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

End of Term Two

It is hard to believe that we are already nearing the halfway point of the 2026 school year. Like many of you, I find myself wondering where the year has gone. As we conclude a busy and successful first semester, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our students, families, and exceptional staff for their ongoing support, commitment, and contributions to our school community. Together, we have achieved so much, and I look forward to building on this success in Semester 2.

Congratulations to Mrs. Marescaux and Mr. Rowland

I am very pleased to report that Mrs. Marescaux gave birth to Thomas on Thursday 11th June at 3:15pm. She mentioned that she and Thomas are doing well and looks forward to visiting our school soon.

Also, congratulations to Mr. Rowland and his wife Eleanor on the safe arrival of baby Harriet who was born on the 23rd June. Once again, both baby and mum are doing well. We also look forward to meeting Harriet soon.

Congratulations to Saras

A few weeks ago, Saras (Year 2) decided that our school could do more to increase awareness about the environment and our container recycling program. So, what did he do? He challenged all the students to donate recyclable aluminium cans and bottles in the hope that we can place them end on end and circumnavigate the oval and subsequently raise some additional funds to support the purchasing of the LED screen for the gymnasium. How did we go? Below is a copy of Saras’ speech that he shared at Monday’s assembly:

Good morning Mr. Catalano, teachers and students,

My name is Saras and I am in Year 2. Last Friday we had our recycling challenge where we encouraged everyone to bring bottles or cans to school. I am happy to announce that we raised …….. $102.30 for our new LED screen for the gymnasium. I want to thank everyone for their efforts.

Saras, I cannot express how proud I am of you as your initiative, drive and enthusiasm for someone so young is simply amazing and inspiring - well done, congratulations and thank you!

Congratulations to Klarissa

Klarissa (Year 5) loves ballroom dancing and recently she sent me the following email:

Good Evening Mr Catalano,

I had my latest dance grading on the 20th June. I received a high distinction for Slow Foxtrot & Quickstep. We had a “ball” the same night - this time “Bridgerton” themed. I forgot to tell you about the previous one end of term 1.

Anyway, the most exciting thing I want to tell you is at my dance grading we got told about something special happening on the 9th of July. It starts at 5.30am - to appear on Sunrise as part of the live crosses after the weather with Sam Mac. I really wanted to do so I asked my mum if I could do it and she said yes, but later I started to freak out when I found out that I could possibly get interviewed by Sam Mac who is a famous TV weather man. But I’ll do it!

It's basically that he will come to our studio to promote social ballroom dancing and pull his bad dad jokes and have a likely bad attempt at doing what we will be doing, haha! We need to be there 5.30am for going live anytime from 6am as that’s when the studio in Sydney goes live. They will cross to us about 4 times during the 3 hours - as LIVE TV. I’ve been on TV once, but that was a quick interview with mum as bystanders to the RSL fire and not live - they heavily edited it which is standard. So being live is scary, but it will be fun and interesting at the same time. I’ll need to be up about 4am to get stage makeup on and dress up, and mum will drive us there leaving home about 5.10am. That will be hard! But I hope you can tune in and watch me; it’s over the holidays - Thursday 9th July!

Well done and congratulations Klarissa, as it is wonderful to see you continuing with ballroom dancing. I’ve diarised the 9th July and look forward to seeing you on TV!

Congratulations to Amasha

Amasha (Year 4) recently entered the Gymnastics Winter Competition, and she shared the following email:

Dear Mr Catalano,

I hope you are well.

I am writing to tell you about my results from the Gymnastics Winter Competition held over the weekend at Skylark Sports.

I had a very successful competition and was pleased with how I performed across all of my events. I placed 5th on bars and competed in floor routine, beam, and vault as well. My scores across all events helped me achieve an overall Championship Silver Medal, which means I finished second overall in my division.

I worked hard in training to prepare for the competition, so I was very proud of this achievement. It was a great experience, and I was excited to represent my gymnastics club.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my results.

Kind regards,

Amasha Year 4

Well done and congratulations Amasha, this is such an amazing achievement. I look forward to hearing about your future successes and all that you continue to accomplish.

Chess Team Update

Our school chess team continue to excel in various competitions. Recently the children participated in:

Chess Ideas (Victorian Girls) tournament and placed 1st. The children have subsequently qualified for the Victorian semi-finals and
Northern Star – Zonal competition, where once again the children placed first and have qualified for the semi-finals.
Jaden (Year 6) – High Distinction and Star of the Tournament Trophy
Agastya (Year 5) – High Distinction and Star of the Tournament Trophy
Amaya (Year 6) - High Distinction and Girls Gold Medallion
Jahnavi (Year 5) - High Distinction and Grade 5/6 Silver Medallion
Shanosh (Year 6) - High Distinction and Grade 5/6 Bronze Medallion
Naveen (Year 5) - High Distinction and Grade 5/6 Bronze Medallion
Thehan (Year 5) – Distinction Certificate
Sithev (Year 4) – Distinction Certificate and Grade 3/4 Bronze Medallion
Saheli (Year 6) – Distinction Certificate and Girls Silver Medallion
Reyanshi (Year 5) – Credit Certificate
Arya (Year 5) – Credit Certificate and
Thinuli (Year 4) - Credit Certificate.

Some of the individual achievements include:

Below is a copy of the speech Tanisha and Jahnavi shared at Monday’s assembly:

Good morning Mr. Catalano, teachers and fellow peers,

Today my sister Tanisha and I (Jahnavi) are going to give you a little insight on the chess tournaments we recently participated in and where we placed as a team.

Last week, on the 16th of June, our girls team participated in the Girls only Chess Ideas tournament at Camberwell Girls Grammar School. It was a very close tournament as the rest of the teams came in with high scores as well. We came first and everyone was very proud of us. We performed confidently, accurately and showed great sportsmanship.

Also last week, this time on the 17th of June, our Open Team participated in the Open Northern Star tournament at Brandon Park Primary School. At this one, our final total score was 27 points! How outstanding is that!

We played against the best of the best players from other schools and played our best games too.

At the end we placed first again, and we are now qualified for the semi-finals.

In behalf of the whole school chess team, I would like to thank Mr. Catalano and our parents for making this all possible.

Thank you for listening!

Congratulations, well done and thank you everyone and I look forward to sharing more chess news after the holidays!

May I also take this opportunity to thank the children’s parents for their support and enthusiasm too – well done and thanks everyone!

What’s planned for our school during the school holidays?

As you may be aware, the school holidays are an ideal time for tradespeople to complete tasks around the school. These holidays we have the following planned:

The installation of a LED screen in the gymnasium. This is our school’s main facilities related project for this year and we are all looking forward to completing it
Replacing some of the external lights in the gymnasium and
Installing a roof over the office inside the Year 6 building.

As always, may I take this opportunity to thank the members of our school community that have settled their school fees as this has enabled for the above works to be completed.

I look forward to sharing some photos in our first newsletter in Term Three.

Vacation Care Program

Once again our school will be implementing our very own Vacation Care (Holiday Care) program during the forthcoming holidays. Included in this newsletter is an overview of the program and the associated costs.

Please be aware that ALL FAMILIES are entitled to a 50% rebate (which is not means tested) plus a further rebate which is determined by your family’s 2024 -2025 annual taxable income.

If you have any questions pertaining to the Vacation Care program, please do not hesitate to contact or see Meththa (OSHC coordinator) or me at school.

Principal Awards

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

Year Prep

Kate, Aaradhya and Rovin for completing exceptional home learning
Jyansh and Sakith for being really responsible members of our school community

Rovin, Aaradhya and Kate in Prep

Year 1

Saravana for being incredibly kind and considerate to everyone in our school
Harvin, Samaria, Fateh, Reyanshi, Ishal, Taira, Krish, Aariv and Arha for being really responsible members of our school community by ensuring our yard is clean and neat
Luis and Dian for their outstanding drawing skills
Leela, Janami and Dhiana for drawing some beautiful and heartfelt cards for my office
Dhiana and Janani for working so hard on their Maths skills

Year 2

Abhiram for spending approximately 10 hours building a Lego jeep and then being extremely generous by donating it to our school. Well done and thank you Abhiram!
Taksh for drawing a detailed image of a Bilby with accompanying information
Shenara and Shakya for being really responsible members of our school community
Pranshi and Trisha for keeping our school yard neat and tidy
Binu for making a puppet out of paper
Ashley, Sohana and Tanisha for making excellent progress with their writing skills
Kaniishka and Janvi for writing a beautiful card for my office

Abhiram Year 2

Year 3

Class 3E - for making excellent progress with their handwriting skills
Savik, Saambavi, Ava, Tanvika, and Nairah for working hard on developing their understanding of synonyms
Oscar and Savik for continuing to develop their drawing skills
Samhith for working very hard to develop his mathematical understanding and skills
Sankrith for keeping our school yard neat and tidy
Tehan for researching and sharing an amazing array of information about the Aboriginal flag

Year 4

Myraa and Mahi for making outstanding progress with their English skills
Vivinne for competing in the Ringwood Eisteddfod competition and placed 2nd in the Grade 5 and 6 piano section
Ella for being a wonderful friend
Abisshna for making excellent progress with her learning and for very proudly and confidently sharing her learning portfolio with me
Jathy and Soha for learning about the tricky ways some people spy on children as part of their cyber safety learning

Vivienne Year 4

Wishing everyone a safe and happy school holiday period.

Take care and to those who are travelling, please do so carefully.

Frank Catalano

Principal

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