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

Swimming Programs

Once again, thank you to the families who have supported our school’s swimming programs as I do recognise, they can be an additional burden to the usual family routines. Although I felt the program was very successful, I am also aware that some of the children were not able to participate due to the swimming venue placing a limit on the number of participants. I am pleased to report that we have been able to secure an additional 6 days for next year’s program and anticipate having sufficient spaces.

Year 5 Camp

Congratulations and well done to our fabulous Year 5 learners as they enjoyed 3 fantastic days at the Old Priory camp in Beechworth. The children returned on Friday looking somewhat exhausted however incredibly proud of themselves as they learnt so much about Australian history whilst developing their confidence, self-esteem and ability to work with others.

Naturally, a school camp is not possible if it were not for the staff and other adults who attended and also organised the camp. A sincere thank you and well done to the Year Five Team for their fabulous organisation and all the staff who attended or assisted in various ways. Congratulations, thank you and well done everyone!

District Swimming Sports

Congratulations to the children who participated in this event recently, please refer to Mr. Parker’s post for more information.

Alumni Visit

On Wednesday afternoon we held a reunion for the 2022 Year 6 graduates and as per usual the children were fantastic as they reconnected with their primary school friends and teachers. The children spent some time talking/catching up, which was followed by some games and then a celebratory dinner which consisted of pizza and a drink. Well done to all of our graduates and we look forward to additional alumni events ASAP.

School Council Update

Thank you to the members of our school community who nominated for this year’s School Council, I am very pleased to announce the composition of the 2023 School Council is now complete and is as follows:

Parent Representatives:

Aditya Sathe, Poonam Virk, Jessey Kaur, Suresh Ramachandraiah, Kurian Cheriyan, Gopinath Subramaniam, Rahul Tanna, Vinita Aggarwal, Tejaswini Patel and Praveen Jain.

Staff Representatives:

Roland Lewis, Ben Welsh, Parveen Kaur, Peter Shen and myself.

I have also included an overview of the role of the School Council compared to that of the Principal.

Area of Activity

The School Council ……

The Principal ……

Curriculum

Develops the broad direction and vision for the school using guidelines provided by the Department

Leads development of teaching and learning programs

Determines teacher, subject and time allocations, timetables, class sizes and structures

Student Management

Develops student engagement policy and student dress code

Consults with the school community before adopting changes to these policies

Implements these policies

Considers and, where appropriate, grants exemptions to dress codes

Manages all matters of student wellbeing, discipline and academic progress

Staff Employment and Management

Approved employment of some staff e.g. casual replacement teachers, canteen staff

Recommends to the Secretary of the Department the appointment of a principal

Is responsible (as delegated by the Secretary to the Department) for the employment and management of persons in the Teaching Service (including non-teaching staff)

Buildings and Grounds

Enters in contracts for buildings and grounds improvements

Oversees maintenance of all facilities

Monitors implementation of contracts

Child Safety Standards

Develops policies as required by the Child Safety Standards

Reviews existing contracts and ensures future contracts address the requirements of the Child Safety Standards

Implements these policies

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievements:

Science Workshops – Samiksha (Year 1) loves all things science and recently she sent the following email to me:

Dear Mr Catalano,

I Hope you are doing well. I am Samiksha from Year 1, I would like to share with you about the Junior scientists workshops I attended at Swinburne University, Hawthorn campus in January, 2023.

The first workshop I attended was a session called 'mixing and unmixing' where I learnt about how to separate different substances such as salt, sand and corn for the purpose of understanding how to unmix different items. I also learnt about how M&M colours dissolves in water by mixing it.

The next day, I attended a session on the digestive system where I learnt about how food is digested. Guess what! I even got to see an animal's stomach, liver, small intestine & poop, but I was a bit uncomfortable, so I didn't want to touch it.

Finally, I attended a workshop on Beebots, I learned basic coding and had loads of fun.

I really love science and my ambition is to be a scientist someday. I've attached pictures which my mum took at the university.

Thank you for taking time to read this email. I'm still learning to type so I took help from my parents.

Kind regards,

Samiksha

Australian Chess Champion – As reported recently, earlier this year Vidushi (Year 6) participated in the Australian Junior Chess Championships and placed 1st in the Under 12’s division – in fact this is the second time Vidushi has placed 1st in this event as she accomplished this in 2020 in the Under 8’s division.

As a means of celebrating and acknowledging this and Vidushi’s other amazing achievements, our school has organised a very special commemorative photo frame. In fact, we organised 2, one for Vidushi to take home and the other is proudly displayed in our school. Once again, congratulations and well done Vidushi as this is an amazing achievement which you have accomplished not once but twice! Please keep it up as we are all so very, very proud of you!!!

Principal Awards

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

1A

Jathy for writing a very detailed recount of her holiday in Sri Lanka

1C

Kivein, Joel, Kosh, Haina, Seth and Keonna for learning all about tallying and then transferring the data in numerical form
Fatima and Keonna for drawing beautiful pictures for my office
Keonna and Owen for creating a very detailed family tree

1D

Congratulations to Onalee for receiving a medal from the Knox Little Athletics Club for achieving 15 PB’s in a season

Edwin for working so hard to learn how to do handstands and cartwheels
Abisshna for being a very supportive friend

1E

Thiruni also for drawing beautiful pictures for my office

2A

Nyshita and Aaradhya for challenging themselves in Mathematics by working beyond 100’s to 1000’s
Oliver and Hansen for learning about the importance of positive self-talk

2B

Evelyn for drawing a fabulous picture of a gingerbread house during Mind, Body and Us as part of her mindfulness learning
Isha for being a very supportive friend

2E

Sophie for working very hard to build the most fantastic and elaborate toy house at home

3C

Amaya for writing a very interesting and exciting text which is featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter
Saheli for always being a very supportive friend

3D

Ometh for making a great start to his learning in Australia and for sharing all about it in this fortnight’s Kids Corner section of our newsletter

3E

Raneth for being a very responsible member of our school community

4B

Yehara and Methasha for writing lovely cards for my office
Sarvang for receiving a trophy for place first in the J5 group at a recent Chess tournament

4E

Tharshana also for writing a lovely card for my office

5A

Vivaan for completing the Grade 3 AMEB Classical Guitar. He has been playing the guitar for approximately 2 years and he is very proud of his progress - well done Vivaan

5C

Shaya and Manuthi for their commitment and dedication to ballet. The children successfully received special awards for passing the Bronze Star Australian Teachers of Dance ballet examination which is an amazing achievement- well done Shaya and Manuthi

6D

Hirun for receiving a bronze medal in the 80m hurdles in the regional athletics championships

Mithun also for being a very responsible member of our school community

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal

Birthdays