Around the School
Year 1 Newsletter
This Term in Year 1
This term, Year 1 students have been involved in a wide range of hands-on and exciting learning experiences across all subjects.
Mathematics
In Maths, we’ve been focusing on the concepts of mass and time. Students have been developing their ability to read analogue clocks, using key terms like “o’clock” and “half past.” They’ve also explored measurement by weighing various objects from around the classroom and using scales to compare which items are heavier or lighter.
STEM
In STEM, our focus has been on gravity and insulation. Students enjoyed designing and testing parachutes to explore how they can reduce the speed of falling objects and resist the force of gravity. We also carried out experiments to investigate insulation—testing materials such as cloth, bubble wrap, and alfoil to see which were most effective at keeping ice blocks cold.
Writing
In Writing, students planned, drafted, and published their very own space adventure stories. These creative narratives focused on setting the scene with descriptive language, building an engaging and suspenseful problem, and finishing with a well-thought-out solution that wrapped up their stories nicely. The students took great pride in showcasing their creativity and imagination.
Excursion to Scienceworks
Next week, we’re looking forward to an exciting excursion to Scienceworks, where we’ll continue exploring the topic of space at the Planetarium. The day will include two exciting shows:
- Blast Off: A journey to Mars exploring the science of push, pull, and gravity forces, with live demonstrations of how rockets work, what life in space might be like, and how astronauts might land on Mars.
- Tycho Goes to Mars: This show follows Tycho’s unexpected trip to Mars. With catchy songs, stunning full-dome visuals, and comfortable reclining seats, students will enjoy an engaging look at Mars’ surface features like Olympus Mons and ice caves, as well as meeting NASA’s Opportunity Rover, “Oppy.”
The excursion will also include a 10-minute guided tour of the night sky, sure to inspire awe and curiosity in all our budding young scientists.
Year 4-6 MAV Games Day
Galilee Mathletes Maths Club
MAV Games Day Years 4-6 (2025)
St Lawrence Primary School, Derrimut - Grade 4
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School - Grade 5
St Patricks Primary School, Kilmore - Grade 6
Our Galilee Mathletes Maths Club has been a great success this term. More students have been attending our Wednesday lunchtime sessions enjoying the fun problem solving and maths games to challenge our thinking.
The focus is working on maths in a collaborative, team manner which values the fun in problem solving. Our year 3, year 4 and year 5/6s teams focus on how they prove a myriad of math solutions articulating the steps involved in the process.
From the Maths club, teams were selected to represent Galilee in our Maths Association of Victorias’ Games Day competitions. These competition days are a great opportunity for our students to go off site to represent our school demonstrating their academic rigour to;
- develop their mathematical talents and thinking skills in a setting where maths is regarded as fun and worthwhile
- work with like-minded students from a diverse range of schools
- participate in mathematical activities without the usual class room pressures
- win prizes and rewards
- get excited about maths!
The following students took a risk in their learning to represent Galilee in the following Games days;
| Galilee Mathletes Representative Teams | ||
Grade 4 St Lawrence, Derrimut | Grade 5 PEGS (Essendon) | Grade 6 St Partick’s, Kilmore |
Anthony P Rohan T Zachary E Alexander K | Avishka K Richard “RJ” B Luca D Anthony P | Harriet “Hattie” R Francis O Alessandra L |
A particular highlight was the Year 5 team which had a core group of Year 4/5 students who wanted to come and represent Galilee despite the day falling on a closure day. These students thoroughly enjoyed the game and competition experience on their day off school. A special thanks to the parents for their support transporting their students to these events.
Our Grade 4 team achieved 8th place (out of 20 teams), our Grade 5 team came 14th (out of 27 teams) and our 6 team achieved 5th place (out of 20) in their competitions. I commend our Galilee students for their performance in our inaugural year of competitions with the Maths Association of Victoria. They demonstrated their grit and perseverance pushing themselves outside their comfort zone both at Maths club and at our MAV competitions. We hope to continue this success and embed this into our school culture with a passion for Mathematics.
Adrian Webster
Maths Leader
Year 3 Classroom Teacher
FATHER’S DAY WRAP-UP & RAFFLE WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
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A huge thank you to our amazing school community for making this year’s Father’s Day celebrations truly special!
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The morning BBQ was a fantastic success—so great to see so many dads and kids mingling around the school yard, enjoying a classic sausage in bread or a hearty egg & bacon roll. The smiles, laughter, and connection were everything we hoped for.
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Later that evening, the DOGS Paddle Father’s Day Social Event brought even more joy. It was a wonderful night of camaraderie and celebration, and we’re grateful to everyone who joined us to honour the incredible dads and father figures in our community.
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Thank you to the school staff, volunteers, and families who pulled together to make this Father’s Day a memorable occasion. Your support and spirit are what make our community so special.
RAFFLE WINNERS We’re excited to announce the lucky winners of our Father’s Day raffle:
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$50 Bunnings Warehouse Gift Vouchers
- Daniel S
- George C
- Simon F
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6 Bottles of Mixed Wines
- Ty W
- David H
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A special shout-out to James Nicolaou Real Estate for their generous contribution of the Bunnings gift vouchers and the Eagle family for the wine. Your support helped make this event even more meaningful!
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