From the Principal

Dear Families,

 

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day. Father’s Day is said to have started in 1910 as a result of a young American girl who wanted to recognise fathers. She was inspired by her own father, who was a single Dad with six children. Since 1910, Father’s Day has been celebrated and is now recognised in many countries around the world. It is a time for us to celebrate and be thankful for all the fathers, men, father figures, uncles, grandfathers, Godfathers, male teachers and male role models in our lives. On Sunday we recognise the very important role they have in our lives and the lives of our children. 

 

We understand that Father’s Day can be a difficult day for some. We would like to acknowledge families who are not able to celebrate with their fathers and offer our condolences to families who have recently lost fathers and special males in their lives. 

Thank you to all the incredible males in our Galilee School Community. You do such a fabulous job nurturing, supporting, inspiring and encouraging our young people. You are wonderful role models in our children’s lives and we hope you all have a wonderful day on Sunday. 

 

These past two weeks have been jam packed with events and activities and the next two weeks look to be the same.

 

Looking back at the past two weeks…

 

Grandparents Day

We had a very successful Grandparents Day last Monday. It was wonderful to see more Grandparents and Special People attend Galilee than ever before. The corridors and classrooms were buzzing with excited students sharing what they do at school with their Grandparents. We would like to thank the Year 1 students and teachers for organising a beautiful Mass, the GPA and Carmen for organising a fabulous Morning Tea and all Grandparents and Special Friends who came on the day and put big smiles on our students' faces. 

 

Book Week

Thank you to Holly Evans and our English Team for coordinating a wonderful celebration of all things book related last week. It was fantastic to see students engage in a range of different activities, listen to Author’s speak, visit the State Library, dress up and immerse themselves in excellent literature. Thank you to our families who made an extraordinary effort on Thursday and Friday to ensure students arrived in a costume. 

 

STEM incursion

On Wednesday we had Adam Oldmeadow from Akorn Education work with our Year 4 students and teachers in a STEM Challenge. Students were tasked with making a difference in the lives of others but designing a bridge would give a community greater access to a local town. Their designs and prototypes were very impressive, as was their ability to work in a team and justify their ideas. Thank you to Dan Booth and Adrian Webster, our STEM leaders, for organising this experience for our students. 

 

Major Fundraiser

We have previously announced the huge success of our major fundraising event which raised an incredible $31,900 for Digital Technology. In recent weeks, we have been working with Source Central (our ICT provider) to audit our devices from Prep - Year 6. We are close to making a large purchase of Chromebooks, thanks to the money raised. Once completed, we will announce how our devices will be utilised by students across the school. 

 

Excursions

We have had many of our students attend excursions over these past two weeks. It is always wonderful to see students leave the front gate to explore learning opportunities beyond our school site. Students are always excited by the opportunity to attend excursions and staff always comment on how wonderful it is for students to have the opportunity of bringing their learning to life. We have had students visit Scienceworks, LUME and the State Library these past two weeks and I know we have a few more year levels heading on excursion in the coming weeks. Thank you to the teachers and parent volunteers who make these opportunities for our students possible. 

 

Dendy Athletics Carnival

Last Friday was the Dendy Athletics Carnival. Galilee sent the biggest team we have ever sent to this event. We had students involved in a range of activities from running to high-jump to shot-put. All of our students made us proud. Their behaviour, sportsmanship and effort was incredible. A number of our students had outstanding results and are progressing to the next level. We would like to thank Seb Greene for organising and training the team. We would also like to thank Richard, Dan and the many parent helpers who attended the carnival. We wish the students progressing to the next level all the best. 

 

Looking ahead to the next two weeks…

 

Father’s Day Celebrations at Galilee

Tomorrow, Friday 1st September, we are celebrating Father’s Day and Special People in our students' lives.

 

Father’s Day Breakfast 

Tomorrow morning from 7.30-9.00am we have a Father’s Day Breakfast at Galilee. We have players from Hawthorn FC attending, a St. Kilda FC Inflatable, handball competitions, a raffle, give-aways and a delicious breakfast. We encourage all students and their Dad’s/Special People to come along and get involved. 

*Please note that Running Club has been canceled tomorrow morning.

 

Whole School Father’s Day Mass

All families are welcome to attend our Whole School Mass at St Peter & Paul’s from 9:30am tomorrow morning. Our Prep students have organised the Mass and will be reading at the special celebration. All students will be attending the Mass.

 

Year 6 students and their Dad’s/Special Friends AFL Clinic

Mr. Greene has organised a special AFL clinic for our Year 6 students and their Dads/Special People tomorrow. It will take place at Galilee from 11.30am. We encourage all our Year 6 Dads and Special People to come along and join in. It should be a fun session and something special for our Year 6 students. 

 

Assembly

Tomorrow afternoon we will have a normal school Assembly. Our Prep Students will be presenting. We encourage our whole school community to come along to our Assembly in the Stadium. 

Please note that tomorrow will be our last School Assembly this term. There will be no Assembly next Friday 8th September so that we can prepare for the School Concert. 

 

Parent / Teacher Interviews

We acknowledge the importance of home-school partnerships and invite you to attend the upcoming Parent / Teacher Conferences for families with students on Thursday 7 September.  

 

The Parent / Teacher Conferences will go for a period of TEN minutes.  

 

Parent / Teacher Conferences are offered as either an on-site, face-to-face conference or as a virtual Google Meet conference.  You will be able to allocate your preference in the Operoo Form.

 

Students and parents attending onsite will go directly to the Basketball Stadium to meet with the teacher. Parents attending the virtual meeting will receive a link emailed by the class teacher.  Links will be emailed the day of the Parent / Teacher Conference.

These scheduled conferences will provide an opportunity for a discussion about student achievement, student progress, behaviour and work habits, areas of future growth and ways students will be supported at school and may be supported at home.  The purpose is to create a stronger partnership between home and school and ensure that families are on the same page as teachers and can work in a collaborative way to support student learning. 

 

Teachers are very much looking forward to seeing parents next Thursday.

 

A reminder that school will conclude for Term Three on Thursday September 14. Friday September 15 will be a school closure day and Theircare are available for bookings.

We are seeking Volunteers to help with the Concert bump-out on Thursday.  Please look out for information regarding how you can help. 

 

 

End of Term Three

Please note, the last day for Term Three is Thursday 14th September. Thursday 14th September is a normal school day and students are to be collected at the normal time of 3.25pm. 

GOSH, our out of hours provider is available for students to attend on Friday 15th September and over the school holidays.

Students will return to school for Term Four on Monday 2nd October. 

 

Other information that is useful to know…

 

Transition to School Uniform in Term Four

In early Term Four we will be transitioning to Summer Uniform. For the first two weeks of Term Four students will have the choice to wear either full winter or full summer uniform depending on the weather. From Monday 16th October all students are required to wear full summer uniform. 

Please note that from the first day of Term Four all students are required to wear the school hat when playing outside. We encourage students to apply sunscreen before they come to school and have it in their bag so that they can re-apply throughout the day. 

 

MACSSIS Survey 

On Monday 28th August, an email (one per family) was sent to allow our parents to participate in the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools - School improvement Survey.

The email was titled -

Galilee MACSSIS Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools Survey.

In 2023, our school is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). MACSSIS is an annual process whereby schools listen to the thoughts and feelings students, families and staff have about how their school can improve. These surveys help inform the ongoing improvement of schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

One of the main goals of the family survey is to identify the strengths and areas for improvement in our school. MACSSIS data benefits everyone within our school and provides valuable community insights on areas that each school can focus on. Our school believes it is important to encourage families to have a voice and contribute to shaping the ongoing improvement of the school.

The survey is available online, can be accessed from Monday 28 August and needs to be completed by Friday 15 September 2023. This survey may only be completed once.

For families with more than one child attending our school, we ask that you focus on the eldest child attending the school when completing the survey. The school has invited many families to respond via this survey and participation is completely voluntary.

There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers – all responses are completely anonymous and at no point are any of the responses from students, families or staff identifiable by the school.

We would really appreciate you taking the time to participate as your voice is important and we use this data to inform our strategic plan.

We are hoping for much greater participation this year from families to contribute towards future planning.

 

Please keep Carlo Martello in your prayers as he recovers from a car accident. We hope he will be back at school shortly. 

 

We hope all the Dads and special males within our community have a wonderful day on Sunday. 

 

We wish you every blessing in the coming weeks.

 

Simon Millar and Amy Burns

Principal and Deputy Principal