Galilee News

School News

Dear Families,

 

Welcome back to Term 2. It has been wonderful to reconnect with you all. It has also been wonderful to see the students quickly settle back into the routine of school life here at Galilee. 

 

New Principal Appointment - Amy Burns  

I would like to thank the school community for warmly welcoming me as the new Principal. 

 

Galilee is a vibrant community where students are at the centre of everything we do. I look forward to continuing to focus on developing and nurturing each student at Galilee by offering them an outstanding academic program with engaging learning experiences and exceptional extra-curricular activities steeped in the Catholic tradition. 

 

I am passionate about encouraging students to be critical and creative thinkers, problem solvers and active citizens who respond in a socially just way. We will continue offering learning environments that foster collaboration and target the individual needs to each student. We will continue to provide nurturing and inclusive learning environments where each student feels safe, valued, respected and supported. And we will continue to offer learning experiences that equip students with the skills and mindset needed to flourish in today's fast paced and ever changing world. 

 

I am thrilled to continue to work with the outstanding teaching staff at Galilee who are passionate and committed to nurturing each student's development. I know that they take a genuine interest in each student and pride themselves on challenging and supporting each student's holistic development. 

 

At Galilee, we have always believed that parents are the first and most important educators in their child’s life. I look forward to continuing to work with the vibrant and very active parent community at Galilee. I will continue to foster strong partnerships with families and our school because this will enhance the educational experiences of our students. 

 

Galilee is a friendly, warm, welcoming school community where students thrive and parents make lifelong friendships and connections. In my time as Principal, I intend to enhance what is already a wonderful school and school community.

 

Welcome Fr Eldridge D’Souza, our new Parish Priest at St. Peter and Paul

We would like to welcome Fr. Eldridge to our school community. Fr. Eldridge is the new Parish Priest at St. Peter and Paul, South Melbourne. He met the Galilee staff last week and is looking forward to meeting the entire community later this term. We look forward to working with him and wish him every success in his new role. 

 

Congratulations Mr. Gethings

We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Shane Gethings and his new wife Elaine. They celebrated their wedding last Friday in Ireland. We are thrilled for them and wish them every blessing as they embark on their married life together. 

 

 

NAPLAN have released early school snapshot data 

NAPLAN has released early school snapshot data for Reading, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation and Numeracy. We are pleased with our overall results. These results indicate that the learning and teaching programs operating at Galilee. We expect to receive Writing results, individual results and more detailed school results in late Term 3.

 

Year 3 NAPLAN Snapshot Data

 

Year 5 NAPLAN Snapshot Data

Proficiency standards

The NAPLAN proficiency standards include 4 proficiency levels for each assessment area at each year level: 

  • Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing. 
  • Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
  • Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
  • Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

Each of the standards represents increasingly challenging skills and understandings as students move through the years of schooling.

 

Learning and Teaching Focus in Term Two

In Term 2, teachers at Galilee will engage in rich learning opportunities to enhance the way we teach writing. We have always had good writing results at Galilee but we believe they can be even better. Teachers will be attending professional development sessions on explicitly teaching the traits of writing: ideas, organisation, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. Teachers will also learn about providing clear, consistent and evidence-based feedback on student writing. We are very excited to start this learning journey together and believe it will have an enormous impact on student learning. 

 

Inclusion & Diversity

We have an ever increasing diversity at Galilee, in our student and family compositions, backgrounds, cultures, races, nationalities, abilities, disabilities and much more. We opened up to parents to be part of a group to talk to us and help us understand the different ways we can make Galilee a welcome space for all who align with our ethos and want to call Galilee home.  

If you would like to join the group, please email rharding@gsm.vic.edu.au. For a copy of the minutes from our first meeting this year, please click on this link. 

 

Melbourne Legacy ANZAC Commemoration

Year 6 students attended the Melbourne Legacy ANZAC Commemoration for students. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to attend a formal ANZAC service at such an amazing location as the Shrine of Remembrance. They heard stories of boys as young as 14 joining up for WWI and lying about their age, going off to the front in Europe or to the Gallipoli landings. Our students were respectful, reverent and attentive. We thank them enormously. Our school captains were also able to lay a wreath on behalf of the school community, beautifully made by our very own Paul Mapley.

 

 

Mother’s Day Celebrations at Galilee

Next week, we look forward to celebrating the wonderful mothers and special women in our community.

We have several exciting events planned and hope you can join us.

 

Mother’s Day Stall – Tuesday 6th May

Our Mother’s Day Stall will take place on Tuesday 6th May. Students will have the opportunity to purchase a Mother’s Day gift for $5 (using the Schools24 app or cash by Monday morning). Students will visit our school store with their teacher on Tuesday to browse the products and pick a perfect gift. 

 

On Friday 9th May we warmly invite you to join us for a special morning of celebration: 

  • 7:45am – Movement and Meditation in the library. This is a calm and child-friendly way to start the day together.
  • 8:15am – Fun Activities and morning tea in the stadium for mothers and special women to enjoy with their children.
  • 9:15am – Mother’s Day Mass at St Peter and Paul’s Church. All families are welcome to attend this special service.
  • 12noon - Mother’s Day Lunch (ticketed event) at Half Acre in Port Melbourne.

 

We look forward to celebrating with you!

 

News regarding Fr Julian, a past Priest of Ss. Peter and Paul

We have received news regarding Fr. Julian, a past Parish Priest from St. Peter and Paul. Fr. Julian has been unwell for quite some time. Unfortunately on Good Friday he passed away. The Parish of St. Peter and Paul are gathering for a special Mass in his honour on Friday 2nd May at 6pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

 

Connecting with Secondary Schools

Over the next month, we are connecting with surrounding Secondary School Principals. We feel that it is important to understand the options available to our families as you consider secondary school education for your children. We also want to ensure that we are preparing our students for Year 7 and beyond. It has been wonderful to hear positive stories about how well prepared our students have been as they enter Year 7.

 

This week Amy Burns and Richard Harding visited De La Salle College in Malvern. We were able to meet with the Principal Peter Houlihan, hear about the school, learn what it has to offer and tour the classrooms. We were both very impressed by what we saw. It was also lovely to spot a number of Galilee alumni engaged in learning as we wandered past their classrooms. If you are interested in hearing more, please catch us at the front gate. De La Salle College has monthly college tours that provide a glimpse into the life of the school. Please explore their upcoming tour and Information session dates. The next school tour will be on the 30th of May. 

 

Classroom Helpers

We are excited to welcome Parent/Carer Helpers into the classroom early this term to assist with student learning from Prep to Year 6. 

 

In the coming days, teachers will send out a timetable with the days and times that they require support. You will be able to nominate a time that works best for you. You will then be rostered weekly or fortnightly. If you are unable to commit to a regular time slot and want to occasionally help in the classroom, let your child’s teacher know and you can find a time that will work best for the classroom.

 

To help in classrooms you will need to hold a current Working With Children Check and be available to help in the classroom at a set time (once a week, one a fortnight). Once you express your interest to help in the classroom, you will be sent the Classroom Helper Handbook which includes the Child Safety Policy and the Code of Conduct to read and sign. 

 

We continue to value all the support and assistance from our parents and thank you in anticipation. 

 

Year 4 Students Preparing to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist

We would like to wish our Year 4 students every blessing as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist this term. 

 

Year 4 students and families gathered in the Stadium on Tuesday night for a family faith night. Parents and students learned about the Sacrament and heard about preparation that they will be involved in. Parents worked with their children on an activity that encouraged dialogue about the Sacrament and what it means to them. We would like to thank Alex Pensini, our Religious Education Leader, Rachel Leahy, Caleb Knappett and Brian Kelly our Year 4 teachers, Fr Paul, Fr. John and Fr. Elderidge our Parish Priest and the Year 4 Parents and Families who are all supporting these students as they prepare for this very special and important Sacrament. 

 

Looking ahead to the next week

As always we have many activities and events planned at Galilee. Below, we have outlined school events and activities that will take place next week. Please check the Galilee School Calendar for all other Term 2 events.

 

Week 3

Monday 5th May

  • Running Club at 8am
  • Students need to wear full winter uniform from today on

Tuesday 6th May

  • Mother’s Day Stall ($5 per gift)
  • Chess Club after school

 

Friday 9th May

  • Mothers Day Events 
  • 7:45am – Movement and Meditation in the library. This is a calm and child-friendly way to start the day together.
  • 8:15am – Fun Activities and morning tea in the stadium for mothers and special women to enjoy with their children.
  • 9:15am – Mother’s Day Mass at St Peter and Paul’s Church. All families are welcome to attend this special service.
  • 12noon - Mother’s Day Lunch (ticketed event) at Half Acre in Port Melbourne.
  • Year 5 and 6 Inter School and Community Sport
  • No Assembly today

 

We wish you every blessing in the coming week,

 

Amy Burns (Principal), Richard Harding and Holly Evans (Deputy Principals)