Principal's Report

Dear Families,

It's great to see 6C wanting to help out the farmers affected by drought in New South Wales. They are currently asking the Galilee community to donate any 'doubles' they may have of the Coles Mini Collectables. 

They will be hosting a raffle in Week 10 with proceeds going to the drought and hopefully helping some students complete their collections. There will also be an entire set of Coles Collectables up for sale!

We look forward to hearing more from 6C in the coming weeks.

Open Day

Yesterday we held an Open Day for 2020 enrolments and it was highly attended by local families. Our Year 6 students took them on tours and the families were thrilled by what they saw. Thankyou to Jess Conway who served morning tea and spoke to those in attendance. Catholic education across Melbourne has suffered a decline in enrolments but the interest in Galilee is increasing. 

Innovation Grant

Congratulations to Miss Fahy and Miss Evans (STEAM Leaders) who have recently been successful in winning a $5000 grant for Galilee! This grant will assist us in transforming underused garden beds in the school by planting produce that students can use for cooking during STEAM lessons.

Galilee Camp Program

After a review of our Galilee Camp Program early in the term, we have now booked our camps up to and including the end of 2020. We have decided to keep the current destinations for our camps:

Year 3: Zoo Snooze at Melbourne Zoo (2 days)

Year 4: Angahook Camp (3 days)

Year 5: Merricks Camp (4 days)

Year 6: Canberra Camp (4 days)

Next year, Mr Coaley will be working with the 2019 Prep and Year 1 Teachers to host the following events as part of the Camp Program:

Prep: Afternoon Tea

Year 1: Extended School Day

Our Year 2 Overnight Stay on the school grounds in October is also in the final stages of planning and an Information Session was held today with the Year 2 Parents. This session will be uploaded on to Dojo as soon as possible for those parents who were unable to attend.

I would like to thank Mr Coaley for his hard work in the new role of Camp Coordinator.

Father's Day Celebrations

Happy Father's Day for last Sunday.

Funding

Previously there has been much conjecture about how Catholic primary schools would be affected by a new Federal Government funding model. In the Herald Sun, dated September 4,  states that: "An extra $4.4 billion would be poured into the Catholic and independent schools system over the next decade..." This is not confirmation but we are hopeful that it is resolved leading to a fairer level of funding for our students in Catholic schools. Greater levels of communication are now occurring between Catholic Education and the Federal Government. If there is any news, we will communicate the outcomes. 

Yesterday I met with a member of the Catholic Education Office from the Finance Department. She mentioned that our collection of fees across the school had improved but still needed to increase. The prompt paying of fees (or the opposite) has a direct impact upon the resources and programs we purchase for the students. All fees are due to be finalized shortly. Unpaid fees can impact negatively upon all students. We appreciate everyone who has paid all of the fees or negotiated another timeline.

Emergency Drill

Last Friday we held an Evacuation Drill, which we do regularly throughout the year. The students evacuated to the basketball court safely and quickly with the hypothetical fire being in Park Street. All visitors, teachers and students were accounted for before returning to their classrooms. We receive annual training from a company called Dynamiq who specialise in evacuations/lockdowns. The training and practice is a legal requirement, preparing us for situations that hopefully will not occur.

About Dynamiq: Dynamiq was founded in 2005 by former Australian Special Forces Commander Anthony Moorhouse.

Anthony identified an opportunity to provide a complete emergency management capability, offering medical, security and business resilience services under the one roof and started the business from his home office. The business now employs more than 180 full-time staff and has offices throughout Australia, Asia and the Americas.

NAPLAN Results

In the table above you can see Galilee's 2018 results. Our Year 3 & 5 students have achieved Well Above the State Mean. Collectively the results are an accurate record of how we are performing as a school. However, individually the results may not be an accurate indication of your child's progress. NAPLAN is only one assessment and students vary in how they display their learning. Assessments are performed regularly at Galilee and for a more accurate measure of your child's progress, refer to the Semester One Report or meet with their teacher. NAPLAN reports will be sent home tomorrow for students in Years 3 & 5.

Lion King Jr.

With the Lion King Jr performances just two weeks away, it has been encouraging to see the whole school come to life with our entire school rehearsals led by Miss Carmen Carnovale. Students performed the whole show from start to finish and were able to watch each other present their class item and come together for the finale and bows. Each class has been thoroughly prepared in Performing Arts Classes and all the hard work is sure to pay off on the 20th September. It will be a performance season not to miss!

A reminder that we have our whole school technical rehearsal on Thursday 13th September.This is a very important rehearsal as this is the only opportunity students will get to rehearse and familiarise themselves with the stage and venue. This is also the only chance we will have to rehearse with our sound technicians and ensure our sound levels are ready for the concert. Students will be bussed to and from Firbank on this day.

On Thursday 20th September,school will begin at 11.30am and students will be bussed to Firbank. All students will stay at Firbank until after the evening performance and be dismissed from Firbank at approximately 8.20pm.

Ticket orders that were submitted by the due date are ready for collection. There are tickets available for the 3pm show and limited tickets left for the evening show.  

Yr. 3/4 Hoop Time

Today the Year 3/4 students attended Hoop Time at MSAC. From all reports, they all had a great day. Congratulations to one of our teams who made it to the grand final. Thank you to all parent helpers who attended today and last week for the Year 5/6 Hoop Time.

Simon Millar

Principal of Galilee