Dear Families,

Today marks the end of a very successful Semester One. I would like to congratulate everyone within the community for an outstanding six months at school. Students have engaged in wonderful learning opportunities and a range of activities inside and outside the classroom that have allowed them all to grow and develop.

On Wednesday you received the Semester One student report. The report assesses students against the Victorian Curriculum and Religious Education Curriculum. I encourage you to read over the report as it provides you with an overview of your child’s achievements. It is intended to promote discussion about how we can work together to benefit your child. You are encouraged to speak positively about your child’s progress and areas they can develop further. If you have any questions regarding the report you are encouraged to speak to your child’s teacher.

When we reflect on the first semester there are three key areas that we are most proud of:

Enhanced Student Wellbeing Resources

In Semester One, we expanded our Wellbeing team and recruited two leaders into the role, Julie Ferguson and Paddy Edwards. They have made great progress in developing a clear understanding of whole school wellbeing at Galilee, in line with our school strategic plan: The Annual Action Plan.

We have opened a Wellbeing Hub, which enables students to be empowered to regulate their own wellbeing by allowing them to attend by their own choosing, check-in, find a resource or tool to help them return to a state where they are ready to learn again.

Paddy and Julie also introduced a QR system for dealing with issues and incidents on the yard. This is helping teachers to be more informed about what is happening with students in their classes; it is helping leadership support students and teachers more effectively; and it is increasing the level of consistency in the way incidents are handled on the yard by teachers and Learning Support Officers.

A school wide positive behaviour reward system has been introduced, with different school rule foci each week. Students who get noticed displaying the chosen rule of the week get raffle tickets, which get pulled out of a barrel. Winning students get to spin the Wheel of Wellbeing and get a prize. 3B won a crazy hair and socks day AND a picnic at school!

Teaching and Learning of Mathematics and Writing

In Semester One, staff participated in professional development in Mathematics and Writing.

In Writing, staff continued to work with Big Write and VCOP to enhance student writing. Teachers have received training in using the evidence-based assessment tool that develops consistency and accuracy of writing assessments right across the school. Teachers have also started to use the Student Criterion Scale to empower students to analyse their writing, form writing goals and understand the steps they need to take in order to move forward and progress. This process gives them agency over their learning.

In Mathematics we have partnered with James Russo and Jane Hubbard from Monash University to focus on improving our pedagogical approaches to teaching Mathematics. Jame and Jame introduced Sweaty Brain Time to staff. Using this approach, Mathematics is taught using challenging tasks that are open-ended maths problems which typically have more than one solution. These thought-provoking problems encourage students to problem-solve and aim to include all students in each lesson. Students are often challenged to work in new ways, with an emphasis on mathematical thinking and reasoning.  Throughout the lesson students are explicitly taught at their point of need. We will continue this work in Semester Two when we invite Jane and James back to Galilee to work with teachers in planning and in the classroom.

Community Engagement

Community Engagement has once again been a major focus at Galilee in Semester One. We continue to engage with our unbelievable community in a range of ways. Our Galilee Parents Association has once again put on incredible events that help to raise funds to enhance what we can offer at school. In Term 1 they put on our Welcome BBQ and our Colour Run which was a big success. In Term 2 they ran a very successful Mother’s Day morning tea and luncheon, Grandparents Day morning tea and the School Disco that saw most of our students dance the night away in Maguire Hall. Their work would not be possible without a team of volunteers who assist to set-up, run and clean-up at each event. The parent support we have at Galilee is outstanding and truly enhances the experience of our students.

Our School Advisory Council (SAC) has continued to support and enhance the strategic approach that we are taking at Galilee. They have been working on a Communication Plan to improve and enhance our channels of communication here at school. They have also worked on updating our Uniform Policy and the leadership opportunities available to our Year 6 students. Next Semester the SAC will be focusing on community basketball and how we, as a school, can enhance community basketball here at school.

This semester we have also been working with a group of parents around developing an Inclusion Policy and enhancing what we do at Galilee in relation to inclusions. A group of parents attend a focus group meeting with Mr Harding and students from Year 6, to explore the ways the school could be more inclusive of diversity - of race, disability, culture, gender and all forms of difference that students experience. We thank the parents and students for their contributions. More will follow in future publications of the newsletter.

We have continued to run a very successful Sprouts Program in Semester One, with four year old children attending weekly Sprouts Sessions. These students have attended sessions with Caoimhe Kennedy one of our Prep Teachers and Becky Kavangh, one of Year 2 teachers that focus on school readiness and transition to school. It is a very successful program that continues to receive glowing feedback and wonderful results.

Our Running Club has become a wonderful feature on our weekly calendar with an extraordinary amount of students and parents attending each Monday and Friday morning. This initiative is parent run and has enhanced the community in so many ways. Students from a range of year levels enjoy coming together and working together to improve their fitness and have lots of fun. Our parents have exceeded expectations as they now run strength and conditioning sessions and a range of activities to keep the students engaged and motivated. More information about Running Club can be found below.

We would like to thank Carmen Carnovale in her role as Community Partnership Leader at Galilee. Carmen has done an excellent job in supporting many of our community events. We wish her every blessing as she takes Maternity Leave for the remainder of the 2024 school year. We would like to welcome Seb Greene to the role of Community Partnerships Leader. Seb has some wonderful ideas that he brings to the role and an enthusiastic approach to ensuring that our community continues to have a wonderful atmosphere focusing on enhancing our student experience here at school.

The Galilee Stadium

As you will have noticed, Stage 1 of the project to rectify our stadium, following significant water damage, has been completed. We are currently working with our legal team to finalise the deed between us and the construction company so that Stage 2 of the project can be completed. We believe that we are very close to achieving a mutually agreed up deed that will allow us to commence Stage 2 of the project.

Stage 2 of the project will involve rectifying the defective waterproofing and drainage systems. Work will be isolated to the wall of the stadium closest to Danceworld and the wall closest to Mcguire Hall. It will not impact the programs that we run here at school. We are very hopeful that work on Stage 2 will commence over the holidays and will be completed within a 4-6 week period. When Stage 2 is completed we will immediately commence stage 3 of the project.

Although it is always difficult to pedict how long a building project will take, we are hopefully to have access to our Stadium at the beginning of Term 4.

We understand that this is not an ideal situation to find ourselves in. We also understand that the length of time that it is taking to rectify the defect and resultant damage is frustratingly long. We are working as hard as we can to ensure that the stadium is back up and running for our students and the community to use. Thank you for your continued flexibility, patience and understanding.

Staffing Update

Today we are saying goodbye to two staff members.

We thank Jack Sandow for his time here at Galilee. Jack has worked here for over 4 years as a learning support officer and teacher. He has been an invaluable member of the school staff, with all that he does, supporting students, running the library, our staff OH&S representative, going on camps, excursions and sporting days out. Jack will be missed by our community, both current and past families. We wish Jack all the best of luck in his future endeavours.

We would also like to thank Muiread McKeown for the 18 months that she spent with us here at Galilee. She has been a wonderful Prep teacher and she will be missed dearly by her class and by staff. Muiread is an accomplished teacher with a great many set of skills that her future classes will benefit from. It is sad to say good-bye, but the pull of home can sometimes be too strong. She returns to Ireland for the Summer, before the new school year starts there.

We would also like to welcome three new staff members to Galilee.

We are thrilled to announce that Meg Stewart has accepted a position to teach Prep M for the remainder of 2024. Meg comes to us with eight years of teaching experience. Her most recent experience has been teaching Prep in Perth. She is originally from Melbourne where she worked at Simon Millar’s previous school. Meg has decided to return to Melbourne to be closer to family. We feel confident that she will be an excellent addition to our team and we can’t wait to introduce you to her at the beginning of Term 3.

We would also like to welcome Maya Kypuros and Olwyn Bergin who have joined our learning support team in recent weeks. Maya will work on Thursdays and Fridays, Olwyn will work five days per week. Both come with a wealth of experience and skills that will help us support students with additional needs, and all students, across the school.

Running Club at Galilee

The Galilee Running Club has continued to thrive through the winter with the below photo taken on this year's winter solstice! It has been great to see students getting some morning running in and setting themselves up for a great day. The focus for running club has been on developing skills for Cross Country (term 1) and preparing for winter sports (term 2) and in term 3 we will focus on building up towards our school athletics day!

We had a go at 'reaction starts" for sprinting for the first time this week as part of our drill session.

And in case you needed a reason to come along...

Dr Alan Thomas has this to say:

"Running is an excellent cardiovascular workout that strengthens muscles, improves lung and heart health, and raises fitness levels all around. It can improve mood and mental health, reduce anxiety, help with weight management, and increase stamina. Additionally, running strengthens the immune system and promotes better sleep."

Running club is for all Galilee students of all abilities and speeds with a focus on running for health and enjoyment and working on your personal best!

Every Monday during term time: 8:10am - 8:30am

Every Friday during term time: 8:00am - 8:30am

rain or shine, unless otherwise advised.

News about one of our students

Leah in 4L has recently had her hair cut and donated her pony tails to Ella Wigmakers in NSW who support the Wigs4Kids campaign. In the third photo you see Leah's hairdresser helping her to cut the pony tails her self.

What a wonderful gift Leah has given a child somewhere in Australia who needs a wig whilst undergoing medical treatments.

GPA’s gala fundraising event for 2024 – Saluti!

Tickets are now on sale for the GPA's gala fundraising events fgor 2024 - Saluti!

If you have not already purchased your tickets, we encourage you to get in quickly.

Purchase your tickets here https://www.trybooking.com/CSYHN

Event details:

Saturday 10th August

7pm to Midnight

$65 per person including Aperol Spritz on arrival, finger food and DJ (stand up event)

Live auction on the night

Wear a touch of La Dolce Vita

We would like to thank everyone within our community for a very successful Semester. We wish you all a wonderful, restful and rejuvenating holiday.

We are very much looking forward to the second semester and we cannot wait to see you all back at school on Monday 15th July for the first day of Term 3.

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

Amy Burns

Acting Principal

Education in Faith

Eucharist Reflections