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

End of Term Two

Wow, for me it is difficult to fathom that we are very fast approaching the mid-way point of the 2024 academic year – where has the year gone? Nevertheless, a sincere thank you to the children, their families and our amazing school staff for an outstanding first semester and I look forward to this continuing after the school holidays.

Preparing Students to Thrive in a Dynamic Future

Recently I participated in an online webinar which discussed the eight elements which schools may consider implementing to prepare students for the future. The first element was the notion that today’s students are global citizens hence it is incumbent on schools to provide their students with the opportunity to learn about the world they live in through innovative educational experiences. Below are examples of how our school does so:

Our school’s Inquiry Units of study are based on the Global Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) and provide the children with links to numerous global issues. The children learn about these issues and are then asked to transfer their learning in a way that they can ‘make a difference’. For instance, the Year 2’s have recycled plastics etc, and are using the funds raised to purchase items for a ‘Wellbeing Wagon’.

Our STEAM program also links very closely to global issues which the children solve through the use of their creative and critical thinking skills.

We have two ‘sister – schools’, Araria Springs Primary School in New Zealand and the Jhapa Model English School in Nepal. Currently the Year 3, 4 and 5 children are working with their friends around the world as follows:
- Araria Springs PS - The Level 4 children explored the sister school’s website and learned about their peers’ camp experiences. Their friends from Araria Springs shared a video of their camp and sent this to our school. Initially the plan was for the children to share their camp experiences as well, however this was not possible as our Year 4 camp had to be rescheduled.
- The children are in the process of creating ‘A day in the life of videos’ which essentially showcases what a typical day at Glen Waverley and Araria Springs ‘looks and feels like.’ They will then compare this, look for commonalities, differences etc and share their findings.
- Both cohorts are currently studying poetry and to provide the children with a ‘captive audience’ whilst also deepening relationships, they are in the process of writing an ‘About Me’ poem.

Jhapa Model English School, Nepal – the staff and children in Years 3 and 5 will be collaborating with this school and next semester the following has been organised.
- Year 3’s – will be involved in 3 Zoom sessions where the children will be sharing about our school and country.
- Year 5’s – will commence a ‘pen pal’ program where they will write 3 letters:
- Letter One: An introductory letter, containing the children’s hobbies, activities they are involved in and some information about their family.
- Letter Two: Sharing about their personal cultures and
- Letter Three: Sharing cultural stories and/or folk tales.

Intercultural and Global Citizenship resources for the Council of International Schools (CIS) - Angeline Aow, International Advisor at the CIS, contacted us as the CIS are in the process of creating new materials and tools for school. Specifically, resources that promote the development of socially responsible leadership via three strategic growth areas:
- Global Citizenship,
- Inclusion via Diversity, Equity and Anti-racism (I-DEA) and
- Intercultural Learning.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14zxIuM9g-xhdHHSjHw8m9T93t7c9ONbg

Thank you to the children and staff for all of your work in completing these as they are inspirational and truly reflect the wonderful work, we do in promoting global citizenship and intercultural awareness and understanding.

I am very proud of the manner in which our students are primed to be proactive citizens of the world and look forward to sharing examples of this in future newsletters.

For those interested, the other seven elements are:

Resilient Mind, Healthy Body – programs such as The Resilience Project and our Mind, Body and Us (MBU) specialist program address this need.
Critical thinking scholar – critical thinking is a key element of our inquiry units, maths units and our Robotics and STEAM programs.
Collaborative problem solver – the children are provided with numerous opportunities to collaborate and solve problems.
Future ready learner – this year we have introduced Virtual Reality to completement our STEAM and Robotics programs. Some students are beginning to use artificial intelligence to support learning.
Effective communicator – the children are provided with numerous opportunities to develop their communication skills in class, school assemblies and other avenues such as recordings etc.
Inclusive empathizer – The Resilience Project, and other wellbeing programs such as Girlosophy and Martial Arts Therapy are designed to develop the children’s empathetic skills and
Equity ambassador - the vast connections we have with our two sponsored children, the Royal Children’s Hospital and other welfare agencies are strategically designed to provide the children with the opportunity to be aware and empathetic towards the needs of those less fortunate.

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievements:

Shenelle, Year 2: is an avid gymnast and recently she participated Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition organised by Strathcona Girls Grammar School, rhythmic gymnastics club in Canterbury. I am very proud to report that Shenelle placed 1st in:

Freehand Style Level 2,
Ball Level 2 and
Rope Level 2.

Well done and congratulations Shenelle as this is a fabulous achievement, we look forward to hearing how you go in future competitions!

Ayaan, Year 4: participated in the regional cross-country event recently and has qualified for the state finals! Well done Aayan and we look forward to hearing how you go! Please refer to Ms. Lawlor’s piece for more information.

Jahnavi, Year 3: is an avid chess player and pianist and recently she participated in various competitions. Below is a recount from Jahnavi and a copy of the speech she presented at Monday’s assembly:

Chess Tournament with Chess Ideas:

On Thursday 13th June, I participated in a chess tournament held by Chess Ideas at Maranatha Christian School in Officer. There were 9 schools with 60 participants in total. There were 7 rounds and it was a rapid tournament. The competition started at 9:30am and finished at 2:00pm.

I won 7 out of 7 games and received a special first place trophy. This tournament is very special because it is my highest score ever. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my experience.

My Trip to Sale:

Good morning GWPS students, parents, teachers and Mr. Catalano.

Today I will be sharing about my trip to Sale. On the Friday the 24th May we had a piano eisteddfod in Sale. Sale is a city in the Gippsland Region. We reached the venue at 9:00am.

My sister had her performance first and I had mine later. I performed 4 pieces. The adjudicator, ‘Mr. Cody Green’ was very kind.

I always enjoy playing my pieces of music at the concert and it brings me great joy to share the stage with my little sister. I was very excited to see and listen to the various music played by the other contestants. There were also violins, flutes and saxophones played.

It was time for the adjudicator to announce the prize winners. I was thrilled to hear that I won 2 first places, I third place and an encouragement award as an upcoming pianist champion. My sister won 1 first place and 1 third place.

It was a wonderful experience for us! We returned home in the evening after a long journey.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my experience.

Well done Jahnavi and Tanisha – keep up the amazing attitude towards your chess and piano skills! We look forward to hearing how your skills progress in the near future.

Krisha, Year 5: As you may be aware, Krisha will be representing Victoria in the national indoor cricket tournament during the forthcoming school holidays. To support Krisha, we held a fundraising event last Friday in which $445.50 was collected to support Krisha and her family. Thank you to the families who were able to assist as your generosity is appreciated immensely and we look forward to hearing how Krisha and the Victorian team goes! Well done Krisha and good luck!

Well done everyone and we look forward to hearing how you go with your future endeavours in your chosen fields!

What’s planned for our school during the school holidays?

As communicated in a recent Compass Post, these school holidays will be dedicated to replacing the timber windows in Block A (main building) and Block B (the Year 3 building) with aluminium windows.

Although the windows have been painted over numerous times, the original paint is lead based, hence our school will be closed during the holidays. As a result, our vacation care program will not operate from our school; the closest venues are Glendal, Camelot Rise and Mount Waverley Primary Schools. May I extent my apologies for the inconvenience this may cause some families, however the health, safety and wellbeing of the children, parents and staff must be our number one priority.

I look forward to sharing some photos of the new aluminium windows in the first newsletter of Term Three.

Principal Awards

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a Principal’s Award recently:

Amelia, Abisshna, Agam and Ved for learning about area by drawing very complex robots
Max, Amasha and Fatima for writing terrific procedural texts about how to make yummy popcorn 🍿

Year 2 STEAM Innovation group - for working exceptionally hard to learn about different biospheres and then create the most amazing projects which reflect the flora and fauna that can survive in their respective environments

Yashora and Yasheli for writing a wonderful book about the importance of being healthy, nice and kind to everyone.
Alina and Edward for creating and sharing their learning portfolios in a very impressive manner
Satvi and Alina for completing amazing and extremely detailed home learning about the importance of recycling
Lyneta for completing all of her home learning to a very high standard

Jahnavi for writing a very detailed and persuasive piece about the value of taking the year 3 cohort to an excursion to Gumbuya Park
Marvika for being a wonderful friend and also for writing a very good persuasive piece about her class getting a hermit crab as a class pet
Shlok for being a wonderful friend
Minadi and Theo for drawing elaborate advertising posters about Cute Barbie’s and The Pizza Box that Freshens Pizza”
Marvika and Siddharth for writing a very persuasive piece about teachers having to wear uniform at school.

Jimmy for learning all about telling time using an analogue clock
Aarav for making excellent choices

Sophie and Aneel for writing excellent pieces which engaged the reader
Ashley for being a wonderful friend
Evelyn and Devanshi for writing very clever posters using alliteration skills to influence people

Erin and Javis for writing excellent poems which are featured in the kids corner section of this newsletter

Aadyah for writing a very creative poem about his love of Chess which is also featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter and for receiving a trophy from the Box Hill Chess Club BIRTHDAYS

Wishing everyone a safe and happy school holiday period.

Take care and to those who are travelling, please do so carefully.

Frank Catalano

Principal