From the Principal

We have had such a wonderful time these past two weeks with many events and celebrations occurring at Galilee.

Harmony Day at Galilee

Today we celebrated Harmony Day. Harmony Day is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. At Galilee we have students from over 50 different nationalities. Today was about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. It was wonderful to see students wear traditional clothes from their cultural backgrounds or the colour orange, the colour of Harmony Day. 

Cyber Safety Parent Information Session - Raising Kids in the Digital World

At 7.30pm this evening (Thursday 21st March) we encourage all parents to join us for the ‘Raising Kids in the Digital World’ Webinar. This webinar is run by Inform and Empower, a program we have adopted at Galilee to assist us in teaching students about cyber safety. 

The parent webinar will cover important topics that parents need to be aware of when raising children in a digital world. We thank Marcus Page and Mikalia Greenan, our Digital Technology Leaders for organising this online webinar for our community. 

To attend you will need to register prior to the event starting at 7.30pm. To register, please scan the QR code below or click on this link:  https://event.webinarjam.com/register/175/yv9zmuvv. 

We look forward to seeing many of you online at the webinar this evening.

St. Patrick’s Day at Galilee

Last week we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at Galilee. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Melbourne. St. Patrick is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential missionaries in the Church’s history. St Patrick’s legacy was palpable in the early days of the Catholic Church in Melbourne. Our Cathedral was built and named after this great missionary saint—a testament to the rich Irish culture present at the time. As an Archdiocese, we continue to celebrate St Patrick for all he has brought to our city, but it is his missionary example in particular that we are called to imitate—by going out into the streets of Melbourne. 

Sacrament of Reconciliation 

Last week we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation with our Year 3 students who received it for the first time. Our Year 3 students have been busy preparing to receive the Sacrament this term. They have been learning about God’s love and forgiveness and being in right relationship with God and with others. I would like to congratulate the students on receiving the Sacrament for the first time and I would also like to thank our families for partnering with us in preparing the students. I would like to make a special mention of Alex Pensini our Religious Education leader, Helen Borger and Marcus Page our Year 3 teachers, Sue Kidd the Parish Educator and our Parish Priests, Fr. Paul and Fr. Vincy for their role in preparing the students as well as organising and performing the Sacrament. 

NAPLAN

Over the past week our Year 3 and 5 students have been completing NAPLAN assessments. NAPLAN is a national assessment program that our Year 3 and Year 5 students participate in every year. They complete five assessments; Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy. The assessments provide parents and schools with a snapshot of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.    

Year 1-6 Parent Teacher Interviews

We would like to thank everyone who attended Parent Teacher Interviews this week. The purpose of these meetings was to create a stronger partnership between home and school and ensure that families and teachers can work in a collaborative way to support student learning, development and wellbeing. 

We value the relationship between home and school and know that if this partnership is strong it will have a positive impact on student learning. 

If you ever have a question about your child’s learning, development or wellbeing we encourage you to contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Wellbeing Hub at Galilee

This year we have opened a new space at Galilee, our Wellbeing Hub. This is an initiative that has seen success in other schools and we believe it will make a positive impact on student wellbeing and learning outcomes here at Galilee. It is well known that Student Wellbeing and Student Learning Outcomes are linked. Wellbeing is the capabilities necessary to thrive, contribute and respond positively to the challenges and opportunities of life and learning. It describes a person's optimal experience of physical health and psychological functioning, and involves factors like positive emotions, life satisfaction and mental flexibility. The Wellbeing Hub is a space that all students can access. In the space students can learn about regulating their emotions, dealing with friendship issues, working through challenges they are facing and getting their body and mind ready to learn.

Every time a student enters The Wellbeing Hub, they are asked to sign in and answer a few questions about why they are there and what they are hoping to achieve in their visit. This information is to target teach individual students, work with groups of students or classroom teachers about a larger issue that has been identified through patterns in data. The data will also inform the resources and furniture that we need to make the space more useful for our students.  

At this stage, the school is funding The Wellbeing Hub through our Wellbeing Budget. We are looking forward to enhancing the Wellbeing Hub with the support of the Galilee Parents Association. Some of the funds raised from this year's events will be allocated to the Wellbeing Hub to make it an even better space for all our students. With funds raised we are looking to fit out the space with furniture such as pedal desks, flexible seating, sensory chairs, sensory and textured tiles, weighted blankets and wobble boards. We will use the data that we are collecting to inform our purchasing decisions. 

The Stadium

As you would be aware, water ingress was discovered in our Stadium in January. We have been working with engineers, builders, plumbers and insurance companies to investigate the source of the water. This has proved to be a more difficult task than we first anticipated. We are working as hard as we can to ensure that the problem is accurately identified and fixed before we reinstate the flooring and open the Stadium back up to our students and community.

With the Stadium still out of action we are looking to continue running P.E. lessons outside and school assemblies in Magure Hall. We will continue to open up the Library and Maguire Hall for students during recess and lunchtime play. We will also continue to hold before and after school basketball training sessions outside for Term 2. 

We know that this news will bring frustration within our community. This facility is at the heart of many of our community events and activities and a wonderful facility to enhance our student learning opportunities. It is a high priority for us and we will continue to work as hard as we can to ensure that the source of the problem is identified and the stadium is returned to its original state. 

Year 5 Camp

Next week our Year 5 students are heading to Merricks for their camp. They will participate in a range of water based activities and beach activities. Our camping program at Galilee allows students to get involved in a fantastic range of fun and engaging activities that also help them develop confidence and challenge themselves within a safe and supportive environment. Students will engage in team based activities where they will work on their communication and listening skills and have the opportunity to work and develop friendships with a wider variety of their classmates. 

We would like to thank the staff who are attending the Year 5 camp. They are taking time away from their own family and friends and commitments to make this experience possible for our Year 5 students. Thank you to Adrian Webster, Sinead McGlinchy, Dan Booth, Paul Mapley, Leagh O’Byrne and Caoimhe Kennedy. Please note, students in Prep O, Prep K and 2B will be taught by a different teacher next week, while these staff attend camp. Leagh, Caoimhe and Dan will leave detailed hand-over notes and a detailed plan for the replacement teacher to ensure that there is minimal disruption while they are away. 

Run for the Kids - Team Tae Yoon

Last Sunday a large number of Galilee students and staff ran, walked or collected donations for Royal Children’s hospital as part of Team Tae Yoon. It was incredible to see the amount of support and love that the Galilee community showed towards this initiative. Our hearts are bursting with gratitude for our incredible school community who continue to look out for each other and care for each other, as was demonstrated on Sunday. Please see below, a special message from Seol and Lea.

To Team Tae yoon from Seol and Lea. 

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us on Sunday, the Run for the Kids 2024. Thank you so much for those who made donations, collected donations and supported us through many different ways.

It was a very emotional day for my family but it was also beautiful, hopeful and bright just like Tae always was. A day filled with so much love, hope and positive vibes. We are so grateful and thankful that we could experience such a beautiful spirit of the Galilee community again. 

We shared our photos and stories with Tae's people at the RCH. They will get strength from your love and heart as well as generous donations.

I can picture how happy, excited and proud Tae would be.

Thank you again for coming together and making it happen.

With Love,

Seol and Lea

Cross Country

Tomorrow, Friday 22nd March, we have our Annual Galilee Cross Country. It will take place at RJ Murphy Reserve in Port Melbourne. Students will be bussed to and from the reserve to participate in the event. Students are encouraged to wear their house colour on the day. We hope that this day will be a fun experience for all students. Students will be encouraged to challenge themselves to complete their personal best at the event, with every student who crosses the finish line will score a point for their house team. Thank you to Mr. Greene for organising this event for our students. 

Staff News

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Carmen Carnovale who is expecting her second child later this year. We are thrilled for Carmen, Kingsley (Carmen’s husband) and Matilda (their daughter) who are looking forward to welcoming a new family member in a few months time.

We would also like to congratulate Brighid Deamer who is expecting twins. We couldn’t be happier for Brighid, Kyle (her husband) and Rosie and Patrick (their children) who are looking forward to welcoming two babies into their family later this year.

Holy Week Assembly on Monday

This coming Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred time of the year on the Catholic calendar. Students will be engaging in learning about Holy Week next week in class and as a school we will gather to hear about the events of Holy Week at a special Holy Week Assembly on Monday at 2.45pm in Maguire Hall. Our Social Justice Leaders will lead the assembly. Parents are welcome to attend.

End of Term 1

Next week is our final week of Term 1. Students will finish at 1.15pm on Thursday 28th March.

This term we have enjoyed a very busy and very successful start to the 2024 school year. We would like to thank you for everything that you have done to contribute to making this term a success. Thank you for supporting your children at home. Thank you for reading the many communications that we send out and being across the many events and activities that have taken place this term. We hope that you have the opportunity to rest, relax and enjoy the Easter holidays together. 

I wish you every blessing for the coming weeks,

Amy Burns

Acting Principal