Principal's Report
Grandparents' and Special Friends Day
On Tuesday we celebrated Grandparents' and Special Friends Day. It was wonderful to see so many Grandparents and Special Friends attend the morning. We also welcomed some Grandparents and Special Friends on Monday morning. Thank you to those that attended and travelled great distances to be here. The connections children make with grandparents and special friends can have a significant influence on their values and world view. By offering support, love, imparting wisdom and making memories, grandparents and special friends can leave behind a legacy that children will value for the rest of their lives.
Upcoming Surveys
This year the new CEMSIS replaces the previous Insight SRC surveys that have been completed by staff, students and parents in Catholic schools for many years.
What is CEMSIS?
CEMSIS is an acronym of Catholic Education Melbourne School Improvement Surveys. CEMSIS is a purpose-built, context-specific tool for Catholic school data collection. Individual participation is invited from students, staff and families by their schools. CEMSIS is just one source in a key range of data for informing the improvement work happening in schools across the Melbourne Archdiocese.
When will CEMSIS happen this year?
In 2019, each school's CEMSIS portal will open for data collection during the last three weeks of Term 3 (2 Sept - 20 Sept). Our school is participating in CEMSIS this year. An envelope with information about the survey with a code and PIN will be sent home next week. Surveys are available for families in Arabic, Chinese, English, Tagalog or Vietnamese.
What do the surveys want to learn about?
The surveys ask questions about how the school leadership supports staff, students and families, what outcomes we hope to see and how the school supports families in supporting students.
The following outlines a list of initiatives that we have implemented since the results of the last survey:
LEARNING FOCUS
-whole school approach to spelling using SMART spelling program
-uninterrupted timetabled Reading and Maths blocks
-classroom support teachers in P-6 for Reading and Maths (P-5 Reading and 3-6 Maths)
-introduced Perceptual Motor Program (PMP) for P-2
-employed 3 new LSOs, Occupational and Speech Therapists
-continued Year 3-6 camps and Year 2 sleepover at school, introduced Year 1 extended day
PARENT PARTNERSHIPS
-introduction of Community Conversations
-English and Maths Parent/Child Workshop Nights
STUDENT SAFETY
-introduced 2x 40min breaks to help reduce lunch time risk of injury
-introduction of 5 areas at play times to lessen congestion on the yard
-School Yard timetable introduced for various play areas
EXTRA CURRICULAR
-break time clubs for students to join (Chess, Craft, Garden, choir, Maths Olympiad, SRC, Debating, Drama and Sport)
-continued instrumental program with 2 x soirees
-introduction of Seeds and Sprouts Program
SOCIAL SKILLS
-staff trained in Peaceful Kids Program to help build emotional resilience
-staff trained in Seasons for Growth Program to support students who have experienced change or loss
-introduced Buddy System where older grades buddy up with younger grades as a mentoring role
Building Update
On Monday will be consultation sessions for the school building program. We will have two sessions for parents to attend at 9am or 6pm. These will have followed sessions held with the students, Building Committee and staff. Thankyou to Their Care who are looking after school-aged children during the 6pm session.
Uniform Survey
Thank you for your responses and feedback to the recent Uniform survey. The data showed that more families were in favour of changing the current uniform than not. In the choice between red or maroon, there was a stronger voice to keep the maroon which will be maintained in the new and updated uniform.
After a lengthy development phase and consultation with students, staff and the school community in a number of different forums, we are excited to announce the beginning of 2020 will see the transition of the following new school uniform garments.
There will be a collared blue shirt for boys in Summer and Winter to be worn with the current navy shorts or trousers. The girls will have a blue shirt to be worn with the Winter tunic/trousers. The boys will have an updated navy winter sock.
We will have a new sports uniform. This has been designed to be user friendly for our active children through the choice of fabrics and design.
The new Sports Uniform will consist of a new cotton-backed breathable polo and microfibre shorts or skort. The tracksuit pants will remain.
There will also be the addition of a soft-shell jacket in place of the current microfibre jacket.
Whilst there will be the transition to these new pieces over 2 and a half years. From the beginning of the 2022 school year, all students with the exception of Year 6, will be expected to be in the new and updated uniform. This allows for time to purchase these items as your child wears them out.
We are still in consultation around the girl’s summer dress and winter tunic and we will share this information in due course. Any potential changes to these items will be subject to the same transition timeline listed above.
The design of the current logo will remain the same but new colour combinations are being reviewed which will not impact on the 'wearability' of any item of the current uniform.
Thankyou to the Uniform Committee for their hard work.
Maths Night
Last Thursday we held our Maths Night for Prep-6 families. It was fantastic to see so many with over 100 in attendance. The evening consisted of an introduction about the learning and teaching of Mathematics at Galilee, information about Maths Olympiad, Number Intervention and Essential Assessment. Parents and children attended a Workshop which utilised fun games to learn Maths skills.
Thank you to Annabel Coome, Charlotte Biggs, Lauren Bland and Jane Ferris for organising and presenting on the night.
Open Morning
Last Wednesday we had many prospective families (approximately 25 people) attend our second Open Morning. The families were given a student-led tour by our wonderful Year 6 students. We have since received many applications for future years and emails complimenting the friendliness and welcoming approach of our Year 6 students as they showed them around the school.
Staff Leave
Helen Rochecouste will be on Long Service Leave (LSL) for 2 weeks beginning next Tuesday 27 August and will return Monday 9 September. Mrs Maria Panagiotopoulos will work in Year 5 the first week and Miss Anastasia Romios will work in Year 5 in the second week. I will be away from September 3 - October 14 on LSL and Mrs Gerecke and Mr Martello will be Acting Principals.
Book Week
This week we are celebrating Book Week with exciting events taking place such as, the Scholastic Book Fair and the Dress Up Parade tomorrow morning at 9am.
Yesterday the whole school participated in the Treasure Hunt performance by Perform! education. The performance focused on characters from various 2019 shortlisted books
where they learn not to be discouraged by negative messages in order to follow their heart’s desire.
A big thank you to Miss Laura Cox for organising another successful Book Week also author and parent, Kasey Edwards for speaking to the Year 5/6 students about her books The Chessraven Chronicles and how to deal with criticism, which was greatly enjoyed by the students.
Father's Day
Next week we will celebrate Father's Day with a Liturgy on Wednesday afternoon from 2:30pm and a Father's Day Breakfast on Friday 30 August from 7:30-9am. For more details, see the Education in Faith page.
Footy Colours Day
Next Friday 30 August is Footy Colours Day. Students can wear either merchandise of their footy team or items of clothing in the colours of their favourite team. A gold coin donation is required and all funds will be donated to the Fight Cancer Foundation.
Jump Rope Update
Total Raised: $11,777.20
Top Fundraisers:
Daniele 2C -$4,977.93
Harry M 2B - $1,320.17
Milla 2C - $674.07
Nkem 3M - $420.57
Harriet 2B - $412.16
Anna 4C - $313.80
Total Hours skipped: 65
Total Fundraisers: 37
If you would still like to sign up, it's not too late! simply follow the link below to get started.
Thank you for supporting the Jump Rope for Heart program!
School Captains' Report
On Wednesday 14th, August, 9:00 to 10:00 there was an Open Day for parents of students coming in the next few years. Year 6 students gathered in the staff room, while Alex and I waited at the gate to welcome guests into Galilee. Parents started to arrive and seat in the staff room. Mr Millar said a few words followed by Mrs Gerecke, Mr Martello, Miss Carnovale and back to Mr Millar. Then, the parents asked a few questions and the tours started.
Ali’s Tour: My tour started with a trip to the library where I showed the parent who I had with me the Anthology books that Galilee had participated in. She was very interested in all the poems that Galilee students had written. She also took a liking to the library and how we have a wide variety of books, she liked the informative section in the library since her son liked reading informative books. The parent mostly wanted to see the library and all the books so when I had finished showing her that, I showed her the other side of the room, the Performing Arts area. She loved all the percussion instruments and was impressed with what we learn in Performing Arts over the year. After that, I talked to her a bit about music lessons, buddies and the schedule for the different play areas. In the end, she was very impressed and happy with the school.
By Ali
Alex’s Tour: My tour started after all the new parents to Galilee were introduced to our school community, with most of the Year Sixes waiting eagerly to give a tour! Some of the questions from the parents were; wanting our thoughts on our sport program, knowing our religion aspect of the school and even what was our favourite camp! The talk about our school community was very good and beneficial for all parents. After that we were told to partner up and choose a parent for a tour. My partner was Marco and we found a family and started showing our family around. We visited Year Prep, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and a Year 6 classrooms busy at work. Their favourite part was actually seeing all the students in the classrooms focused on their work. We then showed them the specialists. The family we had was impressed with all the opportunities at Galilee and we are hoping to see them at Galilee next year.
By Alex
Achievements And Stories Of The Students
The year 6s this year have been working on their Digital Licenses, some have already finished like Jaxson in 6B. If you didn’t know what Digital License is where you answer 8 quizzes about using the internet properly and safely. Digital licence is half game and half quiz, you choose your character at the start to help with the digital licence and it is a fun way to teach kids all about digital safety. In each quiz, there are 10 questions, all around the same topic, but you have to get at least 8 questions correct to pass. Some of the sections on the digital licence is about using money on the internet responsibly, knowing what is appropriate and inappropriate on the internet, learning what to share on the internet, how to act around cyber bullying and more. When you pass all these quizzes you can be sure to do the right thing on the internet.
One of Jaxson’s favourite quizzes was Searching and researching which was all about how websites can give reliable information and unreliable information. He said he learnt the most from that quiz especially. Jaxson completed all of the 8 sections in only two sessions and now knows how to be safe online and has learnt how to identify a dangerous cyber situation and using devices wisely.
Daniel in 5B participates in Maths Olympiad. Maths Olympiad is for Year 4s to 6s who are exceptionally good at Mathematics. They meet up every Tuesday and Monday in the 6B room where they learn how to figure out mathematical problems and other ways to problem solve in maths like cryptarithms and magic squares. The students are given 5 tests throughout the year, where they get half an hour to solve 5 very tricky mathematical problems. The students have already completed 3 tests. There is the fourth test on the 26th of August, then, after that test they only have one more test in September to go. Maths Olympiad is a very good program and has proven to be good at teaching advanced mathematical skills.
Daniel is someone who participates at Maths Olympiad and Daniel’s best score on a test was ⅗ on the second test Maths Olympiad which is very good as the questions are very hard. Sandra, Miss Bland and Miss Biggs are in charge of preparing the students in Maths Olympiad for upcoming tests. They teach questions on Mondays and Tuesdays that are similar but not word for word to the questions in the test so the students are ready for the test. In doing that, everyone is prepared and ready to give it a go. They have taught a vary of new skills, for example, working backwards, guess and check, finding a pattern but Daniel liked learning about cryptarithms which is when there is a problem but instead of numbers, the question is told in letters but you’ve got to revert it back to numbers to get the final answer. Daniels favourite was learning new techniques of how to solve the problems like working backwards or guess and check.
Maths Olympiad challenges him to the right amount and is great preparation for high school and in later life.
One of the cryptarithms Maths Olympiad in the past couple of weeks did this, a very famous one. Can you figure it out?
By Ali and Alex
Simon Millar
(Principal of Galilee)