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 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

Swimming Programs 

Once again, thank you to the families who have supported our school’s swimming programs as I do recognise, they can be an additional burden to the usual family routines. Overall, I felt the programs have been very successful and look forward to the Year Prep to Two program culminating on Wednesday 19th March. 

Prep Family Picnic 

Friday, 28th February, marked a significant milestone for our Prep students as they completed their final half-day of school before they transitioned to full days. To commemorate this achievement and provide the children with the opportunity to practice having lunch at school, we hosted a special family lunch and picnic, which proved to be an outstanding success. It was truly heart warming to witness our youngest learners embracing their school routines with such enthusiasm and confidence. Their eagerness to learn, resilience in adapting to new experiences, and growing sense of independence have been remarkable, and we could not be prouder of their progress. A heartfelt thank you to the parents and grandparents who joined us for this memorable occasion - your presence and support made the event even more meaningful for the children and staff.

Inter-School Sports Program Update 

The Year 6 inter-school sport program is always a highlight for the children, as it provides them with the opportunity to practice and develop their sporting skills in a competitive yet supportive environment. Beyond sporting skills development, the children also build essential teamwork, communication, and leadership skills whilst learning the value of collaboration and perseverance. 

Vinushi (Year 6) has been mind enough to write a reflection for everyone’s enjoyment: 

We are excited to share the excitement of our year 6 inter school sport program, which takes place every Friday! This weekly event has been amazing and a fun experience for the Year Sixes. Students get the opportunity to play a variety of sports and compete with other local schools. The energy and enthusiasm is contagious, and we’ve seen wonderful achievements in athletic abilities and team spirit. 

 

So far, our Year 6 students demonstrated sportsmanship and dedication, giving their best in every match. Whether they’re competing in basketball, tennis, softball, cricket or volleyball, our students embraced challenges and worked together as teams, supporting one another. Whether they’ve won or lost, GWPS has been great both on and off the field. It has truly been inspiring, showing the school values with respect and playing fairly.

 

It was wonderful seeing the school community being very positive and prepared for sport this term. I have learnt many skills, had fun and cheered everyone on. A heartfelt thank you goes to our incredible P.E teachers for their hard work, dedication and commitment in preparing the students for the event and arranging teams for each student. Their encouragement and passion towards sports has helped the students build both their confidence and athletic skills. 

 

We would also like to thank the Year 6 teachers who have been coming with the students and helping them throughout their matches. They have helped the students with responsibilities and making sure they know when they’re playing. inter-school sport. We are all looking forward to the rest of the year - good luck everyone and thank you.

District & Divisional Swimming Events

Congratulations and thank you to the children who represented our school at last week’s District Swimming competition and yesterday's Divisional Swimming competition. Please refer to Mrs. Bucci and Mr. Roland's report/s for further information.

Junior School Council Update 

It was a sheer delight to announce the 2025 Junior School Councillors this week as it is always wonderful when the children are recognised for their resilience, vision and leadership. I look forward to sharing what each of the JSC Teams plan to achieve in future newsletters. Well done and congratulations everyone!

Congratulations Klarissa

Klarissa (Year 4) is a passionate member of the Australian Air League (AAL), and recently she sent me the following email:

Australian Air League – Presentation Night.

Hi Mr Catalano,

I would share something special that happened during the Australian Air League presentation night.

On Thursday 27th of February, I went to the gym, here at our school, to practise where to sit and our Flight drill, before we started the Presentation night. The Presentation Night is about sharing everyone’s achievements and some people are lucky because they get trophies and medals. 

There were also people from the AAL Oakleigh HQ and dignitaries from the Waverley RSL as well as a couple of visiting officers from other squadrons. 

As I said earlier, we did a drill to practise before everyone came up to watch, clap and laugh, and the Presentation night was just for our Waverley Squadron. 

Once it all started and Mr Phan Tran our Waverley Squadron OC started announcing the awards, it was not long until my name got called for Runners Up Cadet for Education, which took me by surprise! Apparently, I was so close to getting first place but someone else just beat me, yet my effort was recognised with a special comment as they said it was a huge effort especially given, I was a first year cadet. Wow, I got a trophy for that! Yay, this is my second trophy in 4 months!

The Education is one of the badges we earn, kind of like Scouts, but for “subjects” we study such concepts as Meteorology, General Proficiency, Space Flight, Astronomy, Navigation and Rotary which is my next exam, and Theory of Flight which I will probably study next. There are even subjects not aviation related like General Knowledge and Home Cook for example - both which I have done. I’m proud as my hard work and studying hard paid off.

The rest of this month is going to be exciting too. I am meeting some Police including touring their vehicle, a week later doing laser skirmish, another week later going to the Avalon Airshow, then another week later flying in as a passenger, in a Tiger Moth which is a plane that was commonly used in World War 2. I think that will be very scary but exciting. Hopefully I can tell you more about some of these things and how I go later on!

Well done and congratulations Klarissa as it is quite obvious that you are enjoying the Australian Air League and I  look forward to sharing more of your exciting adventures shortly. 

Victorian State School Spectacular (VSSS)

Congratulations to the following children who have been selected to represent our school in this year’s VSSS. I look forward to seeing their skills and talent develop throughout the course of the year and then performing at John Cain Arena on Saturday 13th November!

Mass Choir:

Year 3: Shenelle, Jamie, Thinuli, Vivienne, Myraa, Sithev, Jathy, Aria, Ryleigh, Nicholas, Samiksha and Chloe

Year 4: Manuth, Senoli, Aria, Kenu, Vidhi, Hasan, Gowri, Devanshi, Anuki, Klarissa, Nethanya, Nina and Aadhavan

Mass Dance:

Year 5: Yuhas, Asees, Abiru 

Year 6: Arya W, Akeesha, Kesar, Aishwarya, Ellia, Ranuli, Tharshanna, Krisha A, Evin, Ngo-shun, Aanya, Onalee and Sahana 

 I am also thrilled to announce and congratulate: 

• Akshara (Year 5) – who has been selected as a Principal Vocalist, which means she will be one of the main performers! Wow, well done Akshara as this is an amazing achievement! and
• Theo (Year 4) has been selected as a member of the VSSS Choir, also another outstanding achievement!
• Senudi (Year 8) has also been selected as one of the five backing vocalists, once again, an outstanding achievement and
• Ayaan (Year 7) as a member of the VSSS Choir. 

Akshara and Theo, I cannot express how proud I am of both of you, particularly considering how competitive selection for the VSSS is and the high calibre of children you competed against.

Continuing the VSSS theme, recently I was advised that two of our alumni achieved the following: 

Once again, all the above are phenomenal achievements that require an enormous amount of commitment and use of personal time. Congratulations everyone and I look forward to the Spectacular performance later in the year! 

Congratulations to Kesar

Kesar (Year 6) is an avid badminton player and I am thrilled to report that she has been selected as a member of the Victorian Badminton Squad. She has been very busy competing in various tournaments and currently has an Australian Professional Ranking of 235.  Well done and congratulations Kesar as this is a phenomenal achievement and I look forward to sharing more news throughout the year!

Thank you to the Jain Family

A sincere thank you to Siya (Year 5) and Riya (Year 2) for their very kind donation of numerous books for our school and classroom libraries. Thank you, girls, as your spirit of generosity is fabulous and a tribute to you and your family! 

Alumni Visit

On Wednesday, 26th February, we hosted a reunion for the 2024 Year 6 graduates, and as always, the students were fantastic as they reconnected with their primary school friends and teachers. The evening was filled with laughter and conversation as they caught up on each other’s experiences, followed by a series of fun games and a celebratory dinner of pizza and drinks. It was wonderful to see the strong bonds they had formed during their time at primary school remain so evident. A heartfelt thank you to all our graduates for taking the time to attend—we look forward to following your journeys and celebrating your future achievements!

School Council Update

Thank you to the members of our school community who nominated for this year’s School Council, as you would be aware, we are in the midst of the voting process and look forward to announcing the 2025 School Council in the next newsletter. A reminder that all votes are due by 5pm on Tuesday 11th March please.

International Women’s Day

On Wednesday 5th March our school recognised this extremely important and world-wide event with a special morning tea for our staff. Our guest speaker was Dr. Suki Lee, who is a parent at our school. Suki is a professor specialising in immunology and disease pathogenesis, with expertise in infectious diseases, neurodegenerative conditions and oncology. She is actively involved in cutting edge drug discovery research and her aim is to drive ground breaking therapeutic advancements that shape the future of medicine. 

The School Captains also had a pivotal role in the celebrations as they were involved in acknowledging the female members of staff for the important work they do for our school community and to introduce and thank Suki; below is what each of them said: 

Duke:

Good morning everyone. My name is Duke and I am the 2025 School Vice Captain. I am going to explain what International Women’s Day is. International Women's Day is a day that honours women and promotes women's rights. It takes place every year on March 8. International Women's Day dates back to 1911, when many women were fighting for the right to vote. The United Nations began sponsoring the day in 1975. A way us GWPS celebrates international woman’s day is by having a morning tea with everyone. Now let me hand it over to Eliana. 

Eliana:

Thank you Duke for that warm welcome. As Duke mentioned before, my name is Eliana. In this school we have many female staff and today is the day we express our sincere gratitude towards not just our female teachers, but all the women staff that put their hard work to make our school a better place. I will not forget my first day of prep and the care and guidance my teachers have given till now to shape me to who I am today standing here with pride. The respect I have for all the women here are immeasurable and I have a close connection to all of them. To all the women here, I thank you for your effort and dedication to our school. I now will hand you over to Sahana.

Sahana:

Good morning all, my name is Sahana and I am the 2025 School Vice-Captain. I am here today to introduce Dr Suki Lee, an outstanding immunologist whose expertise lies in infectious diseases neurodegenerative conditions, and oncology. She is a hard working mum and a dedicated G.W.P.S parent. Her work aims to drive ground breaking therapeutic advancements, and shaping the future of medicine. Please join me in welcoming Dr Suki Lee. 

Thank You to Dr. Lee for the amazing speech and for all the hard work you have put in this cause. 

Some things we have learnt as School Captains are:

• You were one of the top 1% scholars 

• Your studies have enabled you to travel, explore and experience the world 

• The difference between strands of influenza, especially their intensity 

• The impact influenza H5 has on human lungs 

• The important work you do to find out why diseases occur and most importantly how they can be managed so that they do not impact on humans, for example taking medication at particular times 

• How the virus hi jacks a person’s response with cancer, influenza and other diseases 

• Taking a risk by starting your own lab and continuing your amazing work especially reprogramming the bad guys, cells. Wow, what exciting and ground breaking work!!!!

• What I also love that you also inspire, train and mentor the next generation of scientists 

• Hopefully we can ask you to come and speak to our year 6 students to share your journey and passion for science 

Thank you for delving deeper into these infectious diseases, your work is inspirational as you have shaped the future of medication. Thank you!

Nb. Shiv, our male School Captain was representing our school at the Divisional Swimming competition, hence his part was shared by Sahana. 

Principal Awards

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

1C

• Tia also for creating beautiful snowflakes out of paper 

1D

• Aadit for continuing to make enormous progress with his passion of drawing Sonic characters 
• Ashley and Sahana for creating very beautiful snowflakes out of paper 

2B

• Natalie, Zoe, Gabrielle, Leo, Serena, Isaac, Sankrith and Tanvika for being really responsible members of our school community 

2D

• Kathy also for being a really responsible member of our school community 

2E

• Teeran, Ruhani, Ethan, Abhi, Atiya, Shebl, Oscar, Emily and Prakruti for being really responsible members of our school community 
• Disha and Teeran for working very hard to improve their writing 
• Aadya and Teeran for sharing strategies they will employ to collaboratively solve a disagreement

3A

• Yasheli for creating 3 Best Friends For Ever songs and dances with her best friend, Saneli

3B

• Amasha for being exceptionally brave when attending the medical centre 

3C

• Mahika for writing a very detailed poster about the importance of not littering especially in the sea as it impacts animals a great deal

3D

• Yihao for making amazing progress with his writing skills 
• Harsha for being a very supportive friend 

3E

• Saneli for creating 3 Best Friends For Ever songs and dances with her best friend, Yasheli

4A

• Pratham and Manuth for working hard during our non-swimmers program where they learnt the importance of looking after and being safe in local waterways such as the Gardner’s Creek, Yarra River and South Bank

• Sharanya and Japnoor for completing their home learning to an exceptional high level which is also featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter. Well done Sharanya and Japnoor who also stated that they are proud to be in 4A! 

4C

• Nivan also working hard during our non-swimmers program where he learnt the importance of looking after and being safe in local waterways such as Appleton Dock 

5B

• Sanuka and Ivan for learning all about ‘order of operations’ when solving maths questions 

   

6E

• Drashti and Jahnavi for creating an amazing PP about Suzhou

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight, 

Frank Catalano

Principal