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 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.

Novel Coronavirus Update

It has been very pleasing to note that the number of confirmed cases throughout our school has decreased over the past fortnight and what is also fabulous that the reported cases are spread across the year levels. Naturally this is a result of everyone being vigilant by ensuring the children remain home if they are feeling unwell and also utilising the Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT’s). Once again, thank you everyone for the manner in which the entire GWPS community have supported one another and please continue to keep an eye on Compass for updates.

Prep Families BBQ

Our annual Prep Families BBQ was held on Thursday 17th March and once again, it was a resounding success as so many families were able to meet and get to know one another whilst the children took the opportunity to expand on their friendships. Naturally such an event is not possible without the thorough planning and implementation of the staff – a sincere thank you to the numerous staff members who assisted in various ways as your efforts are greatly appreciated by the children, their families and I.

Cultural Diversity Week (CDW) Update

It certainly has been an even more inspiring week than usual throughout our school as we not only celebrated the different cultures which we come from, but also acknowledged them and most importantly, learnt from one another.

A sincere thank you to the entire GWPS community for the manner in which you have supported our school’s CDW celebrations and our amazing students for the manner in which they willingly embrace one another’s cultural backgrounds and beliefs!

Junior School Council (JSC) Training

Congratulations and well done to all of the children who have been selected to represent their class and peers as part of this year’s JSC. On Friday 11th March the children completed their first of two training sessions with renowned leadership coach Gary Ryan from Organisations That Matter and below is what Gary wrote on his LinkedIn account:

Gary Ryan

Author: #1 Bestseller Amazon Kindle "Disruption Leadership Matters - lessons for leaders from the pandemic" (Business Management Science category) I help organisations become worthy of the people who serve in them

It isn’t very often I get to work with primary school children these days. Whenever I do, I always walk away refreshed and energised. This morning I worked with 100 recently elected student leaders aged 5 to 12 from Glen Waverley Primary School . With support from School Principal Frank Catalano, Ben, Ivana, Trish and Anat, the students were amazing.

The green post it notes represent what the students believe a leader does, the yellow post it notes represent examples of initiative - check them out and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Personally, I was blown away! (notice the one that says, "Being able to provide emotional support" - you should have witnessed the examples this example of initiative catalysed - truly exceptional kids!) The white post-it notes represent the output from work we did on service learning. Thanks for trusting me to work with your students leaders Glen Waverley Primary School. It is little wonder your school featured in my recent book😀🙏🏼😀.#studentleaders #servicelearning #initiative #teamwork #alwayslearning #servantleadership Organisations That Matter

STEM Workshop

Over the long weekend, some of our students attended a STEM workshop at the Clayton library as indicated by Daivik’s email below:

Dear Mr Catalano,

I would like to share with you one activity that we did over the labour day long weekend at the Clayton Library. I hope this would spread awareness about the lack of clean water availability around the world.

Recently, on the 12th of March, Nevin, Archis and I participated in a STEM workshop about clean and sustainable water sources. We also got to learn about the different sources of water and the many water filtration methods. With all this knowledge, we made a water filter out of sand, gravel, activated charcoal, cotton and cheese cloth. We had to abide by a budget to buy these materials. Using our creativity, we brought our idea to life! It was heaps of fun! We were ecstatic to see that our creation actually worked when the murky water came out of our filter as clear water.

Sadly, many people around the world are not as lucky as us to have access to clean water. We wish our learning will help us create more advanced water filters for future generations. We hope that this can help to spread awareness about those who need help across the globe.

Thank you!

Daivik

Well done and thank you for sharing your learning boys and yes, it is very sad that not everyone has access to clean water!

Congratulations to our School Chess Team

Our school Chess Team competed in their first tournament of the year earlier this week and I am extremely proud to report that they placed second overall. Nikhil (Year 6) , Vikas (Year 5) , Vidushi (Year 5) and Naveen (Year 1) were the top 4 performers whilst a number of our team members won individual medals. The team has now qualified for the Primary Open Semi final as well as Primary Girls State Finals.

Congratulations to the following children who received individual prizes:

Vidushi – Gold Medal (Girls)

Naveen - Gold Medal (Prep to Year2)

Amaya – Silver Medal (Prep to Year2)

Saheli - Bronze Medal (Prep to Year2)

Nikhil & Vikas – Bronze Medals (Year5-6)

Well done everyone and we look forward to hearing how you go throughout the year!

Congratulations to Reyansh

Reyansh (Year 1) recently took an amazing photo of a “double rainbow” from his backyard before coming to school. What is even more impressive is that he said, “Life is Blissful when close to nature.” Well done and thank you for sharing Reyansh as it is wonderful to see such high level of creativity and awareness.

Congratulations to Veer

Veer (Year 2) is a very passionate karate participant and last weekend he competed in the International Sport Karate Association’s (IKSA) Victorian Challenge and I am extremely proud to report that he placed first in Victoria! From this point he has qualified for the National championships which are being held later in the year. Well done and congratulations Veer and we all look forward to hearing how you go at the next level!

Congratulations to Swara

Swara (Year 3) recently cur her beautiful long hair for a very special cause! To provide her hair to a wig maker who will create wigs for children who have cancer. Naturally this is an amazing gesture that will make a significant difference to a child/ren and their family in very trying times. Swara, well done, thank you and congratulations as this high level of generosity is not only amazing but also demonstrates the calibre of person that you are – you should be incredibly proud of yourself!

Congratulations to Hirun

Hirun (Year 5) continues to make amazing progress with his athletics achievements! Recently he completed in the Little Athletic Regional Championships where he placed 14th in the Under 11 Boys High Jump with a jump of 1.15m and 18th in the 80m Hurdles with a time of 15.15 seconds.

Next for Hirun are the state finals where he hopes to compete in the 70m Sprint, 80m Hurdles, High Jump and Javelin.

Congratulations and well done Hirun, as your persistence is amazing as is your willingness to always achieve your best. I look forward to sharing how you go in the State Finals ASAP!

Principal Awards

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a Principal Awards recently:

Prep D

Theneru and Vihaan for making outstanding progress with their writing
Harley for making outstanding progress with her reading
Amasha, Liam, Josh and Ruize for writing about the Prep BBQ

Arnav for working really hard to improve his Maths skills
Minadi for working so hard on her writing skills
Zaiden and Minza for writing amazing narratives and recounts – their writing is fabulous!

Siddharth and Jamie for being very supportive and responsible friends

Arjun, Krishna, Riaan, Reyansh and Shlok also for working really hard to improve their Maths skills
Navesha and Aadhavan for competing in a sports day at the Bharathy Academy and for receiving a medallion

Shruthi for drawing a beautiful picture of herself receiving her JSC badge
Nuve for being a very supportive friend and also for drawing a very clever picture of an ice-cream with one or five scoops on it!

Jittipad and Leon for making amazing progress with their maths learning

Nishta for making amazing progress with her learning
Ava for being an amazing and very super friend
Amaya and Saheli for continuing to make excellent progress with their writing as featured in the kids corner section of this newsletter

Rudra and Riaan for creating very descriptive home learning pieces as part of Cultural Diversity Week

Sid for completing a very deep reflective piece about water safety

Chunuka also for completing a very deep reflective piece about water safety

Anuki for creating a very scary movie that made Mr Catalano shiver with Hunar and Hansiga

Hunar and Hansiga for creating a very scary movie that made Mr Catalano shiver with Anuki

Elroy for building a fabulous model racing car out of Lego

Thanks you to Rishi (Year 2) for volunteering his own time to build a Luna Rover out of Lego.

Our school’s Lego creations are proudly displayed in the cabinets outside the Art Room, when you have the chance please may I encourage everyone to take a look as you will be suitably impressed!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal