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.

Victorian State School Spectacular (VSSS)

Wow, wow, wow! For those who have the pleasure of attending the VSSS, you would be aware as to why it is titled a SPECTACULAR because every year it just gets bigger, better and even more spectacular! As usual, the children were absolutely amazing as they proudly represented themselves, our school and their families as they sang and danced through the various aspects of the concert. Congratulations, well done and thank you to the following students:

Mass Choir:

3A: Suditi, Abiru and Aadyah

3B: Anya, Jessica, Prisha and Neeraja

3C: Tiana and Navya

3D: Vidit, Myra, Jasleen, Parivan, Akshara and Parmin

3E: Khwaeesh

4A: Eyren and Samihan

4B: Meshavi

4C: Yash and Sohan

4D: Clara, Kyra, Yana and Naksh

4E: Aseli, Saneli, Krisha, Aarika and Leona

Mass Dance:

6A: Lilia, Vinu

6B: Shenuri, Janiya, Senuli

6F: Ileesha

5A: Neervi

5E: Nene

5B: Aishani, Sana

5C: Izzy, Shaya, Venudi

5D: Kiyara, Anaya

5E: Swanya

Principal Choir – Congratulations to Aayan (Year 5) who was a member of this year’s Principal Choir which consists of approximately 25 children. Naturally, it is an almighty effort to be selected as the selection process was extensive and gruelling. Aayan and his family were also required to attend numerous rehearsals throughout the year including most weekends. Well done and congratulations Aayan, I hope you are as proud of yourself as we are of you!

For those who may not be aware, our school also had 2 of our alumni in the Principal Choir - Ria and Senudi. The girls were students here from Year Prep to Six and this year they are in Year 7.

May I take this opportunity to once again thank the families of the children involved in this year’s State School Spectacular as this too is another imposition for busy families. However, it is such an amazing opportunity for the children and most likely a “once in a lifetime” experience.

As with all school events, our school’s participation in the Victorian State School Spectacular would have not been possible if it were not for the commitment and enthusiasm of our wonderful staff. A sincere thank you and well done to Ms. Cecconello and Mr. Clark for leading the Mass Choir the Mass Dances (respectively), and for their wonderful leadership and coordination leading up to, and throughout the Spectacular. Also, a sincere thank you to Ms. Aung (Sabrina), Mr Lewis and Mrs. Garzberg-Grant for their assistance.

Congratulations and well done everyone!!

Please refer to Mr. Clark’s piece for additional information.

2024 Enrolments

I would like to remind families with children who will be beginning school in 2024 that we are taking enrolments now and that they are also closing rapidly as we only have a very small number of positions available. I strongly encourage you to ensure you return your child’s enrolment form to Daniel, Daria or Julie in the main office as soon as possible.

We also ask that members of our school community assist us by informing any of their neighbours of the enrolment procedures and direct them to the office to collect an enrolment form or our school website – www.glenps.vic.edu.au . School tours are available every Tuesday morning commencing at 9:30 and upon request. Please call the school on 9802 9938 to book a tour.

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievements outside of school:

Emili (Year 3) is a very talented young person as indicated by her letter below:

Dear Mr Catalano,

I hope you are doing well. I’m writing to you because I want to share two of my experiences with you.

1st Flying lesson – I felt nervous at the start, but the plane looked amazing! When I was flying the plane, the view looked beautiful. Then, I realised it wasn’t scary at all, instead, it was totally fun! I tried to do a strenuous job. If I pressed this black button, it would slow down the plane. It was completely slow like a turtle on land!

Story Bridge Climb – In the story bridge climb, I was excited. It was a HUGE bridge climb. Also, I was the youngest of all the other people. My instructor told us all some facts about the story bridge. It was designed by John Bradfield. I wasn’t scared at all! Except, when I was climbing down the bridge, my legs were in pain so badly!

I am hoping to continue my flying lessons and climbing more bridges and hills in future.

Well done Emili and we all look forward to hearing more about your piloting training and climbing adventures soon.

Daham and Arunn (both in Year 3) are Rubic Cube fanatics and whizzes! Last weekend they entered in a Rubrics Cube competition and below is what they presented at last Monday’s assembly:

Hello Mr. Catalano, teachers and fabulous peers. My name is Arunn and my name is Daham. We are from 3C, we are here to tell you all about our Rubik’s Cube competition that we participated in on the 9th September in Cranbourne Springs. This is the third competition we have completed together.

The events were:

3 x 3 cube

3 x 3 blindfolded

4 x 4 and

Pyramix.

You get 5 solves and your best and worst solves are not included in the average. Your best solve will count as a single.

I (Daham) qualified for the second round and the finals in Pyramix. My ranking was 11th in the Pyramix final. I also qualified for the second round in the 3 x 3 event.

In the 4 x 4 event, my best time was 1 minute and 29 seconds.

I (Arunn) am ranked 200 in the world and 1 (Daham) in between 120 and 100 in the world.

Well done and congratulations Daham and Arunn as you both should be incredibly proud of what you have accomplished. We look forward to hearing more about your Rubic Cube tournaments and achievements in the future!

Veer (Year 3) loves karate and has been an avid participant and student for the last few years. Last weekend he competed in the IKSA State championships and placed 1st in the Under 9’s category. From this point he will compete in the national championships in November, which are being held in Sydney.

Wow, Veer, this is amazing! Well done, keep it up and we all look forward to hearing how you go in the national championships!

Arena (Year 6) As you may be aware, Arena is a very talented golfer and recently it was announced that she has qualified for the Victorian School Sports Team. Arena and her team will subsequently travel to Western Australia in November and compete in the national championships. Well done and congratulations Arena as this is another fabulous achievement that we are all incredibly proud of!

Prep Transition Program

Last Tuesday we held our first Prep Transition session, and it is always a sheer delight to welcome and host our new Prep students and families. These sessions are extremely important as the children begin their transition from kindergarten to school. Every year I marvel as to how ‘mature and prepared’ the children are as they seamlessly attended their lessons and complete the learning tasks.

Thank you to everyone involved and I look forward to this extremely important aspect of our school’s programs continuing next term.

Vacation Care Program

Once again our school will be implementing our very own Vacation Care (Holiday Care) program during the forthcoming holidays. Included in this newsletter is an overview of the program and the associated costs.

Please be aware that ALL FAMILIES are entitled to a 50% rebate (which is not means tested) plus a further rebate which is determined by your family’s 2022-2023 annual taxable income.

If you have any questions pertaining to the Vacation Care program, please do not hesitate to contact or see Meththa (OSHC coordinator) or me at school.

program.pdf

Staffing Update

Mrs Jenna Kasapidis – tomorrow we farewell Jenna as she moves to Vermont Secondary College. Thank you, Jenna, for your fabulous contribution to our school’s administration team, best wishes at your new school and we look forward to hearing from you.

What’s planned throughout the holidays?

The school holidays are the opportune time to complete tasks throughout our school and as such we have the following tasks planned:

Installation of the cover over the basketball court

I am extremely pleased to report that we anticipate this significant project to be completed over the holidays. I look forward to this occurring as it has been a long-standing project (and dream) for our school!

Replace the asphalt at the front of the school: As you may be aware, the asphalt at the front of our school has cracked and become worn. This will be replaced and when possible, new line-marking will be completed.

The above works have been made possible due to families settling their 2023 School Fees and contributing to our Building Fund and Covered Outdoor Learning Area (Basketball court covered area) – thank you everyone as your support is truly appreciated and does make a significant difference! We look forward to sharing some photos after the school holidays.

End of term reminders

A reminder that tomorrow (Friday) is the final day of the term and the children will be dismissed at 2.30pm.

An assembly will be held in the gymnasium commencing at 1:40 pm where the Principal Learning and the Kiwanis Club’s Terrific Kids Awards for the term will be distributed.

I look forward to seeing as many families as possible at our final assembly for the term. Naturally our After School Care Program will commence at 2:30 pm.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and happy two-week break and I look forward to seeing you on Monday 2nd October, if not earlier.

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

Prep E

Meera and Diyoni for being really responsible and courageous members of our school community.

Thenu for writing a very descriptive narrative about a little girl who dropped her teddy bear in the elephant enclosure and then one of the elephants returned it.
Eric for writing a fabulous narrative about Tom and Jerry. Jerry ran away from Tom, however Jerry was very clever and played lots of tricks to keep running away from Tom.
Iman and Myraa for writing fabulous narratives about their best day ever!

Saanvi for writing two wonderful narratives about princess’s and princes.
Lyneta for being a wonderful friend.

Austin, Anusha, Anishka and Sharanya for being a really sensible and caring members of our school community.

Aryan and Sineysha for writing really detailed reports about our school.
Hasiru for research and writing about the Saturn V moon landing.
Jamie for being a very responsible member of our school community and also for being a great friend.

Senon for scoring 6 out of 7 points in a recent chess tournament and subsequently receiving a bronze medal.

Nethanya, Arnav, Prayag and Ray for writing fantastic reports about our school’s history.

Shanaya for learning all about coordinates and how to flip, slide and turn an object on a Cartesian plane.
Hasiru for being a very supportive friend.
Gowri for conducting an excellent interview about me.
Dhrisha for writing an excellent report about the God of India.
Methuli, Navesha and Teju for writing an amazing report about bees.

Oliver for continuing to make a concerted effort to improve all aspects of his learning such as writing - well done and keep it up Oliver!
Yuhas, Vivaan P and Krish for writing a lovely acrostic poem about me - thank you boys as I am very appreciative.

Suditi, Myra, Sam, Javis and Dion for developing their very own lessons as part of increasing their student voice opportunities.

Rudra for working very hard on developing his piano skills. Recently he played at a concert and received a medal for completing 4 books.

Krish, Grace, Emili, Kylie and Mariam for working exceptionally hard on improving their mathematical reasoning and thinking skills.

Aalam for writing a terrific piece about the school production that is featured in the Kids Corner section of the newsletter.
Nadar for being a wonderful friend.
Aanya and Hridu for writing excellent reflections about their reading goals and effort during class.
Hridu for being a really responsible member of our school community and for making a concerted effort to develop his resilience and confidence.

Daiwik and Krrish also for being a really responsible members of our school community.

Kyra for completing amazing home learning which demonstrates her passion for learning.

Kairon and Vihaan also for being a really responsible members of our school community.

Neervi and Shriya for writing excellent fictitious job applications as featured in the Kids Corner section.
Vivaan for passing the AMEB Year 5 exam for the classical guitar.

Shriya, Sayumi, Suwi, Yuvi, Hayley, Neervi, Thien, Vivaan and Vedika for working extremely hard to write the most elaborate poems about a feather!

Anuki and Ajuni for writing very elaborate and heartfelt poems for their family members.

Billy for receiving a premiership medal from the Waverley Hockey Club. His team played against Brunswick and won the grand final 5 goals to 2. Well done and congratulations Billy!

Take care everyone, have a safe and relaxing Spring holiday break and I look forward to school returning on Monday 2nd October.

Frank Catalano

Principal