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 another 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

Novel Coronavirus Update

It is very pleasing to note that the number of confirmed cases throughout our school has continued to remain extremely low. Naturally this is a result of everyone being vigilant by ensuring the children aged 8 and over wear face masks, remain at home if they are feeling unwell and also utilising the Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT’s). Once again, thank you everyone for the manner in which the entire GWPS community have supported one another. 

Year 6 Camp

Recently our school held the annual Year 6 camp at Camp Adanac which is located in the Yarra Junction   approximately 90 minutes from our school. Overall it was a very successful camp that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone as the children were provided with the opportunity to experience a magnitude of activities such as:

• Flying fox
• Camp cooking 
• Aqua ponding
• Low ropes course
• Hut building 
• Archery
• Canoeing
• Raft building 
• Disc golf
• Photo hunt
• Thunder hockey
• Trampolining and Cage soccer. 

Naturally the camp would not be able to proceed if it were not for the dedication and commitment to the staff who attended, a sincere thank you to all of the staff for their willingness to do so and for the fantastic manner in which they continue to engage the children.

In this fortnight’s Kids Corner section, I have taken the liberty of sharing some of the children’s reflections.   

School Excursions

Throughout this term it has been wonderful to see numerous year levels who have been able to organise an excursion for the children. Essentially these are designed to further enhance the children’s understanding of their units of learning. However there are even more benefits of a school excursions such as the following which was derived from the school activities website - https://www.schoolactivities.com.au

Every students loves to get out of the classroom and explore. Great school excursions take planning and effort but the rewards can be huge for both students and teachers and something students will remember for a long time.  The importance of school excursions and the benefits school excursions offer students are listed below.  

• Provides another dimension to class based learning and helps reinforce what has been taught in the classroom - Students may get to learn in a new environment with new teachers or instructors.
• Students are excitement and energised by the anticipation of leaving the classroom and school environment.  Fun school excursions will help students retain the information they have learnt on their trip.
• Children have the opportunity to learn about and see new things in a less structured environment with more learning styles available - student learning can be hands on or interest-driven and they may be excited to learn something from someone new who is an expert in their field.
• Exposure to new experiences - outside the classroom students have the opportunity of being exposed to new experiences and observe new things that are not available at school, such as rare and exotic wildlife and plants, different cultures and tours/visits to iconic buildings and areas. 
• Social skills - Getting out of the classroom gives children an opportunity to spend time with each other in a new environment without the structure of the classroom. School excursions often require students to spend time in small groups, observing, chatting and learning.

Congratulations, thank you and well done to everyone involved in the excursions held this term and I look forward to additional ones soon.

Student Voice

I am exceptionally proud of the amazing efforts of our staff as we continue to build our collective understanding of what really constitutes student choice, student voice and student agency. Recently the Year 5 children shared with me what they are undertaking and I have asked them to write a piece for the school newsletter so everyone can be aware. I trust you enjoy it just as much as I did!

Book Week

Book Week is always a very exciting component of our school calendar and it was fabulous to see the children dressed up in their favourite book characters, authors or illustrators on Monday. Below is a copy of the speech Ana and Aeki shared at assembly including some photos of the children dressed up. 

Good morning Mr Catalano teachers , parents and fellow learners. My name is Aeki

And my name is Ana

And today we are here to discuss the statistics and benefits of reading

Why is reading important?

Reading is important because it gives you knowledge and you can get inspired by the voices of all those authors.

What are the of benefits of readings?

Reading increases your vocabulary by 50%, helps reduce stress by 68 % and even lengthens your life by 2 whole years 

If you read 20 minutes per day you can learn 1.8 million words per year.

If you read 5 minutes per day you learn 2 hundred eighty-two thousand new words per year.

And if you read one minute per day you learn 8, 000 new words per year.

And did you know reading helps you get high results in tests such as NAPLAN, ICAS, AMC and many more like a scholarship.

Thank you for listening everyone!

School Chess Team

Last Friday our Junior Chess team participated in a tournament and once again I am thrilled to report that our school placed 1st. Congratulations to the following children for their fabulous efforts:

May I also take this opportunity to congratulate the following children for their terrific individual efforts:

Naveen (Year 1) - Distinction, Grade 1 Gold

Reyan (Year 3) - Distinction, Grade 3 Bronze

Saheli (Year 2) - Distinction, Girls Gold

Lesara (Year 2) - Credit, Girls Bronze

Ethan (Year 1) - Participation

Aibel (Year 2) - Participation

Reyashi (Prep) - Participation, Prep Bronze

Theo (Year 1) - Participation

Well done and congratulations everyone -  we all look forward to hearing how you go in the State Championships!

Congratulations to the following students for their achievements outside of school

Veer (Year 2) – recently competed in the International Sports Karate Associations’ national championships and placed 2nd. Naturally this is a phenomenal achievement and something that Veer, his family and our school are incredibly proud of – well done Veer and we look forward to hearing how you go at the next tournament. 

Vedanth (Year 5) is an avid singer of Indian songs and recently he completed the Grade 2 exam in this area. I am thrilled to announce that he passed with a High Distinction and received an amazing trophy. Well done Vedanth and we all look forward to you singing at a school assembly shortly. 

Principal Awards

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

Prep D

• Eric for writing lots of facts about bees 
• Joshua, Alex, Vihaan, Ruize and Shivane for learning all about labelling  
• Adorna and Zoe for learning all about the life cycle of a flower 

1A

• Samuel for demonstrating his persistence skills in building a dinosaur made out of Lego 

1B

• Nyshita for making terrific progress with her writing. She wrote a very detailed narrative about a pet dog
• Cian also for making terrific progress with his writing. He wrote a narrative about a dog who spilt some water 

1C

• Hasiru for his persistence and endeavour in building the most amazing tow truck made out of Lego

• Priyag for working exceptionally well during Mandarin classes 
• Cooper for being a very supportive friend 

1D

• Tulara and Marvika for writing all about the Solo verbs and for providing examples 

1E

• Krishna for drawing a very detailed picture of a McLaren 720
• Shlok and Reyansh for being very supportive friends 

2A

• Anya for identifying how her strengths impact herself and others 
• Tahlia for writing a very detailed narrative about a child that gets bullied and then helped by his friends 
• Madie for writing a poem about Summer 
• Pooja for writing a poem about each of the seasons 
• Vivaan, Krish, Yashen and Dion T for working very hard and for being really creative when writing Diamante poems 
• Jared and Deion for working really hard to build Lego models

• Deion, Yashen, Sayoon, Krish and Vivaan for working collaboratively to build a lion out of Lego 

2B

• Ivan for writing an acrostic poem about hybrid cars 
• Shanosh for drawing a very elaborate picture of a dragon 

2C

• Vihas, Aadyah, Vivaan, Nishita and Kalana for writing very descriptive recounts about their MCG excursion 
• Saheli for writing a very creative poem 
• Sanaya for writing a book about strengths and weaknesses 
• Mehar and Amaya for being really responsible members of our school community 
• Rachel for working really hard on her drawing skills 
• Isa for being a very supportive friend 

3B

• Hridu, Sophie and Yanick for being outstanding helpers throughout our school
• Mahaan for receiving a certificate and is now on Blue belt from Kando Martial Arts 

4B

• Bean for developing his dilation skills in Maths
• Aiden for being a great friend 

5A

• Arnold, Sarum, Olivia, William B and Minh Anh for being outstanding helpers throughout our school community 

5C

• Arena and Aarthy for providing one another with constructive feedback and feed forward regarding their social and emotional goals 

Take care and wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight. 

Frank Catalano

Principal