Around the School
Seeds and Sprouts
Our Seeds and Sprouts program is now in full swing at Galilee.
Seeds is designed for children who will begin school in 2027, while Sprouts supports children starting school next year.
Through these sessions, students develop important fine motor, gross motor, prenumeracy, and pre-literacy skills. They also practise classroom routines and become familiar with our school environment, helping them grow in confidence and independence each week.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated group of Year 5 helpers who assist during these sessions. To take on this role, students were required to submit a letter of application, making it a valuable leadership opportunity.
It has been wonderful to see them building connections with their future buddies.
MACSSIS
Dear families,
From the 1st September to the 19th September you will be able to complete the annual MACSSIS. MACSSIS is the acronym for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys. This survey is completed by families, students in Years 4-6, and teachers, across all MACS schools.
A letter will be sent home next week with information about how to complete the survey and a link. Last year, we had a huge increase in the number of parents/carers completing the survey, but it was still a moderate percentage of families - around 30%. This year, we would like to beat that number. For this, we need your help.
Below is a table to help
Our 2024 MACSSIS data showed many positives at Galilee. The majority of domains for Families, Staff and Students were an improvement on previous years, with many sitting above MACS averages. Notably increases and way above averages were in the staff domain, mainly collective efficacy, feedback and collaboration around an improvement strategy.
Below is a table that shows some of the work we have done to address areas of growth that we have seen in our MACSSIS, as well as other data that we collect around the school.
| Domain | Examples of work undertaken since 2024 |
| 1. Family Engagement | Leadership worked with teachers on reporting expectations - both formal semester reports, and informal Dojo Portfolio / Story posts. Direct discussions between Wellbeing Leader and parents about Wellbeing concerns. Parent Information sessions on Cyber Safety and on Wellbeing, in 2024 and 2025.
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| 2. Barriers to Engagement | Parent Focus Group to formalise the school’s listening processes, to help reduce barriers to engagement and connection. Connections made with community groups/individuals such as the Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity. |
| 3. School Fit | Principal and Deputy Principal visits to secondary schools that our students go to, to better understand them, in order to improve preparation and transition of Galilee students. |
| 4. School Climate | Staff Professional Development to align all staff to the same expectations on students, and the approach we take to make those understood by students. Improving the classroom and school environment to be more orderly, e.g. how students are expected to line up at the end of recess/lunch. |
| 5. School Safety | Staff Professional Development Day delivered by Team Teach, supporting the positive behaviour approaches and culture across the school. Development of Wellbeing team, delivering actions and support across the whole school, via the Wellbeing Hub and Mini-Hubs in each class. |
| 6. Communication | Collaborate with the School Advisory Committee on how to improve communication channels - how we use them, what goes where, frequency etc. Weekly summary information provided via Dojo by Amy Burns.
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Chess Club!
In Term 3, Chess Club will be continuing to run on a Tuesday afternoon from 3.25-4.30.
For more information about Chess Club, please see the enrolment form and contact Felix at felixchandler@mindfulchess.com.au.
Please see below form for Chess Club