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

School Production

Wow, wow, wow! What a truly fantastic evening of singing, dancing, and theatrical drama we had the pleasure of experiencing at this year’s production! As always, the children were simply outstanding, as they entertained their families, peers, staff, and the wider audience with incredible talent and enthusiasm. I was also incredibly impressed with the manner in which the children spoke as their ability to do so, in front of a large audience, is a testament to themselves, their families and our school.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank and congratulate Amanda Seach and the production committee she led. Their ability to clearly communicate expectations to staff, students, and families was exceptional, as was the way they collaborated and coordinated with the team from the Australian School of Performing Arts (ASPA).

This was our first time partnering with ASPA, and it was an absolute pleasure. Their staff connected brilliantly with both our students and staff, and their ability to teach high-quality choreography in such a short timeframe was truly impressive.

Well done, thank you and congratulations everyone as we should all be incredibly proud!!

Congratulations to Alexa

Alexa (Year 5) is a very talented athlete and excels in many sports. For instance, recently she placed 1st in her age group at the inter club gymnastics competition and performed exceptionally well in our school’s intra-school athletics day. Alexa jumped her personal best in both Triple and Long jump, in fact her triple jump with an enormous jump of 7.48m.

On the day she placed 1st in triple jump, long jump and the 800m, and 3rd in 100m sprint. Wow Alexa, this is amazing – well done and keep up the amazing attitude and effort in your chosen sports!

Congratulations to Nikshinth

Nikshinth has a unique talent for saying words backwards. Recently, he was awarded a Super Talented Kid medallion by the International Book of Records for his extraordinary ability to instantly reverse any English word without needing time to think. Wow, Nikshinth this is incredible and an amazing talent, if you would like to see Nikshinth share his talent, please click on the following link NIKSHINTH RAJANBABU - YouTube

Well done Nikshinth and keep up the amazing talent!

Congratulations to Shenelle

Shenelle (Year 3) is an amazing rhythmic gymnast and recently she competed in the 2025 Tatiana Loukianenko Cup organised by the Glen Irish gymnastics club. Shenelle performed exceptionally well as she placed 2nd place in both freehand routine and hoop routine and 3rd place in ball routine. Overall, she was awarded the All-Around Champion in Development Level, where she received a gold medal. Wow, what an incredible achievement Shenelle! Well done, keep it up and we look forward to hearing how your gymnastics skills progress over the next few years!

Congratulations to Klarissa

Klarissa loved ballroom dancing and recently she competed in an "interclub" dance event between the other Marshere dance studios in which they also had junior events. Klarissa placed third in two events – well done and keep it up Klarissa!

Department of Education School Review

As part of our ongoing commitment to school improvement, our school is currently undergoing the Department of Education (DE) School Review.

So far, we have completed:

Day One – involved celebrating our achievements, identifying barriers and enablers to success, touring the school, and discussing the upcoming Field Days.
Day Two - the first of our two scheduled Field Days.

Looking ahead:

Our second Field Day will take place on Wednesday, 20th August and
The final review day is scheduled for Monday, 8th September, where we will focus on developing our new School Strategic Plan (SSP) by setting key goals, improvement strategies, and measurable targets.

I look forward to sharing further updates and insights from the review process in our next school newsletter.

Farewell and Good Luck to Mrs Lane

For those who may not be aware, tomorrow (Friday 15th August) will always be a special, yet somewhat sombre date for our beloved teacher Mrs. Sue Lane as it will be her final day of teaching after an amazing and illustrious career spanning 45 years! Mrs Lane will be remembered as a teacher that developed a very close relationship with the children and staff and who taught with a genuine passion and commitment which was engineered to ‘make a difference’ to the children that had the pleasure of calling Mrs. Lane, their teacher!

Sue, I am aware of how much the staff and children adore you and we will all miss you dearly, although simultaneously thank you for all that you have accomplished at our school (and others) and wish you the very best of luck as you commence the next stage of your life as you move into retirement.

Take care, keep in touch and we look forward to hearing from you!

At Monday’s assembly, Parmin and Jasleen shared this beautiful speech about Mrs. Lane:

In Honour of Mrs. Lane

Good morning Mr. Catalano, teachers, parents and fellow students.

We have some incredibly heartbreaking news.

On Tuesday 5th of August, we were informed by Mr. Catalano that one of the most beloved teachers who has been in our school for 2 and a half years and has 45 years of teaching experience is retiring and that beloved teacher is Mrs. Lane.

She inspired us to try our best and she was always here for our highest and lowest points.

She has inspired many individuals to strive for their best and even helped us write our own book.

She understood the way that we learned and if we didn’t understand a task, she would take her time to explain it to us. We are so grateful that we had her as a teacher, and we hope that she had a wonderful time teaching and will have an even more wonderful time with her family. On behalf of all the students that Mrs. Lane has helped and supported throughout her teaching journey we just want to say:

THANK YOU! for being such and awesome teacher!

We hope you have an amazing time during your retirement.

Thank you for listening.

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

Prep C

Assd, Shayen, Dian, Rayaan and Vandan for working very hard on their drawing skills

Binol, Harper, Pranshi, Bavitran and Tatiana for making amazing progress with their learning

Foram for her dedication and commitment to developing her visual arts skills

Thenuki for being a very responsible member of our school community

Aditi for working very hard to learn about poetry
- Sanjana for being a wonderful friend

Ayara for collecting the most amazing array of feathers as part of a fantastic collection - it really is amazing to see!

Oscar, Teeran and Samar for researching and learning all about significant places in our local community
- Ethan, Disha and Shammikka for being wonderful members of our community
- Ruhani, Emily, Samar and Dushan for making amazing progress with their maths learning

Ishana also for representing our school in the Rotary Club ‘Schools Writing Competition’ with her narrative titled, My Life In Twenty Years, as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter

Aoun for working very hard with his home learning
- Aoun and Kiyaan for making excellent progress with their writing

Prabhav, Vicky, Ashmitha, Fabiana, Ryleigh, Harsha, Sansa and Satvi for working really hard on their ability to write engaging and interesting poems

Omar and friends for creating a behavioural chart about making better choices in the yard and corridor
Liam and Omar for working hard to improve their writing skills
Ryleigh and Vedanshi for writing beautiful poems
Satvi for writing a beautiful card for my office
Satvi and Mahoor for giving me really sensible and good advise about preparing for the school production
Chloe for being a wonderful friend
Nicholas for writing a narrative about life in the 1700’s
Wilson and Charlie for writing an amazing narrative about dragons

Sithuki for representing our school in the Rotary Club ‘Schools Writing Competition’ with her narrative titled, Let Us Hope For Peace, as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal