E.E. Beukes, Ms. J. Lourens and Ms. M. Slingers.
Toastmasters
The Toast Masters group aims to primarily teach young learners how to do public speaking. The intention is to built self-confidence. We often find that learners who are part of the association are normally shy and reluctant to socialize at the start. It is amazing to witness how mercurial their development is with regards to social skills, conversing with others and addressing audiences.
Pitties present
How it started. Every year, V.R.T. Pitt educators blessed learners from other schools with a gift box during the Christmas season. Yet there were and still are learners in our own school within our classes who themselves are needy and also do not have the privilege of receiving a Christmas gift.
We thought it well to plow this beautiful gesture back and give it to our own children. Each educator identifies 2 or more learners in their own class. The educator makes up a gift box to give to that learner. Inside is toiletries, sweets, an age appropriate toy and clothes. The community is also free to sponsor a child's gift and can buy and pack the goods themselves.
On the day of "Pitties presentjie" the learners are specially invited to a visit from Santa Clause at the school. Their presents are put under the tree and Santa himself hands it out.
Through sponsors we were able to give each child lunch and a sweet packet with their gift.
It is so nice when a child receives something, especially when they are not use to being blessed and receiving show much love. Because we at V.R.T. Pitt really love our learners we love to go that extra mile. Making a child smile is the best gift a teacher can get.
chess club
The Pitties chess club started in 2017 under the leadership of Mr. W. Windvogel and Ms N. Oliver. This quickly grew and soon some of the players complained that “the chessboards are all occupied during break and after school and the diligent learners were eager for more playing time.
Our chess team consists of 3 age teams, u9, u11 and u13. Chess is a fast growing sport and we plan to enter more teams for tournaments in the future.
The Pitties chess teams take part in the SA Top Schools Chess Tournament and the Western Cape Top Schools tournament. The Overberg is also visited annually. This Chess Tournament in Caledon, houses more than 30 teams from across South Africa to compete for their place in the rankings.
In addition to Pitties' u9, u13 and u15 chess teams, the school also has a development team for beginners. An unlimited number of boys and girls are allowed.
Both individual and team league matches are the first step to Top schools, provisional
and finally national participation.
eisteddfod
A highlight on our school's arts & culture calendar is the yearly RATEM Eisteddfod in Riversdale.
Learners from Grade R to Grade 7 perform poetry, drama, speech choir and also showcase their creative artwork. Learners practice throughout the year to perfect their artform.
We are proud of all the accolades the learners have achieved thus far.
AMESA
The Association For Mathematics Education of South Africa, is a National organization that wants to promote the quality of Mathematics in the country. We encourage the learners to take part in this national initiative not only to boost their Mathematics skills but also their self esteem. We take part from Grade 4 to Grade 7 and want to include as many learners as possible.
This takes part in 3 phases where question papers are sent to school. Each participant much achieve a minimum of 50% to move on the the next phase. Each learner receives a certificate for every phase completed.
It helps the educators as well as the learners to master Mathematics at all levels. We have been participating since 2017 and learners are showing remarkable progress and improvement.
The educators involved are Ms. D. Mtila, Ms. E.E. Beukes, Ms. N. Oliver and Ms. M. Plaatjies
