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 another edition of our school newsletter. 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 an amazing evening and event we were all part of last Thursday night! This year’s production was simply spectacular as evidenced by the fact the children are still talking and writing about it.

The children were, as usual, amazing as they sang, danced and acted their way through the various songs and segments. The emotions varied from pure excitement, to anticipation, trepidation and sheer delight. As usual, the children looked amazing and performed in a manner that made everyone exceptionally proud.

Naturally there is an enormous amount of preparation, organisation and leadership that is required to put on such an amazing extravaganza! May I take another opportunity to thank and congratulate Ben Clark for his leadership of the 2023 production and the entire staff for the way they worked so well together to ensure the night was an enormous success and something that we will all remember for many, many years to come. Well done, thank you and congratulations everyone! Below is some feedback from members of our school community:

Dear Mr. Catalano,

Thank you for an amazing Production today. It was colourful, cheerful and the digital effects were astounding.

A huge congratulations to the team , especially Mr Clarke, for their immense hard work and the kids for such a wonderful show.

Hats off to all!👏👏

Regards,

Indi and Manvir

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Hello Mr Catalano,

Hope you are well... we had an amazing time at the 2023 production program, and even my 10-month-old sat through the entire event and cheered on...

Kudos to all the teachers, staff, students, and Mr Clark to putting up such a wonderful event together..

Ms Stacey, loved your performance in the end 😀

Thanks,

Sunita

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Dear Mr Catalano and Mr. Clark,

Good morning,

Big thanks and congratulations from our family for the great efforts of the whole school.

We really enjoyed it. Vedanath is extremely happy that he got to perform in the production after the long covid years!

Thanks again,

Vedanath's family

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Hi All,

We would like to thank you for organising such a wonderful, memorable event for our children and all the support given by the incredible staff.

Nothing I can add, every aspect of the event was at the level best and we could see how hard everyone worked to get this success. As members of GWPS, we are extremely proud to have such a supportive, dedicated group of staff.

Kind regards,

Shashika

Facilities Update

I am thrilled to let you know that works on our highly anticipated COLA (Covered Outdoor Learning Area) project are well underway.

Last Friday's curriculum day, significant progress was made as foot holes were diligently dug out to lay the foundation for this wonderful new covered space. These initial steps mark the beginning of this project and we can't wait to see it come to life. As we head into the upcoming school holidays, preparations for the next phases of the build will continue.

Stay tuned for further updates as this project evolves.

Expanding Our Global Learning Program

As you may be aware, our school already has a partnership (sister-school relationship) with the Jhapa Model English School (Nepal). Last year the Year 3 children completed a writing project with them and this year the Year 5’s have.

One of the reasons I wanted to attend the recent Australian Primary Principal’s Conference in Tasmania was to meet and discuss the possibility of our school developing sister-school relationships with a school in Tasmania and New Zealand. I am extremely proud to announce the extension of our sister-school program to now include:

Glen Dhu Primary School in Launceston, Tasmania and
Ararira Springs Primary School, in Lincoln, New Zealand.

Over the coming months, Mrs. Garzberg-Grant (Assistant Principal, Curriculum) and I will meet with staff from the above schools to discuss what our new partnerships will entail, and we then look forward to sharing this with everyone as soon as possible.

Congratulations to our Chess Team

Recently our Chess Team participated in the Chess Victoria Zonal final and wow, the result was mind-blowing as per Himath’s email below:

Hi Mr. Catalano,

It was total domination by GWPS.

As requested by the organizers we sent 4 teams (22 players).

GWPS Green won the tournament with an unprecedented (according to the organizers) perfect score of 35 out of 35 with Vidushi, Vikas, Amaya, Naveen, and Samuel each scoring a perfect 7 out of 7.

GWPS White was placed second with 23.5 points and Glendal 3rd with a score of 22.5. To be fair on Glendal they did not send their best team to this event.

All individual prizes were shared among the GWPS Green team based on a tie break formula:

Naveen - Winner of the tournament
Vidushi - 2nd place overall, and girls first
Vikas - 3rd place
Amaya - Girls second.

With this performance GWPS qualified for the Chess Victoria finals. Still the stance of Chess Victoria is that only one team can represent a school. We are hopeful that they might change it later, allowing us to send a second team to the finals.

I will share the official results when they are published.

Regards,

Himath

Wow, what an amazing feat by the children in our school chess team – congratulations to all of you and we look forward to hearing how you go in the state final! Once again, a sincere thank you to all of the parents who support our school team. At our school the parents ensure the children practice, develop their skills and transport the children to and from events. Himath and Chamal also coordinate the team which is quite time consuming. Thank you everyone as your efforts do not go unnoticed and are appreciated immensely.

Congratulations to our Out of School Hours Care Team and Students

Recently our Out of School Hours Care program entered the Big Art internal competition, and I am thrilled to report that their Big Art spaced was ranked first across the state! Congratulations and well done Meththa and all of the children as you should be incredibly proud of yourselves! As a result our school’s program has received a host of prizes from Riot Art and Craft – I look forward to seeing how you use these!

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

Prep E

Ruhani, Anissa and Rehmat for writing amazing stories about monsters

Ishana for practicing her letter writing skills by writing to me. Her letter and my response is featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter

Ryleigh and Max for working very hard on improving their Chinese speaking and writing skills

Karl, Jacob and Arthur for learning lots and lots about fractions

Nathan, Eesa and Arjun for writing excellent reflections about the production

Ashley and Saum for learning and putting into practice the importance of being socially responsible

Krishna for working incredibly hard over the weekend to practice his Chinese writing skills

Krisha for being incredibly generous and a wonderful member of our school community
Nina for being a very supportive and helpful friend

Anya for creating a very detailed poster about the planet Earth

Veer for placing first in the National All Styles karate Forms competition in the Under 8 and 9’s

Siya and Helitha for writing fabulous reflections about the production
Amaya for being a very supportive friend
Asees for writing a heartfelt letter about our school

Kimaya for being really responsible and respectful members of our school community
Olivia, Lu, Eyren, Duke and Reyan for creating elaborate posters as part of their writing program

Arya W, Allegra and Sheila for being really responsible and respectful members of our school community
4E Emilia and Krisha for being really responsible and respectful members of our school community
Susanna for winning 3rd place in the under 15 Juvenile Tuba Category and 1st place in the under 10 Any Brass Instrument category. Well done!

Amelia and Sayumi for their outstanding commitment to improving their English skills
Seeret, Sayumi and Brilyn for writing amazing poems using a made-up word, “Jabbwewocky”

Sithmi and Sachith for writing really engaging and entertaining narratives of a very high calibre

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight.

Frank Catalano

Principal