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 fabulous 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.

Congratulations to Mrs. Marescaux

I am thrilled to report that Mrs. Marescaux and her husband Trent, welcomed baby Bonnie to the world on Tuesday 13th February. Bonnie and mum are doing well and naturally, the entire family are ‘over the moon’ and extremely happy! We look forward to seeing Christine and Bonnie ASAP.

Swimming and Non-Swimmer’s Programs

Thank you to the families who have supported our school’s Year 4 to 6 and 2 to 3 swimming programs as they have been a resounding success. We look forward to the completion of the Year 2 to 3 program shortly and commencing the Year Prep and 1 program on Monday 4th March.

Thank you to Dr. Gihan

As a school community we are incredibly blessed to have so many professional parents who are willing to support our school. An example of this is Dr Gihan Jayaweera who recently worked with the staff on the importance of ‘how we move from having goals, to establishing them as habits.’

Dr Gihan shared how it is rather easy to know what and why we should do something (such as exercise, eat well, get sufficient sleep etc), however the blocker, is the how! Barriers such as time, commitment levels, energy levels, lack of knowledge, discipline and the fear of failure often contribute to the goal not being achieved. So how can we reverse this? Dr. Gihan then shared the importance of prompts and rewards, as these are the key elements of commencing the change which will then become a habit.

The prompts should be tiny and then built upon and the rewards should be reproduceable, easy and measurable.

2023 Girls Chess Team

For those who may not be aware, last year’s Girls Chess team qualified for the national championships and after two days of gruelling competition, the children placed second in Australia. Naturally to win a state championship and then compete at national level is an amazing achievement and something that we are all extremely proud of. To commemorate this achievement, our school organised for the children’s medallion to be framed accompanied by a photograph of team and an inscription from our school. Once again, congratulations to Vidushi, Thenugi, Yehara, Amaya and Saheli as we are incredibly proud of you and we look forward to another great year chess.

Sister School Relationships

Working and learning from children and adults around the world is a key element of being a global citizen and student. As an internationally accredited school with the Council of International Schools (CIS), it is incumbent on us to ensure we have sister-school partnerships. Currently our school has partnered with and working towards:

Jhapa Model English School (JMES), Nepal – Mr. Jaya the Founder and Director of JMES visited our school on Monday 12th February to thank us for donating $500 which will be used to build a ‘language centre’ at their school. Below is an extract from his speech:

“ ….. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the entire Glen Waverley family for their unwavering support and assistance in facilitating our collaboration. Your dedication and commitment to fostering partnerships within the educational community has been truly remarkable. From shared resources and facilities to joint projects and workshops, our collaboration has provided students with invaluable opportunities for growth and learning.

I am delighted to share with you an exciting initiative that our school is undertaking to enhance language learning opportunities for our students. We are thrilled to announce that we are planning to set up a language lab. Our approach begins with the acquisition of essential equipment, including projector, projector screen, laptop and speakers. These tools will form the foundation of our language lab, providing students with the necessary resources to engage in interactive and immersive language learning experiences with the students from Glen Waverley Primary School.

To make this vision a reality, we will be utilising the funds raised by your school to purchase the necessary equipment…….”

In the coming weeks, we will hold some online meetings with staff from JMES, and commence our 2024 learning experiences.

Araria Springs Primary School (ASPS) New Zealand. Last year I had the pleasure of meeting the principal of ASPS at a conference in Tasmania. We discussed the possibility of our two schools working together and I am delighted to report that we are in the process of this commencing. Very shortly the Year 4 students will meet their peers from ASPS and will commence joint projects.

I look forward to sharing additional news in forthcoming newsletters.

School Council Elections

Thank you to the members of our school community who have nominated for School Council, may I take this opportunity to wish all of the candidates the best of luck and look forward to announcing the composition of the 2024 School Council in our next newsletter.

Please be aware that all voting slips are to be returned to the school office by 5pm on Monday 4th March.

Facilities Update

Although we are incredibly proud of our school facilities, we are also conscious of the need to maintain and improve them. Recently the following projects were completed:

Basketball court surface: the artificial turf was beginning to fray hence this was replaced with a surface made of polypropylene and
Four seating and shade structures were installed on the school oval.

I look forward to sharing additional school improvement news in forthcoming newsletters.

Principal Awards

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

Prep A

Tanisha for drawing a wonderful picture of lots of fish

Jithu and Abisshna for learning about the importance of being empathetic and then transferring this in the playground

Jahnavi for drawing a very elaborate picture for my office. Thank you Jahnavi! And, for being a very responsible big sister.
Jahnavi also for writing a very comprehensive recount of her family trip to Adelaide and for presenting it at Monday’s assembly very confidently
Minadie for writing a recount about her family holiday to Adelaide and then sharing it at a school assembly. The recount is featured in the Kids Corner section of the newsletter.

Sharanya for creating a poster about the importance of saving the environment

Asses for considering how she will use the elements of the VOICES menu to improve her writing
Vidhi and Priyanka for continuing to be fantastic and really responsible members of our school community
Sophie and Aneel for writing lots of adjectives that they plan to use in their writing.

Navesha for making fabulous progress with her writing skills.
Teju for being a very supportive friend.

Akira and Asees for creating a beautiful card for my office

Liya for being very proactive by suggesting a way in which the children throughout our school can contribute to our school newspaper, The Grapevine!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal