Dear Families,

We have had a wonderful start to the 2025 school year. It is fabulous to once again have our school filled with the enthusiastic buzz of happy students, families and staff. This week it has been an absolute pleasure to walk around the school and see our students so settled in their classrooms. It has also been wonderful to witness the buzz on the front gate, in the playground and in the staffroom.

We would especially like to welcome our Prep students who started school on Monday. It was fantastic to see all our prep students proudly walking through the front gate dressed in the Galilee uniform. The Prep students have been busy getting to know each other and the routine of school. Each one of them seems to have settled into life at Galilee so well.

We would also like to extend a warm welcome to the new families who have joined our community this year. We have a number of new families that have students in various year levels throughout the school. We are thrilled that they have joined our community and we look forward to getting to know them.

Welcome BBQ and Open Classrooms

This evening we are throwing our doors open and welcoming our community to our Welcome BBQ and Open Classrooms event. Families will have the opportunity to tour the school, meet the teachers and learn a little about what to expect for the year ahead. We encourage families to visit their child’s classroom first and then join us on the playground for a BBQ, live music and a jumping castle. We hope that it will be a wonderful opportunity for families to get to know staff and each other. We would like to thank the incredible parents who volunteered to help at the Welcome BBQ - the event would not be possible without the support and help of our wonderful parent community.

*Please note sausages, zooper doopers and soft drinks will be on sale for a flat rate of $2

Opening School Liturgy

Tomorrow, Friday 7th February, we will gather as a school community in the stadium for our Opening School Liturgy. We will come together as a community to receive a blessing for the year ahead. 2025 is a particularly special year in our Church because Pope Francis has announced that it is a Jubilee Year, something which happens every 25 years. The theme for Jubilee 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope”. This will be a theme that will guide our path this year as we embrace hope, deepen our faith and draw closer to God. At our Liturgy, Year 6 students will receive their Year 6 Jumper. We will present them with leadership badges at an upcoming Assembly.

School Photos are on Tuesday 11th February

School Photos are next Tuesday 11th February. All students will have their photo taken individually and with their class.

We ask that all students wear their summer uniform on Tuesday 11th February.

For students who have PE classes, we ask that you pack runners to change into for PE lessons. Information about how to order photos and arrange sibling photos can be found on the email sent out today or Class Dojo.

2026 Enrolments are open and filling fast

Our 2026 enrolments are open and filling fast. If you have a child who is due to start Prep in 2026 we encourage you to complete an enrolment form (found on our website) as soon as possible. We have limited space in Prep and we have already received over 50 applications. It is wonderful that there is lots of interest in our school with many families in our local area choosing to send their children to Galilee.

Open Day and School Tours at Galilee

On Friday 28th February we are holding our annual Open Day at Galilee. At Open Day we welcome prospective families to tour our school, meet our students and talk to staff. It is a wonderful opportunity for families to see what happens on a daily basis here at Galilee. If you know of a family who is interested in joining our community, encourage them to sign up to our Open Day Tour on the website.

Galilee Parents Association (GPA) - Thank you Jodie, Nat and Rachel

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jodie Hoefer, Nat Calafiore and Rachel Di Leva for their outstanding contribution to the Galilee Parents Association (GPA). These amazing women have led our GPA for the past two years hosting exceptional events that bring our community together and raise funds to enhance what we can offer our students here at Galilee.

In their tenure they have organised and facilitated over 20 events and raised over $60 000. The money raised by the GPA over the past two years has allowed us to purchase over 30 student devices including chromebooks and ipads, upgraded our library with a fresh coat of paint, new furnishings and books and enhanced our Wellbeing Hub with a range of new equipment, furnishings and resources. Thank you Jodie, Nat and Rachel!

Jodie, Nat and Rachel have stepped down from their roles after serving for two years. We will be forever grateful for their contribution to the school community.

In 2025 we have opportunities for new community members to get on board and be part of Galilee community events.

2025 GPA - Are you able to support one of our events for this year?

We are seeking parents who would like to join the GPA for 2025.

This year we are looking to structure the GPA in a different way. We are seeking teams of parents who will run one event each.

Events include:

Movie Night with a blow up screen
Colour Run on the last day of Term 1
Student Disco Night
Mothers Day breakfast and luncheon
Father’s Day breakfast and evening event
Parent Social Night
School Fete
End of year community Christmas event

Each event will need a parent willing to lead the event and coordinate with the school, every event will also need a team of parents because many hands make light work. Each team will be supported by Seb Greene who is our Parent Liaison Leader.

If you are keen to see these events be great successes and you might be able to contribute to one or more, please email Seb Greene: sgreene@gsm.vic.edu.au. Seb will work closely with each team to help them be successful in preparing for a Galilee community event.

Meet the Staff

We have a large staff of passionate, enthusiastic and dedicated people who all love being apart of the Galilee community. They have each written a short introduction to help you get to know them. Please click on the link below to find out more about the Galilee team.

Staff professional development days at the start of the year

Before the students returned to school, staff at Galilee were busy learning, planning and preparing for the year ahead. On Tuesday 28th January, staff attended a full day First Aid course. We are proud to have all staff trained as first aiders. We believe it is an essential skill to have when working with children. On Wednesday 29th January staff attended a professional development on the strategic direction of our school for the 2025 year.

Learning and Teaching strategic improvement plan for 2025

Late last year staff analysed a range of data sources to seek to understand our strengths as a school and areas that could improve. At Galilee we have excellect accademic results. We are in a fortunate position to be wokring towards improving upon what are already very high results. We used the data analysis to develop our learning and teaching strategic improvement plan for 2025. We have set five goals that will drive staff professional learning learning and development this year:

English - We are focusing on improving the way we teach grammar and punctuation to improve student’s writing and reading.
Mathematics- We are focusing on formative assessment practices to ensure teaching is targeted and review practices to ensure prior learning is more readily available.
Religious Education - We are focusing on connecting learning about faith to real-life situations.
STEM - We are focusing on explicit teaching design and technology skills and concepts ensuring students have a solid foundation in engineering.
Student Wellbeing - We are focusing on implementing Positive Behaviour Strategies to help students to feel safe, understood and supported in their learning.

STEM Aviation Professional Development for Teachers in our Stadium today

Today we had teachers from 15 different schools across Melbourne attend a STEM Aviation Professional Development in our Stadium. From Galilee, we had Rachel Leahy, Mikalia Greenan, Harvey Bidmade and Brian Kelly attend. It was wonderful to showcase our school’s facilities. The STEM Aviation Program is a program that our Year 5 students participate in through their STEM units of work. Students learn about flight, forces and have an opportunity to build and test their own aircraft.

We would like to thank our school leaders who welcomed teachers from other schools this morning, directing them to the Stadium. We would also like to thank the Basketball teams who moved their morning training to accommodate this event.

Looking ahead to the next two weeks

As always, Galilee is a busy place with lots of events and activities happening. In the next two weeks we have a number of events and activities planned. As always we encourage you to consult the school calendar for the most up to date information about school events.

Term 1, Week 3

Monday 10th February

Running Club at 8am on the playground - All students are invited to participate. Parent support is welcomed.
Sibling Photos need to be ordered by 11am today to ensure the sibling photo is taken

Tuesday 11th February

School Photos - All students need to wear their summer uniform. It is very important that students arrive on time on Tuesday to ensure they don’t miss out on their class photo.

Wednesday 12th February

Year 4 Camp to Angahook - Year 4 students need to arrive at 8.30am
Preps are not at school today

Thursday 13th February

Year 4 Camp to Angahook
Year 5 Camp Information Session online at 2.30pm

Friday 14th February

Year 4 Camp to Angahook
Running Club at 8am on the playground - All students are invited to participate. Parent support is welcome
School Assembly at 2.50am in the Stadium - All welcome

Term 1, Week 4

Monday 17th February

Running Club at 8am on the playground
Dendy Swimming Competition for select students in Year 3-6

Wednesday 19th February

Preps not at school today

Friday 21st February

Running Club at 8am on the playground - All students are invited to participate. Parent support is welcomed
School Assembly at 2.50am in the Stadium - All welcome

We would like to thank you all for a wonderful start to the 2025 school year.

We wish you every blessing in the coming weeks

Amy Burns Richard Harding Holly Evans

Acting Principal Deputy Principal Acting Deputy Principal

GOSH