Principal's Report

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 last fortnight. 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. 

Year 5 Camp

Congratulations and well done to our fabulous Year 5 learners as they enjoyed 4 fantastic days at the Old Priory camp in Beechworth.  The children returned on Friday looking somewhat exhausted however incredibly proud of themselves as they learnt so much about Australian history whilst developing their confidence, self-esteem and ability to work with others.

Naturally, a school camp is not possible if it were not for the staff and other adults who attended and also organised the camp. A sincere thank you and well done to Ms. Liburti and Ms. Stevenson for their fabulous organisation, the rest of the Year 5 Team for their leadership and support and all of the staff who attended or assisted in various ways. Congratulations, thank you and well done everyone! 

Year 4 – 6 Intra-School Athletics Sports 

It was wonderful that we were able to complete our intra-school athletics sports on Thursday 24th February. We look forward to our school team being announced and the children partaking in the District Athletics which are being held on Friday 1st April at Bill Stewart Athletics Oval in Burwood. Congratulations to all of the children who qualified and best wishes with your respective events. We look forward to sharing how you went as soon as possible. 

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievements: 

Swimming:

Joshua (Year 5) is an avid swimmer and recently he sent me the following email:

Dear Mr Catalano,

This is Joshua from 5D.

On Saturday 26th February 2022, I went to the 2022 Metro East District Swimming Competition.

 This is where they select ten fastest swimmers in each stroke and age. I got selected in 3 strokes for my age group.

These are the strokes:

Butterfly 50m 7th Place PB

Freestyle 50m 6th Place PB

Backstroke 50m 8th Place PB

I will be going to the semi-final on the 26th of March 2022 and if I get in the top ten again, I will be the Victorian Metro All Junior Competition in the final. I am very proud of this because I couldn’t train perfectly because of being sick, but I did my best. From now on I’ll train even harder for the next competition.

Sincerely,

Joshua

Josh, this is an amazing achievement – well done and congratulations! I did note that you also swam PB’s (personal bests) in all of the 3 strokes in which you were selected – this too is a real testament to how much effort and persistence you place on your swimming. We all look forward to hearing how you go on the 26th of March! 

Also, Josh recently represented our school in the district swimming championships, and I am delighted to report that he placed:

• 1st in Freestyle and
• 2nd in Butterfly 

to now qualify for the Regional Finals which are being held on the 26th of March. 

Once again, congratulations Josh and we look forward to hearing how you go in the Regionals! 

Athletics :

Congratulations to Aidan (Year 4) and Ethan (Prep) for their outstanding athletics achievements recently. 

• Aidenplaced 4th in high jump and hurdles in a recent regional track and field competition and was selected to participate in the State track and Field Championship this month. He also placed 3rd in his centre championship!
• Ethan also placed 3rd and received his first medal. 

Well done and congratulations Aidan and Ethan, please continue with your athletics passion and Aidan we look forward to hearing how you go at the State Championships!

Cricket:

Congratulations to Chaitanya (Year 5) for receiving the Bob Morrow Spirit of Cricket award from the Monash Glen Waverley Junior Cricket Club. Chaitanya also received the “Sensie” award for teaching his teammates…helping with their batting, bowling and fielding skills. Well done and congratulations Chaitanya as it is wonderful to receiving such amazing awards! And

Congratulations to Krisha and Minza  for successfully completing the cricket season with their local club. The girls proudly showed their trophies at Monday’s assembly and also gave a fabulous speech! Well done Krisha and Minza, as you mentioned in your speech, hopefully some day you will be professional cricketers! 

Tribute to Shane Warne

The passing of cricketing icon and legend Shane Warne has had an impact on most Australians, Victorians and cricket loving fans all over the world including some of the children at our school. Thimath (Year 6) has written the following tribute to “The King” – Shane Keith Warne. Thank you Thimath for doing so, as this demonstrates a deep sense of acknowledgment and empathy. 

Tribute To Shane Warne - By, Thimath 6A

The cricket world has lost a legend, the world’s king of leg-spin. Australian cricket icon Shane Warne passed away on the 4th of March 2022. Warne is recognised as the best leg spin bowler in cricket history. Shane Warne is the 2nd highest wicket taker in test cricket with over 700 wickets. This Victorian claims an unbelievable Ashes hat trick and the record for the most test runs without scoring a century. Warne also captained the Australian ODI squad in 1999. Nobody who saw Warne play at that time would ever forget him. Our hearts are breaking for Warne, and any Victorian would feel sad. 

Rest In Peace Warnie. 

“To me, cricket is a simple game. Just keep it simple and go out and play.” - Shane Warne

Junior School Council

Congratulations to all of the children who were selected as part of the 2022 Junior School Council as it is always an honour to represent your class and school. On Friday the children will be completing their first leadership training session with renowned leadership coach, Gary Ryan. I look forward to sharing the children’s feedback and reflections about their training session and their action plans in forthcoming newsletters. Well done and congratulations everyone! 

School Council Elections and Update

Thank you to the numerous families who completed this year’s School Council voting slips. In total approx. 1700 votes were counted which demonstrates the importance our school community place on this issue. 

Thank you to the members of our school community who nominated for selection and congratulations to those who were successful.

I am very pleased to announce the composition of the 2022 School Council is now complete and is as follows: 

Parent Representatives:

• Jessey Kaur, Tejaswini Patel, Chetna Raj, Praveen Jain, Suresh Ramachandraiah, Poonam Virk, Aditya Sathe, Thusitha Tennakoon, Dinesh Shetty and Isha Malhotra.

Staff Representatives:

• Ben Welsh, Roland Lewis, Trish Singh, Lauren Anderson, Jess Wood, Peter Shen and myself.

This fortnight I have also attached an overview of the role of the School Council compared to that of the Principal.

Principal Awards

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

Prep D

• Harley for making amazing progress with her learning. Harley has learnt about the letter N! 
• Nethuli, Hathan and Aran for their fabulous writing skills

1B

• Sam for continuing to write very engaging and interesting narratives
• Kisal for being a fantastic friend 

1C

• Hasiru for working very hard to continue to improve his drawing skills

1E

• Reyansh, Krishna and Riaan for many ‘buckets’ for my office so they can be filled with compliments from others 
• Nevan for being a very supportive and trustworthy friend 

2B

• Ivan and Jittipad for making amazing pizzas out of clay in the art room. Ivan’s is a bacon pizza with meat and Jittypad’s a cheese, mushroom and lettuce pizza! 

• Tevin and Rishi for volunteering to build a Lego crane for our school’s display cabinet 
• Ronith for being an amazing and very supportive friend

2C

• Pavirna and Jiaqi for making outstanding progress with their writing 
• Kevon for working so hard to improve his writing and for writing an engaging narrative that is 3 pages long! 

2D

• Siya and Aagash for completing their home learning to a very high standard 

• Tevin and Rishi for their mazing lego skills

3C

• Yash for being a very responsible member of our school community 
• Kyra for working so hard to complete her home learning at a very high standard 

3D

• Himansh also for being a very responsible member of our school community 

4A

• Yashvi, Zarah and Yash for making amazing progress with their writing as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight, 

Frank Catalano

Principal