School News
Dendy Athletics Day
A terrific day out at Duncan McKinnon Athletics Track last Friday where we saw 50 students represent Galilee at the Dendy Athletics Day. Sprints, Jumps, Throws and Relays, we completed them all and everyone that participated represented Galilee in a tremendous manner.
We had some incredible results from individuals and teams which will see them go onto represent Galilee at the Beachside Athletics on October 15th.
Congratulations to the following athletes!
9/10 Girls
Ella B - High Jump
Lucy O - Long Jump
Zara S - Shot Put
9/10 Boys
Angus M - High Jump
Hudson M - Long Jump
Valentino R - Triple Jump
4 x 100 Relay Team - Lachlan W, Hudson M, Richard B and Maxwell G
11 Boys
Ben B - 80m Hurdles
Declan L - 80m Hurdles
Callan S- Triple Jump
Liam S - Shot Put and Discus
12/13 Boys
Caleb G - High Jump
Congratulations to the individuals who set new Dendy records
Ben B - 80m Hurdles 14.73 second
Callan S - Triple Jump 7.99m
Hudson M - Long Jump 3.65m
Liam S - Discus (750g) 23.53m and Shot Put (2kg) 8.65m
This is possibly the largest team Galilee has ever taken through to Beachside!
Mentor Texts
At Galilee, helping our students develop strong reading and writing skills is a priority, and one effective way to do this is through the use of mentor texts. A mentor text is a piece of writing that serves as a model for students to learn from and be inspired by. It can range from picture books to articles, depending on the students' age and skill level.
By incorporating mentor texts into reading and writing instruction, we can provide students with concrete examples of language use, structure, and creativity, offering invaluable support as they develop their literacy skills.
Mentor texts are high-quality examples of literature that showcase particular writing traits or techniques. This year we have been carefully selecting and collecting texts that have strong and relevant themes and that highlight specific elements of reading and writing, such as sentence structure, narrative style, descriptive language or dialogue. The key is to choose texts that are age-appropriate, engaging, and rich in the language features.
There are many benefits to using mentor texts:
Mentor texts model writing techniques: When students are exposed to mentor texts, they see how successful writers craft their work. This allows them to explore new vocabulary, sentence structures, and writing styles in a meaningful context. Teachers can use mentor texts to point out and discuss various techniques, which students can then apply in their own writing.
Mentor texts build confidence: For many young writers, starting a piece of writing can be overwhelming. Mentor texts serve as a guide, providing a clear path for students to follow. By seeing how an author organises ideas or uses language, students gain confidence in their ability to try similar strategies.
Mentor texts encourage creativity: Using mentor texts doesn't mean students are copying someone else's work. Instead, it allows them to borrow elements they find appealing and make them their own. This inspires creativity and encourages students to experiment with their writing.
Mentor texts improve reading comprehension: As students explore and analyse these texts to understand how they are structured and why certain language choices are made, they are also developing critical reading skills. They learn to identify themes, understand characters, and recognise the author’s intent—all while improving their ability to interpret and make meaning from what they read.
Mentor texts scaffold learning: One of the major benefits of mentor texts is that they provide scaffolding for all learners. For students facing challenges with reading or writing, they offer a template to guide them in the right direction. For other students, they present an opportunity to explore more complex literary devices or writing styles, deepening their understanding.
Some of my favourite mentor texts that we have in our school collection:
-Move that mountain: With strong Personal, Social and Emotional themes of teamwork, growth mindset, compassion, hardwork and persistence this text demonstrates examples of reverse poetry and rhythm as well exploring point of view. It can also be used to develop student’s questioning skills and help them make text to self connections.
-The Little Refugee: This text explores themes of displacement, belonging and culture. It is a wonderful example of an autobiography that provides examples of voice, sentence fluency. It can also be used to develop the skills of predicting, summarising and making text to world connections.
-The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants: This text offers an up close look at ants and explores themes of environment and life cycles. It is an example of an informative text and highlights text features such as lists, diagrams and text specific vocabulary. It provides opportunities to determine the main idea, summarise and recall facts and information.
NCCD
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).
The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place every year in August.
The NCCD is a collection that counts:
- the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability
- the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.
Students are counted in the NCCD if they receive ongoing adjustments at school due to disability. This ‘help’ allows them to access education on the same basis as a child without disability. The NCCD uses the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information.
This information assists schools to:
· formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
· consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
· develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability
Please see the attached PDF for more information about the NCCD.
TINA - The Tina Turner Musical
Six months ago, TINA - The Tina Turner Musical sought child actors with strong singing and acting skills. Galilee student Liliana, from 3P, worked with her Dance World coaches to prepare a pop song and learn basic General American accent. She submitted a video audition and advanced to an in-person round before a creative panel. After two weeks of intensive training with her coaches on songs from the show, more accent work and tackling an acting audition side, Liliana’s hard work paid off—she made the cut! We’re pleased to announce that she will make her professional debut as Young Anna Mae in TINA this September.
Please see attachments for useful school information and QR Codes