Principal's Report

Dear Members of the Glen Waverley Primary School Community,

I trust all is well with you and your family and welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter where so much is shared about our fabulous school.

As per usual, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on 9802 9938 or via email at frank.catalano@education.vic.gov.au.

Coronavirus Update and the Staged Return to School 

There has certainly been a lot more excitement, engagement, connectedness and the sounds of the children learning, playing and moving throughout the school recently; as the staged return to school has provided the children with the opportunity to attend school on various days. For an educationalist, this literally is “music to my ears!”

As we progress through this process I eagerly await the arrival of Monday 1st November when all of the children will be able to return to school when perhaps the “music in my ears” may be a little louder, although very much welcomed! 

Once again, thank you everyone for your flexibility, understanding and patience as we work our way through another Covid-challenge!

Staff News

Congratulation to Ben Clark and his wife Areum on the arrival of their baby boy Ideun. Ideun (이든) Clark, was born in the Angliss hospital at 7:30am on Monday, October 25th. 

He's a healthy and happy little guy at (weight) 2730g and (length) 47cm. 

Mum, dad and baby are all doing well. We look forward to meeting our newest member of our school community, and wish them the best of luck with their new bundle of joy. 

Council of International Schools (CIS) Reaccreditation visit

Throughout this week we have had five colleagues from schools throughout the world conduct a reaccreditation visit as we seek to maintain our school’s accreditation as a member of the CIS. As one would expect, the visit was conducted virtually however it still maintained the thoroughness and integrity of an in-person visit. 

May I take this opportunity to thank our CIS colleagues as indicated below;

And the staff, children and parents who assisted in various ways. I look forward to announcing the outcome of the visit ASAP.

School Chess Team

As a school principal there are times when there are simply very few words that can describe the feeling I get when the children or staff achieve something extraordinary. This has been the case not once, not twice, not three but four times over the last fortnight. I am referring to our school chess teams wining the state finals in various competitions and also placing 3rd in another! The other aspect that has made our school achievement even more special was that we fielded an all girls team for the very first time, who are only in Years 1 to 4!

Girls Team:

• Victorian State Chess Championships – 3rd place
• ChessKids State championships – 1st place.

Naturally this is an amazing achievement and something that we are all incredibly proud of – well done and congratulations to all of the children (girls) listed below as your effort, commitment and attitude is simply amazing!

Boys/Open Team:

• Victorian State Open Primary Chess Championships – 1st place.

Wow, another fabulous achievement! Well done and congratulations to the following children as you should be incredibly proud of yourselves, just as we are of you!

• Victoria Middle Years Finals – 1st place.

Another 1st place is an amazing achievement and once again, something to be incredibly proud of!  

It is wonderful that the children listed above have achieved such phenomenal success however, this would not be possible without dedication and commitment to playing chess and also the support of their family. Thank you to all of the mums and dads who continually support the children as it is also important that your efforts are acknowledged. 

I look forward to celebrating the children’s achievements once everyone is back at school and also sharing how they go in future tournaments. Well done and congratulations everyone! 

Our new adventure playground 

As mentioned in our previous newsletter, a very exciting addition to our school’s facilities has been the installations of our new adventure playground. In fact, the playground made the re-entry to school even more special for the children. Included are photographs of the children enjoying the playground and also some of their comments. 

Once again, the purchasing of the new playground was possible as the vast majority of our school families have settled their 2021 accounts and because our school has a very supportive School Council that prioritises the needs of the children. On behalf of all of the children, thank you to their mums and dads for supporting our school and to our School Council for always being there for the children!

Below are some comments from the children:

Ryan & Japneet - the playground is enjoyable because of the Tall and twisty slide 

Anuki& Diti - it caught our eyes, and you can lose ourselves in the twist turns of platforms 

Seyara – I love the playground, it looks like a water park, has lots of nice colours and its really big with lots of room to play.

Eamon – It’s awesome because it’s really cool, really swirly and really tall so the slide goes for a long time!

Jonathon – It’s really big and fun. It has a really cool slide that goes really fast!

Sachin – The slide is amazing, it’s the best because it is dark and goes for a long time. In fact, oi’s the best playground in the world!

Reyansh - The amazing pale blue playground reflected on the sun as the slide is pitch black from inside, making the experience really fun!

Tiana - It’s something worth looking forward too. You can see the endless possibilities of exploration and fun, just there waiting for you. 

 Hriday - This playground will bring joy to every year 5 and 6 including myself.

Nimmer - Takes playing to new heights! 

Congratulations to Owen 

Owen (Year 5) is an avid artist and recently he entered two international drawing competitions and I am incredibly proud to report that he won First place in the 2021 Italy Diano Art Competition with his artwork Dream and received a Silver Medal in the 2021 HC Anderson Art Competition with his artwork Dream town.

As everyone would be aware, this is an amazing achievement and something that the entire school community is extremely proud of! Well done, congratulations and keep up the amazing passion and commitment to your drawing and art work Owen! 

Dashain Festival (Main Hindu Festival)

As an internationally accredited school it is extremely important that we acknowledge the various festivals that members of our school community celebrate. This fortnight Sureja (Year 6) has written a report about the Dashain festival which is the main festival for Hindu people in Nepal. 

Thank you Sureja for completing this and also for being prepared to share your family’s cultural celebrations with the rest of our school community. May I encourage other members of our school community to also share their cultural celebrations.

2022 Class Requests

Our school is currently in the process of creating classes for the 2022 school year, if parents have a particular preference for their child which pertains to educational or wellbeing (friendship) issues, please see me at school or send me an email at frank.catalano@education.vic.gov.au.

Please ensure this is completed by, Friday 19th November. 

Please note that we do not keep requests from last year and we do our best to accommodate all wishes, however there may be times in which this is not possible. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS WHO RECEIVED A PRINCIPAL’S AWARD RECENTLY: 

Prep A

• Deana and Agastya for making amazing progress with their spelling and also for being very creative by making rainbow watermelons

Prep B

• Yuvein, Karan and Hasiru for working so hard on improving their learning
• Nitisha for writing a thank you letter about Dan the Magician
• Minza foe being an amazing and very supportive friend

Prep D

• Thehan for learning about chance and data by flipping a coin

1B 

• Jasleen, Prisha and Kevin for working so hard to improve their writing
• Vinaiy for learning lots about dinosaurs

1C

• Tanya for writing about her schema
• Anya K for making amazing progress with her Maths skills
• Nishita and Pavirna for making fabulous progress with their writing skills
• Anjaliya for being a wonderful and supportive friend

1D

• Rishi for writing ‘chapter books’ and for also making amazing progress with his writing
• Tahlia for learning lots about money and Maths
• Ava and Corban for being wonderful friends

4D

• Elroy for making great progress with his maths skills

5B

• Shayan for creating an amazing recording of a telephone conversation in Mandarin as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter

5D

• Jonathan also for creating an amazing recording of a telephone conversation in Mandarin as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight, 

Frank Catalano

Principal