From the Principal

Dear Families,

Tomorrow is World Teachers’ Day. I am sure you will agree that we have outstanding teachers and staff at Galilee who consistently go above and beyond for the students in their care. On World Teachers’ Day incredible teachers are celebrated for educating, inspiring and supporting students. We celebrated World Teachers Day at Galilee with all staff over a special lunch a few weeks ago. I encourage you to thank a teacher tomorrow who has made a difference in your child’s life.

Semester Two Student Reports
Over the next few weeks teachers will start assessing students and moderating work samples in preparation for Semester Two Student Reports. Semester Two Student Reports will be available on Wednesday 13th December. Galilee’s Student Reports are in line with the reporting standards of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Student Reports assess students' achievement against the Victorian Curriculum and the Religious Education Framework. Your child’s report will be made accessible electronically, via a Parent Portal, for you to read and discuss with your child. More information regarding Student Reports will be shared with you closer to the date.

NAPLAN
ACARA has just released the 2023 State and National NAPLAN results, which now allow us to compare our school results with all students in Victoria and Australia. There were many changes to NAPLAN this year; all students in Australia completed the tests online for the first time (except for Year 3 Writing) and adaptive online testing was implemented to ensure each student was tested at the appropriate level.

There is so much to celebrate in our results - Year 3 Reading, Year 3 Spelling, Year 3 Grammar and Punctuation, Year 5 Writing and Year 5 Numeracy in particular deserve a mention. We have published our 2023 results below. You will see three data sets sitting next to each other. National results are represented in blue, Victorian results in green and Galilee’s in orange. As you can see, Galilee students are performing above the state in many areas. As the Leadership team begins work on planning for 2024, we will be analysing a range of data sets, including NAPLAN, to guide our planning.

MACSSIS Surveys

Last term, our community participated in MACSSIS surveys by parents, staff and students from Years 4-6.

The results are particularly high for staff, some students and targeted areas for parents. We will release the results in the coming weeks. All data will be analysed by the staff and will be used for 2024 planning.

Staffing Update

As you will be aware, Term 4 is a very busy term for staff at Galilee. There is lots of work around assessing, reporting and transition in Term 4 that is above the normal day-to-day events and activities that occur at school. With the increased workload associated with Term 4, we have put a number of things in place to ensure that we will have a smooth and successful end to the 2023 school year. As you will be aware Simon Millar is slowly increasing the time he spends onsite, while he recovers from a major bike accident earlier this year. Simon expects to be working full time at Galilee by the end of this term or at the start of next year.

To support Simon’s recovery during this very busy time of year, a number of staffing changes have been put in place. For the remainder of Term 4, Amy Burns has been appointed Acting Principal. Carlo Martello will continue as Deputy Principal and Richard Harding has been appointed Acting Deputy Principal in a part time capacity. Richard will continue teaching 6R and Becky Kavanagh will release him for this leadership role.

Galilee will be maintaining a consistent staffing for 2024. Staff will be participating shortly in Annual Review Meetings and be discussing options for 2024 teaching placements. Towards the end of the school year we will communicate all teaching positions for 2024.

2024 Classroom Requests

We are currently in the process of organising classes for 2024. Students have been asked to nominate five friends. We guarantee that each child will have at least one friend they have nominated in their 2024 class group. When we organise students into class grouping for 2024 we consider many elements, such as teacher recommendations, the needs of each child and a balance of genders and ages.

A lot of time, effort and discussion between teachers and leaders go into classroom placements.

If there is anything urgent that we need to be aware of, please let us know in writing by emailing admin@gsm.vic.edu.au by November the 10th. Please include the reason in your request. We don’t take requests for teachers. Requests after November 10 cannot be considered as classrooms will be in the process of being organised. One change (after this date) can impact other students who are linked together. Please title this email 2024 Classroom Placement.

Please be aware that we consider all needs when grouping the students. We will take into consideration urgent information provided by parents but cannot make any guarantees that we will be able to accommodate requests.

Alumni News

We would like to congratulate Agnes McCallum and Lola Callan, both past students at Galilee, for their new appointments. Lola Callan has been named School Captain at Star of the Sea College, for 2024. Agnes McCallum has been named School Captain for Albert Park College, for 2024. This is an outstanding achievement and we are very proud of both of these students.

Galilee Arts Festival

We would like you to save the date for our Galilee Arts Festival: Thursday 7th December 5-7pm. Linda, our Art Teacher and Sandy our Performing Arts Teacher are very busy planning and preparing for the Galilee Arts Festival. They are planning to showcase student artwork at an Art Show in our Stadium. They are also planning to showcase students Performing Arts skills at an end of year concert and Christmas carols. There will be food available on the night. More information about this event will be shared with families soon.

I would like to wish you and your family every blessing in the comming weeks.

Amy Burns

Acting Principal