Principal's Report

By Frank Catalano

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 wonderful 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.

Council of International Schools (CIS) Update

As communicated in a recent Compass Post, over the last two weeks I have the pleasure of being asked to assist two other CIS schools in their quest of being re-accredited with the Council of International Schools. Both the Adelaide Secondary School of English and Serpell Primary School (Templestowe, Victoria) selected to undertake the Pathway 2 reaccreditation process which involves the school:

Responding to and meeting a selection of CIS Core Standards, rather than all the Standards (which is the Pathway 1 method) and
Selecting to undertake 4 to 7 projects which address:
- Teaching and Learning, Global Citizenship or Wellbeing.

Both schools chose to select projects that fall within the Teaching and Learning framework as follows:

Adelaide Secondary School of English
- Supporting Students with Disabilities, Oral Language Development, Vocabulary Development and Self-Directed Learning.
Serpell Primary School
- Teaching EAL Students in Mainstream Classrooms, Embedding their Philosophy Program, Teaching Mathematics and Further Enhancing their Performing Arts Programs.

Both reviews were highly successful as the evaluation team, which consisted of colleagues from New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia, we were able to write a detailed report that provided the school with an overview of what is working well, followed by some recommendations for continued school improvement.

Our school is not due to undertake this process until 2026, I look forward to this occurring and assisting other CIS schools in the future.

Included are photos of the two teams.

Congratulations to Mrs Adriana Parsons and her family.

I am delighted to announce that Mrs. Parsons recently gave birth to Ava, who weighed 3.05 kilograms. Ava is now at home with her big brother Oliver, mum and dad and is doing well. We look forward to seeing Adriana and her children as soon as possible.

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievements.

Aadyah (Year 4) is an avid drummer and recently he completed and passed the Grade 5 exam. Well done and congratulations Aadyah, I look forward to seeing your skills continue to improve and also performing at a school assembly in the near future.

Jahnavi (Year 3) and Tanisha (Year Prep) love playing the piano and recently they competed in the Sale Piano Eisteddfod. Both children performed exceptionally well with:
- Jahnavi performing in 3 sections and received 2 first prizes out of which one was the Championship Trophy and she also placed 3rd in another section. The other exciting news is that Jahnavi was nominated for the Pianist Encouragement Trophy – which is wonderful!
- Tanisha also performed in 3 sections and placed 1st and 2nd, which is fantastic particularly considering she was competing against much older children.

Well done and congratulations Tanisha and Jahnavi, I trust you are proud of yourselves as I am of you! Keep it up and I look forward to you playing at a school assembly soon too.

Chess Team – last week a small group of children represented our school in another Northern Star Chess Primary Zonal competition. Overall, the team placed 3rd which is a fantastic achievement considering there were 122 participants from 26 schools.

Thank you and well done to the following children for representing our school and thank you to their parents for their ongoing support:

Jahnavi, Lucas, Jamie and Agastya (Year 3)
Shayana (Year 4) and
Sarah (Year 5)

In terms of individual achievements:

Jahnavi received the Gold Year 3 Gold Medallion and has qualified for the state final.
Agastya a Distinction certificate and
Jamie a Credit certificate.

Well done and congratulations everyone as we are very, very proud of you!

Congratulations, well done and thank you to Jamie, Saanvi, Advika and Shenelle (all in Year 2) for being such wonderful global citizens. The children sold stickers and made bracelets so they can raise funds for our sponsored child, Charlotte, who lives in Zimbabwe. In total the children raised $42.10.

Well done and thank you children as your generosity, compassion and genuine care for others is fantastic!

Crazy Hair Day

Thank you everyone the way you supported Crazy Hair Day last Friday. As you would be aware, the funds raised were directed to support our Australian sponsored child Caspian. Below is a report from our CIS Captains for your enjoyment.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We're thrilled to share some exciting news with you! On Friday, 31st May (Week 7), Glen Waverley Primary School hosted a special fundraiser to support an Australian child named Caspian through the Smith Family.

Did you know that one in six Australian children and young people are currently living in poverty? For these kids, even life's basics, like school supplies and uniforms, can be really hard to come by. And when families are struggling financially, children can fall behind in their learning, making it tougher for them to succeed later in life.

That's when everyone came in! Everyone took part in this fundraiser, and together we made a big difference in Caspian's life. Our support provided him with essential school supplies, uniform, and special learning support that truly changed his life. With these resources, Caspian has what he needs to fit in at school and catch up with his peers, giving him a better chance for a bright future.

So, how did we get involved? It's simple! On the day of the fundraiser, students came to school with their craziest hairstyles and brought along a gold coin donation. Every little bit helped, and together, we made a real difference in Caspian's life.

We believe that by coming together as a school community, we can create positive change for children like Caspian. Your kindness and generosity mean the world to us, and to him, and we're so grateful for your support. As a community, we raised $505.95, which is a phenomenal amount. Every cent helped Caspian have the best possible time at school.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the fundraiser, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Thank you for your ongoing support and generosity!

Warm regards,

Your CIS Captains: Ananda, Ali, Neervi, Pranesh

Update from our Environment Captains

It is wonderful to see members of our community utilise our school’s recycling programs. Below is a piece from our Environment Captains reminding everyone of the programs and their importance.

Dear parents/guardians,

We are thrilled to connect with you as the 2024 Environmental captains: Navya, Sahana, Milan, and Havish. We are excited to share some wonderful updates about the progress of our environmental projects with you.

The CDS fundraiser is off to a great start! We've been able to raise $99 by recycling 990 plastic bottles, preventing them from ending up in a landfill. This fantastic achievement is a testament to the dedication and effort of everyone at GWPS! If you want to participate in the fundraiser, you only have to bring bottles, cans or cardboard boxes with the 10c sticker and put them in the big blue bins outside the Science Shed.

Also, please remember to bring your flat batteries to school and put them in the containers which are scattered around the school. The batteries will then be collected and recycled.

Nude Food Day is just around the corner! This special day at GWPS encourages children to bring lunches and snacks that are free of plastic packaging in their lunchboxes. Why do we do this? This day inspires kids to take care of the environment and bring nude food to school. So, for example, if you always bring plastic packaging to school; you can put the food in reusable containers.

Thank you for reading our newsletter piece and we look forward to lots more environmental initiatives in the future.

Principal Awards

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a Principal’s Award recently:

Prep B

Luna and Dinaya, for sharing their amazing education week posters about looking after our environment.

Natalie, Serena, Suhansa and Sihas for being really responsible members of our school community

Hinaya and Dinara for making outstanding progress with their learning

Yasheli and Yashora for being very creative as they wrote a song about learning at our school.

Jimmy for writing all about the importance of getting lots of sleep
Sanvi for writing a very clever persuasive piece about buying a scooter
Aadhavan, Vivan and Arnav for working so hard to improve their learning

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal