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

Good Friday Appeal

On behalf of the Executive Director of the Royal Children's Hospital thank you to our school community for all their support of the Good Friday Appeal. Through your contribution we helped raise an amazing $23,061,320 for the Royal Children's Hospital!

Each year, our wonderful community makes a difference to the lives of sick kids and their families by funding innovative and life changing projects to support medical excellence at The Royal Children's Hospital.

Funds from the Good Friday Appeal help to:

purchase state-of-the-art equipment and technology,
support research teams who push the boundaries of medicine to transform the future of children's health,
support the development of highly skilled staff with the best and brightest medical minds, and
fund projects that ensure patients and their families' experience the best possible care throughout their time at the Hospital.

The Royal Children's Hospital have presented our school a digital certificate of their appreciation.

Mother’s Day

I hope all our school mums had a fabulous Mother’s Day last weekend and the memories will be cherished for many years to come. May I also take this opportunity to thank the numerous parents who assisted with our Mother’s Day stall too.

In this fortnight’s newsletter, I thought that I would share two of my favourite Mother’s Day poems:

Since the day I was small

Till the day I became tall

Since I began understanding things

Till the day I got my own wings

Your love has never fallen short

You have been my only support

I want to hold you tight and hug you

I just want to say thank you.

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When you're a child she walks before you

To set an example.

When you're a teenager she walks behind you

To be there should you need her.

When you're an adult she walks beside you

So that as two friends you can enjoy life together.

Sports Update

We are incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated sports program at our school and in this newsletter I thought I would highlights some of the recent programs and achievements:

Cross Country

On Friday 5th May the Year 4 to 6 children participated in our intra-school cross country event where the children that placed in the top 8 qualified for the district event which was held last Friday. Congratulations to all of the children that proudly represented our school in our intra-school and district races as you were all fantastic. Please refer to Mr Parker’s piece where he elaborates on this year’s cross country running events.

May I also take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Ms. Lawlor and Mr Parker for their outstanding organisation of our cross-country event and also thank the numerous staff and parents who attended and supported in various ways.

Victorian School Sports Award

As mentioned in a previous newsletter, Arena (Year 6) is a dedicated and committed golfer who has experienced success in local, national and international events. Earlier this year she was nominated for the 2022 Victorian School Sports award, and I am thrilled to report that she was the successful recipient of this most prestigious award!

To further recognise Arena’s achievements, our school has organised two photo frames. One is proudly displayed in our school corridor and the other Arena has displayed in her home. Please join me in congratulating Arena and also wishing her well with all of her future endeavours.

Excursions and Incursions

One of the highlights of my role is conversing with the children daily and doing so once they return from an excursion is always very exciting as they share what they have learnt and experienced. This fortnight I thought I would share some of the reasons as to why we utilise this strategy to enhance the children’s learning:

Excursions and incursion provide another dimension to class-based learning and helps reinforce what has been taught in the classroom. The children may get to learn in a new environment with new teachers or instructors. Sometimes we commence a unit of learning with an excursion or incursion to explore the concept which then engages and inspires the children.
The children are excited and energised by the anticipation of leaving the classroom and school environment. Engaging school excursions will help students retain the information they have learnt on their trip.
The children can learn about and see new things in a less structured environment with more learning styles available - student learning can be hands on or interest-driven and they may be excited to learn something from someone new who is an expert in their field.
Exposure to new experiences - outside the classroom students have the opportunity of being exposed to new experiences and observe new things that are not available at school, such as rare and exotic wildlife and plants, different cultures and tours/visits to iconic buildings and areas.
Social skills - Getting out of the classroom gives children an opportunity to spend time with each other in a new environment without the structure of the classroom. School excursions often require students to spend time in small groups, observing, chatting and learning.

The excursions and incursions planned for this term include:

Year Prep’s - Healsville Sanctuary and a Fire Education incursion
Year 1’s - Chesterfield Farm
Year 2’s – CERES
Years 3’s – Melbourne Museum
Year 5’s - The Royal Botanical Gardens
Year 6’s – Hands on Science incursion and Scienceworks excursion

Allied Health Team

One of my ‘dreams’ for the Glen Waverley PS community was to establish our very own allied health team and I am thrilled to report that this has become a reality. At our school we now have the following allied health staff who bring their skills, experience and knowledge for the betterment of the children and school community as a whole:

Ms. Grace Wong – Speech Pathologist
Michelle Macpherson – Educational Psychologist and
Ryo Sugihara – senior teacher at our school who is completing a Masters of Counselling course.

To introduce our Allied Health team to our school community, shortly we will host a morning tea. Please keep an eye out in Compass for this invitation.

For those who are unable to attend, we will distribute a short video introducing our allied health professionals as soon as possible.

Indigenous Garden

I am thrilled to report that we continue to make significant progress with our indigenous garden. Since our last newsletter the school captains and Ms. Lyczba chose the children’s artwork which will be displayed around the garden and in the next week or so, these and several other signs will be placed around the garden. I look forward to sharing photos of the finished product ASAP.

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

Eric for writing a very interesting book about earthworms
Myraa, Jathy, Reyashi, Ishana, Prabhav and Thenura for writing excellent persuasive pieces about the importance of a class pet

Saanvi, Jamie and Shenelle for writing amazing reports about how to look after dogs

Naveen for placing first at the Canterbury Junior Chess Club competition

Dhrisha for creating a very elaborate word web about the importance of looking after our environment
Shanaya for being a wonderful friend

Oliver for writing an interesting and entertaining narrative about a cat that climbed very high on a tree to catch a bird
Thinuli, Myra, Sam and Harley for writing very deep reflections about their excursion to the Melbourne Museum

Ivan for writing a descriptive piece about the human body
Veer for being a very supportive and helpful friend

Helitha, Rohith, Vihan and Ahmad for researching, drafting and writing a very comprehensive information report about leopards

Rishi and Ajeet for writing very descriptive and interesting reports about the game Roblox and Tigers
Caiden for writing a very informative piece about what occurs with the human body just before passing

Sihath for creating his very own crane using Lego pieces and then for having the fortitude to use a motor from another Lego set to make the crane move and control the hoist

English Innovation students

Deeya (4D), Dinal, Sanuri and Aseli (4E) for writing very detailed information reports about various animals and fruits that were incredibly detailed and exceptionally well written.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal