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 see me at school or contact me on 9802 9938 or via email at frank.catalano@education.vic.gov.au

Chess Team Update

As you may be aware, our school chess teams continue to achieve extraordinary feats. Since our last newsletter, they have participated in the following events:

Chess Victoria State Finals:

Girls Team: Performed exceptionally well and I am thrilled to announce that they placed second in the state! Well done and congratulations to Amaya, Saheli, Jahnavi, Shayana and Thinuli as you should be incredibly proud of yourselves and

Open Team State semi-finals: This year we had 2 teams qualify for this event and I am extremely proud to announce that they placed 1st and 2nd!

Congratulations to Team A that consisted of: Jaden, Manish, Naveen, Aadyah and Samuel and to Team B: Thehan, Amaya, Jahnavi, Sithev and Saheli.

From this point we are waiting to hear whether one or both teams will be allowed to play in the Victorian final, I look forward to sharing more news as soon as possible.

Northern Star Finals

Congratulations to the Girls team that placed 1st, well done to:
- Sineysha, Amasha, Senoli, Jahnavi, Thinuli, Reyanshi, Amaya, Saheli, Shayana and Klarissa and
Congratulations to the following children that placed 1st in the Open Semi-Final
- Jahnavi (Grade 5/6 Gold), Thehan (Grade 5/6 Silver) Amaya (Girls Gold), Jaden (Grade 5/6 Bronze), Grayson, Sithev, Naveen, Saheli (Girls Silver) Sean, Agastya, Shanosh, Thinuli (Girls bronze), Shayana (Girls Bronze)

Once again, congratulations and well done to all of the children that represented our school as you should all be incredibly proud and I look forward to providing more chess news soon.

Congratulations to Ray

Ray (Year 4) loves gymnastics and recently he informed me that he participated Junior Victorian Championships competition for Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Level 4 on Saturday 17th October and he:

Ranked 1st in the Horizontal Bar and Vault
4th Pommel and
6th on the Parallel Bar.

Ray also placed a phenomenal second in the Victorian All Around, at the final!! Wow, Ray, this is outstanding – well done, congratulations and we look forward to hearing more about your gymnastics achievements soon.

Council of International Schools Update

Last week I had the pleasure of leading a group of colleagues as we assisted the International School of Guangzhou, China; with their quest to be accredited with the CIS. The school is in Tianhe and once upon a time was a factory. Obviously, it has since been converted into a very modern and highly function school that services children from 2 to approx. 11 years of age.

In terms of the accreditation process, the CIS place great importance in what is referred to as the Cornerstone aspects of the school: namely:

Purpose: Does the school’s stated purpose align with their documentation, behaviours and practices
Planning: Does the school’s planning align with their stated purpose and initiatives and
Practices: Do the school’s day-to-day practices align with their planning and stated purpose?

The school also have two Development Initiatives (projects) they are working on:

Transitions: How can the manner in which the children transition in, throughout and out of the school be enhanced? And
Raising the Bar: Maximising a culture of high performance

Overall, the visit was very successful and, as the Team Chair, I am confident that the school has been provided with a report that contains a series of Commendations (aspects of the school that are functioning well) and Recommendations – a list of key improvement strategies that the school should implement in order for the school to continue to grow and develop.

In terms of our school’s re-accreditation journey, currently we are still waiting for the report to be sent to us. Once this is received, I look forward to sharing it with our school community.

New welcome mural

I trust by now most members of our school community have had the chance to see the new ‘welcome’ to GWPS mural that has been placed adjacent to the front entrance ramp.

The mural was created as part of the Year 2 Art Innovations program as the children worked alongside artist, Wenli Zhang. Thank you to Wenli for all your efforts and to Khushi, Ohana, Jaynmae, Jhanvi, Benara, Nyra, Eknoor, Foram, Inderpreet and Sihara for their exemplary art skills and, Ms. Lyczba for leading the project.

Thank you to Sineysha, Amasha and Devindu

One aspect of our school community that I greatly admire is the generosity of our students and parents. Recently, Sineysha, Amasha and Devindu were discussing how they could contribute to our school and decided to purchase three bags of Zooper Doopers, which we will sell to raise funds for our school and donate three large bags of books. Their thoughtful initiative and willingness to give back are wonderful examples of the generosity and community spirit we value so highly at GWPS.

Thank you Sineysha, Amasha and Devindu as your spirit of generosity is appreciated enormously.

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

Year Prep

Riaan and Reyansh for being very thoughtful and kind by donating their time to clean our school yard
Rehansa and Kate for assisting throughout the school by ensuring our school yard is neat and tidy
Arjun and Ansh for making the time to draw posters for my office
Kriyansh and Viraak for building Bugatti Lego car for our school during their own time

Year 2

Austin, Shakya, Seyara and Shreya for creating a very elaborate village in China which contains images of essential elements such as schools, police stations, hospitals and parks
Luca for learning how to interpret and use the fraction one eighths
Milan for being a fabulous friend

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal