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 the first newsletter for Term Three. 

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

The school holidays

By the time this newsletter is distributed, the school holidays will seem like a distant memory, however we must never underestimate the important role they play in ensuring the children and staff have time to recharge and prepare for another term of teaching and learning. From my perspective, I always enjoy observing and participating in the way the children reconnect and share their holiday stories and adventures. It really is a joy and privilege to be provided with this opportunity. 

What occurred in our school over the holidays?

The school holidays are an opportune time for various tasks to be completed. Throughout these holidays the tradespeople spent time focusing on our school grounds such as:

• Installed additional tanbark in the adventure playgrounds and a variety of new plants throughout the school 

• Painted the Health Hub

• Installed two storage units behind the gymnasium to hold the large gym/high jump mats. 

Welcome to the following new students

At the beginning of this term we have had quite a few new families join us. Welcome to the Glen Waverley Primary School family and I look forward to you being part of our school community for many years to come!

Congratulations to the following children for their outstanding achievement outside of school:

Golf: As you may recall, Arena (Year 6) is a very talented golfer and she is currently in Vietnam participating in tournaments. Recently she informed me of the following results:

• DNGA Junior Open (which is equivalent to a state-level competition) – 1st place and 
• The Under 18’s state event (she turns 12 in August) Arena placed 2nd! 
• Arena placed 13th in the Vietnam Women’s Open, which is amazing considering that she is still only 11 years old! 

I look forward to sharing how she goes with the next tournament. 

Chess: Over the holidays quite a few of the children participated in the Victorian Junior Chess Championship with some amazing results achieved such as Samuel (Year 2) placing 8th out of 46 competitors in the Under 8’s division.

Vidushi:

From Saturday, June 24th (the first official day of the holidays), my brother Naveen and I participated in the Victorian Junior Chess Championship. I played in the Under 12 Open category and placed eleventh among 66 players. The Open category is one in which I have never played and in where barely any girls play in. It is usually male-dominated because most girls play in the Girls' category. Since I have found success in the Girls' category and have been seeking a challenge, I played in the Open this year. Here too, I led, but not for too long as my strength diminished as my opponents put up great fights. I did not win but came close to the point where if I had won my last game, I would've placed second. The incredible thing about this is that no girl has topped in the Open category in the past. Halfway through the tournament, I had been leading, but in the second half, I descended from first to eleventh. When I played at my best for the whole four days, I managed to beat both the highest-rated and third-highest-rated players, but the next day, I lost to the second-highest-rated player. After this experience, I practiced each day and strive to improve and win next year's tournament. This time, I came close, but next year, I'll win. 

Naveen:

I went to the Victorian Junior Chess Championship. I went on the 24th of June. My category was under 8 open. It was a 7 round tournament. I won 6 games out of 7 games. I lost against one player. I tied for first place. He got first place because he had a higher tie break score. I got the 2nd place trophy and 75 dollars.

It certainly is amazing to share such fabulous achievements – well done, congratulations and keep up the tremendous achievements as the entire GWPS community is incredibly proud of all of you! 

School Uniform Reminders

As we are in the colder months of the school year and the children bring additional clothing to school, please ensure that you label all the children’s clothing so it can be returned if misplaced.

Public Speaking Presentations

Just prior to the holidays, the children who participated in our school’s “In My Opinion” public speaking program held a presentation evening where everyone had the opportunity to share their speeches. As always, the children were amazing as they proudly shared their speeches whilst speaking clearly and with an abundance of confidence. 

Thank you to Arshia and Lavanya for leading the program, the children’s parents for supporting them and the children for their fantastic contribution and commitment! I have included some of the children’s speeches in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter.  

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

1A 

• Reyashi and Sarayu for creating very detailed and complex presentations about the lifecycle of a chicken 
• Summer for writing an excellent book about the life cycle of a chicken  

1C

• Josh for excelling in karate. Recently he participated in the SSU Victorian championship and placed 3rd in the red belt section - well done Josh! 

2A

• Manuth for continuing to work on his drawing skills 

2C

• Sandaru for competing in a recent chess tournament and now qualifying for the state semifinals 

2D

• Nethanya for demonstrating a high level of initiative and global empathy by cutting her hair and then donating it to Sustainable Salons. Well done, congratulations and thank you for being a model citizen Nethanya! 

2E 

• Hasiru for building the most elaborate and amazing rocket out of Lego! Hasiru spent approx 6 evenings building the rocket ship and as you can see, the result it amazing! Well done and congratulations Hasiru. 
• Level 3 Student Voice Team - for leading the establishment of a Behavioural Expectations chart that encourages the choice of appropriate behaviour and is also used for the children to create their Social and Emotional Learning goals. Well done Year 3’s! 

3A

• Curtis for making outstanding progress with his maths learning 
• Ajeet for being a fabulous friend 
• Javis and Sam for creating a very persuasive commercial enticing everyone to buy Nike shoes. The advertisement was very well written, the boys used great images and even a person wearing Nike shoes from our school as a model 
• Well done Suditi on completing a short 3 day Animation course with Code Camp over the school holidays, and successfully creating your own fabulous Lego story/movie.  Furthermore, another successful mid-year demonstration of classical Ballet at the Jacinta Murphy School of Dance.

3C

• Ivan for writing an excellent book about the bald guy telling you to not turn the page of the book
• Veer and Arjun for being really good friends 

3D

• Siya for completing a 100 dot to dot drawing of a chimpanzee that took 3 days of hard work, persistence and dedication - well done Siya! 

3E

• Avyukt for writing an information report about Black Widow spiders  
• Raneth for writing acrostic poems using the names of his friends
• Rachel for creating an excellent poster advertising why everyone should come to our school 
• Madie and Tharini for being wonderful friends 

Congratulations to our Level 3 Student Voice team who have proudly displayed their new Level 3 Behaviour Expectations poster. 

4A

• Eliana, Kimaya and Eyren for writing the most amazing and descriptive poems about nature after going outside and using the nature around them as prompts 
• Agam and Kai for developing a video in Chinese about driving to and from school in their very own car 

5A 

• Yuvraj, Sophie and Oscar for writing letters to David Attenborough as featured in the Kids Corner section of this newsletter
• Shriya, Sayumi and Ellie for writing excellent reports about the Titan, a submarine that tried to find the Titanic

5C

• Sihath for creating his own Lego vehicle by using various parts from other models 
• Vinara for successfully completing Grade 2 ballet 
• Manuthi for being a very supportive friend 

• Year 5 Robotics class

• Vedika and Thenugi for developing a robotics brain game that is able to recognise coloured blocks 
• Riyon and Tanmay for designing and building a propellor car which includes gearing, brakes and weighted blocks 
• David, Benson, Aarav and Pranesh for making soccer players out of Lego 
• Sihath and Kaeden for making lockable safes out of their Spike Prime Lego 

6D

• Lucy for working exceptionally hard with her gymnastics skills. Recently she participated in a competition and placed 3rd overall and her team from Aerodynamix Gymnastic Club, placed 1st. Well done Lucy! 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight.  

Frank Catalano

Principal