Principal's Report

Shared Stories - Out of My Comfort Zone

Last Monday I had the pleasure of attending Star of the Sea for Shared Stories. It is a ceremony releasing the publication of a book containing art work and writing from students. We had approximately 30 students who have their work published in this year's book which will be stored in the national and state libraries. Miss Romios has again coordinated this amazing initiative and I thank her for her efforts over the previous months. Congratulations to the students for their achievements.

 We were fortunate to hear from a guest speaker, Glen Manton, a former Essendon and Carlton footballer. Glen spoke of his disappointment at not being selected to play in the Essendon 1993 Premiership due to an injury. He recalled how he spent his initial days sulking over his disappointment, rather than celebrating the success of his teammates.

In a previous newsletter article, I have written about the importance of how we respond to adversity in life. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. We can choose to allow negativity to consume us or use it as motivation to set new goals. Negativity is a strong force but so is positivity. An important part of being positive is a willingness to 'step out of your comfort zone' and to take on new challenges. Positive people are comfortable with making mistakes as they know it is an important part of learning. Teaching your children to learn from their mistakes (and not always fixing it for them) is a critical part of their development in becoming positive and resilient adults. We all experience difficulties in life and need to talk to others and seek help when necessary. However, in the long term, people are drawn to those who have adopted a positive outlook to life. 

Fortunately for Glen, he had a strong role model who helped him to use his non-selection to work harder and improve himself as a person and also a footballer and to 'step out of his comfort zone'. Glen's new positive mindset and work ethic saw him taken by another club, Carlton, where he played 200 games and achieved his life-long goal of playing in a premiership team. Importantly, Glen spends his time helping others to develop and similar pathway for themsleves.

School Closure Day - Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Friday 1st December, is a school closure day for students. Staff will meet with Catholic Education Melbourne to plan  goals in response to the Review Report.  More information in Leadership and Management page.

Swimming Sports

Congratulations to Mr Tobin, staff and parent helpers on an outstanding Swimming Carnival. The weather was perfect for swimming and the students were cheering loudly for their friends and house teams. After the novelty races there was a fantastic race between teachers, parents and Year 6 students- of course the teachers won!

Galilee Green took out the winning place with a total of 543 points, followed by Ice White 528 points, Navy Blue 495 and Majestic Maroon with 492 points. Again a huge thank you to the parents who came to help and cheer on the children. Without your help this day would be impossible.

Movember

Over the last month our male staff have grown a moustache to raise funds for men's health through the Movember campaign. Today we were photographed, together with Miss Romios, before removing the moustaches. Many students came today with creative moustaches supporting the campaign. Over the last month we have created awareness for the cause and thank the community for helping us to raise $562!

School Education Board

The last SEB meeting was held last Wednesday and I thank them for their work in 2017 and especially to the outgoing members, Brendan Coburn and Alex Trevisin. Above is the attached report that I discussed with them during our meeting this week.

Please open the attachment above which is my report to the SEB and it outlines many successes and future initiatives for 2018.

2017 Parent Survey Results

Later in the newsletter, you can observe an analysis of a survey recently completed by 100 families from Galilee. The results are interesting and are being used as part of planning for 2018. Thankyou to the families who completed the surveys and our Community Partnership Leaders, Miss Evans and Miss Fahy.

Bay St Festival

This Friday the Galilee Choir will be performing in the Bay St Festival in Port Melbourne.

Due to forecast of a thunder storm  tomorrow, they are all moving INSIDE to celebrate end of the year with music and songs!

All participating choirs will now be singing from 5:00 p.m.- 6.30 p.m. their ‘Carols and Christmas songs’ inside Albert Park College.

Albert Park College Year 9 Campus - 40 Bay Street

Please read the attachment below of a map of where the students will now be performing.

Thankyou to Anita for her teaching and coordination, and to the Choir for their many rehearsals. We will be proud of your performance.

School Review

Below is a copy of the Executive Summary of the report collated by our Reviewer, Christine Wakeling. She highlights many positive actions:

• The review finds that the school’s new directions place it in a strong position to deliver improved outcomes across all spheres.
• There has been a redefining of vision which is creating a greater sense of cohesion, underpinned by high expectations, empowerment of leaders and a clear focus on school improvement.
• A new model of shared leadership is enhancing conditions to enable data, research and evidence to ensure maximum progress and growth in each student's learning.
• Staff and parent input into the review emphasised the significance of the new style of leadership, which is transparent, consultative, courageous, compassionate and consistent.
• The review finds that there has been some improvement in Writing and Number as intended. 
• The school is to be commended for the results for Year 3 Writing, where the proportions of students in the top two bands overall, far exceeded the target of 50%, at an average of 73.25%.
• The results for Numeracy show that the school was more successful in improving the proportions of students in the top two bands than reducing the proportion in the bottom three bands.

End of year events

Fri 1 - School Closure Day

Fri 1 - Festival of Choirs and Bands at Bay Street, Port Melbourne. Galilee Voice students participating (See School Community page)

Sun 3 - Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Peter and Paul's 10am

Tue 5 - Class Rep and Parent Helper Afternoon Tea (See School Community page)

Wed 6 - Carols Picnic 5-7pm 

Thur 7 - Dads Night- Christmas Party (venue tbc)

Mon 11 - Year 6 Graduation Mass at OLMC - 6:00-7:00pm (Year 5 to be in attendance)

Thur 14 - Whole school 2018 Transition Day

Thur 14 - Year 6 Graduation Dinner

Fri 15 - End of Year Mass 9.30am at Ss. Peter & Paul

Tue 19 - End of Term 4, 1.30pm

Simon Millar