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 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.

Year 6 Camp

Congratulations to our wonderful Year 6 learners for the manner in which they participated in this year’s camp as overall it was an enormous success. It was quite evident that the children thoroughly enjoyed spending lots and lots of time with their friends whilst participating in an array of outdoor education activities. Naturally school camps cannot occur without the dedication and organisation of the staff, thank you to all the staff who were able to attend as your efforts are appreciated immensely.

Below is a reflective piece from our School Captains along with some photos for everyone to enjoy.

Swanya - Every single second of camp was enjoyable and my favourite thing was playing ping pong and competing. One thing I learnt was there are many tiny insects lurking in camp Adanac and it was fantastic learning all about them!

Ranuga - Camp was lots of fun! I really enjoyed all the delicious food there was and the fun activities such as archery, canoeing, flying fox and many more. The staff were incredible and made the food delicious and with love. One thing I learned was to help others and make others feel special.

Vinudi - Knowing that this is the last camp that I get to share with my friends and teachers from primary school, I made sure to cherish every moment of it. The activities were no less than amazing and spending quality time with my friends made it all the more special. I learnt lots of new facts, tried many new experiences and overall enjoyed the stay at camp Adanac.

Jonathan - Camp was great fun with different fun activities and spending lots of time with my friends and making new connections. During camp something that I learnt was to make the most of the time that I have.

As written here you can see that our Year 6’s have had a great time at camp enjoying the activities, fun and even the food. We would love to thank Mr Catalano, teachers and many others for making this camp possible and the staff at camp Adanac for helping us and giving us a great time.

From your school captains.

Art Innovations Program Update

Congratulations and well done to the children who participated in the Arts Innovation program last term as they worked with renowned artist, Gustavo, on our school’s latest mural which depicts our commitment to The Resilience Project. The mural has now been placed on the outside of the Year 3 Building (facing the basketball court) and not only does it look amazing, but it also demonstrates the amazing artistic talents of the children. Please refer to Miss. Lyczba’s piece in this newsletter where she outlines the process our school implemented and the message behind the artwork.

Congratulations to Sophie and Eliana

As mentioned in our previous newsletter, Sophie and Eliana (Year 5) noticed that more can be done to improve our school’s Indigenous Garden and garden beds in general. As a result, the children contacted the City of Monash and asked for some advice and plant donations.

Last Wednesday, Naomi and Wendy from the City of Monash attended our school and below is a piece written by the children:

Good morning everyone! This is Eliana and Sophie from 5B. We hope everyone is keeping warm and well with this weather. We are thrilled to share our Inquiry transfer from Term 2 which explored the question, ‘How might we contribute to the thriving of flora and fauna?’ which resulted in an exciting visit from the Monash City council on Wednesday 31 July 2024.

First we started with a plan on what our project would look like. We emailed the Monash council. But the reply was not what we expected. The bot had sent an email back, informing us that the Monash Council team would reply within 10 business days. That means at least 2 weeks. But term 2 was ending in 2 weeks, so we thought it was a bit late for this project. But we got a successful reply within those days. Mr Catalano got a date for the team to come over!

The Monash council team organised two lovely women to come over with 50 plants for our indigenous garden! It felt so special to see Naomi and Wendy in person after so many weeks of emails! They were both very informative about all the plants and knew exactly every word they spoke about the plants.

We then gave them their certificates and gift bags as a token of appreciation. They really deserved it! Now our next step is to identify how long and wide these beautiful plants will grow to, with amazing Michael who has helped us through this project and a big thank you to Miss Stevenson for making this possible!

This project started with little sparks of thoughts and became a huge success. This was an unforgettable experience! A few surprises are awaiting for Glen Waverley Primary School. Can’t wait to see the final outcome of this.

From Eliana and Sophie – Year 5.

School Chess Team Update

It really is wonderful to see the children in our chess team continue to develop their skills and go from strength to strength! Last Friday the following children

Year 2: Sarayu and Reyashi
Year 3: Klarissa and Jahnavi
Year 4: Amaya, Saheli, Lesara, Thinuli, Radinsa and Shayana
Year 5: Yehara and Swara
Year 6: Thenugi

participated in a chess tournament and I am very pleased and proud to report that the team placed 2nd overall which is fabulous. Well done to the above children as we are incredibly proud of you and thank you to the parents who supported the children as your efforts are appreciated immensely!

Sports Day Fundraising Event

What an incredibly successful and wonderful day was held last Friday as our school community came together to raise funds for our sponsored international child, Charlotte from Zimbabwe. Thank you everyone for supporting this wonderful cause and please refer to our CIS Captain’s piece for further information such as how much our school raised and how the funds will be used to support Charlotte. Once again, well done and thank you everyone!

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

Prep A

Tanisha and Taksh for learning all about the long e sound ee.
Sohana for working very hard on her art skills
Aavit for drawing a very impressive picture of a leopard

Prep C

Bavi and Milaan for making amazing progress with their writing
Kaniishka also for working very hard on her art skills
Kaniishka and Sharlette for writing a beautiful card for my office

Siana and Ved for learning how to use rhyming words to make their piece even more interesting
Abisshna and Reyashi for writing a very detailed book about planet Earth
Reyashi, Fatima, Amelia and Owen for learning how to write poems with using descriptive language

Ryleigh and Diyana for learning how to write very detailed and entertaining poems

Melodies for drawing a wonderful picture about how much she admires and enjoys learning at our school
Myraa and Advika for being very supportive friends

Ishana, Jathy, Alan and Liam for learning how to write poems

Deana for learning all about writing very funny limericks
Anusha for being a wonderful friend

Kenu for receiving 3 medallions from Paul Sadler Swimland for being the King Swim Champion!

Riddota, Jimmy, Hasan, Arnav and Shabad for writing excellent poems which are featured in the kids Corner section of our newsletter
Senoli and Jessy for making outstanding progress with their understanding of fractions and decimals and for writing exceptionally poems that ensures the reader activates their imagination and metacognition

Sophie for learning about poetry and how poems can tell stories. Sophie wrote a very funny poem about a silly monkey.

Karan, Priyanka and Sophie for making excellent progress with their spelling and grammar skills
Caz for being an awesome and supportive friend
Sophie for demonstrating how to represent one half in different ways
Ashley for being a very supportive friend

Sineysha and Chloe also for working hard to learn how to write poems which are featured in the Kids Corner section of the newsletter

Amaya and Lesara for learning and sharing the different chemicals doctors use in medicines.
Ajeet, Harley, Sam and Kevon for working very hard to learn about the importance of producing sustainable products

Asees for describing how she learnt the importance of using less fossils fuels to be sustainable

Sanuli and Jessica for writing very creative freestyle poems
Tanvi for describing the importance of using organic fertilisers to help save the planet

Hridu for writing a heartfelt letter to Mr. Jenkins
Yanick for being a very supportive friend
Krisha for receiving a medallion for representing Victoria in the National Indoor Cricket championships.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal