Kids Corner

In the final Kid’s Corner for the 2023 school year, I would like to share our School Captain’s speeches from the Graduation. Thank you, Amellia and Vivaan, for being outstanding captains and I trust everyone enjoys their speeches as much as the people who attended the evening did. 

School Captaincy Speech – Amellia 

Dear Mr Catalano, parents, guardians, teachers, and fellow graduates As you all may know, I’m Amellia and I am absolutely honoured to be standing here at our primary school graduation as your school captain.

 

Today, we gather here to celebrate a significant milestone in our lives, our primary school graduation. It's a moment of pride, not only for us, the graduates but also for our parents, guardians and the dedicated staff who have guided us through this incredible journey. Every encounter we have had at this beautiful school has had an impact and improved our thought process to handle life situations whether simple or complex.

 

I still remember my first day, I was excited, scared, worried, and had a thousand other feelings that I couldn’t even understand. However, I remember one thing more than anything else, I was holding my mum and dads’ hands tight, and it helped me to overcome my feelings. I believe it was the same for all of you.

 

So first and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our parents for holding our hands thus far and bringing us into this great school. Parents and all the guardians here, your unwavering support and love have been our pillars of strength. You have sacrificed your time and energy to ensure we had the best possible opportunities to learn and grow. Your encouragement, patience, and belief in us have motivated us to work hard and strive for success. We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for being our role models and for instilling in us the values that will guide us through life.

 

If I continue going back to my first few days of GWPS there’s another thing that I remember the most, out of all the new faces I saw there was this extremely friendly face with a big smile, which made me feel so welcome and happy. Can anyone guess who this is?

 

Yeah, you all guessed right, that was none other, the kindest principal ever, Mr Catalano, please give a big round of applause to Mr Catalano for making every single decision with students as his top priority. We can only imagine how difficult the job of school principal is, but he handles it with grace and enthusiasm.

We are deeply grateful to you for laying the foundation to create this nourishing school environment and taking all the measures to put us on the right track. Sometimes it was a tap on our shoulder, sometimes it was a hi5 or a sticker, regardless of the way, you made sure the good work was always appreciated at GWPS and we felt it, we felt it deeply in our heart. That encouraged all of us to follow the GWPS values, to share love, to do good, to help others. Mr Catalano, you shaped our world, the kindness started from you spread throughout this whole school and we are so lucky to have a principal like you. Thanks again for being the best principal ever.

 

Not only Mr Catalano, I want to use this time to forward our gratitude to our Assistant Principals Mrs Garzberg, Mr Lewis, Mr Welsh and all our wonderful teachers. You have been our mentors, our guides, and our friends throughout this journey. You've not only imparted knowledge but have also nurtured our characters, teaching us to be kind, respectful, and resilient. Your dedication and passion for education have inspired us and have helped us realise our potential. We are grateful for your patience, encouragement, and the countless hours you've invested in our development.

 

You won’t believe how much my parents admire you. They are the biggest fans ever. They are always amazed how you manage 30 students every day so calmly. Thanks to my brother and I, they know it’s not an easy task to look after children and that’s just with the two of us.

 

Over and above, I can only imagine how hard it’s to be a teacher. Our lovely teachers, you are doing a fantastic job.

 

Next, I want to express our heartfelt thanks to the entire school staff including our Administrative Staff, School nurse, Before and After School Care Staff, Cleaning staff and our substitute teachers. You've created an environment in which we felt safe, encouraged, and challenged to excel. Your hard work and commitment have played an integral role in shaping us into the individuals we are today.

 

Now to you, my friends, we do not remember days, we remember moments of love. I have felt privileged to share my years of primary school with you. Looking here now it’s unbelievable that we met seven years ago. Now here we are, GWPS graduates, Wow can you believe it! The last few years have been a real roller coaster ride. We have had our ups and downs, but we faced them together, we have picked each other up no matter how far we have fallen.

 

Yes, we absolutely picked each other up. Even when it comes to emergency care, I don’t think any ambulance service can beat us. When one of us get sick, there are roughly 10 of us to take the sick person to the Health Hub. However, not everyone is happy with this service as we have been told many times to go back to our classes by our health nurse because they're too many people.

 

So, my fellow graduates, As Arthur C Clark mentioned “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible”. Let’s embrace the future with open hearts and curious minds. Let's keep reaching for the stars, knowing that the skills and values we've gained in primary school will continue to guide us. Let us continue to make our parents, teachers, and school proud as we move forward. As we step into the next chapter of our lives, let us remember the importance of kindness, hard work, and perseverance. Let us make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead and continue to grow into the amazing individuals our parents and teachers have always believed we could be.

 

Once again, thank you, parents, and staff, for your unwavering support and guidance. Our achievements are your achievements, and today, we celebrate together.

 

Congratulations, graduates! The future is bright, and I can't wait to see the incredible things we will accomplish. As we all know, once you are a part of GWPS family you are always a part of GWPS family! Thank you.

Year 6 Graduation Speech – Vivaan

Primary school is the start of our educational life, and this chapter just flew past us in no time. It feels like yesterday I was learning magic words and today I am learning advanced algebra. The precious memories will be trapped deep within us throughout our lives, reminding us of the good times this school gave us. Times of happiness, laughter, the occasional sadness and so much more is what makes our unforgettable journey throughout our time at our school. I am very grateful for everything this school has given me and what Mr Catalano, the teachers, my peers and staff has done for me and my learning. The fact that you are here tonight is important itself, so I thank all of you who came here tonight. For the people who don’t know me I am Vivaan Patel and I am the 2023 school captain.

The first day at school, the beginning of where I began my journey was when I got introduced to a whole other world filled with different learning opportunities. There were lunchtime activities, innovation classes, after school programs, before school programs and so much more. This school has worked so hard for each and everyone’s learning and their passions. This school has shaped and changed me to a different person that I was yesterday, and I am sure the same applies to you too. Our school’s support will always be remembered deep within our hearts.

Every day when I come to school it challenges my thinking and all these thoughts and ideas just seem to explode out of my mind. One of my favourite things about our wonderful school, is that it provides us with the opportunity to think deeply and reflect on what we are learning to a very high level. I’m sure all the Year 6’s can relate to this. 

 

Our school has always reminded us of the importance of being in a productive struggle, because it is the key to opening a whole new world. A world where we are always looking forward to other struggles which means learning at a very high level so we can fulfill our school motto of: dream, believe, achieve and succeed! 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my peers who shaped and are a big part of my memories of primary school. Running around the playground, playing hide and seek, playing handball, tag, having a laugh. All these little pieces make up the jigsaw puzzle of my memory of our primary school days. I hope everyone has lots of fabulous jigsaw pieces that make the most amazing memory of your time at primary school. 

 

Not forgetting all the teachers, their hard work to shape and change students from when we entered this school and up to where we are now. They have taken the responsibility for extending our growth and as far as I know they have completed this responsibility really, really well. I think they deserve a big round of applause.

There are still two people who I have to thank. They have played a massive role in the background, always supporting me and motivating me for everything I do. And those are my parents, they always work hard for my passions and everything I need so I would like to thank them for being like pillars always supporting me. When you get the chance, can you also thank your parents because they deserve it too! 

Once again I would like to thank Mr Catalano, the assistant principals, all of the teachers, staff and last but not least my peers for making my time at primary school the best it can ever be. I will always come back to visit this amazing school, most probably better than it is today. I will miss all your support and hard work which I will never forget and shall be printed in my heart forever.

Thank you. 

Ryan's Graduation Speech - 6C

Life is like a complicated chess game, we’ve had our good moves and our blunders! After a well fought match we got them checkmate! Thank you to all of my friends and family for supporting me since the very start. Good evening parents, teachers, students and Mr Catalano. My name is Ryan from 6C and I'm one of the 2023 graduates. Now let's start from the very beginning!

 

My opening move was made 7 years ago at this very school. As soon as I stepped into the class I knew I would make life long memories. I started primary school with big welcoming arms. School was a huge step up from kindergarten. I mean from a kindergartener's eyes it was like graduating *from* high school! I know that I *would* I absolutely cherish primary school in my heart even if we don't have naps. (We really need those) *whisper*

 

The years flew by like a candle in the wind and so my opponent had started their counter attack; COVID. Covid was especially hard for my family because my mum had become very sick from a different cause and we had to make many sacrifices which helped me get through life and showed me not to take things for granted which looking back I am thankful for. When Covid first started I was absolutely ecstatic. I mean what would a little 9 year old think if they had no school, it was like a free queen with no drawbacks! Me and my sister made the most of it at least until online school started (groan*). I was devastated but I defended my opponent's counter attack by staying positive, having fun and most of all sleeping through recess and lunch *shhhhhhh*

 

As year 4 and 5 came around the corner along with ipads (which are AWESOME). I also met a certain person and to this day he’s one of my best friends. Year 5 was when I had my first ever camp. Although Covid was still a huge problem, we persevered and had the best camp experience! After we came back home from Beechworth and reunited with family, we prepared for the most important year of our lives. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN YEAR 6.

 

As the school holidays finished and we all came to our new classes, everything was changing from people's height along with voices to the timetables. It may seem like a big change but Look where we are now! This match may be concluding but a bigger, harder match is coming. I want to thank my teacher for understanding the perfectly finished homework left at home as well as putting up with our eccentric class! Gary Kasparov once said “Steady effort pays off, even if not always in an immediate, tangible way.” I want to sincerely thank all of you for listening and see you on the other side.