Principals Report

By Mr Frank Catalano

Dear Members of the Glen Waverley Primary School Community,

Welcome to another exciting edition of our school newsletter where we share what’s occurred throughout our wonderful school!

Facilities Update

I am exceptionally pleased to report that our new school community meeting room has been installed and has been placed adjacent to the entrance ramp. This new facility will provide much needed meeting space for the staff, children and the entire school community for many years to come.

The other exciting news is the arrival and installation of the new (updated) shade sails and post pads for the area in between the two main buildings.

Naturally the above are all possible due to families settling their school fees, once again, thank you very much everyone and please take a moment to view the photos provided.

Congratulations to Ehas

Ehas is an avid author and recently he entered in the Casey Cardinia Libraries Young Writers' Short and poetry competition and placed third with his short story 'Trip to the Heart of Ocean', which is included in this fortnight’s Kids Corner section for your enjoyment.

As part of the event, a presentation was held via Zoom where Ehas had the opportunity to read his story to the audience. One of the attendees was Australian children's author Merdith Costain who provided Ehas with really valuable feedback which he intends using in the future.

Congratulations Ehas and please continue your amazing passion for writing!

Thank you to the Following School Families

Sandhu Family - recently the Sandhu family surprised the staff with a large collection of cupcakes with the words, "2020 Heroes" placed on them. Naturally the entire staff are incredibly grateful for the lovely gesture and we sincerely thank Justin, Jessey, Milan and Harley for their generosity.

Sachdev Family - recently donated 15 boxes of the Zooper Dooper frozen icy poles which will be sold by our Year 6 leaders and used to raise additional funds for our school. A sincere thank you to the Vishal, Ritika, Shaurya and Reyansh as your spirit of generosity is also greatly appreciated.

2021 School Captains

There has certainly been a little more than usual “excitement and trepidation” in the air as the Year 5 children are currently undertaking the process of nominating for the various student leadership positions for the 2021 school year. May I take this opportunity to wish all of the children well and we look forward to announcing the 2021 Student Leaders on Monday 7th December.

New Year 5 and 6 Adventure Playground

One of the projects we were hoping to commence this year is the installation of a new Year 5 and 6 adventure playground. Recently 3 proposals were submitted and the current Year 5 and 6 children voted on which playground they prefer. The overwhelming successful design was the tower concept, however in order to further improve it, the School, CIS and Student Voice captains met with the designer and provided some feedforward. Essentially to provide a child’s perspective. Naturally the designers were most impressed with the children’s contribution and commented that “this is not something that occurs in every school!” Congratulations and well done to the children who were involved and we look forward to the new playground being installed early next year.

Pandemic Writing Pieces for the Time Capsule

As mentioned in last fortnight’s newsletter, the children are currently writing about their experience of living through a pandemic which will be used as an assessment piece and also be placed in a time capsule for future generations to read. A plaque will be placed on the time capsule requesting that it be opened in the year 2060, which also coincides with our school’s 100’s birthday.

The Compass post also requested for parents to write a piece, may I encourage you to do so as it would be fabulous to have pieces written by the adult members of our school community. If you prefer to write in your own language, that is also fine. We are requesting that all letters (pieces) are placed in an envelope and returned to school by Monday 30th November.

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

Prep B

Kalana, Sam, Yashen and Ashane for making amazing progress with their writing skills

Prep C

Anya and Saheli for also making amazing progress with their writing

Sanuri for developing a shape poem about rain drops
Eliana for being a very supportive and engaging friend

Meshavi, Daysha, Olivia, Kavya, Allegra and Mikayla for being friendly and supportive members of our school community
Niven for transferring his learning of adjectives to make deeper sentences
Aseli and Akeesha for writing a very interesting book about going for a walk in the farm

Sid for drawing a very elaborate picture of a dinosaur

Emilia and Yana for being very nice members of our school community

Evni for creating the most elaborate and accurate model of a drum kit using cardboard and tooth picks
Senuk for writing about the pandemic
Davis, Vanya and Tayjas for being amazing friends

Ruby and Mayra for being passionate about saving the environment
Patrick and Vishan for drawing the most amazing picture of what they see in their imagination!

The whole class for creating an anchor chart that outlines the Cafe reading strategies they are using

Edwin, Claire, Yuvi, Ananda, Neervi, Delina, Sunny, Ranuga, Kiyara , Sophie and Seeret for writing fabulous pieces which are all about “show, don’t tell”
Sophie for creating the most elaborate poster about how to make seeds to improve your writing
Kiyara for being a wonderful and very supportive friend

Nartana and Aaron for creating the most elaborate and engaging visual arts pieces for our school’s time capsule

Consuelo and Preet for writing a heartfelt card for my office

Anda for making amazing progress with her English skills

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight,

Frank Catalano

Principal